A “New Normal”…

Father John: (01420) 472 415 Email: jchandler@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk website: sacredheartbordon.co.uk

The Month of June: The month of the Sacred Heart

“We are here to make Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament better

known, loved, honoured, worshiped

and adored. All of our efforts in this parish

will be geared towards helping every

individual to discover the Lord waiting for

them to approach Him in the tabernacle”.

J.M.J

“The Parish will never be the same again”

Consumerism is toxic to our spiritual life. Apart from deliberate, grave sin, there is nothing worse than consumerism for the soul.

‘Consuming’ products and services can lead us to have interior attitudes that are incompatible with our faith and destructive to the relationship we have with God. Those attitudes lead us to wanting things ‘my way’ and believing that ‘I’ (the customer) am always right.

God is not a service provider, we are not His customers, the parish isn’t His ‘Limited Company’.

The Church is God’s House, His dwelling place, it’s not His office for ‘doing business’.

If we come to the Church with the wrong attitude (i.e. as a customer) we will think that the parish is there to serve ‘me and my needs’ instead of God.

If we approach prayer as a consumer, we will be telling God what to do for us instead of asking Him what we should be doing for Him….the ‘consumer attitude’ is something we will eradicate in the ‘New Normal’ here in the parish…..

12th Week in Ordinary Time

Shopping for a Church that suits me…..

If we were born into a Catholic Family, it’s likely that we didn’t have much choice in being Baptised!

Hopefully, as we prepared for our First Confession, our First Holy Communion and then our Confirmation, our Catholic Faith was explained to us more deeply by the Parish Priest involved in our formation and any catechists who helped out too.

Our Parents, Grandparents and Godparents might have given us their example of living the faith in a natural way at home, teaching us to frequent the Sacraments and to keep God’s Commandments.…. (if we attended Catholic schools) our teachers should have helped us too…..

We would have certainly been introduced to the Holy Bible, The Catechism of the Church and maybe even some of the Canon Laws of the church (like not eating meat on Fridays, for example)…..

We were also introduced to the devotions of the Church growing up, some of the ways the church has prayed and honoured God, the Angles and Saints since Christ Himself established the Church.

We were probably given some Rosary Beads, maybe a Brown Scapular. We would have been encouraged to have Holy Water in the Home, to wear a miraculous medal, to say our morning and night-time prayers, to have a statue of our favourite saint…..

We often take all of that for granted. Maybe you were lucky enough to have had all of those experiences and exposures to the faith, maybe you only had a few, maybe you experienced none of those things at all?

Maybe no one, (your family, teachers, catechists, Godparents, Grandparents or Parish Priest) explained these things to you but just expected you to accept them?

That’s the danger (sometimes) of being born into a Catholic Family…..

100 years ago, if we had never had the Faith explained to us, it’s likely that we would fall away and just stop practicing - but it’s different today.

It’s different because we’re living in a time where the transmitting of the faith has broken down. By that I mean all those things listed above - they can no longer be assumed or taken for granted.

We can no longer rely on Parish Sacramental Programmes or what is being taught in Catholic schools. We cannot assume that Godparents are taking their responsibility seriously.

It’s not always the case that the Catholic School prioritises the faith, over and above Ofsted inspections and requirements of Education Authorities.

It’s not always the case that the Parish is living up to what is expected of it by the Lord to Transmit the Faith.

So, as the parish begins to prepare to slowly, carefully and safely re-open…. As we enter a ‘new normal’ I am going to address this problem first of all.

This will be our priority in this Parish ….transmitting the Catholic Faith in all it’s richness, glory, beauty and truth.

As we make this our priority we will naturally move from ‘community to communion’.

As Parish Priest I am not going to assume that everyone sitting in the church has the same level of knowledge or understanding of our Faith. So we’re going to start again! We’re going to go over the basics. We’re going to be re-minded of the expectations the Church has of us.

The ‘new normal’ will provide us with an opportunity to start again.

The Parish isn’t something we shop around for, it’s not here to suit me and do what I like, we’re not customers.

