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. There is a special pastoral letter from the Archbishop this weekend. It is being read at all the Masses and you can also watch a video or print out the text by clicking the link here. The parish bulletin is also ready and can be downloaded from the Home page.
The image of Blessed Carlo has been placed in Church ready to be Blessed by Archbishop Bernard at the end of the 10.15 am Mass tomorrow. Identical images will be blessed in St Michael's and St Bernadette's. The timetable for our Feast Day is as follows:
• 10.15 am The Archbishop will celebrate Mass at SS Peter & Paul. This will be live-streamed. The Mass will conclude with the proclamation of the new parish and blessing of an image of Blessed Carlo for that church. This will be followed with veneration of the relic of Blessed Carlo. • 12.30 pm The Archbishop then travels to St Michael’s to join those who have been at the 11.30am Mass for a blessing of an image of Blessed Carlo for that church. This will be followed with veneration of the relic of Blessed Carlo. (This will be followed by refreshments.) • 3.00 pm Archbishop then travels to St Bernadette’s for a service of blessing of an image of Blessed Carlo for that church. This will be followed with veneration of the relic of Blessed Carlo. (This will be followed by refreshments.) Full details of our celebrations can be found on the parish bulletin which can be downloaded from the Home Page. This week's bulletin is now ready to download from the home page. You will find all the details for the Novena of celebrations we are holding for our first Parish Feast Day of Blessed Carlo Acutis. Everyone will be given prayer cards this weekend with this image of Blessed Carlo on the front and our new parish prayer on the back.
THE PARISH OF BLESSED CARLO ACUTIS WOLVERHAMPTON Founded 15th December 2020 O God, our Father, thank you for giving us Carlo, a model of life for young people, and a message of love for all. His love for your Son, Jesus, in the Eucharist, was his source of strength and his ‘highway to heaven’. You gave him Mary, as beloved Mother, and through the Rosary he sang the praises of her tenderness. Help us to imitate him by confirming our faith, nurturing our hope and strengthening our charity. Accept his prayer for us. Look above all upon the poor, whom he loved and assisted and through his intercession, may our parish become a vibrant community of missionary disciples, dedicated to the fruitful building of your Kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen. LifeFest 21 took place today from 10:00 until 13:00 inside the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster. The event included testimonies, live Q&As, and workshops from leading pro-life speakers as well as short films, music, and much more.
The march itself began from behind The Emmanuel Centre at 13:30 and finished in Parliament Square, where there was a stage set up for public speeches and testimonies. Please keep the pro-life movement, which is across faiths and none, in your prayers. This week's Bulletin is now ready on the home page. If you get a chance please watch this excellent edition of Songs of Praise. It is filmed in our local Catholic Heritage site, Boscobel House and the Robinson family give a wonderful witness to their Catholic Faith, as does Frank Skinner!
Click the link below to watch the program. Although it says BBC1, it was moved to BBC Two because of the Olympics. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Rosary will not be online this evening (3rd June). It is hoped that it will take place next Thursday instead.
EWTN are showing a film about Blessed Carlo Acutus. You can watch it for free if you do so before the end of May. Follow the link below to access their website.
As we continue our Pentecost Novena please note that from Pentecost Sunday, there will be an extra Mass at SS Peter & Paul at 6.00 pm. For more details, the bulletin is now ready to download from the "Online activities and Bulletin" page.
Further to the Cardinal's video below, the bishops of England and Wales have prepared a prayer leaflet with prayers for each day of the Novena. Click the button below to download.
