Welcome to the Catholic parish of March and Chatteris.
Due to the ongoing crisis with the Corona Virus, all Public Masses, meetings, classes and events are cancelled. Under Government guidelines Our Lady of Good Counsel church will be closed until further notice.
The Parish of March & Chatteris is temporarily under the care of the Parish of St. Luke Peterborough. For all inquiries please contact them on 01733 370877, or email saintlukesparish@yahoo.co.uk
If you urgently need a Catholic Priest please contact Father James Caulfield of Our Lady & St. Charles Borromeo, Wisbech on 07919 117255
ST. LUKE’S CATHOLIC CHURCH PETERBOROUGH
THE WEEK BEGINING 24th MAY
Mass Schedule
Mass continues to be celebrated by your priests in private and also live online:
Link from parish website saintlukesparish.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/105785057750972/live/
Occasionally intentions may have to be moved, but all will be offered .
The church building remains closed until further notice.
Sun 24th: 7th Sunday of Easter Pro Populo
World Communications Day
Live-stream 11am
Mon 25th: S. Bede the Venerable PD. Mem. All Seafarers
Live-stream 11am
Tue 26th: S. Philip Neri P. Mem. Perlita Soriano+
Live-stream 11am
Wed 27th: S. Augustine of Canterbury B. Feast Mark Joseph Powell+
Followed by Devotions to Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Live-stream 11am
Thur 28th: Easter Feria Eva Leyton+
Live-stream 11am
Fri 29th: Easter Feria Ann Morrissey+
Followed by Adoration & Benediction
Live-stream 11am
Sat 30th: S. Walstan (E. Anglia)
Sorry, no Mass or Rosary Today
Sun 31st: Pentecost Sunday. Solemnity. Pro Populo
From today for one week, St. Luke’s prays for vocations on behalf of the whole Diocese.
Live-stream 11am
May God bless you and keep you safe this week
Fr Jeffrey 01733 370877 & Fr Jude 01733 247355
Merciful God, come to the help of your people.
Be our shelter in this time of peril
and strengthen the bonds of our community.
Bring healing to all who suffer the ravages of disease
and assist those whose skill and art
can put an end to this affliction.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Mass intentions: If anyone would like a Mass said for an intention please email it to St. Luke’s or drop it into the convent with your details and we will send you a card. Please don’t worry about Mass Stipends, though donations can be made to March Parish if desired.
Online Masses
Daily Masses will be live streamed from St John’s Cathedral every day at 10am. You can watch all of these Masses at: www.sjbcathedral.org.uk
One of the Bishops of England Wales will celebrate a Mass every Thursday at 7.00pm in his Cathedral for the sick and their families, the front line workers in the NHS and Social Care. This weekly Mass will be live streamed.
21st May Bishop Mark Davies Shrewsbury Cathedral
28th May Bishop Terence Drainey Middlesbrough Cathedral
By visiting the Cathedral webpage, or the Bishops’ Conference Webpage (cbcew.org.uk) links for the live-streaming of these Masses can be found.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales has produced a very useful searchable guide to Masses across the whole county, including East Anglia.
It’s easy to search just using your postcode or by selecting a diocese. Narrow down your search results by selecting the Mass Type (Daily, Vigil or Sunday) and you can select from the available languages. Please follow the link: Live Catholic Mass Directory
The Ascension
Leo the Great explains how the Ascension increases our faith in what is unseen, namely the divinity of Christ, and how our Redeemer’s visible presence after the Ascension passes into the sacraments.
“At Easter, beloved brethren, it was the Lord’s resurrection which was the cause of our joy; our present rejoicing is on account of His ascension into heaven.
ASCENSION BRINGS CHRIST BEYOND OUR SIGHT
With all due solemnity we are commemorating that day on which our poor human nature was carried up, in Christ, above all the hosts of heaven, above all the ranks of angels, beyond the highest heavenly powers to the very throne of God the Father. It is upon this ordered structure of divine acts that we have been firmly established, so that the grace of God may show itself still more marvellous when, in spite of the withdrawal from men’s sight of everything that is rightly felt to command their reverence, faith does not fail, hope is not shaken, charity does not grow cold.”
Children’s Liturgy Websites (They can be accessed via google search engine)
Children’s Liturgy-Cathedral-St Marie’s Cathedral
Sermons4Kids
Cafod – Children’s Liturgy
Diocese of Westminster Children’s Liturgy
Catholicmom.com
For craft orientated sites, see Catholic Inspired and Catholic Icing
Sunday Liturgy for Children
Also some songs: –
You have called us (with lyrics) – You Tube By Bernadette Farrell
Shepherd Me, O God – You Tube By Marty Haugen:
Here I am Lord (with lyrics) – YouTube: by Eric Tom
One Bread, One Body with lyrics.wmv You tube
Maisie (Angela) Hutton RIP who died on 6th May has been repatriated to Ireland and her funeral was held last week. Please pray for her and her grieving family, especially those who were unable to attend the funeral.
Please remember in your prayers all those who are sick and housebound in our parish especially: Claire Reynolds, Susanna Roberts, Mary Fabriz, Margaret Griffiths, Beryl Dow, Rita Porter, Anna Sullivan and all those who are known to us.
