Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is with sadness that we must close our doors once again as the Country heads into a second National Lockdown.
Public Mass
Starting from Thursday 5th November 2020 there will unfortunately be no public Masses.
Father Pat will conduct private Mass behind closed doors at the following times:
Monday - Friday
9am
Saturday
10am & 6:30pm
Sunday
10am
Private Prayer
There will be a chance for private prayer where there will be the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, currently this is only available at the following times:
Monday - Friday
9:30am (After Fr Pat has finished private Mass, the doors will be locked until he has finished)
Mass Livestream
Mass will be available to view on a livestream via our Facebook and our website at the following times:
Sunday
10am
We are working towards being able to livestream all of the private Masses above, check back for updates.
You can view the latest newsletter for more information, click here to view.
Below is an update from the Archbishop of Southwark, John Wilson:
Thursday 5 November 2020
‘Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.’ (Heb 10:23))
Dear brothers in Christ
This has been an especially busy and challenging few days for all of us. I write to you sharing your sadness, and that of our people, that we are now in a national lockdown with public worship prohibited until 2 Dec.
As you will be aware, the Catholic Church in England and Wales petitioned the Government to demonstrate the evidence that warranted the suppression of the celebration of Mass in our parishes. No formal response to this request has been forthcoming, despite Catholics across our Archdiocese, and other Dioceses nationally, contacting their MPs to make known their concerns. Thank you for all that you did to encourage parishioners to register their objections, and for your own efforts in this.
In the past days there has been a strong sense of unity within the Church in speaking up in defence of the Mass. This is a powerful witness and also presents an opportunity, moving forward, to preach and catechise about the importance and beauty of the Mass as the source and summit of our faith and life.
It is important that we continue to pursue this matter with our elected representatives so that the freedom of religion and the freedom of worship are not seem as something that can be dispensed with by Government. We should also, if possible, thank those members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords who spoke on our behalf.
Please find attached two documents:
1. A Statement from the President and Vice President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales concerning the Church’s position on the National Lockdown.
2. Guidance from the Bishops’ Conference relating to the lockdown in place for the next four weeks. It is a pastoral response to a new situation which is different from the previous period of lockdown. Places of worship may remain open and attending a place of worship for individual prayer is a legitimate reason to leave home. There is also encouragement to continue charitable works based from churches.
We must now endure four weeks of Lockdown, thankfully with our churches able to open for private prayer. You are best placed to determine locally how this can be managed. Please be as generous as you can and, wherever possible, enable Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament when the church is open. For those able to live-stream the celebration of the Mass, please do this so that we can keep as connected as possible with our parishioners.
We will enter Advent this year from Lockdown; but how important it will be to mark the first weekend of Masses on 5/6 December, the 2 Sunday of Advent, as ‘Return to Mass Sunday’ when we will hear St John the Baptist call to us: ‘Prepare a way for the Lord.’
With the assurance of my prayers
Your brother in Christ
+ John
Most Rev John Wilson
Archbishop of Southwark
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