CAFOD COLUMN; development agency of the Catholic Church in England & Wales. FAMILY FAST DAY FRIDAY 10

MARCH

Florence is a hard-working mother who is devoted to her family. A few years ago, she was only just making enough to feed her fam-ily. However, CAFOD’s partner, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, rec-ognised how determined Florence was to stand on her own two feet and so they gave her 500 tiny fish, tools and training to build a pond and farm fish. By selling some of the fish at market, Florence was able to give her children a future – she was able to send them to school. Please support this Lent Fast Day, to ensure more people like Florence can turn tiny fish into something amazing.

• We pray for the Pope’s prayers intentions for February That those who are afflicted, especially poor, refugees and marginalized, may find welcome and comfort in our communities.

• In our deanery we pray for the people of the parish of SS. Michael and Bernadette, Whitefield, and for Father Christopher Lough, their parish priest.

• We pray for all who live or work on Crown Rd, Mill St, South Ave and Hamer St. • We pray for Doreen Pollard, Roni Prior, Anthony Whitworth, Kath Foulkes, Kath Hearne, the resi-

dents of Heywood Court and all the sick • and Jeff Ashworth, Rita Eyles, Trudi Shearing, Mary Langdon, John Greenwood and all who died

recently and for Sr. Anne, Margaret Branigan, Louie Doody and all we remember at this time.

From the early days of our parish:

May 1944 May Queen, Marie Spicer, of 47 Bridge St. May 1945 May Queen Joan Morrison of Cedar Ave. May 1946 May Queen Margaret Higgins of Heys Lane. Bernard McKenna of Horwich to replace John Mahon as Headmaster. Canon Vereker seeking closure of St. Joseph’s school due to heavy traffic, noise and dust and the transfer of the mortuary. Both unpleasant for young children. From the Advertiser, courtesy of John Gwilliam

NEXT SUNDAY’S (5/3/17) MINISTERS

6.30pm (St J) 9.30am (St. J) 11.00am (OLSP)

Reader 1 S Gibson M Schofield D Doyle Reader 2 : B Brown P Cunningham P Greenall E.M. 1 S Fitzsimons R Windle P Greenall E.M. 2 M O’Neil H Sharrocks J Wildman E.M. 3 J Mathews D Sharrocks D Tierney E.M. 4 A Noonan C Shore E.M.5 K Kenny G Hennon E.M. 6 L Mather Children’s Liturgy: N Davies and P Caffrey

WELCOME: PARISH COMMUNITY

Thanks for your generosity: Gift Aid : £672.12, Loose : £434.66, Developing World Fund: £63.14. This weekend there is a retiring collection for the Buildings Fund.

WORKING together as the Body of

Christ in Heywood and beyond

This week’s Feasts: Tue: St. Oswald, monk and Bishop of York. Wed: St David: Born in Cardigan around 520, he founded mon-asteries, known for their austerity of life, until being made a bishop and primate of Wales; he settled his See at Mynyw (Menevia), and died there in about 588. St. Swithbert, born in England, studied in Ireland, died at Dusseldorf in Germany in 713. He was Apostle to the Frisians (people, not cattle). Fri: St Casimir, son of the king of Poland, born 1458, known for his practise of and love of the poor, died at 26, remembered for his love of the Eucharist and Our Lady.

We now have a parish website which is still a work in progress but which contains the weekly newsletter. It is www.catholicheywood.com Thank you to Matt Conway for setting us up for the Digital Age! Is anyone interested in being webmaster? The cooker in the parish centre is beyond repair and needs replacement. However, there are issues with the gas fittings which need to be looked at. The parish is awaiting quotes and will see finan-cial assistance from the councillors of Heywood Township to replace it. If you are new to the parish or have come back to Heywood, or back to Mass, do say hello to some of the congregation who, hopefully, will also say hello to you!! Do introduce yourself to the priests. The parish Developing World Group meets at the Presbytery at 7pm on Thursday 2nd March. At the end of March the Gift Aid envelopes will be available. Thanks to your generosity and hard work from our Finance Committee we are getting better in terms of our Finances. Part of that is because parishioners who pay tax, on salary, pension or savings, sign a GiftAid form which enables us to claim back 22p for every pound they give. If you are in this category and HAVE NOT YET signed a GiftAid form, please give your details to Fr. Paul or Fr. Alf and we can claim money back from Teresa May with nothing more than your signature.

