St Wilfrid's Parish Newsletter W/B 29th March

The Parishes of

OUR LADY IMMACULATE, BRYN & St. WILFRID, ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD Liverpool R.C. Archdiocesan Trustees Reg. Charity No. 232709

Archdiocesan website : liverpoolcatholic.org.uk

Parish Priest: Rev. John Gorman

Our Lady’s Presbytery, Downall Green Rd, Bryn, WN4 0LZ. Tel: 01942 727271 email: ourladysbryn@rcaol.org.uk Deacon: Rev. Malcolm Cunliffe 01942 725522 Wigan Hospital Chaplaincy: 07525 399769

Week commencing: 29th March 2020 5th SUNDAY of LENT (A) Parish Mass Book: Page 170 Order of Mass: Page 7 Preface of Lazarus: Page 72 Eucharistic Prayer 1 for Reconciliation: Page 37 5th SUNDAY of LENT (A) Saturday Sunday

6.00pm 9.30am 11.00am 6.30pm Weekday Masses

Prosper Donnir Pat Makin Mary Gates Parishioners

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Chris Brien Private Intention Brian Whittle Tom Riley Peggy Burns Sick & Retired Priests

9.00am 9.30am 9.30am 9.30am 9.00am 10.00am

PALM SUNDAY (A) Saturday Sunday

6.00pm 9.30am 11.00am 6.30pm

Andrew Devine Special Intention (TW) Frank Hayton Parishioners

Offertory Envelopes Those who use Planned-giving envelopes may either hand them in to Our Lady’s Presbytery (or post them through the letter-box) each week or every couple of weeks.

Alternately, forms are available for anyone who wishes to arrange a Standing Order.

Services during the week Confessions: There are no Confessions until further notice.

Rosary: There is no public recitation of the Rosary until further notice.

Stations of the Cross: There are no further public Stations of the Cross this Lent.

Holy Hour: There are no public Holy Hours until further notice.

Novena: There is no Novena until further notice.

29th Mar 31st Mar 1st Apr 2nd Apr 3rd Apr

Anniversaries Catherine Bird John Giverin Stanley Hull John Morris Elizabeth Davis Mary Mitchell Thomas Riley Frederick Witherington Harriet Clough Joseph Gaynard Bryan Topping

Sanctuary Lamp The Sanctuary Lamp will be lit this week for the intention of: Food Bank Our Lady’s: Healthcare Workers Available dates: 5th & 19th April At this difficult time for everyone, please remember to support our Food Bank, for those who are most in need in our area.

St Wilfrid’s: Arthur Ethell Available dates: 5th & 19th April Prayers, please Catholic Pictorial Pray, please, for the repose of the soul of Martin Finnerty of Catholic Pictorial are offering a digital Medway Close, Bryn, who died last week. His burial took download of the April edition. The link is place on Friday and it is hoped to hold a Mass in memoriam at https://bit.ly/2Uz4oIx a later date.

The ‘School’ of Nazareth Many of you will have heard me speak before about the ‘school’ of Nazareth, a phrase Pope St. Paul VI used on his visit there in 1964. On Wednesday, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, I was fortunate enough to be able to see Mass from Nazareth, and was very struck by the words of Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and what he said we can learn from Nazareth for our present situation. To paraphrase his words, there are, he said, 2 lessons for us: 1. ‘Nothing is impossible to God.’ In the Gospel, this is the angel Gabriel’s response to Mary’s question: ‘How can this come about?’ Mary is a virgin, and her kinswoman, Elizabeth, barren and getting on in years. And yet the angel speaks of them both giving birth. How can this be?

Human ingenuity can, and has, achieved so much in many different fields, such as science, technology, economics etc, and, to an extent, we have come to believe in our own power.

And yet, now, we feel power-less.

At the Annunciation, by God’s power, there is life where none seemed possible. And so Mary of Nazareth teaches us to trust in God, for ‘nothing is impossible to God.’ 2. Mary’s ‘yes’ to God at the Annunciation began for her a period of gestation, of expectation, of silent pondering. Our culture, our style of life, leads us to expect everything at once.

By contrast, now we cannot say when we will be open again, when our projects will come to fruition. But God has time.

This, then, is to be for us a time of patience, of prayer, and of listening—an opportunity to pray at home (for parents to learn to pray with their children) to read the scriptures, and to listen and to contemplate the Word of God at this time. Let us take the opportunity which is being given to us.

Behold 2020 Behold 2020 is the event that celebrates the re-dedication of England as "The Dowry of Mary" at 12 noon on Sunday 29th March 2020.

