SPONSORED WALK

This morning at the 11:30am Mass we gave a special blessing to for students from Holy Cross College who are embarking on a sponsored walk to raise money to go to Lourdes as part of the diocesan pilgrimage.  They are walking from St Marie's to St Bernadette's on to Our Lady of Grace in Prestwich, The Servite Church of Our Lady of Dolours and finally ending up at Salford Cathedral.

O God who made the sons of Israel to walk with dry feet through the midst of the Red Sea, and who opened to the three magi, by the guiding of a star, the way which led to your Son; grant to these your servants a prosperous journey, that, attended by your holy angels, they may happily reach their destination and finally the haven of eterna lsalvation.

O God, protector and lover of the humble, you bestowed on Saint Bernadette, the favour of the vision of Our Lady, the Immacualte Virgin Mary and of speaking with her.  Grant through her intercession a safe journey to your servants who set out on this sponsored walk that they may come saelfy to their journey's end and one day be rewarded with the vision of your face in heaven. 

PREPARING FOR MARRIAGE

Last week we began our Marraige Preparation Course.  There are currently eight couples preparing for Maarriage and this morning at Mass we imparted a special blessing to them.  Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare to pladge their love for each other at the altar of God. 

Lord, strengthen the love and dedication of these couples who are preparing to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony. Help them to see beyond their wedding day to the covenant that will endure until death. In this blessed time of engagement, may each come to know their bethrothed better, that the love which they share may bear fruit in a happy marriage and ultimately eternal life in heaven. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen

 

Anthony and Laura
Wedding 15th September

 

Luke and Katie
Wedding 24th August



Martin and Carolyn
Wedding 5th May



Chris and Rebecca
Wedding 21st April



Stephen and Karen
Wedding 19th May

Monique and Dean
Wedding 20th July







BISHOP DAVIES...ON HELL

Bishop Davies of Shrewsbury has used his Lenten Pastoral Letter to talk about the subject of eternal life and the reality of hell.  The good bishop writes:

My dear brothers and sisters,

As Lent begins we are reminded of something often unmentionable and sometimes unthinkable: your death and mine. “Remember you are dust,” we are told as we receive the mark of ashes, “and to dust you shall return.” This is not for the Christian a gloomy or morbid thought on Ash Wednesday but one which charges our lives with renewed urgency to respond to the message Our Lord first announced in Galilee: “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” For “the blessed ashes placed on our foreheads,” Pope Benedict reminds us, “are a sign that reminds us of our condition as creatures, that invites us to repent, and to intensify our commitment to convert, to follow the Lord ever more closely” (General Audience 9th March 2011). As Pope St. Leo expressed this many centuries before: “All that each Christian is bound to do in every season we must now do with greater care and devotion” (Lent Sermon VI). It is the realisation of what the Psalmist calls “the shortness of our lives” which helps shape our priorities and gives each day a new urgency in the light of all eternity before us.

Today we can too easily lose sight of this perspective of eternity, failing to see what we have time for. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses so clearly: “Death puts an end to human life as the time open either to accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ” (CCC 1021). Blessed John Paul II observed at the beginning of this Millennium that the “people of our time have become insensitive to the Last Things” (Crossing the Threshold of Hope). Awareness of those Last Things has in the past stirred consciences and brought many to repentance and to the confession of their sins. And this is the urgency to which Lent and Easter now recalls us with the poignant mark of ashes. As that wise book The Imitation of Christ notes: “If you aren’t fit to face death today it’s very unlikely you will be tomorrow...” (Book 1:23). For “remembering our mortality,” the Catechism tells us, “helps us realise that we have only a limited time in which to bring our lives to fulfilment” (CCC 1007). Being aware of this limited time on earth and all that is to follow - our judgement, our purgatory, heaven or hell forever – becomes an urgent invitation to conversion in our lives.

At funerals today “a celebration of life” can often mean only looking back to a life now past rather than looking forwards to the “resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come”. The faith which allowed St Therese of Lisieux to say on her death-bed, “I am not dying; I am entering into life” (Last Conversations). The Church always prays as she believes and so it is not because we disapprove of the lyrics of Frank Sinatra or the chants of the football terraces that we insist that secular songs find no place in the prayer of the Christian Funeral. It is that the Church prays only as she believes. We treasure the memories of our loved ones but we also know where their hope and our own is placed. “Christ Himself … died for our sins,” St Peter tells us on this Sunday, “died for the guilty, to lead us to God” (I Peter 3:18). It is our faith which makes us realise that the faithful departed do not need our praises but they very much need our prayers. As the Catechism explains, each one of us at the moment of death, will, in our immortal souls, come to a “particular judgement” leading “to the blessedness of heaven” either “through a purification,” that is purgatory, “or immediately.” There is also a terrible reality of which the Gospel repeatedly speaks: “immediate and everlasting damnation” (CCC 1022). For “to die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love,” the Catechism explains, “means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice” (CCC 1033). Yes, this is the real and everlasting choice of our lives.

Purgatory is a consoling hope for us. As the Catechism explains: “all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (CCC 1030). This is why we pray at every Christian Funeral, indeed, in every Mass, that all the faithful departed may rest in peace. It is the prayer that, we hope, one day will be made for you and for me. As that great mother, St Monica, would finally ask of her sons: “lay this body wherever it may be … this only I ask of you that you should remember me at the Altar of the Lord wherever you may be” (Confessions Bk.9:11). And as this season of Lent begins with a reminder of our mortality let us be mindful of that urgent call which comes to us today: “The time has come,” Our Lord announces, “The Kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the Good News” (Mark 1:15). In the “Hail Mary” this becomes an intention so beautifully brought together when we ask Our Lady to pray for us at the only two moments which ever matter: “Holy Mary, Mother of God pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

May this time of grace lead us toward the eternal Easter.

