News

Reassurance during lockdown

During this extended period of national lockdown we continue to care for as many of our parishioners, neighbours and friends as possible. Countless acts of kindness and care are ongoing every day in our parish communities: our telephone ministry to the sick and housebound led by our clergy and ministers of Holy Communion, requests for practical help received via the parish office, sending of greetings cards and “random acts of kindness” gifts; distribution of this newsletter electronically, hand delivered and by post; the diversion of donations of food to local supermarket collection points and foodbanks direct and most importantly the ministry of anointing the sick and dying has never ceased to take place as required during this pandemic.

All of this is carried out in the strictest confidence. We decline any requests to disclose details of our pandemic pastoral care actions but write this to reassure you that contact and care is happening right across our communities.   We also respect that some parishioners do not wish to be contacted similarly to those who in past times attended Mass privately and were content to be anonymous within the gathered community. However, if you do know of anyone who needs any kind of care or help from a simple telephone call to practical material help or you have a concern about anyone you feel has been overlooked, please make Fr Michael or Fr John aware. Please note we cannot provide contact details for individuals to make contact with one another for both confidentiality and GDPR reasons but the parish office is happy to forward mail, messages etc. by prior arrangement. Be assured that every avenue of communication and care is being pursued by many individuals across our communities as we continue to hold one another in thoughts and prayers during these extraordinary times.

Health Matters updates

6 December 2020

My radiotherapy has now been deferred until February 2021. This is partly because I have not
yet fully recovered from my fall and also because the consultant does not want to start
treatment for it then to be interrupted by Christmas. I can therefore commence all 20 sessions
after Christmas without interruption. This further delay is frustrating but it is my best interests.
Thank you for your co-operation and the support of your prayers.

With every blessing for the coming week, Fr Michael

28 November 2020

Thank you for your understanding and support over the last few weeks. Your kindness and prayers are greatly appreciated and I am sure it is helping me at this time. I continue to have physiotherapy and care at home so would greatly appreciate your co-operation in maintaining my isolation until I am fully recovered. Whilst I am making progress after my accident I am now due to start my radiotherapy treatment shortly and all decisions and demands on my time will need to take this into consideration and will necessitate me to self isolate prior to and during this treatment. Thank you to everyone for your hard work and generosity with your time and talents as we seek to do our best in the ever changing circumstances and government restrictions.

With every blessing for the coming week, Fr Michael

14 November 2020

Now that I have returned from hospital I would like to update you with my present condition.
On Monday 12th October I had an accident resulting in a fall. I was in the hall and unable to move because of my injuries and pain and remained there for 17 hours until our Parish Secretary, Jackie Williams, arrived at 2.00pm on Tuesday afternoon and called an ambulance. The paramedics took me to the Trauma Ward at QMC, Nottingham, where I received excellent treatment. After four days I was transferred to the Fracture Ward.
A week later I was transferred to a lovely community hospital at Coalville with the aim of getting me walking sufficiently to return home. I made very good progress and arrived back home last week. My pain is under control and I am beginning to sleep better.
Thanks to all who dealt with the daily tasks of the parish whilst I was away, our parish administrators, Jackie and Ian, Fr John Owens and Deacons Kevin and Vince. Thank you for all your kind wishes and cards. It is very much appreciated. It has been something of a nightmare but the care of the NHS was outstanding.
I will continue to have physiotherapy and care at home so would greatly appreciate your co-operation in maintaining my isolation until I am fully recovered and of course we are now in a period of national lockdown. The consequences of the accident has been to further delay my radiotherapy for cancer which should now commence on 1st December and will necessitate me to self isolate prior to and during this treatment.

With every blessing for the coming week, Fr Michael

Travelling Nativity

This year for the Travelling Nativity two families will meet via video call. We will send the
suggested Order of Service including prayers and readings to the families taking part. The knitted
figures won’t get to travel this year. All you need to take part is the Order of Service, video call of
your choice and a candle. If you have a nativity set or scene at home you could use your own or
why not make or draw your one? All works of art or photos with permission of parents can be
published on STM Travelling Nativity FB page if you so wish. Please contact Julie Cummins if you wish to take part.

