 This Advent we begin a year of preparation for the Holy Year in 2025. The Holy Father has asked us to make PRAYER the focus of our preparation. Advent often gets lost in the preparations for Christmas, so to help us focus more on prayer we are encouraging the following initiatives:
 Antonia Salzano, the mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, is making a short visit to London. On Wednesday 31st May from 7.30pm to 9pm at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street, there will be Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction presided over by Bishop Nicholas Hudson, especially for young people of the diocese. During this time Antonia will talk about her son’s trust and focus on the Lord in the Eucharist. You can watch this by following the live stream below: www.farmstreet.org.uk/livestream On Thursday 1st June at 6.30pm in the Church of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, there will be a Sung Mass after which Antonia will also talk about her son, his life and his relationship with the Lord. To follow this, click on the second livestream below: corpuschristimaidenlane.org.uk/  Come along and join us singing Christmas carols and listening to the Christmas story as we walk through the City Centre.
The idea is that we all carry LED Lanterns. For a simple instructions to make a lantern, click on the button below.
As we approach Halloween and All Saints Day, you might find this video useful when planning what to do next week.
Halloween.mp4 from Chris Noonan on Vimeo.  The coach is going to collect parishioners from St Bernadette’s at 1.45pm before going to St Michael’s. We will leave St Michael’s at 2.15pm to arrive at Hednesford about 2.45pm. The return journey will be at 5.30pm via St Michael’s before arriving at St Bernadette’s .
If you haven’t already paid your £5 please bring it with you on Sunday. Any questions please call David Spinks, 07544960402. Our three churches will be open during the day today (Friday 9th September) for anyone who wants to come and pray for the repose of the soul of Queen Elizabeth II. Eternal rest grant to her O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in Peace. Amen. There will also be a special Reqiuem Mass this evening at St Michael's Church at 6.30pm. All are welcome.   When one begins formation for priesthood it feels as though you are in for the long haul and can’t get to the finish-line quick enough. Suddenly, I find myself at the end of fourth year and receiving candidacy -- the Church’s formal recognition of a clerical vocation -- and so the countdown to ordination next year (first as deacon) has begun!
Bishop Paul Mason, bishop to the military, presided over the mass and preached on how God intends us to soar like eagles, but with the Holy Spirit in our wings. I must say, I was quite on air myself. From this point onwards, I may dress in clerics (priestly garb) so as to witness to my intention to complete my formation. The rite involved us being asked if we were “morally certain” of a call from the Lord, and if we are “resolved” to carry on with a view to ordination? I can say that I do now feel interiorly free and happy enough to say yes to Christ and His Church. I was very conscious of the number of you who continue to pray for me. No man makes it through without such support. Thank-you. It seems, however, that I might be part of the old guard who receive candidacy at the end of year 4 of seminary. The Bishops of England & Wales are currently deciding on how to readjust the “ministries” conferred on a discerner so as to bring formation in line with the wishes of Pope Francis. Since he created the lay ministry of catechist it has become more theologically acute that the ministries of reader and acolyte are primarily baptismal ministries that are open to all the faithful and not just those of us progressing towards ordination. As a result, candidacy may be moved earlier on in the process or left up the seminarian to express when he feels ready to take this step. For the moment, however, no-one knows just how everything will develop. As for me, although aware of my many faults, I praise God for calling me to minister soon enough in our Archdiocese and express here, once again, how lucky I feel to have shared the journey thus far with so many wonderful priests and parishioners along the way.  Synodal Path Meeting and the Parish Pastoral Council
As we journey with the Synodal Process, it is a moment to remember the purpose of the Parish Pastoral Council. It is not intended to be a group of people who do things for the parish, but a group of representatives who share your thoughts and suggestions with the parish clergy so that the parish priest can make informed decisions about pastoral priorities of the parish. The Parish Pastoral Council was therefore keen that the work along the Synodal Pathway should continue in the Parish well beyond sending the report of our listening activities to the Diocese. For this reason, there was an open parish meeting on 7th May, to look at how we could move forward across 8 areas of parish life: 1. Participation and Outreach 2. Access and Communication 3. Young People 4. Families 5. Learning about our faith 6. A place for all 7. Support for the poor and marginalised 8. Parish Liturgy and