Nastepna Sw. Msza: 26 lutego o 16:00, Środa popielcowa I posypanie popiołem; Sw. Msza 18:00 w kosciele Sw. Jozefa

WORSHIP AND DISCIPLESHIP

1st March is ASH WEDNESDAY

Mass and Blessing of Ashes 7.30am St. Joseph’s Service & Blessing of Ashes, Holy Family College 10am St. Luke’s Class services and imposition of ashes, St. Joseph’s Primary Mass and Blessing of Ashes St. Joseph’s church 12noon Service and Blessing of Ashes for Our Lady and St. Paul’s

school in Our Lady and St. Paul’s church 2pm Mass and Blessing of Ashes (polish) St Joseph’s church 6pm Mass and Blessing of Ashes Our Lady and St. Paul’s church 7pm Ordinariate Eucharist & Blessing of Ashes St. Joseph’s 7.30pm This Lent the weekly 6.30am Mass, followed by breakfast will be on THURSDAYS, rather than Friday, starting on Thursday 2nd March. There will be Stations of the Cross and Benediction on Sundays at 3pm, apart from the First Sunday of Lent On Friday evenings of Lent, starting on 3rd March, but excluding 10th March, there will be a reflec-tive time of Prayer around the Cross from 7pm-8pm and church will stay open till 10pm. Come for five minutes, or an hour or any time in between. The Lent Lunches will be: 8th March Trinity Methodist 15th March St. Joseph’s 22nd March Heywood Baptist Church 29th March St. Luke’s 5th April St. John’s A short service takes place at 12.30pm followed by a soup and cheese lunch, with donations to Christian Aid/CAFOD. Our Deanery Lent Station Mass is on Thursday 16th March with Bishop John at Our Lady of Grace, Prestwich, at 7.30pm

WORD: GROWING IN FAITH and IN KNOWLEDGE OF FAITH

Copies of Walk with Me for Lent, a booklet with a short reflection for every day in Lent, are available in church this weekend. Please take a copy. If you wish you can leave a donation of £1 but it is more important that everyone takes a book and uses it. There are also Lent Calendars for

Families. Please take one. Grandparents, why not take one for your grand-children. Family Fast Day is Friday 10th March. Envelopes available next week-end.

RCIA/Journey in Faith continues on WEDNESDAY 1st March at 7pm. IF YOU FEEL THAT GOD IS CALLING YOU INTO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, or wish to deepen your understanding of the Faith, speak to Fr. Paul/Fr. Alf. The next Baptism Preparation Meeting is Sunday March 26th 6pm, St. Joseph’s Presbytery. Contact Fr. Paul or Fr. Alf before attending. Lent Spiritual Reading? Why not try: Fatima, A pilgrim’s companion 20 Answers: Miracles Elizabeth of the Trinity An Invitation to Conversion; Lent and Easter with Pope Francis Each costs £2.50 and is available from the CTS rack at the side of St. Jo-seph’s church (by St. Anthony).

PARISH OF OUR LADY & ST. JOSEPH, HEYWOOD part-

ner with St. Joseph’s, Numan, Nigeria

Parish Priest: Fr. Paul Daly paul.daly@dioceseofsalford.org.uk Assistant Priest: Fr. Alfred Rebello

St. Joseph’s Presbytery, Mary St, OL10 1EG Tel: 369777

Chaplain - Fairfield Hospital: Fr. Andrew Starkie (Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham)

Our Lady & St. Paul’s Presbytery, Argyle St, Heywood, Ol10 3PB Tel: 625512 PARISH WEBSITE www.catholicheywood.com

26th February 2017

(Shrove) Tuesday

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Mass, followed by refreshments Women’s World Day of Prayer Service Reflective Prayer around the Cross

First Sunday of Lent

Date Mass, other Services and Parish Events Time

9am 9.30am 1.30pm 7-8pm

Church

St. J St. J St. John’s St. J

St Joseph’s Church (St J) Our Lady and St Paul’s (OLSP) Events in italics: Ordinariate Parish Church: St. Joseph’s Church, Mary St, OL10 1EG Chapel of Ease: Our Lady & St. Paul’s, Sutherland Rd

Mass and Blessing of Ashes Service & Blessing of Ashes for Holy Family College Class services and imposition of ashes Mass and Blessing of Ashes Service and Blessing of Ashes

Sw. Msza i posypanie popiołem

Mass and Blessing of Ashes

Eucharist & Blessing of Ashes

RCIA/Journey in Faith

Mass

Mass

Sung Eucharist

Sw. Msza

9.30am 11am 11am 4pm

St J OLSP St J St. J

Mass 9.30am St. J

7.30am 10am 11am 12noon 2pm 6pm 7pm 7.30pm 7pm

St. J St. Luke’s St. J Primary St. J OLSP St. J OLSP St. J St. J Presbytery

ASH WEDNESDAY Day of Fasting (only one full meal (and two snacks) and Abstinence from meat. The obligation to fast applies to Catholics aged 18-59 and

abstinence for those aged 14 and over. Obviously illness or heavy work excuses one from

fasting.

