Dear Parishioners,

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and the World Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious life.
Pope Francis said recently: “Behind and before every vocation to the priesthood there is always the strong and intense prayer of someone.” That someone could a grandparent, parent, teacher, aunt or uncle, friend or sick parisioner, indeed any parishioner.
Such prayer in not necessarily long in words but should be persistent over time. To assist your prayer there are prayer cards available as you leave church where a five day prayer booklet available also. But please, only take one if you are determined to pray them.

Lord, Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd of our souls,

You who know Your sheep and

know how to reach the human heart.

Stir the hearts of those people

who would follow You

but who cannot overcome doubts and fears.

You who are the Word of the Father,

the Word which enlightens and sustains hearts,

conquer with Your Spirit the resistance and

delays of indecisive hearts.

Awaken in those whom You call the

courage of love’s answer: ‘Here I am, send me.’

 A final word from Pope Francis: “I wish to state this clearly to the young, whose youth and openness to the future makes them open-hearted and generous. At times uncertainty, worries about the future and the problems you daily encounter can risk paralyzing your youthful enthusiasm and shattering your dreams, to the point where you can think that it is not worth the effort to get involved, that the God of the Christian faith is somehow a limit on your freedom. Dear young friends, never be afraid to go out from yourselves and begin the journey! The Gospel is the message which brings freedom to our lives; it transforms them and makes them all the more beautiful. How wonderful it is to be surprised by God’s call, to embrace his word, and to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, in adoration of the divine mystery and in generous service to our neighbours! Your life will become richer and more joyful each day!

Today in Clitheroe there is a traditional benediction at 2pm during which we shall pray for vocations.

After Mass there is a retiring collection to finance the training of priests, men like Fr Frankie.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,

Those who regularly attend Parish Forum (our Parish Council) will have noticed that attendance has fallen over the past year to eighteen months. A number have told me that it is because meetings are too long: advertised as lasting an hour and a half, they have often stretched to two hours so that by the end, when there is a cup of tea and the chance of an informal chat, everyone wants to get off home. So, starting this Wednesday Forum will begin at the usual time of 7.30pm but will last for one hour only and tea will be served as parishioners arrive. The agenda will include matters arising from the minutes of the previous Forum, appraisal of recent events, only one or two major items for discussion and reports of 3 minutes each will be received from only three parish groups. (Since Forum meets every six weeks all parish groups will have the floor every few months).
The two major items this week will be a discussion of Fr Frankie’s departure and his testimonial and farewell event. The other item will be the future of the Parish Draw. The recommendations of the committee that was elected at the last Forum to look into the future of the Draw will be received and discussed.
At this Forum only, in place of three parish group reports we shall discuss this new format for the meeting and amend it if necessary.

As mentioned last Sunday, Fr Frankie will celebrate all Masses this weekend and take up his new post towards the end of the week. Fr Joe Gee will arrive on Tuesday 28^th April.

A few dates for your diaries.

Next Sunday 26^th April at 2pm: Latin Benediction.

Thursday 21^st May: Confirmations in both Churches at 7.3pm.

Monday 25^th May Spring Bank Holiday: the parish hosts the North West sponsored walk in aid of the charity Right to Life. Bishop John Arnold has agreed to join us.

Sunday 7^th June Corpus Christi: First Holy Communions in both Churches at 11am.

Sunday 5^th July Weld Day: one Mass for the whole parish will be celebrated on the parish field at 10.30am followed by the parish picnic.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,

The pressures that hospital chaplains face have increased immeasurably over the past couple of decades and so the diocese has accepted that it is unreasonable to expect one chaplain to carry the burden of a large modern hospital 24 hours a day over 6 days a week. So chaplaincy services to Blackburn hospital are to be supplied by a team of two priests who, while also serving the parishes of Holy Family Blackburn and Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Longshaw, will separately work fulltime (24 hour cover) in the hospital for 3 days each week. The remaining 24hours will be covered by a rota priests in nearby parishes. Fr Ged Barry, the parish priest of Holy Family and Our Lady’s will be the lead chaplain and his assistant both in the hospital and parish will be Fr Frankie. So Fr Frank is on transfer and will celebrate all Masses next weekend 18 & 19^th April before taking up his new post the following week.
That same weekend I will celebrate Mass in St Hubert’s, Dunsop Bridge to begin the process of growing the two parishes together. Mgr John Chaloner will continue to live in the Dunsop Presbytery and though retired will celebrate one Mass on Sunday mornings.

