A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Happy Feast Day

Well at last - it’s happened. We’ve been told churches, and other places of worship, can open next week but only for private worship. We don’t know the details yet - our Archbishops will offer advice to the local bishops who must interpret that advice for local conditions. We know that there there will be very strict instructions laid down and, as far as I can tell, there will be no liturgical prayer in church including Mass and Exposition and all the social distancing rules and hygiene requirements will have to be in place probably including having two people ‘on duty' at all times.

I have a couple of reservations/observations:

Churches are designed primarily for communal worship - private devotion in that sense is secondary. Today’s feast highlights the community nature of the Godhead - as GK Chesterton said, ‘God is not meant to be alone’; the fullness of God can only be comprehended in its ‘one in threeness, three in oneness’. The richness of God’s revelation to us and God’s invitation to share in that awesome divinity can only be even slightly penetrated by that unique mystery of Holy Trinity - Father, Son, Spirit - Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. And neither are we meant to be alone. In monastic life, the only men allowed to be hermits are those who can live comfortably in community.

Many of our parishioners fall into the category of ‘vulnerable’ and we have a duty of care to them. We cannot put the burden of expectation on them. They must not feel obligated to come to church as many of them have done for the last 70/80 years. And by the same measure, we must applaud those mums and dads who in recent months have striven to build a 'domestic church’, teaching their children to pray at home even round the table - making it the table of the Lord.

As soon as I know anything, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, let’s keep praying for each other and for our Bishop and his advisers who must make the decisions.

We must pray too for those people who feel driven on to the streets to stand up for racial justice. There is obviously a great injustice to be righted and society must recognise that but I hope they will stay safe for their sakes and for the sake of the vulnerable especially all our front-line workers.

Let’s continue to remember in our prayer today all those who care for the sick and all our frontline workers:

Joseph, Lisa, Patrick, Chris, Catherine, Anne, Terry, Mark, Theo, Clare, Richard, Anthony, Jane, James, Andrew, Mary, Francis, Ruth, Tony, Sue, Dan, Fiona, Katy. Ian & Bethany

St Joseph, guardian of families, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John

PS Rosary and Litany to the Holy Trinity today 3.00pm

Tuesday Mass will be at 5.00pm - I have a zoomed Cafod meeting during the day