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WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place each year between 18th & 25th January. The theme and material this year has been prepared by the Churches of the Middle East. Background information and prayers for each day can be found using the following link: https://ctbi.org.uk/week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2022/.
Churches Together in Wadhurst will have a daily prayer session, using the suggested themes, taking place online via Zoom from 5.00 pm. The sessions should last around 30/40 minutes and you are invited to leave your details in the Parish Office mail box or emailparishsecretary.sacredheart@gmail.com and we will ensure that you receive a link for whichever day/s you would like to attend.
The prayer sessions start on Tuesday 18th January and end on Tuesday 25th January(including Saturday and Sunday 22nd, 23rd).
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Guidance Notes for Worship during COVID 19

Guidance for Communal Worship during the COVID

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Feast of the Sacred Heart

There will be Mass on Friday 11th June at 9.30am, in the garden, to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart. The Mass will be celebrated jointly with the school.

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Private Prayer

Dear Parishioner

I thought that you would like to know that the Church is now open for private prayer on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 10am to 4pm. If you visit please wear a face covering, sanitise your hands and use the anti-viral spray to clean the area you have occupied. This will help to keep the Church safe for everyone.

Focus Magazine
Many of you already subscribe to Focus which is a monthly magazine published by the Churches in Wadhurst, Stonegate & Tidebrook. For those of you who don’t, it contains a huge amount of local information about church services, activities and events in our area. It also includes adverts from local trades supplying services in and around Wadhurst.
It costs £1 per copy or £6 annual subscription and can be delivered to your home or collected from Carillon Cottage. If you would like to subscribe please contact Carillon Cottage on 01892 785658 or info@carillon-cottage.org.uk.
Christian Unity Service – Sunday 23rd May at 6.30pm
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity takes place between 18th and 25th January and includes an evening service in one of the local churches. As we were unable to celebrate the event this year, we plan to hold a service of Christian Unity on Pentecost Sunday at 6.30pm in the Parish Church of St Peter & Paul. The theme of which has been chosen by the Community of Grandchamps in Switzerland  ” Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit”
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Easter Sunday

We celebrated our Easter Sunday Mass outside on the lawn as we have been doing most Sunday’s, weather permitting! This comes as second nature to Father Martin as he was a Missionary Priest for twenty five years. We were very fortunate with the weather as we had a hundred present and ran out of chairs!

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Good Friday Reflection from Glenstall Abbey

Here is a beautiful reflection from Glenstall Abbey for Good Friday. See YouTube link below.

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Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday 4th April          

I am writing to let you know that the weather forecast for Sunday looks good so the 9 o’clock Mass has been cancelled and the 10.30 Mass, with space for everyone, will take place outside on the lawn.

Good Friday

The Churches Together Walk of Witness cannot take place this year but there will be an on-line service reflecting the Walk of Witness. This will take place at 10am and can be accessed via the Parish Church website www.wadhurstparishchurch.org.

 

Weekly Masses from Saturday 10th April

Saturday Vigil Mass                 6pm

Sunday Mass                           10.30am (outside weather permitting)

 

For services in the Church COVID regulations will need to be followed. These include 2m social distancing, sanitising hands on arrival and departure, providing details for Track & Trace purposes and the mandatory wearing of face coverings. 

 

For services inside and outside the Church you are reminded that no household mixing is allowed so please keep your distance from others on arrival and leave without lingering when Mass is over.

 

If you are unable to join us you can find information about the locations of live-streamed celebrations of Mass on the Diocesan Website at: https://abdiocese.org.uk/livestream.

 

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National Day of Reflection for COVID-19

Tuesday 23rd March has been designated as a National Day of Reflection to mark the anniversary of the first national lockdown. Please see the attached statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference for more details.