Please watch the video below from the Cardinal about the Pentecost Novena which starts after the Feast of the Ascension on Thursday. A message from Cardinal Michael Fitzgerald
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am very happy to announce to you that the annual Day of Prayer for Eastern Christians will take place on the Sixth Sunday of Easter (Sunday, 9th May 2021), with the participation of Christians from all over Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and India. This Day of Prayer – promoted by the French charitable organization, L’Oeuvre d’Orient and its UK counterpart, Fellowship and Aid to the Christians of the East (FACE) in partnership with the Congregation for Oriental Churches – will offer Eastern and Western Christians an opportunity to be united in prayer during the time of Easter. It will offer us in the West an opportunity to think of the Eastern Churches and to give thanks to God for all that we owe them: the first preaching of the Gospel, the origins of the monastic tradition, the early Church Fathers, and above all the witness of the Eastern Christians down the centuries, which has been, and still is, an inspiration to our faith. This Day could also be an occasion to give thanks for the recent pilgrimage of Pope Francis to Iraq and to draw inspiration from its message of solidarity, fraternity and hope. Today, the Eastern Christians, many of whom are suffering from the effects of war and from discrimination, now face the added crisis of the Covid epidemic, with its threat to their livelihood, health and well-being. This is a crisis within an already existing crisis! They deserve our prayerful support. In commending this Day of Prayer to you, may I suggest that you bring it to the attention of your family and friends, perhaps sharing with them the following prayer: Heavenly Father, we pray today for peace in the world, especially in the Middle East. By your heavenly grace, strengthen the faith and hope of Eastern Christians. May they be blessed with peace and prosperity in their countries. May we be inspired by their devotion and witness to the Gospel, by their love and compassion for all in their communities, and by their courage, their endurance and self-sacrifice. Through their charity, tolerance and friendship, bring peace and reconciliation to those troubled lands, where Christianity was born and first spread. This we ask of you through Christ our Lord. Amen. I trust that this Day of Prayer, despite the restrictions caused by the current pandemic, will bring comfort and assurance to Eastern Christians. In our solidarity and communion, may we all be renewed by the hope we place in the Risen Christ. With the assurance of my prayers and with my warmest wishes for a joyful celebration of Easter, Yours in Christ Michael Cardinal Fitzgerald M.Afr In response to the Holy Father's heartfelt wish, the month of May will be dedicated to a "marathon" of prayer, to ask for the end of the pandemic, which has afflicted the world for more than a year now, and to ask for the resumption of social and work activities. Pope Francis wishes to involve all the Shrines around the world in this initiative, so that they may become vehicles of the prayer of the entire Church. The initiative is being conducted in the light of the biblical expression: "Prayer by the Church was fervently being made to God" (Acts 12:5). Each day a different shrine from around the world will host the praying of the Rosary and each day there will be a particular intention relating to the pandemic. Click below to see the list of shrines and intentions for each day of May. If you would like to join each shrine online, go to the link of Vatican YouTube Channel below. The bulletin is now ready to download from the Online Activities and Bulletin page
The Holy Father has asked us all to prayer the Rosary to plead for an end to the pandemic. He is doing this by focussing on a different Marian Shrine around the world each day. We are very privileged in England that he has chose Walsingham for his prayers on May 1st. Unfortunately, this news reached us only yesterday and was too late for our bulletin last Sunday but if you do read this, please join the community of Walsingham in the praying rosary at 5.00pm tomorrow, May 1st. IF you wish, you can also join them virtually by clicking Feast of St Joseph the Worker - Catholic National Shrine of Our Lady (walsingham.org.uk)
Today is Vocations Sunday
The Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Vocations Sunday or Good Shepherd Sunday and is marked as the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. The purpose of this day is to fulfil Jesus' instruction to “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:38). While appreciating all vocations, the Church concentrates her attention today on raising up shepherds for God's people - vocations to Holy Orders (the priesthood and diaconate) and to the Consecrated life (religious life, secular institutes and various forms of consecrated single life.) - while encouraging all who are discerning their vocation to pray more earnestly that they may hear and respond to God's call. Our Diocesan Vocations Office produces materials for our parishes, schools and universities to mark this day. Physical copies of posters and prayer cards are sent to parishes and schools in the diocese and digital copies can be downloaded from https://www.vocations.org.uk/vocations-sunday The Clergy Training Fund On Vocations Sunday we are not only asked to pray for vocations but also to financially support the training of Priests and Deacons in our diocese. Today’s second collection will therefore support our seminarians- men in formation to be our future priests of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. It will also contribute towards the formation of deacons who serve in parishes across our diocese. As well as the second collection today, there are also leaflets (featuring our own Fr Sean on the front!) which show you how you can support the Clergy Training fund by Standing Order and Gift Aid. Full details are in the leaflet. Please take one to find out more. Prayer for Vocations Sunday God our Father, you call each of us to follow Jesus, your Son, on the path he has marked out for us - the way of charity, service and fulfilment. May the homes and parishes of the Archdiocese of Birmingham be blessed with ever-renewed dedication to the work of building up your kingdom here on earth. May those whom you call to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life faithfully give themselves to the service of your Church. Prompted and strengthened by your Holy Spirit, may I respond generously to the call to follow you each day and live out my vocation, to give you glory, for the good of those around me and for my own happiness. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. The bulletin is now ready to download from the ONLINE ACTIVITES AND BULLETIN page. As Watching in the church is not allowed under the current coronavirus guidelines, we will have an hour's watching online from 10.00pm to 11.00pm tonight.
