Sunday Bulletin 20 Dec 2020

(fortnightly)

Smith Street, Warrington, Cheshire, WA1 2NS, England

Served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter by appointment from the RC Archdiocese of Liverpool. 01925 635664 – warrington@fssp.org

 fssp.co.uk/warrington/ – facebook.com/fssp.england

• Rector: Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP
• Assistant: Fr Ian Verrier, FSSP (also Choir & Organ)
• Assistant: Fr Alex Stewart, FSSP
• Visiting Priest: Fr Andrew Jolly
• Shrine Secretary: Mrs Jane Wright

Opening Times:

Sundays: 10:00am-1:00pm & 5:00pm-7:00pm (Holy Masses 11:00am & 6:00pm; Sung Vespers 5:00pm; Confessions 10:30am-11:00am & 5:30pm-6:00pm)

Weekdays: 11:00am-1:30pm (Confessions 11:40am-12:05pm; Holy Mass 12:10pm)

Saturdays: 10:00am-1:30pm (Eucharistic Adoration 10:00am-12noon, with ongoing Confessions; Holy Mass 12:10pm)

Daily Holy Mass online with homily: on LiveMass.net > Warrington: Sun 11:00am; Mon-Sat 12:10pm, and the same on demand 24hrs after 3pm upload for weekday Masses, and over 7days for Sunday Mass.

Safeguarding: If you have concerns about children or vulnerable adults, please contact the Archdiocesan Safeguarding Department on 0151 522 1043 or e-mail safeguarding@rcaol.co.uk, or speak with Clare Fraser, St Mary’s Safeguarding Officer. Thank you for your awareness.

Support St Mary’s Shrine: send your donation via our Donate page: https://fssp.co.uk/donate/.

Ask us for a Gift Aid form to increase your donation by 20% at no extra cost to you. Gift Aid envelopes can be obtained from our Secretariat. Standing orders are easier and quicker for us to process than cash: Lloyds Bank ; Sort Code: 30-80-27 ; Account number: 30993368 ; Account name: FSSP Warrington

COVID: Please observe social distancing, sanitizing and one-way system as signed, and kindly cover your face with a mantilla, scarf or mask unless exempt.

We thank our stewards who generously give their time to secure a safe environment for all visitors to St Mary’s. Please make sure to follow their instructions and abide by the regulations (unless exempt from some), including social distancing and one-way system.

 Use Priory Court Car Park through automated gates. Do ask the clergy for the access code on your next visit. Please park on any spaces to the FRONT & RIGHT of the pedestrian gate into the Presbytery garden and church, as the spaces on the LEFT of that gate are for office users.

Holy Mass booklets, rosaries for sale. Ask us after Holy Mass. Cash only.

Heartfelt congratulations to and prayers for: Martin and Georgie Turner on the birth of their first child Tamara last 13^th November; Matthew and Gemma Stankiewicz on the Holy Baptism of their first child Theresa Agnes last 12^th December; Lewis & Arran Hartley, Nicholas Tang on their Holy Baptism last 11^th December; and lastly John Sunderland on his Reception into the Church and Confirmation on 18^th December last. We include in our prayer a further three young adults under instruction to become Catholics, and any converts received at St Mary’s over the past few years.

Well done St Mary’s children who sang carols at nearby elderly home, with all Covid protections in place.

St Mary’s logo freshly printed on mugs and coasters: £10 for 1 mug + 1 coaster altogether (or £7/mug and £3/coaster). Buy yours before Christmas after Sunday 11am Mass in the Narthex (cash only).

Thank you to the families at St Mary’s Wednesday Educational Meeting for their very generous support to our Advent Charity Fund raising ‘soup kitchen’ amounting to £111.71 for the upkeep of Priory Court.

To date, Covid-19 vaccination is optional civilly and morally. No one should be forced to take it. Furthermore, even though the production of one such vaccine be proven to have no connection with the “abominable crime of abortion” (Vatican Council II, Gaudium et Spes, 51), the UK death rate so far doesn’t justify more stringent precautions against Covid than against flu. In addition, the Government and vaccine producers have warned against negative side-effects including serious risks to pregnant women and persons with severe disabilities. Classical moral theology teaches that remote material cooperation in evil (in this case, for vaccination with abortion-connected vaccines) could be justified if: 1) There must be no realistic alternative; 2) One must make known the moral objections; 3) There must be a sufficiently grave, proportionate reason.

