Shrine Bulletin 13 May 2020

• Bishops’ Message on Reopening churches
• Mass times &  intentions
• Patrick Cahill RIP
• Two new babies
• Stabat Mater Talk tonight 8pm
• Good Shepherd Homily: see further down.
• Church re-opening actions: see further down.
• Statistics LiveMass: see further down.

Let us pray with and for our bishops, that they may obtain from the Government the re-opening of places of worship as soon as possible.
https://www.cbcew.org.uk/catholic-bishops-respond-to-governments-lockdown-easing-plans/

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has responded to the government’s document released today, 11 May, titled ‘Our plan to rebuild: The UK Government’s COVID-19 recovery strategy’.

Statement

The timing and the manner of the opening of churches touches profound sensitivities and spiritual needs. The Government’s document and statements fail to recognise this.

The Government’s position, established today, includes these steps aimed at opening churches as soon as possible: the establishment of a task force for places of worship, to work closely with ‘stakeholders’ in ensuring that premises are COVID-19 secure; and heeding the experience of other countries in which churches are already open for worship.

In dialogue with the Government, the Catholic Church will continue its engagement in this process and has already submitted a detailed plan, in full accordance with public health guidelines, for churches to be opened for private prayer.

The Church is ready to play its full part in the task force, understanding that this includes the possible earlier use of churches for private prayer, as a first safe step towards their use for public worship.

Mass times & intentions 10-24 May 2020

Please pray for the repose of the soul of Patrick Cahill, the father-in-law of Phil Clarkson, of St Mary’s Men’s Group, who passed away in hospital fortified by the sacraments of the Church. Requiem Masses were offered in private at St Mary’s for the repose of his soul. We asure his daughter Donna and all the family of the deceased of our prayer in this time of grief.

TWO NEWBORN SONS:

Congratulations to Joshua and Samantha Langley on the birth of their first child Jacob, who was baptised just before St Mary’s had to be closed. It was Deacon Gilbride’s first Baptism (assisted by the priests).

 Also, congratulations to Tony and Becky Kiely on the birth of their sixth child Thomas, born during the lockdown and hopefully to be baptised soon.

We assure the parents of our prayers for their newborn sons and for all their families.
 

Stabat Mater Talk today 8pm

(Wed 13th May 2020)

The Men’s Talk this evening (Wed 13 May 2020 8pm) on LiveMass.net (Warrington live) will be given by Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP.

In response to interest expressed after a Lenten sermon on this topic, Fr de Malleray will offer the third part of a commentary on the celebrated Marian hymn.

While the Stabat Mater fits with Lent rather than Eastertide, its spirituality can benefit Catholic souls at all times, especially in the present sacramental dearth.

This is part of St Mary’s weekly Men’s Group (but surely Our Lady won’t object to women attending remotely). Litany of St Joseph and Sung Compline will follow as usual.

We recommend this sober and evocative renddition of the sung Stabat Mater with subtitles.
In your Baronius handmissal, pp. 450-451.

Donate to FSSP Warrington cf FSSP.co.uk/donate 

Good Shepherd Sunday, 25 April 2020, Warrington

[Homily by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP:]

Watch it on permanent access on our LiveMass Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/412857044

Church re-opening actions:

The following advice was given by a good pastor in England: It is important that the government, and in particular the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, Robert Jenrick, understands the specific importance to Catholics of popping into church to pray before the Blessed Sacrament and the depths of spiritual feeling of the Roman Catholic Community with regard to our need for the spiritual nourishment of receiving the Eucharist and the other sacraments. Bishops can express this to him, and the wider government, but their argument will be more persuasive if Catholics write to express to Mr Jenrick, calmly and clearly, their feelings. Please do this and tell other Catholics to do this. In this way you will be positively adding support to the presentations of the bishops.

