Newsletter, Uncategorized

NEWSLETTER 21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME-23/08/2020

It’s wonderful to see so many parishioners coming back to Mass in our safe and beautiful Church! (if you haven’t already done so why not give it a try)    The Saturday evening Mass is a typical drive in Mass and does not required much work stewarding but, the Sunday and Wednesday Masses at 9.30 am require stewarding. The stewards are always on hand to guide us in Church to ensure the best of hygiene practice and safety of everyone. They also clean the church after every Mass and the cleaners do an excellent job fortnightly.
We are appealing to anyone who can assist and become one of our excellent team of volunteer Stewards to come forward. As you can imagine, those that are currently helping need to have a break sometime, so a few more willing hands would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you can help. Contact:  patriddell31@aol.com  or phone 01244 675688

FACE COVERING /MASKS                                                                                                                                                                            The wearing of face masks is now obligatory and we will be asking for everyone to wear a face covering/mask in Church to comply with the Government guidelines. Please bring your own with you – we do have a small supply of single use masks but, as you can appreciate, they are very expensive, so we would prefer everyone to come prepared. 

WEEKLY  MASS
Saturday 22nd Aug       6.00 pm
Sunday   23rd Aug        9.30 am
Wednesday 26th Aug   9.30 am

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Sunday: Private Intention
Monday: Sue Casey
Tuesday: Paul and Joanne Pelington
Wednesday: Michael O’Donnel
Thursday: Arnold Timmins
Friday: Stephen Chukwudi
Saturday: Peter Charles Byrne
If you wish for a Mass to be offered contact Fr. Emeka or the parish office

SUNDAY GOSPEL REFLECTION

THE CHURCH’S KEYS ARE IN PETER’S HANDS ( Matt 16:13-20)                                                                                                
I get so used to your Church. I take so many of your gifts for granted. Help me to live less superficially. Enlighten my mind. I want to appreciate the teaching and guidance you offer me through the pope and the bishops, through your saints, and through the rich doctrine of the Church. Lord,  I want to be able to defend the truths of your doctrine, to be able to explain them.
You are the one Lord, the one Saviour. And so many people just don’t know you! So many lies, so much misinformation and misunderstanding deceive them. Instruct me, teach me –  help me do my homework, so that I can bear the torch of your transforming truth with elegance, respect, and gusto…Fr. John Bartunek, LC

CONFESSION
Saturdays 11.00 am – 11.40 am, or call the parish to book at any time.

BAPTISM
If you want to have your child baptised please contact Fr. Emeka or call the parish office to book. Those booked before the lockdown  kindly get in touch with the parish office. Note that there will not be more than 30 in attendance.

ST CLARE’S SVP CONFERENCE  
The Union of opposites was the spiritual reading at this week’s conference “Zoom” meeting. Our present life is one of lots of opposites. We have the need to be close to those we love and those we wish to help but need to keep our distance (Social Distance indeed!) and so we may seem reserved and stand offish. If we do get close then we risk breaching the guidelines placed for our and others safety. 
I have visited a couple of beneficiaries because it would have been distressing to stay distant but probably crossed the line (that advised by SVP NO). The final prayer was “Lord may I understand how to bring all the opposites of my life into harmony”. Keep safe and well this week. God bless. Steve

ROSARY CORNER
 “In dangers, in doubts, in difficulties, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let not her name depart from your lips, never suffer it to leave your heart. And that you may obtain the assistance of her prayer, neglect not to walk in her footsteps. With her for guide, you shall never go astray; while invoking her, you shall never lose heart; so long as she is in your mind, you are safe from deception; while she holds your hand, you cannot fall; under her protection you have nothing to fear; if she walks before you, you shall not grow weary; if she shows you favor, you shall reach the goal.”        ~Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the

EUTHANASIA  AGAINST PATIENTS EXPLICIT 
Doctors in the Netherlands will now be permitted to euthanise vulnerable dementia patients, even if the patient explicitly expresses a wish not to die, a Dutch Supreme Court has ruled. Michael Robinson, SPUC Director of Communications said: “Vulnerable patients who deserve care and compassion are now to be put down like animals. This is a system open to abuse and exploitation.”

The parish of St. Clare’s sometimes collects personal information about parishioners. All personal information is collected, processed and stored in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations. This is retained only as necessary and used by the parish/Diocese for the benefit of the parish and for legitimate reasons such as administrative and religious purposes. You can read our full privacy notice at www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/about-us/privacy-notice.