This will finish with Night Prayer of the Church at 10.45pm. The text for Night prayer can be found on our Watch Live page. The Staff and pupils of our three primary schools: St Bernadette, St Michael and SS Peter & Paul, have prepared a beautiful Service of the Stations of the Cross for you to pray during this week. Many thanks to all who have worked behind the scenes to make this happen. Let us pray for all our young people, that the message of Holy Week will touch their lives this Easter. God Bless, Fr Mark
To pray the Stations with the children, please click the picture above. First Class Relic of Blessed Carlo Acutis We have been very privileged to receive a relic of Blessed Carlo’s hair for veneration in the parish. This was only made possible by Mgr Anthony Figueiredo who was kindly able to bring it from the Bishop of Assisi whilst visiting his mother in England. Fr Mark was then able to shoot down to Watford on Friday to pick it up for the parish. Considering all the travel restrictions and the fact that Italy has now gone into lockdown, we have been very blessed that this precious relic was able to get to us safely. Close veneration of relics is not allowed under the present Covid restrictions, but the relic will be on display on the altar for the live-stream Mass this Sunday and as soon as the restrictions are relaxed, we will be preparing a special event for public veneration. This will enable us to spread the devotion to Blessed Carlo across the country. I have housed the relic of Blessed Carlo in the Olive Wood Monstrance of the Tau of St Francis. In Assisi you will see the Tau everywhere as it was the beloved version of the Cross used by St Francis. As Blessed Carlo had such a devotion to St Francis, and his own tomb now lies in the old Cathedral of Assisi, it is fitting that our relic of Blessed Carlo be housed in the centre of the Tau Cross.
This week's bulletin is now ready to download. Please note that we have changed the layout of the website so that if you go to the ONLINE ACTIVITIES AND BULLETIN you can more easily access all the online events and also find the bulletin, all on the same webpage. All of our Services and Masses can also be found on the WATCH LIVE page.
Further to the resources mentioned in the bulletin last Sunday, here are more resources for your Lenten journey 202.
I encourage you to buy this great new booklet on the life and mission of Blessed Carlo Acutis. It will greatly help us in our parish to foster devotion to our new patron and begin to learn his path to holiness. It is available from the Catholic Truth Society. Click the button below access to their website. Fr Mark
The bulletin is now ready to download on our Mass Times and Bulletin page. The Gospel on Sunday each week this year is taken from St Mark and here is a great 10 minute video giving an excellent overview of his gospel: This Sunday's bulletin is now ready on the Mass Times and Bulletin Page. Can I draw your attention to the special celebration of the Sunday of the Word of God which is online a 6.00pm this Sunday? Using the Year of the Word posters that hang on the walls of our three churches, we have created a Holy Hour of meditation relating passages of the Old Testament to our present day. If you listen carefully you might recognise the voices of some of our parishioners. It will remain on our YouTube channel and can be used as a resource any time, either in its entirety or as a selection of individual meditations.
We received the news yesterday that the official decree has come through and we are now the parish of Blessed Carlo Acutis! Once we are through the present difficulties with the pandemic, we will have a great celebration! Let us pray to Blessed Carlo that we will safely reach that day very soon.
God Bless, Fr Mark |
InformationThis page page displays the latest announcements. For regular weekly news, please ensure you also read the Parish Bulletin, which is available on the Home page. For previous versions of the Bulletin, click here. Archives
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