Contact details: https://members.parliament.uk/member/4320/contact

Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Phone: 0303 444 0000
Email: https://forms.communities.gov.uk/

Email: robert.jenrick.mp@parliament.uk

Website
http://www.robertjenrick.com/

Twitter
https://twitter.com/RobertJenrick

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/RobertJenrickNewark

Please remember to write with courtesy, clarity and concision.

You may like to include some of the following considerations:

1. Clergy are front-line workers even by phone and email to support the population against depression, breakdown and violence caused by the lockdown. 
2. This key role of clergy must be recognised through the safe re-opening of their workplaces, the churches.
3. Every priest in charge can state the seating capacity in his cathedral, church or chapel.
4. A percentage of the seating capacity (20% to 30%?) is recognised as a safe amount of people to be in the church at the same time for public worship and/or private prayer.
5. Two pews must be left empty between worshippers to keep the 2-meter social distancing.
6. Only members of the same household may sit on the same bench. 
7. No one is admitted into the building without a sanitizer.
8. Confessions are permitted behind a screen, with sanitation of the prie-dieu.

The following message is shared here purely for the sake of inspiration. It was sent to a Catholic leader and is not destined as such to a Cabinet Minister.

“I am writing to ask that you and all the Bishops of England and Wales lobby the government to allow the reopening of Churches and the re-implementation of our Masses.
It has been 6 long weeks since our churches closed their doors to Masses, and 5 long weeks since we lost access to our Sacraments all together.
 
In this time I have stood in many a supermarket queue and dodged my way around many crowded aisles in order to feed my mortal body. During all of this it has been blatantly clear that the 2m rule cannot be kept and sanitation is impossible. You queue in the exact same spot as the person in front of you, milliseconds afterwards, as you move towards the shop door. You pick and handle your trolley or basket, and only then have the option of cleaning it. You play dodgems in narrow aisles which you are forced to walk down, despite never having needed the pet food aisle in your life. All the food has been handled multiple times: in preparation, in being stocked, potentially handled and put back by other shoppers, touched again by the shop assistants and put through conveyor belts and checkouts where a thousand other touched items have been that day. We are lying to ourselves that we can stay safe in a shop. Yet they remain open because we must feed our mortal bodies. 
 
So our immortal bodies must also be fed, and after 6 long weeks in the wilderness, my soul is starving. How, logically, can we crowd into small supermarket aisles where hundreds of people have passed through in the last half an hour, but groups of circa 50 people cannot meet in large churches once a week where social distancing can be easily implemented? How can we and multiple other people handle our temporal food in a supermarket, but we cannot receive our spiritual nourishment from the hands of one priest? 
 
What could be more important than our immortal souls? With every passing day, the chances of slipping away become ever greater. Priests throughout the ages have understood the importance of the sacraments, and died bringing them to their flock. I beg that you petition the government to reopen churches and you re-introduce the Sacraments to your starving flock as soon as possible. 
 
Your sincerely, N.”

LiveMass Statistics:
 

• 1/2 million pages accessed over past 6 weeks (includes all 5 LiveMass sites, mid-March until end April 2020)
• From: USA 62%; UK: 13%; Canada 6%; Germany 2%
• Warrington: 300 households connected daily (Mon-Sat Masses only); 3,000 households connected every Sunday (that is, Sunday Mass only, watched from Sunday to following Saturday included, not simultaneously)

Remarks:

• Connection duration varies globally: only 21% last over one hour.
• Since our global audience is mostly made of practising Catholic families with children, and during the lockdown period in particular, its seems realistic to count an average of three souls united in prayer during Holy Mass for each household connected. This gives an estimate of about 10,000 souls united at every Warrington Sunday Mass.
• Our Warrington record audience: 1,754 households connected on Maundy Thursday (live only).

Pray for the fantastic LiveMass team, a handful of lay volunteers spead in various FSSP aspotolate worlwide. They make this possible.
Tell your friends about LiveMass.net – including the LiveMass smartphone apps, the Vimeo, YouTube and Twitter associated accounts, the online missal and the up-to-date interactive map.

by Fr AM