Dear Parishioners,

Easter Week and the planned changes around the diocese begin to be implemented, not least in our own parish.

On Wednesday night, the Dunsop Bridge Catholic Community met in St Hubert’s Church in response to the Bishop’s request that we arrange our weekend schedule of Masses so that one priest is able to celebrate the current two Masses in Clitheroe and one each in Dunsop and Sabden.
Our current schedule is a 6pm Saturday evening Mass (more correctly, the First Mass of Sunday) in Clitheroe, 9.30am in Clitheroe, 10am in Dunsop and 11am in Sabden. This schedule cannot be managed by one priest.

After discussion, it was agreed that the Sunday morning Masses in Clitheroe and Sabden remain as they are and that the Dunsop celebration move to a new time.
Every option was discussed including an early morning Sunday Mass and evening Masses on either Saturday or Sunday and eventually settled on a Saturday evening Mass at 5pm.
However, a 5pm Saturday evening Mass followed by Clitheroe’s 6pm Mass cannot be managed by one priest.
The meeting concluded with a request that I ask St Michael and John’s parishioners whether they would agree to their Saturday evening Mass reverting to the old time of 6.30pm?

So, the choice is:

5pm in Dunsop, followed by 6.30pm in Clitheroe, Sunday masses remaining the same.
or, 4.30pm in Dunsop followed by the usual 6pm in Clitheroe. Sunday Masses remain the same

But there is another possibility: a Sunday evening Mass in Clitheroe in place of the Saturday evening Mass, as follows:

5pm Saturday evening Mass in Dunsop

9.30am Sunday morning Mass in Clitheroe

11am Sunday morning Mass in Sabden

4pm Sunday evening Mass in Clitheroe.

What do you think?  Opinions please

Fr John