How to pray the Rosary

What is the Rosary?

• The Rosary is a devotion in honour of Mary
• It began at a time when most Christians were unable to read and learn to recite the 150 Psalms. Instead they recited 150 prayers they were already very familiar with – Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory be prayers
• It combines the recitation of familiar prayers with pondering on particular Scripture stories. (called a Mystery of the Rosary)
• The circle of beads is used to keep count of the prayers
• Beads are grouped into sets of ten (called a decade of the Rosary)
• May (the month of Our Lady) and October (the month of the Holy Rosary) are traditional months for the Rosary to be prayed
• How to use your Rosary beads to pray

Begin by making the Sign of the Cross +

Holding the Crucifix, recite the Apostles Creed

1^st bead Our Father…

2^nd 3^rd and 5^th beads Hail Mary…

6^th bead Glory Be…

Begin the first decade of the Rosary…

On the final decade finishing on the medallion

Hail Holy Queen…

Finish by making the Sign of the Cross +

The Mysteries of the Rosary

Joyful Mysteries (Monday and Saturday)

The Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:26-38)

The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56)

The Birth of Our Lord (Luke 2:1-21)

The Presentation of Our Lord (Luke 2:22-38)

The Finding of Our Lord in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)

Sorrowful Mysteries (Tuesday and Friday)

The Agony of Our Lord in the Garden (Matthew 26:36-56)

Our Lord is scourged at the Pillar (Matthew 27:26)

Our Lord is crowned with Thorns (Matthew 27:27-31)

Our Lord Carries the Cross to Calvary (Matthew 27:32)

The Crucifixion of Our Lord (Matthew 27:33-56)

Glorious Mysteries (Wednesday and Sunday)

The Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord (John 20:1-29)

The Ascension of Our Lord (Luke 24:36-53)

The Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-41)

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven

The Coronation of Mary as Queen of Heaven and Earth

Luminous Mysteries (Thursday)

The Baptism of Our Lord in the River Jordan (Matthew 3:13-16)

The Wedding at Cana, when Christ manifested Himself (John 2:1-11)

The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (Mark 1:14-15)

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (Matthew 17:1-8)

The Last Supper, when Our Lord gave us the Holy Eucharist (Matthew 26)

Prayers used during the Rosary

I BELIEVE IN GOD,

the Father almighty,

Creator of Heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son,

our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate;

was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell.

The third day He rose

again from the dead.

He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God,

the Father almighty.

He shall come again to

judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy Catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

OUR FATHER, Who art in Heaven,

hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done on earth as it is in

Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

HAIL MARY, full of grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

GLORY BE to the Father,

and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning is now,

and ever shall be, world  without end. Amen.

HAIL HOLY QUEEN, mother of mercy;

our life, our sweetness, and our hope.

To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.

To thee do we send up our sighs,

mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.

Turn, then, most gracious advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us.

And after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the

promises of Christ. Amen.

O GOD, WHOSE only-begotten Son by His life, death and resurrection, has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life; grant, we beseech Thee, that by meditating upon these mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Opening of our Churches

Following the local lockdown in Leicester that came into force on 30^th June 2020, the decision has been taken that our Churches will remain locked at all times within the lockdown area.

Bishop Patrick said that he considers it best that we suspend the opening of Churches in the affected area for the foreseeable future. As I have previously said the Dean will then decide on which Churches will re-open in the first instance for private prayer in Leicester, so that there will be a reasonable distribution of Churches across the city. Until then no Church in Leicester will be open for private prayer until further notice.

