Dear Parishioners,

The diocesan trip to Lourdes in August was a great experience! It was filled with prayer, laughter and camaraderie. We were there for just under a week led by our Bishop Terence Brain. There were roughly 700 people in attendance from the Diocese with over 200 of them being teenagers and young adults who had fundraised to be out there and help look after our sick pilgrims during the week. Lourdes always carries with it a very special atmosphere and this year was no exception. One of my highlights is always going down to the Grotto late at night, where it’s all quiet and reflective, and surrounded by candles and people at prayer.
This year, for the second year in a row I was chaplain to a group of young people called “Old Bedian’s” . They’re made up of former students from St Bede’s Catholic School in Manchester, who were either University students or had just left St Bede’s. They were also assisted this year by one of our own parishioners from Sabden. Once again it was a great experience to journey with those young people throughout the week providing spiritual support and sharing laughter and fun with them. Many pilgrims comment on how they are inspired by the young people who work so hard assisting the doctors and nurses in looking after the sick pilgrims and how they throw themselves into the week.
Throughout the course of the Pilgrimage we had Mass every day with the Bishop, assisted by guest preachers from around the Diocese and accompanied by the Diocesan Lourdes choir. There was also the opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Sacrament of Healing, and the chance to listen to our future priests by attending catechesis sessions led by the Diocesan seminarians. There’s also a visit to the grotto itself and the opportunity to bathe in the Lourdes water. And not forgetting there’s plenty of time to relax and socialise, shopping, sitting in bars having coffee or having a few drinks of an evening.
One of the biggest inspirations of going to Lourdes is to witness people of all ages grow in faith and relationship with God, for in Lourdes one is blessed and encounters another level of faith.
We plan to organise a pilgrimage next year from the Parish to join with the Diocesan pilgrimage at the beginning of August. So watch this space for more details in the upcoming months.

Fr Frankie

Dear Parishioners,

Schools are back and a letter was sent on Friday to the parents of children in Year 3 informing them of the revised preparation course for First Holy Communions, Confirmation and Reconciliation. Letters were sent by hard copy and by email to ensure that at least one arrives in parents’ hands! If you know of any children living in the parish and not attending either St Mary’s Sabden or St Michael and St John’s and wishing to make their First Holy Communion, then please ask their parents to contact me or Fr Frankie.
A preliminary meeting for parents will be held in the school hall on Thursday 25^th September at 7.30pm at which the programme and it requirements will be explained.
Catechists are asked to meet in the Presbytery a week on Tuesday, 16^th September at 7.30pm

This year’s RCIA course will begin in four weeks time. The RCIA is an introduction to Catholicism and would be of interest to those wishing to learn more about the faith, or who may have missed making their First Communion or Confirmation, those who wish to join the Church or are simply curious about what makes a Catholic tick! The course is led by me, assisted by Fr Frankie and some who have followed the course in the past. We meet on Thursday evenings in the Presbytery large meeting room on Thursday evenings for one hour between 8 and 9pm. If you have a friend who may be interested but maybe shy of coming alone, then do please consider inviting them and accompanying them to the opening session. There is no obligation on any to continue with the course once it has begun. Anyone wishing to know more or who definitely wishes to attend please have a word with either me or Fr Frankie.
Would graduates of past RCIA programmes who might be interested in being involved in this year’s, please meet in the Presbytery briefly a week on Thursday, 18^th September at 8.pm.

You may have noticed that during the holidays we widened the distance between the church benches on either side of the central aisle in an attempt to ease access and make the benches more comfortable. Comments?
Following comments and suggestions made concerning the cushions on the front three central benches, the cushioning has been redesigned and introduced on the fourth, fifth and sixth benches. Please let me know what you think of these.

The 99 group please meet this Thursday at 7.30pm.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,