UK Death Rate (Source www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=uk&v=26)

Since the UK death rate has not exploded so far compared with past years, and since a vaccine totally free from connection with abortion is to be hoped for, conditions 1) and 3) are not met in the present UK situation. Currently, one might choose to take a vaccine free from any connection with abortion if the threat of Covid contamination were felt greater than the known and unknown side-effects of Covid vaccines. 

Launching St Mary’s YouTube channel to make LiveMass recordings available permanently. Visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_NVY7jpDIhANiwjng1gN0w.

Homilies for Sundays and major feasts will be uploaded regularly. Thank you to our LiveMass/YouTube operators.

Annual Vocation Weekend: Fri 29 Jan 2021 at 17:00 – Sun 31 Jan 2021 at 14:00. For single Catholic men 18+. St Mary’s Priory, Smith Street, Warrington WA1 2NS, England. Contact malleray@fssp.org. [Obviously subject to Covid regulations in late January: check our website for updates.]

Prayer intentions for our sick: Frances Fawcett, John Marechal, Hilda Creagan, John Sunderland, Steve Humphrey.

HOLY MASS INTENTIONS

No bookings for our Masses, including Christmas. However, if you travel from a distance, we recommend that you arrive by 11:30pm on Christmas Eve for our carols service and confessions. This way you will be absolutely sure to have a seat. Late comers who could not have fitted in at Midnight will have the option to attend right after Midnight Mass a Low Mass (starting at about 1:30am, ending around 2:00am). Midnight Mass will start at midnight. Further Christmas Masses are 9:00am Low Mass and 11:00am High Mass.

by Fr AM

Reading Mass times, October 4 to October 17

by Fr SP

St Mary’s Shrine Bulletin Sunday 7 June 2020

Churches to re-open for private prayer on Monday 15th June:

Because ‘stewards’ will have to be present to ensure safety, there will have to be specific opening times. We will soon release them.

We need volunteers as stewards. They must be members of our community, with no health condition (and preferably under 70 years of age).

Read full guidance instructions here.

Mass intentions:

[More Masses are offered daily using the intentions booked on your behalf. Ask Fr Whisenant for further information if needded.]

Updating Mass times

While during lockdown LiveMass allows us to reach out to many souls far away from Warrington, the following enquiry is meant for those actually present in the pews under normal circumstances.

It will have been over three months without our congregation in the pews when Holy Masses resume, please God next month. Now is a good time to assess the needs and expectations of those among you who normally attend our Holy Masses.

While we kept the pre-existing 12:10pm weekday Mass since we took over St Mary’s in November 2015, we must recognise that this midday slot failed to attract those working in the town centre, who could have attended during their lunch break. On the other hand, nearly all of those who attend regularly could come at a more convenient time. Changing long-established Mass times must only occur if real improvement is expected. Thus, please email us your preferred Mass times, if applicable:

Monday-Saturday: 8am, or 9am, or 10am, or 11am.

Sundays: 8am and 11am; or (current schedule) 11am and 6pm.

Would you attend Sunday Vespers & Benediction at 5pm if continued after lockdown?

Any other suggestions regarding our regular activities?

Read the latest issue of our quarterly magazine Dowry here https://fssp.co.uk/category/dowry/ .

If you live in the UK and Ireland, you can have the printed version sent to you through subscribing here: https://fssp.co.uk/manageprofile/index.php

Thank you for your support to St Mary’s Shrine during this lockdonw and after. You can send your donation here, mentioning ‘Warrington’ is relevant: https://fssp.co.uk/donate/

Priory Campaign:

Dear friends, supporters and benefactors, thank you wholeheartedly for your continued interest for our Priory Campaign. While we already own Units Two & Three (bought last October for £480k, i.e. £240k each), we need to raise the remaining £125,000.00 (out of £240k) before 16^th October 2020 to complete the purchase of Unit One, currently leased to us.

As you are aware, our aspiration is to buy the remaining part of Priory Court (Unit 1) as part of the Campaign, but should we not have sufficient funds to convert and reconfigure the whole Priory Court building to better suit the needs of St Mary’s Shrine, then Unit One will be handed back to its owner in October 2020 and Campaign funds would then be used for the purposes of conversion and reconfiguration of the parts of Priory Court that we do own (namely, Units 2 and 3).