News

Public Mass Resuming

We welcomed parishioners back to Mass last Sunday and Wednesday, and it was joyful. We had 22 attending on Sunday and 12 on Wednesday. The Masses will continue every Sunday and Wednesday at 9.30 am, currently with a maximum of 28 people in Church and still available via livestream for those who cannot attend at this time. The stewards as usual were at their best and everywhere much organised with a comprehensive hygiene standard in place.

We are also going to start a Saturday evening (vigil) Mass on the 25th July at 6.00pm in the car park. It will be a typical drive in Mass. Drive into the car park and stay in your car or stand out beside your car. A small chair may be of help if you cannot stand for 35 minutes. This is an outside Mass only and there will be no access to the Church itself. We pray for clement weather to have it going and welcome more people back to Mass.

Have your name and contact number ready

As you arrive, we will be asking for names and a contact number (please have this ready). This is to comply with regulations for “test, track and trace” – your information will not be shared other than in the event of someone testing positive for the virus. The information taken will be shredded after 28 days.

Sanitise your hands on entry

Hand sanitising is provided and is essential for entry to the Church even if you are using disposable gloves. Face masks are also available and are advisable. There will be no Offertory collection during Mass – a box will be on the hygiene station table as you leave for any donations.

Follow the one-way system, and keep 2 meters apart

Holy communion will be at the end of Mass, please wait in your seat until the Steward signals for you to come forward, follow the one-way system keeping 2 metre distance, receive Communion with arms stretched and in silence and then please leave Church without returning to your seat.

Protect others

Please do not come to Mass if you are unwell, have a temperature or have been exposed to Covid19

Newsletter

NEWSLETTER 15TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – 12/07/2020

MASS RESUMING IN ST CLARE’S

We announce that MASS will resume in St. Clare’s from Sunday 12th July at 9.30 am. All welcome. There will however be changes that you may not expect but are important to ensure that safety is paramount. With this in mind we have compiled the following list to give you an idea of the changes and for you to familiarise yourself with them. Above all we look forward to welcoming you to Mass on Sunday.

COVID PREVENTION INSTRUCTIONS FOR THOSE ATTENDING MASS

  • Church will be open this Sunday 12th July and Mass commence at 9.30am and there will also be livestreaming for those unable to attend.
  • Please do not come to Mass if you are unwell, have a temperature or have been exposed to Covid19
  • Please arrive early as the maximum capacity is 28 at 2 metre social distance
  • Seating will be allocated by the Stewards on a “first come” basis. Mass should start at 9.30am
  • As you arrive we will be asking for names and a contact number (please have this ready). This is to comply with regulations for “test, track and trace” – your information will not be shared other than in the event of someone testing positive for the virus. The information taken will be shredded after 28 days.
  • At all times observe 2 metre distancing and the “one way system”. Seating is maintained at 2 metres apart unless you are a family “bubble” of up to 4 people who may sit together.
  • As we have continued with the 2 metre distancing there is no requirement for face covering, but disposable masks are available if you would like one.
  • Hand sanitising is provided and is essential for entry to the Church even if you are using disposable gloves.
  • There will be no Offertory collection during Mass – a box will be on the hygiene station table as you leave for any donations.
  • Holy communion will be at the end of Mass, please wait in your seat until the Steward signals for you to come forward, keeping 2 metre distance, receive Communion with arms stretched and in silence and then leave without returning to your seat.

ROSARY CORNER

Our Lady has never refused me a grace through the recitation of the Rosary.

St Padre Pio

PRAY FOR THE SICK

Our sick, elderly, housebound and those in care homes are important members of our parish community. New names are in Bold Type. Please remember to pray for them each day as they carry their cross.
Dot Bell, Veronica Creaney, W. Downes, Mary Frain, Michelle Gentile, Katie Gray, Gwyn Harris, Lorna Jarvis, Judy Kearney, Ann Leach, Peter Lloyd, Rosemary McCabe, Kevin McCarthy, Gwen Spurr, Krysia Wesalak, Eileen Wyatt, Mark Wilson.