We welcome back our school community to a new academic year.
As you are probably aware St Michael and St John’s school is oversubscribed and no longer able to accommodate all the Catholic children living within its catchment area.
As a result of the increasing number of houses being built in Clitheroe this situation will grow more acute. So we must adapt to ensure that children who are unable to attend a Catholic school will have the opportunity of joining the diocesan preparation programme for the reception of First Holy Communion and the sacraments of Confirmation and Reconciliation.
A new programme will begin after a preliminary meeting with parents of children who attend both our school and other non-Catholic schools in the area and who wish their children in Year 3 (and above) to receive their first Holy Communion in June next year. At the meeting I shall explain the new arrangement which is outlined below and which is based on the principle that parents are their children’s primary teachers of the faith. Parents must then apply in writing to join the course.
Excluding December, children and parents will attend a monthly 9.30 Sunday Mass and afterwards for half an hour children will meet with their catechists. Parents will meet with one of the priests. During the second period of half an hour parents will join their children and help them complete some simple exercises. Then the following Sunday all will attend the 9.30 Mass to celebrate some aspect of what they learned the previous week.
I do not hide the fact that this new arrangement will demand commitment and sacrifice on the part of both children and parents. Where that commitment is not made then the family will be asked to leave the programme.
During the past couple of years at both the Olympic and Commonwealth games we have seen something of the commitment and sacrifice made by the participating athletes, abled and disabled alike, in order to win a medal. During this important year as our children prepare to receive the greatest gift of all, the Eucharistic Body of Jesus himself, then they and their parents must be prepared to prioritise this programme above all other activities. The choice is theirs.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,
the following is an extract from a recent talk given by Pope Francis.

A Christian is part of a people with a history. The Christian belongs to a people called the Church and this Church is what makes him or her a Christian, on the day of Baptism, and then in the course of their education in the faith. But no one, no one becomes Christian on his or her own. If we believe, if we know how to pray, if we acknowledge the Lord and can listen to his Word, if we feel him close to us and recognise him in our brothers and sisters, it is because others, before us, lived the faith and then transmitted it to us. We have received the faith from our fathers, from our ancestors, and they have instructed us in it. If we think about it carefully, who knows how many beloved faces may pass before our eyes: it could be the face of our parents who requested our Baptism; that of our grandparents or of some family member who taught us how to make the sign of the Cross and to recite our first prayers. Or it could be the face of a priest, or a teacher or a catechist, who transmitted the contents of the faith to us and helped us to grow as Christians. So, this is the Church: one great family, where we are welcomed and learn to live as disciples of the Lord Jesus.
We are able to live this journey not only because of others, but together with others. In the Church there is no “do it yourself”. At times one hears someone say: “I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, but I don’t care about the Church”. How many times have we heard this? And this is not good. There are those who believe they can maintain a personal, direct and immediate relationship with Jesus Christ outside the communion and the mediation of the Church. These are dangerous and harmful temptations. It is true that walking together is challenging, and at times can be tiring: it can happen that some brother or some sister creates difficulties, or shocks us. But the Lord entrusted his message of salvation to human beings, to us all; and it is in our brothers and in our sisters, with their gifts and limitations that he comes to meet us and make himself known. And this is what it means to belong to the Church. Remember this well: to be Christian means belonging to the Church.
Dear friends, let us ask the Lord, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, for the grace never to fall into the temptation of thinking we can make it without the others, that we can get along without the Church, that we can save ourselves on our own. On the contrary, you cannot love God without loving your brothers, you cannot love God outside of the Church; you cannot be in communion with God without being so in the Church, and we cannot be good Christians if we are not together with those who seek to follow the Lord Jesus, as one single people, one single body, and this is the Church.

Fr John

Tampico Dear fellow Parishioners

Last Sunday Pope Francis spoke of Iraq:
“The news coming from Iraq leaves us in disbelief and dismay: thousands of people, including many Christians, brutally driven from their homes; children dead from thirst and hunger during the escape; women who are abducted; people slaughtered; violence of every kind; destruction everywhere, destruction of homes, destruction of religious, historical and cultural patrimonies. All this greatly offends God and greatly offends humanity. You cannot bring hatred in the name of God. You cannot make war in the name of God! All of us thinking on this situation, on these people, let us make a moment of silence and pray. I thank those who, with courage, are bringing relief to these brothers and sisters, and I hope that an effective political solution on an international and local level can stop these crimes and restore the law. To better assure my closeness to these dear people, I have nominated Cardinal Fernando Filoni as my personal envoy to Iraq.”
Pope Francis also entrusted Cardinal Filoni with an undisclosed amount of money for the relief of the refugees.