Each unit is 2,561 Sq ft on three floors. We will thus own 5,122 Sq ft, plus 18 parking spaces.

Please get in touch with us if you would like further clarification or wish to discuss a donation that you have made. Kindly email any inquiries to malleray@fssp.org.

God bless you.

Despite the lockdown, we haven’t been idle:

Like the entire country, our Priory Campaign has suffered from the Covid-19 lockdown. Work, social activities and fundraising were de facto suspended. But we were able to transfer all the music archives on new shelves into Unit One where our new Music Room is now located. This allowed us to move our liturgical items into the original church Sacristy, until then used as Music Room. With frequent solemn high Masses, Lauds, Vespers and Compline prayed daily, and many altar servers, the need for a dedicated sacristy was becoming critical. Playing musical chairs – no pun intended – our lay servers moved into the former Sacristy, originally the Servers’ Vesting Room. This in turn freed up the side Confessional they were using to hang their cassocks and cottas, now available again as a Confessional when the church re-opens. The last stage will be to move the free-standing confessional out of the Memorial Chapel where confessions have been heard for five years, and to have the chapel used for smaller groups, devotions etc. In addition, our only Meeting Room so far was in the Presbytery. Moving it out into Unit 1 allowed us to turn that room into a much needed sitting-room for our resident clergy and occasional guests (until then we only had the dining-room and kitchen as common rooms at the Presbytery). Last but not least, assessment has taken place to move all our administration into Unit Three. We need to create offices for the four priests, since so far all but one have only their bedroom for work. Our Secretariat, Archives and storage will also move there.

None of this would have been possible without the purchase of Units Two and Three last October. If God grants us to complete the purchase of Unit One, it will allow us to plan more activities beyond the immediate needs of Warrington, with your support.

Special intercessoress: the Servant of God Elizabeth Prout (1820-1864) founded the female branch of the Passionists with Bl. Dominic Barberi. Her congregation served deserving families in the North West. The Sisters of the Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ arrived in Warrington on 3 January 1899. Their convent, 80 Buttermarket Street, was beside St Mary’s Benedictine Priory.  They came to teach, to visit sick and needy parishioners, to instruct converts and to help the poor. The Sisters taught in St Mary’s girls’ and infants’ schools from 9 January 1899 to 1967. Her congregation now ask to be informed of any favour granted specifically through her intercession. This could lead to her beatification. With the 200^th anniversary of her birth occurring this September, less than a month before the fundraising deadline for our Campaign, I now request you confidently to make daily if you can the following prayer: “Servant of God Elizabeth Prout, to further your work of Catholic education and assistance to Catholic families in our country so much in need of it, please obtain from God’s Providence the successful completion of the Priory Campaign in Warrington, on the very location where your Sisters served for decades.”

by Fr AM

Easter in lockdown – a Sermon

A monk of my acquaintance once drily remarked, as he looked across at the banks of gloomy faces in the choir stalls opposite, that he sometimes doubted the Resurrection had really happened.

The point is well made. It can be easier in a way, for us Catholics, to identify with Lent and Passiontide than with Easter. Even if we haven’t kept our Lenten resolutions as well as we would have liked, we still relate more readily to the themes of penance and punishment, sacrifice, suffering, and death, than we do to joy and peace and new life.

And there is good reason for this. Suffering and anguish is ever present in our world – no one is spared it, to one degree or another, just as all will certainly undergo the sentence of death. But joy, when it comes, tends to be more fleeting, rapidly overshadowed by some difficulty. There is a risk that Easter, for us, becomes little more than a natural consolation, a merely temporary respite from gloom, when we are allowed to break the fast, put out flowers, and eat chocolate – with little sense of something life-transforming.

Perhaps this seems all the more the case now of all times, when the present pandemic continues to overwhelm just about the whole globe; and does not appear to be ceasing for the commemoration of Our Lord’s Resurrection. Indeed, we are denied even the consolation of celebrating Easter by attending the sacred rites.

And yet Our Lord has truly risen – and we must, we must, allow this glorious truth somehow to penetrate our lives.

There can be little doubt that the coronavirus pandemic is a divine chastisement. This really ought to be an uncontroversial statement, but it seems there is no shortage of people, even senior churchmen, to deny it. No doubt this ultimately springs from a loss of the sense of the supernatural, the recognition that God is the cause of all things whatsoever; but perhaps in part it is motivated by a false understanding of God’s love and mercy (“a loving God would never do that…”). And perhaps even more there is the anxiety that if we say God is punishing for sin, then we must ask, ‘which sin?’; and then it amounts to saying that those who die from the virus are the most guilty of that sin, that they apparently ‘deserved it’.