BIG THANK YOU

A great BIG THANK YOU to all who made my 70^th (surely some mistake!) birthday such a wonderful occasion. The amount of cards, presents, phone calls and good wishes were quite overwhelming. As you can see from the above Igor worked his magic as usual. Thank you to the pupils and staff of St Thomas More School and St John Fisher School for the huge cards and the videos. The videos were very entertaining and the staff of STM did a very good impersonation of Elvis Presley! My sisters and brothers had planned a big celebration for me that obviously had to be postponed but I don’t feel I missed out. I am truly blessed to have the love and support of so many people.

With every good wish

Fr Michael

Clergy update

I and Fr John have continued to celebrate Mass and pray the Divine Office daily for all parishioners. We have both been telephoning vulnerable and alone parishioners. If you know of any parishioner that would appreciate a call, please let us know. Some meetings such as Diocesan Trustees and School Governors are still being held virtually, funerals are being held at gravesides and a considerable amount of sorting and administration has been achieved during lockdown. Lockdown has provided many opportunities for us all and many people have told me that their gardens have never looked so good. So in spite of lockdown there is plenty to be done. The painting of St Thomas Church and Parish Rooms is now complete and the sound system at Oadby has been completed and tested. So even though we have not seen one another for some weeks we have been kept very busy within our respective presbyteries during lockdown. We continue to pray for you all and hope you continue to pray for us.  

Words of encouragement from Fr Michael

As many of you know, this Saturday 6th June would have been First Holy Communion Day at St Thomas More Church , Sunday 14th June at Immaculate Conception Church and Confirmation for both parishes would have been on Friday 19th June. The necessary postponement is a sadness not only for the young people and their families but for the whole parish community that we feel very deeply. I have reassured them that these celebrations will eventually take place and they are continuing their preparation at home. Meanwhile I would ask that we keep them in our prayers as we would normally when we would gather as a community at this time.

I have taken the opportunity while the St Thomas More Church is closed to have the Church redecorated and various maintenance tasks carried out. Also the sound system at Immaculate Conception is being upgraded. Both projects should be completed this weekend. Please can I have some volunteers to help move benches at Knighton once the decoration is finished. Please ring me for further details.

Welcome back to the children who have returned to school this past week. Our schools have not closed even over the Easter holiday and half term as they remained open for children of key workers. A huge thank you to all staff who have been very busy both providing online lessons for our children and caring and teaching for those children who have attended school over this lockdown period. Special thanks to our wonderful head teachers, Mrs Crosse, Mr Gallagher and Mrs Conaghan for their outstanding leadership and commitment in these challenging times.

With every blessing, Fr Michael

Jubilarians 2020

The following priests will shortly be celebrating their Jubilee of Ordination. Please keep them in your prayers at this time. Addresses are provided from the Diocesan Yearbook should you wish to send congratulations to them.

DIAMOND JUBILEE
Rev Brendan O’Callaghan 5th June 1960
Knockanure, Moyvane, Listowel, Co. Kerry, Ireland

GOLDEN JUBILEE
Rev Canon Michael O’Donoghue 14th June 1970
Holy Trinity Presbytery, Boundary Road, Newark, NG24 4AU

Message of his holiness Pope Francis for the 54th World Communications Day

“That you may tell your children and grandchildren” (Ex 10:2) Life becomes history

I would like to devote this year’s Message to the theme of storytelling, because I believe that, so as not to lose our bearings, we need to make our own the truth contained in good stories. Stories that build up, not tear down; stories that help us rediscover our roots and the strength needed to move forward together. Amid the cacophony of voices and messages that surround us, we need a human story that can speak of ourselves and of the beauty all around us. A narrative that can regard our world and its happenings with a tender gaze. A narrative that can tell us that we are part of a living and interconnected tapestry. A narrative that can reveal the interweaving of the threads which connect us to one another.

1. Weaving stories

Human beings are storytellers. From childhood we hunger for stories just as we hunger for food. Stories influence our lives, whether in the form of fairy tales, novels, films, songs, news, even if we do not always realize it. Often we decide what is right or wrong based on characters and stories we have made our own. Stories leave their mark on us; they shape our convictions and our behaviour. They can help us understand and communicate who we are.

