2nd August 2020 – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

As from next Monday, 3rd August, we will start to have Mass during the week at

10am. Monday – Friday in Clitheroe.

Wednesdays 7pm Sabden

Saturdays at 12 noon in Dunsop Bridge.

St. Michael and St. John’s Saturday 11 – 12 open for Private Prayer

(No Sunday Masses for the time being)

Hopefully all will go well, but if any problems or worries were to arise then we would immediately have to stop celebrating Mass again until things improved.

Everything is in place to help keep us all safe.

Stewards will be in the church from when we open the doors 30 mins before the start of Mass. Please follow their instructions. They will take you to your place and then direct you out of your bench to come forward and receive Holy Communion at the end of Mass.

Immediately after Mass has ended the church doors will be locked so that the stewards can sanitize the church.

Once again our thanks go to all our stewards, without their generosity we would not be able to come into church.

IMPORTANT THINGS FOR US TO REMEMBER

  • There is still No Sunday Obligation
  • If you are shielding or not well you should not attend church
  • Space in church is restricted to 60 people at Mass in Clitheroe
  • 20 in Dunsop Bridge
  • 24 in Sabden
  • No more that 30 can come into church for a funeral

Try and make Mass during the week your ‘New Sunday Mass time’.

“From 8th August face-coverings will be mandatory in indoor settings where people are likely to come into contact with others they do not know”.

This will obviously include whenever you come into church.
So when we begin to once again celebrate public Mass from next Monday
please remember to wear a mask
(unless you are exempt for whatever reason)

Baptisms, weddings and Requiem Mass, can now all be celebrated in church. Again, government and church guidelines apply, things will be somewhat different to what we have been used to, but we must follow the instructions if we are to remain open. Despite these changes it is so good that we are back in church.

First Holy Communions should have been celebrated a few weeks ago, but could not go ahead. Children will be invited to make their First Holy Communion in the Autumn, but this will obviously not be in a big group, it all needs to be well thought out. I will have more information when schools reopen in September.


LATELY DEAD:

We keep in prayer all who have died recently, especially Miles Fox.


Lourdes at Home – Friday 31st July – Tuesday 5th August.

Services from Salford Cathedral are live streamed via Church Services TV and can be accessed via the following links: https://www.churchservices.tv/salfordcathedral

Video messages and services will be hosted on our website and Facebook page which can be accessed via these links: https://www.salfordlourdes.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/salfordlourdes

They will also be hosted on our YouTube channel which can be accessed via this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/SalfordLourdesPilgrimage/


Feasts this week:

Tuesday                     St. John Vianney
Thursday                   The Transfiguration of the Lord
Saturday                   St. Dominic


RIBBLE VALLEY FOODBANK would like to thank all those still managing to donate food at the moment – we are very busy and your generosity is much appreciated.  We are currently short of the following items: washing up liquid, washing powder/liquid, shower gel, kitchen roll, sponge puddings, chocolate and sweets, and custard, and long-life fruit juice.  Our warehouse is currently open to receive donations on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10am – 12 noon, and on Friday from 9am – 11am – please call us for directions.  Thank you.
info@ribblevalley.foodbank.org.uk
Phone: 07849 534431


“Each time you do an action to end the scandal  of homelessness you are building up the Kingdom of God and the Lord will welcome you into the home that has been prepared for you in his father’s house”  –  (Fr Ged Murphy, Episcopal Vicar forCaritas Salford)

Caritas Salford’s Cornerstone Big Sleep Out was replaced this year with a Big Sleep In on July 10.  It almost passed me by and my sponsorship was retrospective.
An abbreviated version of the paper Home Truths: Re-Imagining a World Without Homelessness, prepared for the Big Sleep In and its associated Webinar, highlights an issue we should be concerned about and respond to.

Just six months ago, the idea of a world without homelessness was almost unthinkable.   Getting any key legislation passed has always taken much time and debate.  Whilst the COVID-19 virus has had an unprecedented impact on society as a whole, one thing that has been achieved is the very real sense now that key issues can be resolved in a timely manner with the right impetus.

The current pandemic has adversely affected many charities and voluntary organisations; some forced to suspend activities and some closed for good. Thankfully, all of Caritas Salford’s front-line services have continued to support the poor and marginalised during the lockdown, albeit with adaptations to implement social distancing.

