21 March 2020 : 4th Sunday of Lent : Divine Office Week 1

A New Way of Following your Faith

The current crisis over the Covid-19 virus means we are all having to adapt the way we do most things, including practising our faith.  Being unable to go to Mass or receive Communion at home is difficult for all of us. Thanks to the internet, though, we can stay in touch, go to “virtual” Masses and have Spiritual Communion – every day, if we want – in our own homes.

I hope that this website, and the links on it, will help you in the weeks to come. Please get in touch if you, or someone in the parish that you know, has any suggestions about helpful things to put in this blog or on any of the pages on this site.

Cardinal Nichols on Public Acts of Worship in Catholic Churches

Thanks to Joe Armistead for sending this link. You can watch and listen to Cardinal Nichols talking about this difficult decision:

That’s a great site with suggestions for other resources for enriching your prayer life and getting support. It’s updated frequently, so if Cardinal Nichols’ video isn’t immediately visible to you, here’s a link to it on YouTube.

If you want to read the letter explaining the decision, you can find it  on our diocesan website or read the text on this pdf: CBEW Statement

Your Prayers are asked for:

Those Whose Anniversaries are at this time:

Robert Catterall, Bishop L Hardman, Margaret M Kilkenny, Dave Ridgeway, John Edwards, May Brodrick, Alfred McMahon

The Sick of the Parishes:

Brian Byrne, Sarah Adam, Veronica Law, Dennis Brown, Graham Jubb, Paul Shuttleworth, Keith and Alexa Wightman, Sarah Mason, Cynthia McPherson, Kevin Casey, Esther Castle, Chris Broadhurst, Joan Randall, Hazel Waring, Eric and Nina Ireland, Frances McKenzie, Sandie Hardy, Elizabeth Ackerley, Pepe Casanova, Karen Parkinson, Margaret Aspin, Bruce Kay, Colette Calveley, Lucy Ball, Maggie Trimble, Pauline O’Toole, Roberta Whiteside, Alan White.

Online Masses

So far, I’ve found or been sent these two:

This is the website of Bishop Robert Barron, in California. Mass is celebrated every day at 8:15 EST, which is 12:15 pm GMT.

Thanks to Julia for sending this one – she enjoyed Mass at Chorley today.

If you find one you like, let me know and I’ll include it.

Mass Intentions

Monsignor Branson will be saying his own private Mass every day. If you want Mass said for a particular intention, then email it to me and I’ll publish the intentions in the calendar. Monsignor Branson will offer his mass for those intentions.

Spiritual Communion

Please see our Prayer and Liturgy page for the Act of Spiritual Communion, to be prayed at the point of the Mass when you would normally receive the Body of Christ and His Precious Blood.

Diocesan Newspapers

There’s a new website www.ChurchPaper.co.uk that shows all the Diocesan papers. You can read our own paper, The Voice, there and find out what’s going on in other dicoeses.