Now, to a matter nearer to home. The NHS is consulting on its proposal to reorganise hospital chaplains by creating a generic chaplaincy service. In practice this means that chaplains regardless of their religion or denomination will be appointed to specific wards or numbers of beds regardless of the patients’ religions and differing spiritual needs. At first glance this reorganisation of chaplaincy services may appear to be an efficient use of chaplains but it totally ignores the specific needs of faith communities like ours, and those of Jews, Sikhs or Muslims, all of whom have rites which only chaplains of their own faith can administer. So, a Catholic in hospital would want a priest to anoint them, or hear confession or a priest or lay minister to bring them Holy Communion that was consecrated at Mass in a Catholic church. A chaplain of another religion or denomination is not able to do this. So it is simplistic to think that a chaplain can be a one size fits all!
At the present the NHS constitution guarantees the right to a chaplain of one’s own denomination but now this is under threat. Please consider writing a simple letter to Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, Secretary of State for Health, Department of Health, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A, stating that it is your right as a Roman Catholic to have the services of a Roman Catholic chaplain when a patient in a NHS hospital and this right should not be withdrawn. Also send a copy of your letter to Simon Stevens, Chief Executive, NHS England, PO Box 16738, Redditch, B97 9PTOr email England.ce@nhs.net or chaplaincy.guidelines@nhs.net

The collection for the material spiritual relief of Iraqi refugees will remain open for the next two weeks.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,
Bishop Declan Lang on behalf of our catholic Bishops’ Conference has appealed on behalf of the persecuted Christians of Iraq:

I invite you to join with people from across Iraq in praying for an end to the violent persecution that threatens to extinguish the ancient Iraqi Christian community. Bishops in Iraq have selected today as a day of prayer.
Events in Iraq over the past few weeks have been disastrous. Christians have been systematically driven out of Mosul. A community of 60,000 before 2003 has dwindled over the years and is now down to almost nothing. For the first time in 1,600 years, no Masses are being celebrated in Mosul. Many Christians have fled to the surrounding Nineveh Plains and into Kurdistan as militants from the Islamic State, formerly the Islamic State of the Levant (ISIS), threaten those who do not subscribe to their fundamentalist ideology.
We are witnessing today an act of religious and ethnic cleansing toward Christians as well as other minority communities, as extremists drive people out of the lands that have been their home for thousands of years. Some churches have been converted into mosques, ancient monasteries lie abandoned and the homes of Christians have been daubed with signs that would mark them out as a target for the extremists.
I call on our government and those of other states to prioritise action to save the Christian and other persecuted communities of Iraq and to offer them the help and support they need urgently.
I invite the Catholic community to support Aid to the Church in Need as well as all other Catholic charities offering emergency and pastoral support to Iraqis at a time of great crisis.
Most important of all, I appeal for your prayers so that God may show the people of Iraq his infinite mercy: comfort the mourners, bind up their wounds and heal the broken-hearted in those biblical lands that have been a cradle of civilisation.

Prayer for Christians of Iraq

Lord, the plight of our country is deep
and the suffering of the Christians is heavy and frightening us,
therefore we ask you Lord to assign our lives,
grant us patience and courage
to continue to witness our Christian values with trust and hope.
Lord, peace is the base of any life;
give us peace and stability to live with each other
without fear, anxiety, with dignity and joy,
glory to you forever.

† Louis Raphael I Sako
Chaldean Catholic Patriarch

There will be a voluntary collection after Mass,

Fr John

Dear Parishioners,

On 3^rd September 1914, following the outbreak of World War One, Benedict XV was elected pope. He immediately embarked on a number of projects to stop the war that he condemned as “the suicide of civilized Europe.”
In November 1914, Benedict published the first of his 12 encyclical letters. The greatest and wealthiest nations, he wrote, were “well-provided with the most awful weapons modern military science has devised.” He went on: “There is no limit to the measure of ruin and of slaughter as day by day the earth is drenched with newly shed blood and is covered with the bodies of the wounded and the slain.” He reminded all of Christ’s words, “A new commandment I give you: that you love one another.”
On December 7th 1914 Benedict pleaded with all sides to hold a Christmas truce, asking “that the guns fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang,” to allow for negotiations for an honourable peace. His plea was ignored, but there were informal truces along parts of the Western front.
Benedict also believed in action. He opened a Vatican office to reunite prisoners of war with their families and he tried to persuade neutral Switzerland to take in any combatants who were suffering from tuberculosis. While the Vatican’s bank balance was not healthy, he spent 82 million lire on relief work.
In July 1915, Benedict published a letter “To the Peoples Now at War and to Their Rulers.” The diplomacy that followed culminated two years later in a seven-point plan, or a peace note, as it was modestly termed. The peace note contained many of the suggestions of the 1915 letter, proposing a cessation of hostilities, a reduction of armaments, a guaranteed freedom of the seas, international arbitration, and Belgium restored to a guaranteed independence. All sides should forgo claims of compensation (the ignoring of which was to prove so disastrous a part of the Versailles Treaty that lead to WWII). Only Britain did not oppose the note outright and was willing to explore the possibilities. Germany’s initial interest was lost when the collapse of Russia made an Allied victory less likely. French President Georges Clemenceau simply viewed the proposals as evidence that the Vatican was anti-French!
Benedict failed to stop or curtail the war but two years before his unexpected death from pneumonia in 1922 at the age of 67 his efforts were recognised by the Muslim Turks who erected a statue of him in Istanbul to commemorate “the benefactor of all people, irrespective of nationality or religion.”