Music Following discussion of the issues that emerged from the listening activity, several potential actions were proposed by those attending, which you can see in this attached document. However, this is just a starting point, and there is an opportunity now for others to also become involved. We are looking to set up a number of short-term task groups, where each group will consider one of the areas, for example ‘Learning about our Faith’. Such a group would agree and add to the priority actions as appropriate and come up with ways that these actions could be taken forward in our parish. If you have a particular interest in an aspect of parish life, and would like to contribute your enthusiasm, your skills and knowledge or your ideas for the future, please consider joining one of the groups. We know that many people are busy juggling work and family life, or for other reasons find it hard to come out to meetings, so there will be flexible ways you can get involved so that as many people as possible can feel part of these next steps. If you would like to get more involved in whatever way, please email the Parish at bca.wolves@rcaob.org.uk and put “Walking Together” in the Subject Line, or phone the Parish Office on 01902 341343 leaving your name and contact number and which area you are interested in, and someone will get back to you. There will also be opportunities over the next few weeks to hear more about the particular strand of activities, and sign up to one of the groups then. This is an exciting time in the life of our Parish, as we get back to a new normal, following two difficult years. I very much hope that many people will feel able to answer the call of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, to walk together to help make our parish life together better. This Thursday is the Solemnity of the Ascension and then we begin the ancient Novena of Prayer for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Let's pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in all these new initiatives in the parish.  Today we pray for Vocations to the Priesthood, Diaconate and the Consecrated life, that many will hear the call to follow Christ to chare the Good News! There will also be a special vocations webinar hosted by the Archdiocese on Tuesday evening at 8.00pm looking at models of holiness which will be all about our parish patron Blessed Carlo. If you would like to sign up for this webinar, go to - Quo Vadis? | Birmingham Vocations Then on Wednesday we will be having our monthly Blessed Carlo Mass, which this month will be at St Bernadette's, and we will also be praying for vocations at that Mass.
 After the Solemn Mass of the Lord's Supper at St Bernadette's and SS Peter & Paul we then began the watching of the Blessed Sacrament where we remember Jesus in the garden of Gethsemene. At SS Peter & Paul (above) we remain until midnight. We finish with Night prayer at 11.45pm.
24 Hours for the Lord and Consecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary19/3/2022
This Friday is the Feast of the Annunciation and Pope Francis has asked us to set aside times of Adoration between Midday on Friday and Midday on Saturday as a global act of conversion to the Lord. He also will be consecrating Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart to Mary to claim all hearts there for peace. In our parish we are setting aside two 3 hour periods of Adoration: 3 hours at SS Peter & Paul on Friday afternoon and 3 hours at St Michael’s on Saturday Morning. (We are including the hour of Adoration on Thursday at St Bernadette’s in this intention.) There will be sign up sheets in St Michael’s and SS Peter & Paul this weekend so that there will be continuous prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Please consider offering half an hour of prayer for peace during this extended vigil.
For the rest of this week's news, please download the bulletin from the Home Page. Fr Mark visited the Ukrainian Catholic Church last Sunday 6th March to express our solidarity and prayers for peace. For more information about fundraising activities in the parish, check out the latest edition of our bulletin which is ready to download from the home page.
 GREAT FIGURES OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH Every Monday Lunchtime why not come and join us in an Ecumenical Lenten journey looking at significant followers of Christ through the centuries. We meet in St Peter’s Collegiate Church for Soup and rolls at 12.00 noon and then there is a short talk at 12.30pm followed by Q&A and its all finished by 1.00pm. It’s a chance to see the beauty of Wolverhampton’s oldest Church and meet with fellow Christians from across the city. Both Fr Mark and Fr Sean will be giving talks in the series. The Synodal Pathway Report that was fed back to the diocese is now available on our website.
Click here to read the full report : Synod 2021-23 The bulletin is now ready to download from the home page. The bishops of England and Wales have issued a new set of guidelines for Lent and Easter. The good news is that things are more or less back to normal, with certain simple measures still in place. It does mean we are able to return to a full celebration of the Easter Triduum. Click here to download the full statement.