If we have been influenced by consumerism and not had the Faith explained to us properly, we might not have an accurate understanding of why the parish is here….

The Parish is here for God. The Parish is here for us to worship, honour, adore and serve Him. The parish is here to proclaim the Teachings of God and to make Him known. This will be our top priority as we enter the ‘new normal’.

Social Media:………………………………….. The Parish has a Facebook Page, a Twitter Account and a YouTube Channel. Daily Mass is available on each of these three outlets. Obviously, that’s only helpful if you have those accounts or even a computer!!!! Unfortunately, given the situation we are in, we have no other choice. The Parish website is updated daily and anything important that needs to be transmitted will appear there too. So please do keep an eye on the Website: www.sacredheartbordon.co.uk Tuesday 23rd June:….…………………..…….. Please note that Mass on Tuesday will be live streamed at 12 noon and not the usual 10am.

Daily Mass Readings:…………………..…….. You can find these on the Parish Website and on the Parish Facebook Page each day. Mission Team:……………..…………...…..….. When the parish opens again, things are going to be different. The parish is going to become a real ‘Mission Centre’. We will move from ‘community’ to ‘communion’. Of course, there will be Holy Mass and the Sacraments and our Catholic devotions and formation sessions… but the ‘extra-curricular’ activities, our focus and emphasis will be focused on personal faith development and relationship with God and then our reaching out to make new disciples. I would like to develop a devoted team to help me with this task. It won’t be easy, it is going to be hard, we shall meet all kinds of difficulties…. Are you interested? Please email me for further information.

Electronic offertory:…………………………..….. If you haven’t managed to set up your electronic giving yet, please can you do so as soon as possible. The Parish Bank Account details are: Account Name: PRCDTR BORGA Sort Code: 309304 A/c no: 01755138

Before we can open the church there are several requirements we must meetl. These requirements include social distancing and the disinfecting of the church.

This is more easily achieved in larger churches, as there is more space… it’s not so easily achieved in smaller churches.

Regrettably, Immaculate Conception will not be able to open until we move into the next phase of easing the lockdown restrictions, it is simply not large enough.

It may be possible for St Joseph’s to open, in time, but this is not certain yet. Sacred Heart is more probable….

We are hoping for Sacred Heart to be open for private prayer on

Mondays: 9am – 12noon Wednesdays: 12noon – 3pm

Fridays: 6pm-9pm.

In order for us to be able to open we need stewards for each hour to help with sanitizing furniture and helping to maintain social distancing. Can you spare an hour or two? In keeping with Government and Diocesan Guidelines volunteers must be under the age of 70 and have no underlying health conditions. If can help, please email me for further information:

jchandler@portsmouthdiocese.org.uk

NOT YET

Sunday 21st June Glorious Mysteries Dedicated to the Resurrection

12th Week in Ordinary Time

Holy Mass: 10am Streamed on Facebook People of the Parish

Monday 22nd June Joyful Mysteries Dedicated to the Holy Spirit

Holy Mass: 10am Streamed on Facebook Hilda Chilton-Thomas RIP [F]

Tuesday 23rd June Sorrowful Mysteries Dedicated to the Holy Angels

Holy Mass: 12 Noon Streamed on Facebook Private Intention

Wednesday 24th June Glorious Mysteries Dedicated to Saint Joseph Birthday of Saint John the Baptist

Holy Mass: 10am Streamed on Facebook Vincent Vassallo RIP

Thursday 25th June Luminous Mysteries Dedicated to the Eucharist

Holy Mass: 10am Streamed on Facebook Canon David Hopgood Int.

Friday 26th June Sorrowful Mysteries Dedicated to the Holy Cross

Holy Mass: 10am Streamed on Facebook Margaret Murphy RIP

Saturday 27th June Glorious Mysteries Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Holy Mass: 10am Streamed on Facebook Vocations to the Priesthood

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen. We pray to the Holy Spirit at the end of the Homily and we ask St Michael the Archangel to pray for us at the end of Mass:

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.

A parish is not a community centre. It’s here for the greater

glory of God. We are actively working here in

this parish to make sure we keep the emphasis on God and not on

Man.