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK

Thursday: Anonymous Donor
Sunday: Maureen Byrne
Friday: Jerry Toping
Monday: Pat Creighton
Saturday: Parishioners
Tuesday: Tessa Creighton
Wednesday: Volunteers

CHESTER CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL FOUNDATION GOVERNORS

In Catholic schools, foundation governors are practising Catholics appointed by the Diocese. They make up the majority of the board members. A foundation governor has a responsibility to preserve and develop the Catholic character of the school, but like all governors, also has to ensure high standards of educational achievement by the children. To be effective, any Governing body needs to have a range of skills and diversity from both inside and outside the education sector. We are currently requesting the diocese to appoint 2 new Foundation governors to be in place for September 2020. If you feel you have something to offer and are able to make a commitment, please do consider putting yourself forward to be a Foundation governor at Chester Catholic High school. Full details of the role and how to apply can be found on the Diocese website.

ST CLARE’S SVP CONFERENCE

Our Conference Spiritual reading this week concerned “Searching”. It advised against becoming fossilised and being sure we know everything. It advises that we need to find joy in discovering something new and always having an open mind which may challenge long held views. We need to be looking to expand our horizons and allow our minds to be supple and open to learning, listening and growing. Keep safe and well this week. God bless. Steve

ST CLARE’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Our Year Six pupils were thrilled with their new ‘Lockdown Leaver’ hoodies to evidence that they left primary school in this momentus year of 2020! They received this gift early so that they could enjoy wearing it with their school friends! Ethan, Milly, Harvey, Ryan, Gareth, Patricija, Michael, Nel, Lexi, Alexis, Casey, Taylor, Jeremy, Lewis, Levi, Shaun, Rebekah, Wiktor and Oliwia are leaving St Clare’s this year and we will miss each and everyone of them. They are a wonderful group of young people, full of great talents and skills which I am sure they will continue to develop in their high schools. Thank you for your generous donations towards our Chester Zoo sponsored walk- we are very grateful.

Uncategorized

WEDNESDAY PRAYER: 17th June, 2020

Psalm 102

My soul, give thanks to the Lord, all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord and never forget all his blessings.
It is he who forgives all your guilt, who heals every one of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion, who fills your life with good things, renewing your youth like an eagle’s.
Give thanks to the Lord, all his hosts, his servants who do his will.
Give thanks to the Lord, all his works, in every place where he rules.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord!

LITANY OF PRAISE:

Response after each of our prayers of praise and thanks:

My soul, give thanks to the Lord!

SCRIPTURE READING:  1 John 4:7-11

My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love. God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away. My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another.  The word of the Lord.

REFLECTION:  Dorothea Eastwood

Once as I lay thinking of God’s love and wishing that I might feel it more strongly and surely, it struck me very forcibly that I had never yet asked that I should . . . and even as I thought this I seemed to understand something of his love for all people, seeing it as warm beams of light that glowed alike for sinners and the pure in heart. And because to the pure in heart all things are pure, so to these the beams were not darkened nor deflected, for the saints burned with their own radiance and their light mingled with the light of God and the two united together, clear and brilliant.
Yet there are not many who received the light in its first purity, for most moved in a dark mist which they shed about them as the pure shed their glow. Upon this darkness the beams of God’s love beat ceaselessly; they fell with the same force, warmth and brilliance as upon the saint, but because of the sinner’s own darkness, they could not penetrate and illumine him. Instead they encircled him so that he sat within the little black or grey cocoon of his own spinning, unaware of the glory by which he was encompassed. And I saw, too, that by my own love for a fellow creature I could assist God’s love to penetrate this darkness. His love is infinitely, unmeasurably greater than mine, yet my narrow beam might act as a needle-point to prick the way for this vast radiance to enter. I saw that it was even more vital to love the sinner than the saint, for the saint was already himself the light of God’s love, but without human love, the sinner’s darkness grew denser and spread further.
And suddenly I saw that I, a sinner too, was surrounded by this power and this glory. I had to look and to know what I needed and the light came rushing in. If I would ask, I too would receive it in all its purity and if I received it, there was nothing I could not do.
But I had grown used to my dark mist; and I was afraid the light might blind me, afraid I might be lost in its vastness; I saw that, like all the other roads to truth and beauty, it required not only the sudden vision of arrival but much trudging on the long journey and much study of maps and help from fellow travellers – patience, too, and strength and an inextinguishable hope and faith. And yet this love of God’s was the source of all those things.

INTERCESSIONS:  Lord, in your mercy . . . Hear our prayer

CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord, make me a means of your peace.
Where there’s sadness here, let me sow your joy.
When the darkness nears, may your light dispel our fears.
Lord, make me a means of your peace.