Welcome to the Catholic parish of March and Chatteris.
The Parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel & St Peter
8 St Johns Road, March, PE15 8RJ
Diocese of East Anglia. Registered Charity Number 278742
Serving the communities of March, Chatteris, Manea, Wimblington & Doddington
Please remember that the obligation for the faithful to attend Holy Mass on a Sunday or Holy day of Obligation is removed until further notice. The 5pm Sunday Mass will no longer be said after 16th August. But if you fall into the vulnerable category, it is perfectly acceptable to attend one of the quieter daily Masses or Saturday evening.
Masses this week
Sunday 13th September 2020
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Education Day
Lectionary: Sundays Yr A Weekdays Yr 2 Week 3
Sat 12th
6 pm First Mass of Sunday (Evening Vigil) (vulnerable) – This Mass will have access to the toilets, but is designated for the vulnerable and the older members of our congregation for the present time please.
Sunday 13th September 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Education Day
9 am Sunday Mass March – (People of the Parish)
11 am Sunday Mass March
Mon 14th Exaltation of the Holy Cross – 10 am
Tue 15th Our Lady of Sorrows – 10 am
Wed 16th Saints Cornelius & Cyprian – 10 am
Thurs 17th Feria. – 10 am
Fri 18th Feria March Exposition from 9.30 am
Eucharist Service at 10 am
Sat 19th
6 pm First Mass of Sunday (Evening Vigil) (vulnerable) – This Mass will have access to the toilets, but is designated for the vulnerable and the older members of our congregation for the present time please.
Sunday 20th September 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Home Mission Day
9 am Sunday Mass March – (People of the Parish)
11 am Sunday Mass March
Confessions – Saturday between 12 noon and 1pm
An Act of Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
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!
The Church door into the Church will only open 30 minutes prior to Mass starting. This ensures that our Stewards are in place and that people are not sitting too long inside the building. The windows will be open and the emergency exit will be too, so that good ventilation is maintained…so you may want to wear a coat, just in case you get chilly. You are reminded that you must wear a face mask and that your hands will be sanitised before and after Mass. I must encourage people to remain vigilant and cautious. Please only attend the Saturday evening vigil at 6 pm if you fall into the specific category that it has been established for.
Due to the limited amount of space available we will be restricted to around 28 people/couples at each Mass and once the church is full further arrivals will be asked to attend a later Mass. Please follow the instructions of the stewards as rows will be filled from the front and it will not be possible to reserve seats beforehand. Stewards will guide everyone out through both church entrances at the end of Mass.
Farewell Sisters Monica and Dorothy: Our two long serving Sisters, Monica and Dorothy of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary have moved to the FMM convent in Canning Town but will look forward to visits from members of our parish in the future. They will be well looked after by the sisters in London, but everyone in the parish will miss our two dear friends. Please remember Sr Monica and Sr Dorothy in your prayers
Mass intentions: If you have any intentions for which you would like Mass to be offered please email them to marchcatholicpriest@gmail.com, or post to the address at the top of the newsletter or by Mass Intention envelope.
Please remember in your prayers all those who are sick and housebound in our March & Chatteris parish especially: Gerard Bourne, Jack Pettingill, 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: Norman Morrissey (Aug), Kevin Caffrey, Terry Kenna, Fr James Smith, Tim Lordan, John Roberts, Bill Eliott, Kath Sillett, John and Mary Scott, Claire Williams, Frank Szombara, Anthony de Lozey, Peter Lord, Patrick Caffrey, Jorge Ribeiro and George Denham.
Financial Matters
Thank you for the collections on 5th/6th September: £220.93 and £166.66 in standing orders. Cheques should made payable to ‘Our Lady’s RC Church’
Gift Aid Scheme
We are about to submit our claim for tax refunds of around £5,900 on last year’s offertory under the Gift Aid Scheme.
The Scheme requires all donors to have paid tax last year of at least the amount of their individual reclaim. Therefore, unless you tell us otherwise we shall assume this is the case and submit our claim accordingly. Also, please let us know of any change of address since you signed the Gift Aid form.
If you have any queries Norman Topliss, 653696, will be pleased to help.