We are not just the only beings who need clothing to cover our vulnerability (cf. Gen 3: 21); we are also the only ones who need to be “clothed” with stories to protect our lives. We weave not only clothing, but also stories: indeed, the human capacity to “weave” (Latin texere) gives us not only the word textile but also text. The stories of different ages all have a common “loom”: the thread of their narrative involves “heroes”, including everyday heroes, who in following a dream confront difficult situations and combat evil, driven by a force that makes them courageous, the force of love. By immersing ourselves in stories, we can find reasons to heroically face the challenges of life.

Human beings are storytellers because we are engaged in a process of constant growth, discovering ourselves and becoming enriched in the tapestry of the days of our life. Yet since the very beginning, our story has been threatened: evil snakes its way through history.

2. Not all stories are good stories

“When you eat of it … you will be like God” (cf. Gen 3:4): the temptation of the serpent introduces into the fabric of history a knot difficult to undo. “If you possess, you will become, you will achieve…” This is the message whispered by those who even today use storytelling for purposes of exploitation. How many stories serve to lull us, convincing us that to be happy we continually need to gain, possess and consume. We may not even realize how greedy we have become for chatter and gossip, or how much violence and falsehood we are consuming. Often on communication platforms, instead of constructive stories which serve to strengthen social ties and the cultural fabric, we find destructive and provocative stories that wear down and break the fragile threads binding us together as a society. By patching together bits of unverified information, repeating banal and deceptively persuasive arguments, sending strident and hateful messages, we do not help to weave human history, but instead strip others of their dignity.

But whereas the stories employed for exploitation and power have a short lifespan, a good story can transcend the confines of space and time. Centuries later, it remains timely, for it nourishes life.

In an age when falsification is increasingly sophisticated, reaching exponential levels (as in deepfake), we need wisdom to be able to welcome and create beautiful, true and good stories. We need courage to reject false and evil stories. We need patience and discernment to rediscover stories that help us not to lose the thread amid today’s many troubles. We need stories that reveal who we truly are, also in the untold heroism of everyday life.

3. The Story of stories

Sacred Scripture is a Story of stories. How many events, peoples and individuals it sets before us! It shows us from the very beginning a God who is both creator and narrator. Indeed, God speaks his word and things come into existence (cf. Gen 1). As narrator, God calls things into life, culminating in the creation of man and woman as his free dialogue partners, who make history alongside him. In one of the Psalms, the creature tells the creator: “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made … My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth” (139:13-15). We are not born complete, but need to be constantly “woven”, “knitted together”. Life is given to us as an invitation to continue to weave the “wonderful” mystery that we are.

The Bible is thus the great love story between God and humanity. At its centre stands Jesus, whose own story brings to fulfilment both God’s love for us and our love for God. Henceforth, in every generation, men and women are called to recount and commit to memory the most significant episodes of this Story of stories, those that best communicate its meaning.

The title of this year’s Message is drawn from the Book of Exodus, a primordial biblical story in which God intervenes in the history of his people. When the enslaved children of Israel cry out to Him, God listens and remembers: “God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel – and God knew” (Ex 2: 24-25). God’s memory brings liberation from oppression through a series of signs and wonders. The Lord then reveals to Moses the meaning of all these signs: “that you may tell in the hearing of your children and grandchildren… what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord” (Ex 10:2). The Exodus experience teaches us that knowledge of the Lord is handed down from generation to generation mainly by telling the story of how he continues to make himself present. The God of life communicates with us through the story of life.

Jesus spoke of God not with abstract concepts, but with parables, brief stories taken from everyday life. At this point life becomes story and then, for the listener, story becomes life: the story becomes part of the life of those who listen to it, and it changes them.

