A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning

I have attached some interesting material which you might find useful as we pick our way through these (hopefully) final months of lockdown. There are a number of Station Masses across the Deanery - a way of staying in touch with our friends in Salford - and a wealth of material from Missio and their partners.

Please note especially the devotions to St Joseph, patron of our parish during these difficult times.

S Joseph, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John

Tomorrow we’ll send the minutes of last Thursday’s Parish Forum meeting with John Griffin

Station Masses

Each Wednesday at 7pm during Lent Parishes in the Salford Deanery of St John the Evangelist will take turns to live stream a Deanery Station Mass. The dates for the parishes taking part and the link to access the live stream service are as follows:

24th February - St John Paul II, Eccles:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ParishofStJohnPaulIIEccles
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ourparishcommunity

3rd March - Our Lady Of Hope, Irlams o' th' Height and Pendleton:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ourladyofhopesalford/

10th March - St James and All Souls, Pendleton:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5oSxLEUl1ghzrm3tL1SO-g
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Catholic-Church/St-James-and-All-Souls-Parish-Salford-105035764474465/

17th March - St Ambrose Barlow, Swinton:
Faith Stream: https://faithstream.co.uk/stcharles

24th March - Cathedral Parish, Salford:
Parish Website: http://www.salfordcathedral.co.uk

Missio

Lent Reflections

Building on the weekly Advent Reflections, we will be holding online reflections every Friday of Lent at 10.30am, starting this Friday. Mill Hill Missionaries and other members of the Missio family, including a missionary Sister in Kenya, will help us to reflect on the upcoming Sunday Gospel.

Each reflection will be streamed live on our YouTube channel, and available to watch again afterwards. We are again inviting volunteers to join via Zoom so that they can stay on afterwards to talk with one another.

You are very welcome to join, and please do share the information with those who may wish to join us via YouTube.

Mission Together: Lent 2021

As schools approach an unusual Lent, we've created a set of resources to support remote learners. Whilst these resources are primarily tools for catechesis and mission, they also contain simple comprehension tasks and optional, family-friendly Lent fundraising challenges.

In addition to these new remote resources, schools can download the Mission Together daily Lent calendar, Stations of the Cross, and weekly liturgies – based upon the relevant Sunday Gospel.

All of these resources are available HERE.

As ever, we’d be very grateful if you could promote these resources in your schools. Please make teachers and governors aware that although any donations would be great, we recognise this is a tough time and so a school’s support through prayer and engagement is equally welcome!

Mission Today, Spring 2021

The latest Mission Today is due to be delivered next week. There is a particular focus on the training of future Priests and Ssisters, and the work of the Society of St Peter the Apostle (SPA).

We have included a simple newsletter for Local Secretaries with some extra information and ideas. This has been standard practise for the Northern dioceses for a long time. Learning from this, a version for Local Secretaries in the Southern dioceses has been included for the first time.

To view either of the newsletters, please visit missio.org.uk/LS

Mill Hill Missionaries: National Novena 2021

The annual National Novena is organised by the Mill Hill Missionaries.

It starts on Wednesday, 10 March, leading to the feast of their patron, St Joseph, on 19 March. This year, the daily Novena Mass will be celebrated and live-streamed from St Joseph's parish in Maidenhead.

More information, prayers and reflections can be downloaded: millhillmissionaries.com/novena

To encourage people to take part in the Novena, we will send out a daily email during the Novena with the prayer and reflection to anyone who wants to receive it.

People can sign up to receive it by emailing info@missio.org.uk. With a Father's Heart: The Year of St Joseph 2021
Pope Francis has called us to celebrate the Year of St Joseph, which began on 8 December 2020. The Spring edition of Mission Today includes a special prayer card.

On the eve of the Feast of St Joseph, Fr Kevin Hughes MHM will offer a reflection on the Pope's letter for the year, Patris Corde, and there will be short responses to this from a Franciscan Missionary of St Joseph and the Mill Hill Missionaries.

Thursday, 18 March at 6pm on Zoom

Please do advertise the session. It will last no more than an hour, giving time for those who wish to join the Novena Mass at 7.30pm live streamed from Maidenhead. Please email redbox@missio.org.uk for the Zoom link.