The church will be open from 10am to 12pm that morning. If you can, please drop in, for all or some of the time, to reflect and pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
Statement from the Presidency of the Bishops’ Conference on the National Day of Reflection for COVID-19 Tuesday 23rd March 2021.
We welcome the designation of Tuesday 23rd March as a National Day of Reflection to mark the anniversary of the first national lockdown with a minute’s silence at midday and doorstep vigils of light at 8pm.
We ask you all to make this not only a Day of Reflection but also a Day of Prayer. In reflection we ponder on all that has taken place; in prayer we bring this to our Heavenly Father. For all who live by faith in God, reflection and prayer always go hand in hand. Prayer completes reflection. Reflection informs prayer. Prayer opens our life to its true horizon. Without prayer we live in a foreshortened world and are more easily swamped by its clamour and tragedy. Throughout this difficult year, so many have been inspired by prayer, so much effort sustained in prayer, in every place. So let us make the 23rd March truly a day of prayer.
March 2020 was the first time our churches had to be closed. It is our hope that on this day, every one of our churches will be open. We invite everyone to enter a church on this day, to reflect and pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. We know this will involve an extra effort, but this can be part of our important contribution to a significant moment in the life of our country. Indeed, we ask that you might invite a friend, neighbour or colleague to come to church with you as you make this visit.
There is so much on which to reflect and include in our prayer.
We reflect in sorrow on all those who have died, whether family members, friends or those unknown to us personally. We pray for them, asking our Father to welcome them into their heavenly home, the destiny for which God first gave us the gift of life.
We reflect with compassion on all those who have suffered during this last year, whether through illness, stress, financial disaster or family tensions. We pray for their ongoing resilience, courage and capacity to forgive.
We reflect with thanksgiving for the generosity, inventiveness, self-sacrifice and determination shown by so many in this most difficult of times. We pray for them, thanking God for their gifts and dedication, whether they are scientists, politicians, health workers, public servants of every kind, community leaders or steadfast family members and friends who continue to show such love and compassion.
We reflect in hope that, as the pandemic is controlled and we open up our lives again, we will gather in the lessons we have learned and build our society into a better shape, more compassionate, less marked by inequalities, more responsive to needs and deprivation. We ask for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen us in this endeavour, whether we are focussing on overcoming family breakdowns, economic recovery, or building political consensus.
Christian prayer is, of course, centred on Jesus Christ, the one who is “lifted up” before us “so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him” (John 3.13). We pray with Jesus, in him and through him, for he is the one who carries us, and our prayers, into the embracing presence of his Father. He is our comfort in sorrow, our strength in the face of need, our rejoicing in the gifts we celebrate and our hope in the face of the weighty darkness of death.
May Tuesday 23rd March be a great day of prayer that this pandemic comes to an end and that the gift of God’s Holy Spirit will carry us all forward to a new and better life, both here and in the world to come.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP President Vice-President
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Church Closure

At the time of writing government regulations allow places of worship to open for services. However, we have taken the difficult decision to cancel all Masses and close our Church until further notice.
This decision has been made in the light of rising COVID infections in our area and will protect our priest and our congregation from the risks associated with mixing with other households indoors. We understand that this will be a disappointment to many of you but know that you will appreciate our aim to keep everyone safe and well at this time.

Information about the locations of live-streamed celebrations of Mass is available on the Diocesan Website at: https://abdiocese.org.uk/livestream.

Father Martin will continue to say Mass privately and will be praying for you and your families. He is also happy for you to phone him if you would like prayer or a Mass for a specific intention.

The Parish Office will be closed to visitors until further notice. However, emails and phone messages will be dealt with on a regular basis, and if you need a priest urgently please contact Father Martin direct.

The Rosary group can pray for you and your concerns, and the Mother’s Prayers group is meeting by Zoom. Please contact Rosie on 01892 785464, Antonia on 782679 or Grainne on 07841 414689 if you would like prayer for a specific person or intention.

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Christmas Masses and COVID 19

We are pleased to confirm that despite the current restrictions, Communal Worship can continue, so our Christmas Masses can go ahead.

However, if you live in a Tier Four area we ask you you to give serious consideration as to whether you should be attending Mass at our Church in Wadhurst, which is in Tier Two.