We also remember those whose anniversaries occur at this time: Jason O’Grady, Maria Fiore, Maria Saporito, Jeanie German, Nicholas Harding, John Fosbueary, Kathleen Bull, Michael Moore, John Jones, Maria Vanderwyden, Heather Goodall, Irene Gillore and Rose Tubbs.
Sacraments: The sacrament of reconciliation (confession) is not possible at the moment. Bishop Alan has explained how we can confess our sins directly to God at times like these. See the diocesan website rcdea.org.uk for more information.
During Eastertide, the Regina Caeli is prayed to Mary:
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.
Has risen, as he said, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.
For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia
An Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Mary, mother of health and hope, pray for us!
A prayer to be said at the end of each Mass and to be given to all who are self-isolating
God our Father, Creator of the world, almighty and merciful, out of love for us You sent your Son into the world as the doctor of our souls and our bodies, look upon your children who, in this difficult time of confusion and dismay in many regions of Europe and the world, turn to you seeking strength, salvation and relief, deliver us from illness and fear, heal our sick, comfort their families, give wisdom to our rulers, energy and reward to our doctors, nurses and volunteers, eternal life to the dead. Do not abandon us in the moment of trial but deliver us from all evil. We ask this of Thee, who with the Son and the Holy Spirit, live and reign for ever and ever. Amen.
News and Events (All events are subject to change at the current time)
Dial A Mass opportunity: Telephone Sunday Mass from St Mary’s cathedral, Middlesborough is being offered by Middleborough diocese.
The Mass is recorded at 12noon on Sunday and is available once it’s been uploaded so after 1pm is best. It is then available all week.
The number to call is 01642 130120. Calls are charged at local rate and free if in your included minutes.
Rebecca tried it and you can hear it hands free with your speaker volume up so a couple can listen together.
Free Online Catholic Education for All: Your Catholic Voice Foundation offers an online school that provides a Free, World Class Catholic Education for Anyone, Anywhere (yes, Catholic Online School is 100% Free…). It offers over 5,000 Free video lessons with over 295,000 student enrolments across 193 countries. Lessons are included for children as well as adults.
The Knights of St Columba have launched a series of competitions for young people, to encourage creativity during this period of lockdown: https://www.rcdea.org.uk/knights-offer-prizes-to-young-painters-and-writers/ More information and other useful links can be found on our diocesan webpage.
Quarantined Catholic Hub: Scott Hahn of the St Paul Center for biblical studies has introduced an online Catholic hub, featuring free livestreaming of Bible study resources. https://stpaulcenter.com/hub/
Foodbank: As we can’t do our usual monthly collection for the Foodbank in church, if you are able to do so please consider adding an item if you are shopping in Tesco or Sainsburys. Both stores have collection boxes which are emptied weekly. Last week March Foodbank helped 23 families. All donations gratefully received but they are short of uht milk, coffee, peas, carrots, mashed potato at the moment.
If you or someone you know is in difficulties at this time, it may help to know that March Foodbank is open 1pm – 2.30pm on Tuesdays at Centenary Baptist Church in the High St in March. Just turn up to speak to someone.
Fenland District Council’s local COVID-19 response hub is coordinating help and support throughout the district to ensure the most vulnerable members of community can access critical support as soon as they need it.
The hub took over 300 calls in its first three days since its launch last week, with callers being signposted to more than 50 known support services.
Its dedicated helpline – 01354 654321 – is open 9am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 12noon on Saturday. The lines and email are manned by the Council’s core customer services staff and staff who have been repurposed from non-critical services and quickly trained to provide support and signpost accordingly. Requests for help can also be emailed to: covid19@fenland.gov.uk
Further details can also be found at https://www.fenland.gov.uk/coronavirus, where there is also advice and information for local businesses.
Parish Community: We have phoned everyone on our parish community to wish them well at Easter time. If you are a parishioner but didn’t receive a call it probably means that your contact details are not in our records. Please let us know if you would like to be contacted by a member of the parish team.
Financial Matters
Although we are still carrying a large debt on our hall (funded by a Diocese loan) we are reasonably healthy with our local bank balance. Whilst our outgoings are relatively light at the moment our main source of income is the weekly offertory which is obviously well down. Many will be struggling or have lost work at this time, so no one should feel under any pressure or obligation. However, if you can please consider setting up a Standing Order monthly into our Bank Account – you can cancel at any time needed. Or you can send one-off donations direct if you bank online:
The Parish’s bank details are:
Bank Barclays Bank Plc
Account Name Our Lady’s RC Church
Sort Code 20 – 46 – 65
Account Number 1395 0476
Please add your name in the reference box
Please do not put cash into the church or the hall
Parish Contacts
The Parish of March & Chatteris is temporarily under the care of the Parish of St. Luke Peterborough. For all inquiries please contact them on 01733 370877, or email saintlukesparish@yahoo.co.uk
If you urgently need a Catholic Priest please contact Father James Caulfield of Our Lady & St. Charles Borromeo, Wisbech on 07919 117255
Deacon: Rev Martin Wells 01354 741488 email: mwells42@btinternet.com
Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (fmm) 01354 652266
Newsletter: Please submit items for consideration to marchrcnewsletter@gmail.com
Please visit the Parish website for the latest updates: https://www.catholicchurchmarch.co.uk/
Hall Bookings: marchcatholichall@gmail.com and Iris Dean
All Saints Inter-Church Academy Primary, County Road March 01354 659000
May God bless you and keep you safe this week