On the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1381, King Richard II dedicated England to Mary in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey in thanksgiving for his kingdom being saved at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt. England received the title ‘Mary’s Dowry’, meaning that England was ‘set aside’ as a gift – a dowry – for Our Lady under her guidance and protection.

On Sunday we can respond in two ways: by making a personal promise and a communal entrustment.

Our personal promise brings us closer to Mary, the first disciple of Christ. In this we join in her joy by following her openness to God’s call. The Angelus Promise is a prayer of commitment in which we proclaim our own “Yes” in union with Mary through the words of the Annunciation.

Our communal entrustment unites us together as the people of our country in prayer, by renewing the vows of dedication made to Mary by our ancestors. The Act of Entrustment of England to The Virgin Mary is a prayer of profoundly historic and spiritual nature. Bringing together the prayers of surrender and dedication that have echoed through our history.

In preparation for the Re-dedication, everyone is invited to pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary at 7.00pm on Saturday evening, and then pray the Angelus Promise and Act of Entrustment (attached) at 12 noon on Sunday.

IIIIII

Latest Developments Despite our best efforts to keep the Churches open for people to be able to call in on their own, Monday’s announcement by the Prime Minister has, unfortunately, made it impossible for us to continue to do so. This was followed up with an instruction from the Archbishop that all Churches are to remain closed, even for private prayer, until further notice, on the basis that this is giving cause for people to leave their homes and, most often, those who should not be doing so. I'd like to thank all those who helped, or offered to help, to keep the Churches open, and hope that, in the long run, this may be one of the benefits to come out of all of this.

To assist people at home, the following resources are available; 1. The Catholic National Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady in England has launched 27/4 live video streaming, featuring the Holy Mass offered three times daily. In addition to this, all night Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours, talks, Spiritual Reading and Divine Mercy Chaplet will also be shown.

This seems the most comprehensive resource, and can be accessed, for those with the internet, at www.walsingham.org.uk The full schedule is as follows Morning 08.30 - Morning Prayer 09.30 - Holy Mass 10.30 - Talk 11.00 - Rosary 12.00 - Angelus and Holy Mass Followed by Adoration until 3pm

Afternoon 15.00 - Divine Mercy Chaplet, Benediction and Rosary 15.45 - Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 16.00 - Spiritual Readin 17.00 - Vespers

Evening 18.00 - Angelus and Holy Mass in Latin followed by Rosary 20.00 - Compline and Meditation 20.30 - All night Exposition 2. For anyone with Sky TV, EWTN on Channel 588 has a similar schedule with Mass at 12 noon each day.

3. Morning & Evening Prayer, the Readings of the Day, and other elements of the Liturgy of the Hours can be found www.universalis.com 4. Other resources for those unable to participate in the celebration Mass, for a Spiritual Communion, and in times of flu or viruses are attached.

E-mail Addresses It may be that those of you receiving this newsletter by e-mail have other addresses that Fr John does not have, so I would ask that you forward it to anyone you know who would want to receive it.

If you have received this indirectly, or by pigeon-post, and would like to receive it directly, then please e-mail ourladysbryn@rcaol.org.uk and you will be added to the mailing list.

Cessation of Public Acts of Worship

The Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales has agreed that all public acts of worship in churches will cease as of the evening of Friday 20th March. This includes all public Masses.

This is not a decision which is taken lightly, but is one which is believed to be in the best interests of all the faithful, in light of government guidance.

The following will apply for the celebration of the Sacraments and sacramentals of the Church at this time: 1. Mass will continue to be offered at the usual times for the intentions which are published.

This must, however, be behind closed doors without the faithful present.

The obligation to attend Sunday Mass and Holy Days is removed for as long as this continues.

The continuing celebration of Mass ensures that the faithful can join in spiritual communion with the priests of the Church. The Catechism states: As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out. (#1364) 2. Baptisms will be deferred until such time that the public health advice is that congregations can gather safely, except in cases of necessity.

3. First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion for the children in Our Lady’s and St. Wilfrid’s will be postponed until a time that allows for families and friends to gather safely within our churches.

4. The Sacrament of Matrimony will be deferred until such time that people can gather in numbers safely. However, if this is not possible, and only in the most pressing of circumstances, those present for the marriage should be restricted to the celebrant, bride and groom and immediate family.

5. The Anointing of the Sick and Viaticum will be given to the sick who are in danger of death.

Please contact Fr John as soon as possible where this is the case.

6. There can be no Requiem Masses until further notice. A Funeral Service may take place at the graveside or at a crematorium, subject to the conditions laid down by the relevant authorities. Arrangements can then be made for a Mass to be celebrated in memoriam when congregations are allowed to gather.