But that’s not really the case. Firstly, to us Catholics, it should come as no surprise if chastisement is visited upon a whole people collectively, or if the innocent are asked to suffer on behalf of the guilty. After all, both these aspects are precisely the themes of Holy Week. Your clergy have been reciting, in the Divine Office, the prophecies of Jeremiah, warning of the wrath upon Israel, the exile into Babylon, and the destruction of the temple – culminating in his haunting lamentations that are sung in the Office of Tenebrae during the Triduum. And then on Good Friday, we looked at Our Saviour upon the cross, He who was without sin accepting the terrible price for the redemption of sinners.

As to which sin God is chastising us for – well, there will always be the temptation to name our ‘favourite’, whichever of the innumerable manifold vices and perversions of fallen human nature pique our interest. There is more than enough to choose from in the secular society: abortion, euthanasia, same-sex “marriage”, gender ideology, human trafficking… the list goes on and on. Or there is the spread of false religions or militant atheistic ideologies. And then within the Church we can make another catalogue: clerical sexual abuse, rampant heresy, disobedience, and schism, disregard of Sundays and holy days, liturgical abuses, widespread impurity, indifference and faithlessness, sacrilegious Communions, badly made confessions (if made at all), and so on. It seems foolish to try and identify just one that is the cause of all our ills. But all of these things eventually boil down to one – the rejection of and failure to worship the One True God. And for this, our collective punishment is long overdue.

And in reality, all of these faults put together pale into insignificance next to but a single act of sacrilege or idolatry. We do not tend to feel it is so – but God’s view is not our view. God tends to punish precisely by abandoning the people to what they have craved. So in a world that elevates individualism over communal responsibility, perhaps it is fitting that there should be enforced ‘social distancing’; and if,  as I suggest, everything is ultimately about our failure to give God right worship, then we should not be surprised if we Catholics have to bear our brunt of the chastisement in our very particular way – the cessation of public Masses (and even, in some places – horribile dictu – of all the sacraments).

In fact, in a sense, this is the worst of the curses. To say this may seem to be incredibly cold and indifferent given the very real pain, suffering, and loss that many are going through at this time because of the virus, not to mention the horrific economic fallout. I do not mean in any way to diminish this. But we should recognise that man’s purpose and fulfilment lies precisely in the worship of God. We are more than the body only, and there is more than this life only.

This is felt all the more keenly precisely by those who are the most devout, who we would think least ‘deserve’ it, since they want to offer God fitting worship and are struck by its loss the most acutely. But it was ever thus. The prophets warned Jerusalem of what was coming and wept for it, while the hierarchy repeated complacent, empty mantras: “peace, peace, but there is no peace” (Jer. 6:14; cf Ez. 13:10), or “we have the temple” – then even this consolation was taken away from them (Jer. 7:4).

Israel had gone after false gods; and then the True God withdrew from them.

Probably this Easter many will feel much like Psalm 136: “by the waters of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Sion…how shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?”

And yet, the Babylonian exile was not forever. Israel was restored – at least in part – and the temple was rebuilt. And all this was for a sign of the death and Resurrection of Our Blessed Lord. Ecce, omnia nova facio (Rev. 21:5). Death is not the final word; Christ has claimed victory, and it is decisive.

Thus there can be joy, even in the midst of distress and bewilderment. It is not a transient sentiment, but a deep conviction that stems from faith of the love that God has for us, a love proved dramatically on Calvary. This joy does not simply happen on its own: it can and must be cultivated, through acts of faith and above all charity.

This present moment too shall pass. But will our lessons have been learned? Divine chastisement is never a matter of an angry God fulfilling a lust for vengeance. It is a correction; and as a correction, it is a loving act of mercy, a means by which God draws us back to Him. For our part, we should not be longing for things to ‘return to normal’, but rather seeing where we need a true conversion of heart.

Is this not the message of St Paul? “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed, to the end that we may serve sin no longer” (Rom. 6:5-6); and: “Therefore if you be risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead: and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also shall appear with him in glory” (Col.3:1-3).