As you know Fr Frankie was appointed here for three years with a view to him then completing his ‘apprenticeship’ with a two year appointment in a city parish. That three year term has proved to be a little less than two but during this comparatively short time he has used his many talents to the benefit of both the parish and our primary and secondary schools. Christmas homilies will never be the same again! By happy coincidence the next Forum is scheduled for a week on Wednesday, 22^nd April, at which we shall discuss how we may show our appreciation and arrange a suitable farewell for him.

Fr Joe Gee is to replace Fr Frankie. Fr Gee is three years ordained and prior to that he spent many years teaching physics and science; his life giving the lie to the claim that science and religion are incompatible! He is a Manchester man whose family lived in Mount Carmel parish Blackley where I was first appointed after ordination in 1969. So, you might say we both go back a long way – though he was only a babe in arms at the time! He will take up his appointment at the beginning of May.

Fr John

Christus vincit,

Christus regnat,

Christus imperat

– Wishing you a Holy and Happy Easter –
Fr John, Fr Frankie & Janet

Dear Parishioners,

Seeing the elderly only as a burden “is ugly. It’s a sin,” Pope Francis said recently.

“We must reawaken our collective sense of gratitude, appreciation and hospitality, helping the elderly know they are a living part of their communities” and sources of wisdom for the younger generations, 78-year-old Pope Francis said at his weekly audience on 4^th March. “If we do not learn to treat the elderly well, we won’t be treated well either” when the time comes.
In a talk punctuated with references to his own family life, his grandmother and his experience visiting homes for the elderly in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pope Francis said even Christians are being influenced by cultures so focused on production and profit, that the biblical exhortations to respect the aged and draw upon their wisdom are being ignored. “We elderly are all a bit fragile,” the pope said, including himself among the aged.
The elderly he visited in Buenos Aires, he said, would often tell him that they had many children and that their children visited them. “And when was the last time they came?” the pope said he asked one woman. “She said, ‘Well, at Christmas.’ It was August. Eight months without a visit from her children. Eight months of being abandoned. This is called a mortal sin. Understand?” “It is so easy to put our consciences to sleep when there is no love,” he said.
“While we are young we are tempted to ignore old age as if it were an illness to hold at bay, we want to remove our growing fear of weakness and vulnerability, but doing so we increase the anguish of the elderly,” Pope Francis said.
“But when we become old, especially if we are poor, sick and alone, we experience the failures of a society programmed for efficiency, which consequently ignores the elderly.”
The elderly are the “reserve of the wisdom of our people,” they have experienced and survived the struggles to raise a family and provide them with a dignified life, he said. Tossing them aside means tossing aside their experience and the way that experience can contribute to making life better today.
A society that cannot show gratitude and affection to the elderly “is a perverse society,” the pope said. “The church, faithful to the word of God, cannot tolerate such degeneration.” “Where the elderly are not honoured,” he said, “there is no future for the young.”

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,

The following is taken from Pope Francis’ homily for Ash Wednesday last year.

He said, during Lent Christians are called to use the three things the Gospel recommends for spiritual growth: prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
“In the face of so many wounds that hurt us and could lead to a hardness of heart, we are called to dive into the sea of prayer, which is the sea of the boundless love of God, in order to experience his tenderness.”
With more regular and intense prayer during Lent, Christians are called to think of the needs of others, “interceding before God for the many situations of poverty and suffering” in the world.

As for fasting, Pope Francis said the point isn’t just to follow the rules for Lenten fasting and abstinence, because that could lead to self-satisfaction. “Fasting makes sense if it really chips away at our security and, as a consequence, benefits someone else, if it helps us cultivate the style of the good Samaritan, who bent down to his brother in need and took care of him.”
Fasting should “exercise the heart” to recognize what is absolutely essential and to teach one how to share with others. “It is a sign of becoming aware of and taking responsibility for injustice and oppression, especially of the poor and the least, and is a sign of the trust we place in God and his providence.”

He continued, almsgiving is a practice that should be common among all Christians, but especially during Lent. Christians give concrete help and attention to those in need — asking nothing in return — because they recognize how much God has given them even though they were not deserving. Almsgiving also helps free people from “the obsession of possession, from the fear of losing what they have and from the sadness of not sharing their well-being with others.”

“Lent comes providentially to reawaken us, to shake us from our lethargy.” The need for conversion is clear, he said. “There is something not right with us, with our society, with the church and we need to change, to turn, to convert!” The call of the prophets to turn back to God, “reminds us that it is possible to realize something new within ourselves and around us simply because God is faithful, he continues to be rich in goodness and mercy, and he is always ready to forgive us and start all over.”

So, some points to ponder during those snatched moments of silence that Bishop John recommended last week.

Fr John