We return to our reflecting on the Church’s teaching, as contained in the Catechism of the Catho-

lic Church (CCC1091-6) In this sacramental dispensation of Christ's mystery the Holy Spirit acts in the same way as at other times in the economy of salvation: he prepares the Church to encounter her Lord; he recalls and makes Christ manifest to the faith of the assembly. By his transforming power, he makes the mystery of Christ present here and now. Finally the Spirit of communion unites the Church to the life and mission of Christ. In the sacramental economy the Holy Spirit fulfils what was prefigured in the Old Covenant. Since Christ's Church was "prepared in marvellous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and in the Old Covenant," The Church's liturgy has retained certain elements of the worship of the Old Cove-nant as integral and irreplaceable, adopting them as her own: -notably, reading the Old Testament; -praying the Psalms; -above all, recalling the saving events and significant realities which have found their fulfillment in the mystery of Christ (promise and covenant, Exodus and Passover, kingdom and temple, exile and return). It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then, that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called "typological" because it reveals the

newness of Christ on the basis of the "figures" (types) which announce him in the deeds, words, and symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured sal-vation by Baptism, as did the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ, and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist, "the true bread from heaven." For this reason the Church, especially during Advent and Lent and above all at the Easter Vigil, re-reads and re-lives the great events of salvation history in the "today" of her liturgy. But this also demands that catechesis help the faithful to open themselves to this spiritual understanding of the economy of salvation as the Church's liturgy reveals it and enables us to live it. A better knowledge of the Jewish faith and religious life as professed and lived even now can help our better understanding of certain aspects of Christian liturgy. For both Jews and Christians Sacred Scripture is an essential part of their respective liturgies: in the proclamation of the Word of God, the response to this word, prayer of praise and intercession for the living and the dead, invoca-tion of God's mercy. In its characteristic structure the Liturgy of the Word originates in Jewish prayer. the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical texts and formularies, as well as those of our most venerable prayers, including the Lord's Prayer, have parallels in Jewish prayer. The Eucharistic Prayers draw their inspiration from the Jewish tradition. the relationship between Jewish liturgy and Christian liturgy, but also their differences in content, are particularly evident in the great feasts of the liturgical year, such as Pass-over. Christians and Jews both celebrate the Passover. For Jews, it is the Passover of history, tending toward the future; for Chris-tians, it is the Passover fulfilled in the death and Resurrection of Christ, though always in expectation of its definitive consummation. Point to ponder: How does this help me appreciate what happens at Mass?

We reflect on the Church’s teaching on Marriage and Family Life, as

expressed by Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia (65) The incarnation of the Word in a human family, in Nazareth, by its very newness changed the history of the world. We need to enter into the mystery of Jesus’ birth, into that “yes” given by Mary to the message of the angel, when the Word was conceived in her womb, as well as the “yes” of Joseph, who gave a name to Jesus and watched over Mary. We need to contemplate the joy of the shep-herds before the manger, the adoration of the Magi and the flight into Egypt, in which Jesus shares his people’s experience of exile, persecution and hu-miliation. We need to contemplate the religious expectation of Zechariah and his joy at the birth of John the Baptist, the fulfilment of the promise made known to Simeon and Anna in the Temple and the marvel of the teachers of the Law who listened to the wisdom of the child Jesus. We then need to peer into those thirty long years when Jesus earned his keep by the

work of his hands, reciting the tradi-tional prayers and expressions of his people’s faith and coming to know that ancestral faith until he made it bear fruit in the mystery of the Kingdom. This is the mystery of Christmas and the secret of Naz-areth, exuding the beauty of family life! It was this that so fascinated Francis of Assisi, Theresa of the Child Jesus and Charles de Fou-cauld, and continues to fill Christian families with hope and joy. Point to ponder: What was Jesus’

experience of marriage/family?

We reflect on the care of creation as expressed by

Pope Francis in Laudato sii (114-5) Science and technology are not neutral; from the beginning to the end of a process, various intentions and possibilities are in play and can take on distinct shapes. Nobody is suggesting a return to the Stone Age, but we need to slow down and look at reality in a different way, to appropriate the positive, sustainable progress wmade, but also to recover the values and the great goals swept away by our unrestrained delusions of grandeur. The modern vision of Man at the centre of real-ity has paradoxically ended up prizing technical thought over reality, since “the technological mind sees nature as a cold body of facts, as a mere ‘given’, as an object of utility, as raw material to be hammered into useful shape; it views the cosmos similarly as a mere ‘space’ into which objects can be thrown with complete indifference”. The intrinsic dignity of the world is thus compromised. When human beings fail to find their true place in this world, they mis-understand themselves and end up acting against themselves: “Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given, but, man too is God’s gift to man. He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed. Who is at the centre of your vi-

sion of life, man?God? What difference does it

make?

Confessions Mass

Confessions Mass (First Mass of Sunday)

Saturday 11am 12noon 6pm 6.30pm

St. J St. J St. J St. J

Mass

Mass

Sung Eucharist

Rite of Election

9.30am 11am 11am 2.30pm

St J St. J Presbytery OLSP Salford Cathedral

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Mass

Funeral Service for Jeffrey Ashworth

9am 9.30am 10.15am

St. J St. J St. J

Monday

Eighth Sunday in Ordi-nary Time

(Day of Prayer for the

Unemployed)

Friday Abstinence

Women’s World Day of Prayer

Thursday Mass, followed by breakfast Requiem Mass for Gertrude Shearing Funeral Service for John Greenwood

6.30am 10am 1pm

St. J St. J St. J