May we never again take the Holy Mass for granted! May we come to treasure anew the beautiful gift of the Sacraments. Let us prepare well to make good, humble confessions, and approach the Holy Eucharist with awe. Let us resolve above all to pray always, with thanks in our hearts, and to take every opportunity to give to Almighty God the adoration that is owed to Him.

And if we do this, the mystery of Easter will have truly penetrated our lives, and the joy of the Risen Christ will be in us – and no one can take this away.

May God bless you, and Our Lady keep you.

by Fr SP

Sunday Bulletin 16 Feb 2020

Click here to open this bulletin as pdf.

(Memento homo quia pulvis es)

Confirmations: Archbishop McMahon O.P. will come to St Mary’s Shrine to confer the sacrament on Saturday 18^th July 2020 at 3:00pm, followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and refreshments.

Candidates from within and from without the Liverpool Archdiocese are invited to contact Fr Whisenant as soon as possible: henrywhiz@hotmail.com.

Thank you to the ladies and clergy who worked hard to prepare accommodation for our Annual FSSP Clergy Gathering at St Mary’s last 3-5 Feb. It was a great joy to see all altars and most choir stalls used for holy Mass and prayer daily.

By Sunday 23^rd Feb, bring from your homes last year’s blessed palms to burn to provide the ashes for Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday 26^th February. Day of FAST and ABSTINENCE for every able Catholic. Come to holy Mass and receive the blessed ashes: a powerful sacramental to begin our preparation to the redemptive Passion of Our Lord.

Dowry Magazine, Winter edition, is available on line and soon in print. Please share around you this special issue on Anti-Christian persecutions. Link here https://fssp.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/2020-02-03-Dowry-44-FINAL-online.pdf.

The re-dedication of England by our bishops as Our Lady’s dowry will take place at 12noon on Sunday, 29^th March, 2020. St Mary’s will host special events on that day.

Thanksgiving Mass for converts on Sat 21^st March, 12:10pm. We invite all adults received into the Church or baptised at St Mary’s over the past 4 years to join us with their families and friends on this occasion. Refreshments will follow.

Congratulations to our parishioner Martin Turner and his fiancée Georgie Burrows, who will be united in Holy Matrimony by Archbishop Malcolm McMahon in Liverpool Cathedral on 28^th February at 12:30. We assure them of our prayer.

2 vacancies at Charles Forbes Court on Mersey Street, over the fence from St Mary’s. Contact Donna Cowell 07799438993

Educational Initiative Regina Caeli Academy – coming soon to the North of England!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/regina-caeli-uk-29170853539

Our new Priory buildings give hope for increased educational opportunities at St Mary’s. A meeting here will be announced soon for all those interested (please suggest dates.)

SPUC Youth conference, Friday 28^th Feb – Sun 1^st March 2020. Willows Training Centre, Great North Road, Wyboston Bedfordshire MK44 3AL. £115 by 31/12 or £135, with one of the FSSP UK priests offering holy Mass each day. Contact us urgently for sponsorship.

Successful monthly Young Adults Group trek in the Delamere Forest last Saturday. Further event: 14^th March; 18^th April; 16^th May. Also, Juventutem Summer Weekend near London 3-5 July 2020.

Also, CHARTRES Pilgrimage: 30^th May-1^st June 2020.

40 Days for Life, MANCHESTER: Help save lives this Lent by praying for an end to abortion in our community. 40 Days for Life – 40 Days of prayer, fasting and public outreach for an end to abortion runs from 26th February – 5th April in Manchester. Launch meeting will be held on Sunday 23^rd February at 7.30pm at St. Kentigern’s Social Club, Hart Road, Fallowfield, Manchester, M14 7BB. Please come along to learn more. Web www.40daysforlife.com/local-campaigns/manchester-2/ Tel 07810 791032.

Mass Intentions:

(Other intentions were applied over the past 2 weeks at private Masses. Please ask Fr Whisenant for details.)

by Fr AM

All Saints and All Souls

We have two special days in the Church calendar this week:

All Saints on Friday 1 November:  Mass at 7.30 pm – this is a Holyday of Obligation.

All Souls on Saturday 2 November – trinated Masses at 10.00 am, 10.45 am and 11.30 am.  These ‘back to back’ Masses are being said for the first time at Christ the King.

by Fr PD

St Petronilla Summer Camp for Girls 2019 now underway!!!

Photos available here

by Fr SP