PARISH BULLETIN

 

March 29th 2020

Fifth Sunday of Lent 

 

This week the Church reaches the fifth Sunday of Lent and the beginning of Passiontide.  This is the time when our thoughts turn more fully to the suffering and death of Jesus.  In the church the tradition is to place purple veils over our crosses, statues, and images.  Sadly this year you’ll only get to see them on the internet!

 

Like everyone else I would like to pay tribute to our parishioners who work in the NHS and in other key roles serving the community.  But I’d also like to thank people who are volunteering quietly to look after family, friends and neighbours at this time.  Our own St Vincent de Paul society is still working away doing great things to help families in need here in the parish.  God bless you all and you are in my prayers.

 

Fr Damian

028 2766 2003

 

 

We pray for those who have died.

 

Recently Deceased
Patrick McGarry, Ballymoney
Kate Forde, Corkey, Loughgiel

 

Anniversaries
Thomas Carson, Winifred McCullagh, Bridget McGinty, James McGreevy, John McSheffrey, Martin Turner, Kathleen Wallace
 

Our churches are currently closed following directives from the Northern Ireland Executive. Updates and videos will be available on the parish Facebook page throughout the week.

 

MASSES
Sunday Mass will be available through Facebook this week.  The parish is partnering with the Catholic Minute Facebook page to offer our Mass online.  It will be available from 11am live on the Catholic Minute page: fb.me/catholicminute and the video will be available to watch afterwards on our own page too. 

 

Mass from the parish will be available to watch on Facebook on Tuesday at 10am and Friday at 7pm.

Throughout the week Mass is available to watch online from many different places locally and around the world. For those with Sky, the Catholic TV channel EWTN also shows a full range of Masses, devotions and talks 24 hours a day - Sky channel 588. Radio Maria Ireland is a Irish Catholic radio station available through the internet.

 

CONFESSIONS
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.

 

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

 

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
At this time only prayers at the graveside are allowed. Funeral Masses and prayers at the home are not possible. In the event of a death Fr Damian will offer Mass for the soul of the deceased privately.

 

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 (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.