2nd Sunday of Easter
Dear Parishioners
I do hope you were able to enjoy Easter, despite the weather!
I am very grateful to everyone for their kind messages about the prayerfulness of our simplified Holy Week and Easter Services and for your acknowledgement of the great efforts of our volunteer stewards whose presence makes you feel safe within St. Patrick’s Church.
Following the removal of the restriction to “Stay at Home” on 29th March, and thanks to the generosity of our volunteers, we will now be able to open St. Patrick’s Church for Mass on Tuesdays at 10 am, when no booking will be needed, as well as on a Sunday, at 10.30 am when booking will be required. The Tuesday Mass will commence this week on 13th April. Parishioners are welcome to attend both Masses.
To reserve a place for Mass on Sunday, 18th April, please telephone
07526 232124
on Wednesday, 14th April between 10 am and 12pm or
Friday, 16th April between 5.30 pm – 7 pm.
This number will be unavailable outside of the above booking times. Bookings cannot be made via the presbytery telephone number nor by email and can only be made for the approaching Sunday and not for any other dates. Text messages cannot be accepted as a method of booking.
You will be asked to provide your name and telephone number to comply with the NHS Test and Trace system and also the number in your family if you are attending as a household. Under the current restrictions you must only sit with members of your own household or bubble and not mix with people from other households.
On arrival at the church you will be welcomed by a steward and your name will be checked against the booking list.
For Masses where booking is not required please bring your Test and Trace details in an envelope and place them in the box in Church.
Please remember you are under no obligation to attend Mass. The Sunday obligation is still suspended. You should not come to Church if you are experiencing any signs of Covid-19 or feeling unwell in any way.
In the weeks and months ahead it is still important to look after one another, to comply with the restrictions and to pray that the Lord will continue to watch over us and keep us safe.
Lord God, keep us under the shadow of your protection
during this time of pandemic. Sustain and support the anxious
and fearful and lift up all who are brought low
so that we may rejoice in your comfort
knowing that nothing can separate us from your love
in Christ Jesus our Risen Lord.
God bless you all
Fr. Patterson
Mass to view on line
Mass is live streamed from our Cathedral on Sunday at 11.30 am and on weekdays at 12.05 pm. These Masses may be viewed live or anytime later.
Alternatively, you may like to follow Mass from the Holy Name, Jesmond celebrated live at 10.00 am on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
Mass Intentions for the coming week
With the exception of Sunday, I will celebrate Mass privately during the week remembering the following Intentions
- Monday – Joan Makepeace
- Tuesday: 10 am in St. Patrick’s Church – Lindsay Bradley
- Wednesday – Brian Grace Jnr
- Thursday – The sick, their families, NHS staff & Care Workers
- Friday – Private Funeral Service
- Saturday – Private Wedding Service
- Sunday: 10.30 am in St. Patrick’s Church – for the intentions of all our parishioners – booking is necessary
When you are unable to celebrate Mass with me in Church, you may wish to make this act of spiritual communion:
Lord Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love you above all things and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now 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.
In case you are not aware, a parish priest is obliged to celebrate Mass for the “Intentions of the Parishioners” every Sunday or Holyday, which prevents him from fulfilling personal intentions on those occasions.
Please keep in your prayers this week:
- all our parishioners who are sick, housebound or in hospital
- all those near and dear to us whose memories we cherish at this time Brian Grace Jnr and,
- Jim Connolly who has died. “Receive Lord into tranquillity and peace the soul of your servant whom you have called from this life. May she be taken up into glory with your Son in whose great mystery of love we are all united. Amen.”
A Prayer for Carers, Nurses and Doctors
Lord Jesus, who healed the sick and gave them new life, be with doctors, nurses and carers, as they act as agents of your healing touch. In desperate times, keep them strong yet loving; and when their work is done, be with them in their weariness and in their tears. Amen.
A time to pray
Please join together in prayer for the 127,040 people who have died in our country from the coronavirus. (Friday’s figure):
Gracious God, as we remember before you
the thousands who have died from the coronavirus,
surround us and all who mourn with your compassion.
Be gentle with us in our grief,
protect us from despair and give us grace to persevere
and face the future with hope. We make this prayer
in Jesus Christ our risen Lord. Amen.
Roadmap Step 2 (from 12 April)
These are the changes that come into effect on 12th April.
More businesses will open, but indoor settings should be visited alone, or with household groups.
- Outside, six people or two households can meet. We are still not permitted to meet indoors until before 17th May at the earliest.
- All shops are allowed to open.
- Hairdressers, beauty salons and other close-contact services can open.
- Restaurants and pubs are allowed to serve food and alcohol to customers sitting outdoors.
- Gyms and spas can reopen, as can zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centres.
- Members of the same household can take a holiday in England in self-contained accommodation
- Weddings – up to 15 people; Funerals – up to 30 people, with 15 at wakes.
- Children may attend any indoor children’s activity.
- Care home visitors will increase to two per resident.
- Driving lessons can resume, with driving tests restarting on 22 April.
The UK’s vaccination programme
This programme is beginning to break the link between Covid cases and death, scientists tracking the epidemic say. In the UK, Pfizer’s vaccine was the first to be administered in December, the Oxford-AstraZenca jab followed a month later and this week the Moderna vaccine started to be used. So far, more than 5.6 million people have been fully vaccinated with two doses, while 31.7 million have had a first dose.
Scientists found infections had fallen by roughly two-thirds since February, but had begun to level off. While the decline in cases has stalled – probably because people are beginning to mix more – deaths did not follow the same pattern.
This was not the case before January, when the vaccine rollout began and means scientists can identify decreases which are being driven by vaccination. The rate of decline of new cases “slowed considerably” after the first substantial relaxation of lockdown in England when schools opened on 8th March, the report says. Professor Stephen Riley at Imperial College London, one of the study’s authors, says the flattening off “probably does reflect increased social mixing”, some of that will be to do with schools opening up. It is “gratifying”, however, that rates did not go up when schools reopened, which Professor Riley says was “certainly a possibility”. Scientists and government would need to, in his words, keep a “close watching brief as the lockdown gets eased further.
Please do consider accepting your invitation to receive either your first dose or your second dose of the vaccine when it comes, not only for your own well-being, but for the greater good of all.
New Offertory Envelopes
The new boxed sets of Offertory envelopes, beginning Sunday, 4th April, 2021, are now available and may be collected from St. Patrick’s Church after Mass on Sundays.
During the course of the pandemic several parishioners have chosen to contribute by Bank Transfer or Standing Order and it is hoped they will continue to do so in the long term rather than use envelopes. This facilitates the financial administration of the parish. Please consider contributing by Standing Order. The details needed are provided below.
Thank you
Fr. Patterson is most grateful for a donation of £100.00 recently received for St. Patrick’s parish funds.
Your ongoing financial support is welcomed and needed
Fr. Patterson renews his thanks to you for your offerings during these difficult times especially to those parishioners who regularly contribute to parish funds by bank transfer helping to meet the regular financial commitments of our churches.
Should you wish, you may drop your envelopes through the presbytery letterbox. For security reason, envelopes should not be put through the letterbox of St. Alban’s Presbytery.
The parish is still able to reclaim the tax from Gift Aided offertory contributions made by bank transfer. It would be helpful to enter your name and Gift Aid envelope number as the reference when making the transfer.
The details for bank transfers and cheques are as follows:
St. Alban’s HSBC bank account name: DHN Pelaw St Alban, Sort code: 40-34-18, Account No: 92010984
St. Patrick’s HSBC bank account name: DHN Felling St Patrick, Sort code: 40-34-18, Account No: 52010453