During the early stages of lockdown, we were inundated with food donations, especially from local businesses, universities and large organisations seeking to avoid waste when obliged to close on 23rd March.  At the same time, there was a significant increase in demand for emergency support before local authorities were able to establish temporary accommodation and assistance to those sleeping rough.  Cornerstone was providing over 100 people a day with basic food and essentials.  Our services also found themselves supporting new groups of people, with furlough and redundancy causing inability of parents to feed their children and to afford the basics in life.

The national response to provide accommodation for an estimated 15,000 homeless and rough sleepers meant a reduction in the need for food parcels though some continued to come for food.

Not very far into lockdown, due to a variety of issues, 47 of Manchester’s 200 recipients of temporary accommodation ended up back on the streets highlighting an urgent need for more wraparound care and emphasising that a roof is not enough.    

 The Government has pledged to support rough sleepers with thousands of alternative rooms already secured.  The aim is “to end rough sleeping for good” which will be greatly aided by promised funding to help those trapped in substance misuse move towards work and education. Those who experience homelessness and multiple disadvantages are not a homogenous group.   

Mark Wiggin, Director of Caritas Diocese of Salford, stated recently that “the problem goes well beyond accommodation, for many people who are homeless have complex needs and are drug and alcohol dependent with the addition of mental health issues amplified by the stress and uncertainty of life…there’s a real need to re-instate services that have lost so much funding.”  He and other leaders of Catholic organisations have petitioned the Government to make this happen. Asylum seekers with no recourse to public funds are often overlooked despite being some of the most vulnerable.  Despite official commitment to provide funding it will not be enough if hotels close and rough sleepers return to the streets, a problem likely to be exacerbated by people who have lost jobs and homes during the pandemic, victims fleeing domestic abuse, and teenagers aging out of care.

The words I have given to the title of this piece are taken from Fr Ged Murphy’s Reflection on the theme of ‘What is Home?’ which was premiered on July 10 the day before the Prayer of the Faithful Mass on Saturday the 11th.   I like Ged’s downbeat presentation, delivered with a tone of simple humility.  View the presentation by clicking here.

Finally let us join with Bishop John in his prayer for the homeless:

Jesus placed himself with the most marginalised in society. We pray for those whose home is on the streets and for those who do not know where they will sleep tonight, whether due to poverty, family break-down, mental health, addiction problems or other complex reasons. Bring them your hope in their suffering, Lord.

Lord in your mercy…hear our prayer.

We give thanks for all who have taken part in or supported the Cornerstone Big Sleep In, raising awareness and funds for projects to help the homeless and destitute. May we never grow indifferent to those living on the streets and let our distress be transformed into direct action, working to make a world without homelessness a reality.

Lord in your mercy…hear our prayer.

We give thanks for our Caritas Salford family – staff, volunteers, trustees, school Caritas Ambassadors, Parish Caritas Reps and all who support our work in any way. Today we pray in particular for those Caritas staff on the front line who, throughout the pandemic, have shown the true meaning of Caritas – Love In Action – by adapting their services to meet the needs of the most vulnerable including the homeless and destitute.

Lord in your mercy…hear our prayer.

On this Feast Day of St Benedict, Patron of Europe, we pray that our continent of Europe will always be a place of refuge to those needing a home and, that mindful of our Christian heritage, we will always carry out Corporal Acts of Mercy without judgment.

Lord in your mercy…hear our prayer.

Let us place all those in need of care and protection into the loving hands of Mary, Jesus’ Mother and our Mother, as we pray together, Hail Mary…

Anthony Brown, Parish CARITAS Rep.


FROM THE ARCHIVES:

CONSECRATION ST JOSEPH’S CEMETERY 1869

A report from the Preston Guardian:

CLITHEROE

CONSECRATION OF A NEW BURIAL GROUND – Sunday last was a great day with the Catholics of Clitheroe.  The occasion was the consecration of a new burial ground.  Up to this time, the Catholics were obliged to bury all their dead at Hurst Green, a distance of six miles from the town, and very great and unnecessary expense was thus occasioned to the poorer portion of the congregation.  A plot of ground in the immediate vicinity of St Mary’s new burial ground, was by mere chance secured two years ago to the present pastor, the Rev.R.Cardwell.  He had always felt pained that the poor of his flock should suffer so much by the necessity of removing their departed friends to such a distance.  Thus, in spite of his own private feelings he was forced to use the acquired plot of land as a burial ground.  He felt the inconvenience that would be occasioned to a private dwelling in the immediate vicinity, and therefore he gave them every chance of securing an exchange of land.  If it had not been for this circumstance, the ground would have been used as a burial ground twelve months ago.  It was clear that no great effort was being made to secure the desired effect, so that at length he was forced to use the land for the object he had in view when he purchased the ground.  It is in extent a little over an acre, beautifully situated on a declivity, and it has been surrounded by a very substantially built wall.  Of the 130 yards of frontage to the road leading to Waddington 60 yards have been fenced in with an iron railing.  The congregation have all along shown the interest they have taken in the matter by going in scores in the evening after their day’s work to handle the spade and pickaxe and strip up the hedges, make roads, etc.  This was a cause of great comfort and consolation to the revered pastor, who saw in it a desire to alleviate the necessary expense as much as lay in their power.  For some time back the Catholics of the town have been looking forward to the day on which the Bishop of Salford had kindly arranged to visit them and consecrate the ground.  Although it is only about three years since the bishop conferred the sacrament of confirmation in Clitheroe to 240 people, The Rev. R. Cardwell thought he would give an opportunity to those of his flock who had not as yet received the sacrament of being confirmed on the 27th June, the day of the consecration of the burial ground.  As soon as it became known that his lordship would say the eight o’clock Mass, a great number manifested a desire to receiving the holy communion from his hands.  The services of two Fathers from Stonyhurst were secured, and the result was that his lordship administered the sacrament of the Eucharist to no fewer than 412 people.  He assisted at the 10.30 service, and administered the sacrament of confirmation to 125 persons, most of them adults, and many of them converts during the last three years.  Before administering the sacrament his lordship went into the body of the church and catechized the children.  It was a source of pleasure to their parents to hear the children answer the questions put by his lordship in such a satisfactory manner.  He then gave them some practical advice, and exhorted them to strive and lead good and virtuous lives, and not be led away by the wickedness of the world.  The great event of the day, however, was the consecration of the burial ground.  It had been arranged that the congregation should walk in procession from the church to the ground, and although the time appointed was four o’clock, the neighbourhood of the church was alive with people long before three o’clock.  At four o’clock the procession moved on in the following order: – The drum and fife band, preceded by a large banner, and followed by the Guild of St Joseph, two and two, each wearing a green sash edged with white; next came the little girls from three years of age upwards; then the children of St Agnes, in white, wearing white veils instead of bonnets; the children of Mary, similarly attired, or in blue, the most attractive part of the procession; next followed the young women and married women of the congregation; after them came Col.Towneley’s band from Whitewell, who walked before the boys; these were followed by the young men and married men of the congregation.  More than 40 banners of different kinds, some of them very beautiful, were carried in the ranks.  Although about 1,400 of the congregation joined the procession, more than 200 others did not take any part in it.  This part of the procession was followed by a carriage and pair (with an outrider), filled with ladies.  They were followed by five other carriages containing the altar boys and the clergy in their robes.  The procession was closed by the bishop’s carriage, drawn by four horses, with two postillions, containing the bishop in full canonicals, and his two deacons.  The progress of the ground was very slow, owing to the dense crowds along the route, which was very slow, owing to the dense crowds along the route, which were variously estimated at from 6,000 to 10,000 people.  The singing of the Litany of the Saints was very effectively rendered by the clergy.  The singing of the congregation was not so good, owing to their being too far asunder.  The ceremony of the consecration was watched with evident interest by all who assisted in it.  It had been arranged that the day should be closed by solemn service in the church, but the sacred edifice would not have been able to contain anything like one quarter of those who would have joined in the service, it was thought prudent not to have one.  Every Catholic of Clitheroe will long remember the 27th June 1869, a day so full of consolation and comfort to the Catholic heart.  They will now have an opportunity of frequently visiting the remains of their departed friends, and seek relief from their distress by shedding tears of comfort over their sad graves, and offer up a prayer to the God of all mercy for their eternal happiness. – After the proceedings a sumptuous dinner was given to the bands at the Brownlow Arms Hotel.


FROM THE SCHOOL LOG BOOK (GIRLS) 1886

Posted in Clitheroe, Dunsop Bridge, Sabden, Weekly View.