Had Europe heeded Pope Benedict’s repeated pleas, millions of lives would have been saved and probably neither Stalin nor Hitler would have come to power.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners

Today we celebrate; Day for Life. First, an extract from Lord David Alton’s speech in the Lord’s debate a week ago followed by a most remarkable story.
‘How much autonomy is there in this Bill? I think that the word “assisted” in the title is the key. Who will be required to do the assisting? It will be doctors, of course, and very few want to do it. One of my sons is training to be a medic, and he tells me that he is deeply concerned about this Bill because of the proposals to change the nature of the healer and defender into the destroyer of life. That is why the British Medical Association, the Royal Colleges, the British Geriatric Society, the hospices and 95% of palliative medicine specialists oppose a change in the law. We had a reference earlier from my noble friend Lady Grey-Thompson to Professor Theo Boer from the Netherlands. He said that he now regrets that on the basis of the argument for greater autonomy and freedom he supported changes in the law there. He said: “I used to be a supporter of the Dutch law. But now, with 12 years of experience, I take a very different view.” Pressure on doctors to conform to patients’—or in some cases relatives’—wishes can be intense. Professor Boer admitted he was, “wrong—terribly wrong, in fact”, to have believed that regulated euthanasia would work. One reason why he has changed his mind is because of the inevitability of incrementalism. Euthanasia, he says, is, “on the way to becoming a default mode of dying for cancer patients”. Since 2008, assisted deaths in Holland have increased by about 15% every year, maybe reaching a record of 6,000 a year. What of incrementalism here? The 2011 commission of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer, said that assisted dying should not be offered to disabled people who are not terminally ill, “at this point in time”. At what point in time will it be right to offer to end the lives of people with disabilities? How long will it be before it becomes expected? Only today the Secretary of State for Health, the right honourable Jeremy Hunt, said that changing the law would “devalue” the lives of people living with permanent disabilities.

Finally, in her autobiography Mother Courage, published last Friday in Portugal, Dolores Aveiro, wrote “At the time I was already 30 and had three children, and it seemed to me I couldn’t face a new birth and a bigger family so I turned to a doctor who, however, refused to operate on me.” Her husband was an unemployed alcoholic who later died in 2005. The doctor’s reluctance and his attempts to dissuade her from an abortion did not stop her from attempting to abort her child herself. She failed. Then little by little she relented and decided to welcome her fourth child. “If it’s God’s will that this child be born, so be it.”
On February 5, 1985 she delivered a healthy boy who grew to be one of the world’s most famous footballers: Cristiano Ronaldo.

Fr John

Dear Parishioners

The holiday season has begun and I wish all parishioners a restful break and safe travel.

Today the Church in the British Isles celebrates its annual ‘Day for Life’ dedicated to celebrating and upholding the dignity of human life while respecting all God’s creation.
Pope Francis tells us what being a protector of life is: “protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world… It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.” The pope speaks of “protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.” He emphasises the importance of the family, “husbands and wives first care for each other, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents.” He also stresses the need for us to care for society by “building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, all creation has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it.”
Today we pray that we may prove to be builders of a better world and protectors of life. There is a retiring collection at Mass to support this work and prayer cards are available for you to take.
I write this on the eve of the Falconer debate in the Lords. An international survey by The Economist in 2010 ranked Britain top among 40 nations, including the United States, for quality of end-of-life care. What is needed is to ensure that everyone has access to the best palliative care available. In contrast, assisted suicide is a counsel of despair. No one should ignore the fact that every organisation and lobby group representing the disabled in this country is totally opposed to this bill and we pray that it will be defeated.

When parishioners ask me for a character or a faith reference I’m happy to oblige, provided that I know the individual. However it may be many months before a school or whatever actually makes a request. So, to jog my memory and help me provide an honest and full reference I have produced a form for those seeking a reference. Needless to say, no one should give my name as a referee without consulting me first.

The 99 group (evangelisation) please meet on Thursday at 8pm in the Presbytery.                                                    

Fr John