ST JOSEPH’S JOURNAL Volume 53 No: 28
CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION & SAINT JOSEPH
23 ST JOHN’S STREET, HERTFORD SG14 1RX
Email: hertford@rcdow.org.uk
Parish Priest: Canon Terence Phipps Tel: 01992 582109
DATE: 18 July 2021
SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH SUNDAYS IN ORDINARY TIME
The page numbers for the prayers for this Sunday’s Mass are at the front of The Parish Mass Book. Please note that there is a Loop system in the Church.
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THE VIEW FROM THE PRESBYTERY
This will have to be a two-week newsletter, since our Parish Secretary, Trish Newland, is taking some well deserved annual leave. School holidays have either begun or will begin this week, and the summer is upon us again. It will be a strange summer with so many restrictions still in place for foreign travel, but things are beginning to change as we hit the date for Step 4 of the Government’s Route Map this Monday, 19 July. Although this date marks a definitive change in how we function, we must be aware that the pandemic is not yet over and we must be careful about how we return to something like normality. Guidance has been issued by the Bishops’ Conference and I shall try and summarise what that guidance means for us, in this parish of Hertford.
We shall keep to the current timetable for Mass until September, but we shall be able to leave the church open during the day. It opens usually from about 8.00am until about 6.00pm during the week and that will happen from this Monday. For the time being, we shall suspend the booking system for Mass, so that will make things easier. People are strongly encouraged to sanitise their hands when entering the church and when leaving, and masks should be worn when in the building. We shall not have stewards on duty, so for the Track and Trace information people are asked either to use the QR code, which can be found on the notice boards, or to sign in the book which will be left on the table outside the door of the church. It would be useful if people could wipe things like the door handle or other things that are frequently touched. We shall keep the one-way system going for a while and we would hope to restore music and congregational singing to the liturgy gradually from September. We will be able to use the Mass Books and hymn books, so they will be put in the benches on Monday. Communion will remain under one kind for the time being but people are permitted to receive on the tongue if they are uncomfortable with receiving in the hand. We are now permitted to take an offertory collection in the red leather pouches, so could people try to be alert at collection time and do the collection as we used to. I know that many people now contribute through bankers’ orders but there are still others who need to use the collection.
That’s quite a list, but let’s hope we can use it well to return to something that resembles our previous practice.
On other matters, the total received for Peter’s Pence was £272.38 and the retiring collection for the Apostleship of the Sea (Stella Maris) last week will be counted this weekend. Thank you very much for your generosity, as always.
I shall be away from 16/8 until 2/9 and the Confirmation ceremony will be on 15/10.
As always: keep safe; keep smiling; keep going! Happy holidays!
God Bless – Fr Terry
POPE’S INTENTION JULY
Social Friendship
We pray that, in social, economic and political situations of conflict, we may be courageous and passionate architects of dialogue and friendship.
IF YOU GO IN TO HOSPITAL: Catholics in hospital are unlikely to receive an automatic visit from the Catholic Chaplain. If someone is sick in hospital, please let us know here at the Presbytery, and/or ask the staff on the ward, so that your loved one can be visited whilst in hospital, and receive Holy Communion and any other Sacraments from the Chaplain.
ONLINE DONATIONS TO OUR CHURCH:
Westminster Roman Catholic Diocese Trustee Hertford as the account name.
Account number: 21263242
Sort code: 40-05-20
If you would like to use STANDING ORDER to donate your weekly/monthly offering, the forms are available on the website to download.
IF YOU WRITE A CHEQUE TO THE PARISH please can you make payable to WRCDT Hertford. Thank you.
IF YOU ARE A GIFT AIDER AND YOU STOP PAYING TAX OR CHANGE ADDRESS
you must let the parish office know.
Thank you.
BABY CLOTHES: We are in urgent need of baby clothes from birth to 3 years, boys and girls. Please bring them to Sue Walker at the church hall Monday – Friday 8am – 12 noon. Thank you.
YOUR CHURCH IS IN NEED OF MORE PEOPLE TO HELP KEEP IT CLEAN. If you are able to help, please contact Sheila Queally on 01992 586436
FOOD BANK
We are in desperate need of food for the foodbank. Items can be dropped off at the church hall with Mrs. Sue Walker any weekday morning.
COLLECTION: Many thanks for your contributions last weekend: £426.27
RECENTLY BAPTISED: Rian Alex O’Brien & Archie William Leslie Judd
Prayers Are Asked for Those who are ill:
Mary Shevlane, Clare Broadbent, Jane Barnes, Victoria Evans, Jack Rogan, Edward Madden, Glenn Sexton, Alice Ballard, Ursula Partner, Maureen Byrne, Margaret Hogg, Bill Dromey, Maureen Reekie, Paul D’Angelo, Jan Kracinski, Pam Gates, Valerie Ailes, Phyllis Read, Stephen Carey, Minnie Lee, Paul Rutland-Barsby, Betty Walters, Madeline Genovese, Jim Ferguson, Norene Hristov
RECENTLY DECEASED:
Norah Hilditch
MASS INTENTIONS
6.00pm: Ann Egan (RIP)
Sunday: SIXTEETH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
10.30am: Mgr Seamus O’Boyle (Ints)
6.00pm: Irene Johnston (Ints)
Monday:
10.00am: Sr Loretta Dooley (Ints)
Tuesday:
10.00am: Matthew Stork (RIP)
Wednesday:
10.00am: Olga D’Angelo (RIP)
Thursday:
CHURCH CLOSED
Friday:
10.00am: Norah Phipps (RIP)
Saturday:
10.00am: People of the Parish
6.00pm: Michael Flanagan (RIP)
Sunday: SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
10.30am: Paddy O’Neill (Ints)
6.00pm: Maria Hely-Hutchinson (Ints)
Monday:
10.00am: Norene Hristov (Ints)
Tuesday: NO MASS
Wednesday: 10.00am
Thursday: CHURCH CLOSED
Friday: 10.00am
Saturday:
10.00am
6.30pm: