As more and more people return to Mass, there are more Mass intentions being handed in. To avoid disappointment, due to the date you would like already being taken, please can you submit requests as early as possible; there is not such thing as too early!
Please complete one of the envelopes at the back of the church and either hand it to Fr. Paul, or pop it through the presbytery letter box. Fr Paul will try to ensure you get the date you request, but should it be already taken, then an alterative date will be allocated as near as possible to the date and any specific time you have requested. However, this alternative date could be a number of weeks later, so please do submit requests early.
Whilst we continue to celebrate Easter, there will be a couple of hours reflection for both of these ministries as we begin to open up further after Covid, and especially in the light of the announcement for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales about reinstating the Sunday Obligation from Pentecost Sunday.
There will be two combined sessions for both readers and Eucharistic ministers which will begin with the 11 am Mass, followed by a short talk from Fr Paul, an opportunity to ask questions, and a period of quiet prayer and reflection. These will be followed as soon as possible by a recommissioning of both ministries during Sunday Masses. Each session will run from 11am until 1pm.
It is important that we come together to look afresh at how we offer these ministries to the whole community. The proposed dates for these sessions are Saturday 11th June and Saturday 9th July.
There are sign up sheets in the porch. Please complete these as soon as possible. Thank you in advance for your service to the Parish and to the Church.
The May prize draw of the parish 150 Club will take place after the 10:00 Mass on Sunday 29th May in the Garden Room. Everyone is welcome to join us for a cup of coffee after Mass and witness the draw, and collect any prizes in person!
You will have noticed the line on the top of the parish newsletter which says "Everyone is welcome - without exception" - well I think somebody may have been reading our newsletter and taking us at our word as we had a surprise visitor in church today.
After a brief visit to St Joseph to say his prayers, he was called away by his mate who must have clearly been of a different denomination as she waited for him outside!
Photograph credit - Chrissie Riches
The latest edition of the CAFOD magazine Side By Side, Spring 2022, has been published. You can read this by clicking the adjacent image.
Will readers please note there is a new rota published covering the period up to 10th July. Due to a concern raised about GDPR compliance, the rota will no longer be available on this web site. Instead, a paper copy is displayed on the notice board in the church porch.
The annual Marriage and Family Life Mass at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich, will be held on June 18th at 11.30am. All are welcome! Those who are celebrating significant anniversaries (one year, five years and every multiple of five years thereafter) will receive a certificate and a blessing from the Bishop. If you would like to register for a certificate please use the online form here. Certificates will be posted to you at your home address after the Mass.
After the Mass, you are invited to the Cathedral hall for tea and cake. There will be a collection taken at the Mass to help support the Marriage and Family Life Commission in its work.
The May edition of Catholic East Anglia, the Diocesan newspaper, is out now and a copy can be collected free of charge from the narthex. Alternatively you can read the newspaper on-line by clicking the adjacent image.
The edition includes news of the diocesan Chrism Mass and the forthcoming pilgrimage to Walsingham, along with a first-ever Cantonese Mass and a food festival boost to church funding.
A Radio Maria awards, a report on an anti-slavery conference in Norwich and a children’s Mass to end the Year of St Joseph.
Thank you all once again for your generous support for FIND and the work that it does among the disadvantaged and poorest families in Ipswich and the surrounding area.
FIND has provided a list of suggested articles for donation during the month of May and these include:
Breakfast cereals, long life milk, sugar, long grain rice and jams.
These suggested items would be gratefully received, but are only suggestions. Please do not feel restricted by this list as any and all donations of non-perishable food items will be gratefully received and go to help those less fortunate than ourselves.
...... to all those who helped prepare the church for Easter. The church looked magnificent! The flower team are to be congratulated for the wonderful flower arrangements and thanks too to all those who gave up their time to help clean the church in readiness for the Easter celebrations.
