Parish bulletin

Trinity Sunday

7th June 2020

 

This weekend the Church reflects on the mystery of who God is - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  It's hard for us to understand fully what that means, but we know for certain that it has something to do with love. As Jesus says in Sunday's Gospel "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life."

 

As we reflect on eternal life we have great hope for those who have died.  That's why we normally have a blessing of graves at this time and you can read below the special arrangements for this year.  We are also grateful that it is now possible for requiem Masses to be celebrated at funerals with up to ten people in attendance.

 

May the divine assistance remain always with us and may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.

 

Fr Damian

 

WE PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED

 

Anniversaries:

Josephine Diamond, Elizabeth Douglas, Gerry Gillan, Mary McClements, Jack McLaughlin,
Patrick McVicker

 

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord

 

SERVICES THIS WEEK

Mass will be live streamed at 10am on Sunday on our Facebook page.

 

At 5pm on Sunday we will live stream evening devotions.  We will pray Vespers (evening prayer of the Church) followed by Benediction.

 

Mass will also be streamed on Monday and Wednesday at 10am and Friday at 7pm. 

 

CHURCH OPENING

Our Lady & St Patrick’s church is open for private prayer this week on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from 12noon to 4pm.

 

BLESSING OF GRAVES

As it is not possible to have Cemetery Sunday at this time there will be an alternative arrangement for the blessing of graves.  On Friday evening (12th June) the live streamed Mass will be a requiem Mass offered for the souls of those buried in the parish cemetery and our family and friends buried elsewhere.  After the Mass Fr Damian will privately bless the graves in each part of our cemetery.

 

Please note that in line with current regulations the cemetery will be closed to the public on Friday evening from 6.30pm to allow for the blessing of graves.

 

OLD & NEW @ No.5

We are holding a one day outdoor pop-up shop on Saturday 13th June from 10am - 4.30pm. The pop-up shop will take place on the Green opposite our shop and will include some garden benches, table and chair sets, planters, bird boxes, wooden apple boxes, garden ornaments, etc along with lots of our popular stock items. Further details will be available on the Old & New at No.5 Facebook page from Monday evening.

 

We are also delighted to be in a position to give a further £10,000 to our parish renovation fund, bringing our total contribution to £40,000. A very special thank you to all our volunteers, customers and supporters. 

 

As many of our volunteers are in the vulnerable group, we may need to restrict opening hours when we re-open. We urgently need some more volunteers to help us in the shop - if you could help, please contact Gemma McKenna on 07798501046 or Gerard McAfee on 07860474956.

 

And finally, we are expecting a rush of donations so as space is limited, we would ask you to please ensure that the items you are donating are ready to be displayed in the shop or otherwise clearly marked ‘Recycling’. We can no longer accept gents’ or children’s clothes and children’s toys. We propose to have a drop-off evening for donations shortly - keep an eye on the bulletin for more details. 

 

A sincere thank you to everyone for your continued support. 

 

PRO-LIFE

Following the win at the Northern Ireland Assembly on Tuesday, momentum is continuing to build for MPs and Peers to vote down the Northern Ireland abortion regulations at Westminster.

There will now be a debate on Monday in the Commons and the following week in the Lords, followed by votes at some stage soon after, where MPs and Peers will have the opportunity to vote down the regulations.  Ahead of the votes, Baroness Nuala O’Loan (Ballymena Parish) and Carla Lockhart MP have launched an open letter to MPs and Peers in England, Wales and Scotland to ask them to vote against the regulations.


They are looking to get a very large number of people from Northern Ireland to support the letter by signing it. They will then be presenting the letter in the Houses of Commons and Lords.

Please add your name to the letter now by clicking here.

 

PARISH FINANCE

We know many people are worried about their own family finances at this time, so it means a great deal that some people are able to support the parish too. 

 

If you want to make an offering you can leave your envelope through the door of the Parochial House.  If you’re isolating at the moment just save your envelopes at home until we’re all out and about again!

 

You can also make a payment online to the parish account:

 

Parish of Ballymoney & Derrykeighan

Sort code: 95-06-79 

Account No: 10020192.  

 

(If you are someone who normally pays by envelope, please use your envelope number as a reference.)

 

TROCAIRE

Trocaire have been in touch with parishes and have asked that if it’s possible, people would consider sending their Lent donation directly to Trocaire in one of the following ways:

 

Online at www.trocaire.org

By post to their office: Trócaire, 50 King St, Belfast BT1 6AD

By phone 0800 912 1200

 

Please note that we cannot accept Trocaire boxes here in the parish at this time.  If you are unable to send a donation directly to Trocaire please wait until public Masses restart before bringing your box here.

 

ST VINCENT de PAUL

Our parish conference is still running and they are doing great work to help people in need of practical assistance at this time.  For confidential help contact their answerphone on 07860 455 549.

 

CONFESSION

If you urgently wish to go to confession, please contact Fr Damian to make arrangements.

 

When confession isn’t possible we may seek God’s forgiveness by making an act of perfect contrition.

 

We should:

  • Prayerfully call to mind our own sins.
  • Tell God of our sorrow and desire for repentance.
  • Do what we can to make amends.
  • Promise to go to confession when it is possible.

We can then make the following prayer:

 

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen.

 

 

SACRAMENT OF THE SICK (LAST RITES)

Regular visits to the sick by the priest or Minister of Holy Communion are suspended.  However emergency call outs are being carried out as normal.  Please contact the Parochial House (or if it’s for a hospital patient, ask the staff to contact the priest on call).

 

FUNERAL RITES

Current regulations allow for a Requiem Mass or funeral service in Our Lady & St Patrick’s Church followed by burial.  The funeral and burial may be attended by no more than ten persons.