 Before Mass many of us gathered for half an hour of quiet prayer in the Lady Chapel with the relic of Blessed Carlo This evening at St Michael's we had the first of our monthly Masses with Blessed Carlo. In each of our three churches we have a shrine to Blessed Carlo with a prayer intention box. These were collected to be laid on the altar with our relic of Blessed Carlo at the special Mass. In the photo above you can see the intentions with the relic of Blessed Carlo which was placed in the Lady Chapel for half an hour for people who came for private prayer before the Mass. Many commented on how special this time of prayer was, and how it felt like Adoration. This is hardly surprising because Blessed Carlo was so devoted to Adoration himself and now he intercedes with Jesus for us to come closer to him in the Blessed Sacrament.
From next Monday there will be Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the Lady Chapel before Mass each week from 5.50pm to 6.25 pm and then Mass will start at 6.30pm.  Following President Putin’s decision to recognise the independence of the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Russian troops launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Church leaders and organisations have issued various statements in response to the crisis throughout the week. A compilation of these, alongside a selection of relevant news articles, can be found here.
For those who wish to make a financial contribution to help the people of Ukraine, please consider giving to the Caritas or Aid to the Church in Need appeals. This week's bulletin is now available to download from the Home Page. The image used in this article was uploaded to Wikipedia by Arikkel under the CC-BY-SA 4.0 Licence. There will be a special Mass tonight in the Lady Chapel at St Michael's to pray for Peace in Ukraine. Please let people know.
There will also be another Mass tomorrow, Saturday at SS Peter & Paul and Online at 10.00am. This view of Dresden is an example of what war in Europe looked like at the end of World War II.
Let us keep praying for peace in the Ukraine. Our Lady Queen of Peace, pray for us! Remember to download the weekly bulletin from the home page so that you know all that is going on in the parish. This year’s Racial Justice Sunday falls on 13 February 2022. The theme is "In the Image and Likeness of God" celebrating different presentations of the Holy Family from different countries and cultures. For more information go to Racial Justice Sunday 2022 - Catholic Bishops' Conference (cbcew.org.uk) You can download resources and posters and listen to the Our Father and Hail Mary in many of the languages of the church.
The bulletin is now ready to download from the Home Page. The First of our Blessed Carlo Intercession Masses will take place at St Michael’s on February 28th, the second will be at SS Peter & Paul’s on April 1st and the third will be at St Bernadette’s on May 11th. There will soon be a collection box in each church next to his image, so that you can leave your prayer intentions. These boxes will be emptied each month and the intentions from all three churches will be placed on the altar at this special Mass with the relic of Blessed Carlo. The bulletin is now ready to download from the Home Page.  This weekend we begin the New Liturgical Year with the beautiful season of Advent and it is a very appropriate time for us to begin our synodal journey in the parish. To begin to understand what this journey is all about, download this week's bulletin for the Home Page for more details. Another new beginning is the reopening of the Lady Chapel in St Michael's Church. It is not completed yet but we are using temporary furniture for Adoration and Devotions to Our Lady and Blessed Carlo. See below a couple of photos of the developments.
From This Sunday's gospel: "And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory; then too he will send the angels to gather his chosen from the four winds, from the ends of the world to the ends of heaven."
As we move towards the end of November the liturgy begins to focus on the end of time and the central message that whatever challenges we face, our faith will be our stronghold. As Jesus goes on to say in today's gospel: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." We pray this Sunday for all those who have lost their lives in warfare and pray for all who work to build peace in our world. The bulletin is now ready to download from the home page. Now that covid guidelines are more relaxed, we are able again to bless graves in the cemeteries around Wolverhampton this November. For details, check the bulletin which is now ready to download from the Home Page.
If you have not experienced this before, it is a wonderful ancient custom and opportunity to prayer for your deceased family and friends. Everyone gathers at the entrance, (or in front of the Crematorium at Bushbury) for a short opening prayer and then you go to stand at the grave of your loved ones and wait for the priest to arrive. He will then say prayers with you and bless the grave with Holy Water. This November we are also having a special Mass for all those from the parish who have died in the last year. Again, for more details see this week's bulletin. |