The Gospels are also stories, and not by chance. While they tell us about Jesus, they are “performative”[1]; they conform us to Jesus. The Gospel asks the reader to share in the same faith in order to share in the same life. The Gospel of John tells us that the quintessential storyteller – the Word – himself becomes the story: “God’s only Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (Jn 1: 18). The original verb, exegésato, can be translated both as “revealed” and “recounted”. God has become personally woven into our humanity, and so has given us a new way of weaving our stories.

4. An ever renewed story

The history of Christ is not a legacy from the past; it is our story, and always timely. It shows us that God was so deeply concerned for mankind, for our flesh and our history, to the point that he became man, flesh and history. It also tells us that no human stories are insignificant or paltry. Since God became story, every human story is, in a certain sense, a divine story. In the history of every person, the Father sees again the story of his Son who came down to earth. Every human story has an irrepressible dignity. Consequently, humanity deserves stories that are worthy of it, worthy of that dizzying and fascinating height to which Jesus elevated it.

“You” – Saint Paul wrote – “are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor 3:3). The Holy Spirit, the love of God, writes within us. And as he writes within us, he establishes goodness in us and constantly reminds us of it. Indeed, to “re-mind” means to bring to mind, to “write” on the heart. By the power of the Holy Spirit, every story, even the most forgotten one, even the one that seems to be written with the most crooked lines, can become inspired, can be reborn as a masterpiece, and become an appendix to the Gospel. Like the Confessions of Augustine. Like A Pilgrim’s Journey of Ignatius. Like The Story of a Soul of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus. Like The Betrothed, like The Brothers Karamazov. Like countless other stories, which have admirably scripted the encounter between God’s freedom and that of man. Each of us knows different stories that have the fragrance of the Gospel, that have borne witness to the Love that transforms life. These stories cry out to be shared, recounted and brought to life in every age, in every language, in every medium.

5. A story that renews us

Our own story becomes part of every great story. As we read the Scriptures, the stories of the saints, and also those texts that have shed light on the human heart and its beauty, the Holy Spirit is free to write in our hearts, reviving our memory of what we are in God’s eyes. When we remember the love that created and saved us, when we make love a part of our daily stories, when we weave the tapestry of our days with mercy, we are turning another page. We no longer remain tied to regrets and sadness, bound to an unhealthy memory that burdens our hearts; rather, by opening ourselves to others, we open ourselves to the same vision of the great storyteller. Telling God our story is never useless: even if the record of events remains the same, the meaning and perspective are always changing. To tell our story to the Lord is to enter into his gaze of compassionate love for us and for others. We can recount to him the stories we live, bringing to him the people and the situations that fill our lives. With him we can re-weave the fabric of life, darning its rips and tears. How much we, all of us, need to do exactly this!

With the gaze of the great storyteller – the only one who has the ultimate point of view – we can then approach the other characters, our brothers and sisters, who are with us as actors in today’s story. For no one is an extra on the world stage, and everyone’s story is open to possible change. Even when we tell of evil, we can learn to leave room for redemption; in the midst of evil, we can also recognize the working of goodness and give it space.

So it is not a matter of simply telling stories as such, or of advertising ourselves, but rather of remembering who and what we are in God’s eyes, bearing witness to what the Spirit writes in our hearts and revealing to everyone that his or her story contains marvellous things. In order to do this, let us entrust ourselves to a woman who knit together in her womb the humanity of God and, the Gospel tells us, wove together the events of her life. For the Virgin Mary “treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Lk 2: 19). Let us ask for help from her, who knew how to untie the knots of life with the gentle strength of love:

O Mary, woman and mother, you wove the divine Word in your womb, you recounted by your life the magnificent works of God. Listen to our stories, hold them in your heart and make your own the stories that no one wants to hear. Teach us to recognize the good thread that runs through history. Look at the tangled knots in our life that paralyze our memory. By your gentle hands, every knot can be untied. Woman of the Spirit, mother of trust, inspire us too. Help us build stories of peace, stories that point to the future. And show us the way to live them together.

Rome, at Saint John Lateran, 24 January 2020, the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales

Franciscus