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
News and Events
Zoom Prayer Meeting: All are welcome to the Prayer Meeting on Zoom on Tuesday 22nd September from 6- 7 pm. Included are: a decade of the Rosary, thanksgiving, praise and worship, reflection/ quiet time and shared intercessory prayer.
Bring your Bible if you are able.”.. but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” Isaiah 40: 31.
Please email anthonymashman@talk21.com for the link to the meeting.
Cleaners wanted for the church. Only 2 hours at the most each month. Please contact Lesley 01354 680401 or mobile 07947 143864.
Many thanks to Fr Paul Spellman who has attended to our pastoral needs so enthusiastically over the last few weeks. We wish him well in his new parish: St. Mary’s Catholic Presbytery, 322 Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 4BD.
A message from Father Paul: I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their amazing kindness, support and prayers during my short time with you. Thank you for all the vegetables, cakes, wine, cards, generous gifts and love that you shared with me; I am extremely touched by such generosity. I am currently writing some “thank you” cards, as well as to unpack and settle into St. Mary’s here in Ipswich. I’ll get them out to you as soon as possible.
You are all in my prayers daily. God bless. Fr. P
A warm welcome to Fr Nicholas Kearney who is now the Priest in Charge of March and Chatteris.
Macmillan Coffee morning: Helen Gooderham would like to thank everyone who supported her very successful coffee morning in aid of the Macmillan cancer charity. A fantastic sum of £870 was raised for this worthy cause.
Fr Paul celebrated his first two Masses in the garden. The Mass was live streamed. For those of you who are not able to attend Mass, if you have a Facebook account you can follow future Masses on Fr Paul’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pfsspellman
There is also a news item about the Mass on the diocesan website rcdea.org.uk.
This reflection appeared on Fr Sean’s St George’s parish website :
Perhaps those of us who are now able and choosing to come to Mass might be conscious of those who cannot yet join us or who feel they are not ready for this next step in the easing of lockdown. Remember Aaron’s breastplate: whenever Aaron entered the Holy of Holies and came before God as high priest, he donned a breastplate with 12 glittering jewels fixed into it to represent all the peoples of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel. Those of us coming to Mass, exercising our priestly ministry as baptised members of Christ’s Church can wear a mental breast plate and bring to the sanctuary all our friends, family, and fellow parishioners who are not yet physically with us.
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
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
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 hymns –
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
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.
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, Sainsburys, Iceland, Badgeney Road Co-op and direct to the Foodbank on Monday mornings (10:30-11:30). Both stores have collection boxes which are emptied weekly. The Foodbank continue to distribute supplies to about 25 families a week in March and the surrounding areas. All donations gratefully received but they are short of uht milk, coffee, peas, carrots, mashed potato, and even baked beans at the moment. Also household items and toiletries; bleach, washing up liquid, shampoo, toothpaste, and shower gel.
CCORRN have supplied more craft and activity boxes and Cambs CC provided 50 craft bags. These are so valuable to families with limited resources.
Eastern Spice are offering free meals to several clients each week with a voucher from the Foodbank.
Chat-tea are providing free take away hot meals on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from St. John’s church hall.
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 of its launch with callers being signposted to more than 50 known support services.
The Customer Services and Community Hubs has been re-opened on an appointment only basis. To book an appointment, please complete the webform. For further information on attending appointments, please refer to the Appointment Booking Guidance [409kb].
A community hub service has been setup that brings together volunteers, support groups and partners across Fenland to help those most at risk during the coronavirus pandemic. If you’re a resident and need help with food shopping or collecting medicines, they can provide details of a local voluntary service who can help you. Call on 01354 654321 or email covid19@fenland.gov.uk. If you’re a resident and are able to offer help to people in need, please email covid19@fenland.gov.uk.
Some of the committee meetings have been postponed. Others will be available to view online via our YouTube channel.
Further details can also be found at https://www.fenland.gov.uk/coronavirus, where there is also advice and information for local businesses.
Parish Contacts
Parish Priest: Fr Nicholas Kearney 01354 650788 email: marchcatholicpriest@gmail.com
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