+ Mark

Bishop of Shrewsbury

I WILL DESTROY... AND BUILD AT SCHOOL

For the last few months the staff and children at our primary school of St Joseph and St Bede have hadt oput up with the noise of drills, hammers etc, combined with dust, dirt and general upheaval but the inconvenience of it all has been with it. 

This coming week the staff and children will be able to move into a newly built and furnished resource centre that has been created by knocking through a few classrooms that separated the hall from the rest of the school.  In addition to the the resource centre the junior building now has a bright, welcoming entrance area and office. I also hear on the grape vine that the staff are pleased with their newly refurbished staff room and meeting rooms.

This is a great development in the life of our primary school.  Phase Two of work is to begin this Monday.  Watch this space!!!

The New Resource Centre and Learning Zone

Comnputers in the ITC Suite

Another view of the Learning Zone

The revamped entrace area and office
(still needs decorating but this will be finished over the weekend)

RELAY OF PRAYER

As part of the preparation for the Olympic Games children from all over our diocese have been involved in a Relay of Prayer.  An Olympic Torch (Torch of Prayer) has been making its way round to each school of the diocese.  Each school has been given a country participating in the games.  The children then had to research this country and prepare a presentation. 

As the flame is brought to a school the children then give their presentation to the children of the school receiving the torch and so the journey moves on.

Today was the turn of the two primary schools in our parish St Joseph's and St Marie's.  The torch was brought to St Joseph's by the children of Our Lady and St Paul in Heywood.  From there it was taken to St Marie's School and the children gave a wonderful presentation on their olympic country, Thailand. 

Here are some pictures from to-day's events

Children from St Joseph's prepare to march to St Marie's

Some of the children at St Marie's await the arrival of the torch

Children of St Joseph's give us a falvour of Thai dancing

The Relay of Prayer Team

AN EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

At this time of year, in the season of Lent, there is a greater emphasis on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession).  Many people wonder what they havet osay when they come to confession. They think that as they have not committed any 'major sins' they have nothing to confess.  All sin is major as it is a turning against God's love.  It is a turning away from our dependence on Him and relying on our own efforts,  It is putting ourswelves and our own pleasures before the will of God.

People usually do not know what to say in Confession as they have failed to properly examine their conscience before approaching the preist.  As a way of helping in this matter I post the following Excaminatino of Conscience and pray that you will find it useful during this Lenten Season.

________________________

 

YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART
Have I ignored God or excluded Him from my life and works?
Have been loyal to the Teaching Authority of the Church and been willing to profess my faith in public as well as in private?
Is my daily prayer a real conversation with God in mind and heart?
Have I put my trust in superstitions or involved myself in the Occult or Satanism?
Have I a true reverence and love for the name of God or have I offended Him through blasphemy, cursing or perjury?
Did I miss Mass on Sunday or Holyday of Obligation through my own fault?
Did I fulfil my Easter duties?
Have made a dishonest Confession in the past?

YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF
Have I been disobedient, rude or disloyal to my parents or lawful superiors?
Have Inbeen harsh or overbearing to those under my authority?
Have I neglected my duty to provide a religious education for my children and to help them to know and love their faith?
Have I been impatient, angry, proud, jealous or hateful to others?
Did l get drunk, use drugs, give bad example or scandal?
Have I been involved in vandalism; driven recklessly or injured anyone?
Did in any way co-operate in an abortion?
Have I been lazy at my work, in study, or in the home?
Have I been immodest or impure by myself or with others?
Have I placed myself in occasions of sin, by reading, listening to, or looking at what was indecent, or pornographic?
Have failed to show love, understanding and respect to my marriage partner or been careless about my marriage vows?
Have I used forms of birth control forbidden by the Church?
Have I been guilty of cheating, theft, or gambling rashly?
Have I received stolen goods? Have I made restitution?
Do I give a full day’s work in return for a full day’s pay?
Do I pay a full day’s wage to those who work for me?
Have I told lies to injure anyone or excuse myself?
Have I been considerate, kind and generous to others in thought or deed?
Have I given way to self pity, brooded over injuries or refused to forgive?

ASH WEDNESDAY AND LENT

The Season of Lent will soon be upon us.  It is a time when we traditionally taken on extra penances or works of charity to help us to overcome our sinful nature. 

Below are a number of Spiritual Exercises in the parish that might be of help during this Holy Season.

ASH WEDNESDAY – the First Day of Lent

Masses are as follows

9:00am in St Marie’s School

12:15pm in St Marie’s Church

2:00pm in St Joseph’s School

7:30pm in St Marie’s Church

Ashes will be distributed at all Masses that day.

Ash Wednesday is also a day of FASTING AND ABSTINENCE

Fasting:

For all in good health between the ages of 18 and 59.

One full meal and two snacks. No meat.

Abstinence:

For all in good health over the age of 14

No meat

CONFESSIONS IN LENT
In addition to the usual confession times (Wednesday 11:45-12:10, Saturdays 10:30 -12:00 at St Marie's)EVERY FRIDAY
in Lent Confessions will be heard from 6:30pm till 7:15pm at St Marie’s.

Make every effort to make a good confession in Lent.

The light is on for you. Come and experience the love and mercy of God.

TUESDAY CHALLENGE MASS
beginning on Tuesday 28th February there will be an
EARLY MORNING MASS at 6:30am

every Tuesday in St Marie’s Church.
Why not make an extra effort to come to that Mass in Lent?

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

begins 24th February at St Joseph’s and alternates each Friday with
St John’s Anglican Church in Sunny Avenue.