st catherine’s church birkenhead road, hoylake, ch47 5af

DioceseofShrewsbury,aregisteredcharity(N0234025)

ST CATHERINE’S CHURCH BIRKENHEAD ROAD, HOYLAKE, CH47 5AF

ParishPriest:FrDavidRoberts01516324388

Deacons:RevTonyCrisp01516326617RevJohnFegan07549936098

Parishsecretary:[email protected]

WEEKCOMMENCINGSUNDAY21stJune2020

(Readings-Sundays:CycleA,Weekdays:Cycle2,PsalterWeek4)

12THSUNDAYINORDINARYTIME(Gospel:Matthew10:26-33)

During the public health crisis and following official advice, Sunday and Weekday Mass and Sacraments will not be publicly celebrated until further notice. Fr David celebrates Mass every Wednesday at 9.15am via Zoom. MASS READINGS can be found at universalis.com/mass.htm.

LIVE STREAMING OF SERVICES also include:

• churchservices.tv: watch Mass live from parishes all over the UK and Ireland. Simply type the name of a church into the search box and you will be able to livestream the Mass.

• Walsingham: walsingham.org.uk • St. Anthony’s, Wythenshawe: churchservices.tv/stanthonyswythenshawe • St. Peter’s, Hazel Grove, Stockport: churchservices.tv/stockport • Fr Denis McBride: rpbooks.co.uk/holy-mass-online • Shrewsbury Cathedral: dioceseofshrewsbury.org • CAFOD Children’s Liturgy: cafod.org.uk/Education/Children-s-liturgy • Thursday 25th June at 7pm: Mass for the sick, their families, healthcare workers and carers: this week it is

from Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich with Bishop Alan Hopes. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1L1vHKBeZgiaUf6hUxbT0A

• BBC Radio Merseyside (95.8FM / 1485 AM / Digital) on Sundays from 7am Breakfast (programme reflecting Merseyside’s worlds of faith, interesting news items and interviews including a service at 8am.)

PLEASE PRAY FOR all who have died recently and their families, especially Theresa Coonan, Michael Lalor and Bishop Vincent Malone.

PLEASE remember in your prayers all those who are ill.

Do you know of any parishioners who need our prayers? Please contact Phoebe ([email protected]) in the Parish Office.

SsCatherineandMartina,Hoylake


A MESSAGE FROM FR DAVID: As you will be aware, many of our parishes are struggling at the moment due to a significant drop in weekly giving. I would just like to note my deep appreciation for the continued generous giving by parishioners to Ss. Catherine and Martina during these difficult times. Thank you. I also very much hope that we will be able to gather again soon to celebrate the Sunday Eucharist. Please do take care. Fr. David. CHURCH RE-OPENING UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to be a steward. We are currently preparing St Catherine’s for re-opening for private prayer. We are required to carry out a full risk assessment and ensure we meet the criteria set out by the Diocese before we will be given permission to re-open. The Diocese has stipulated that a maximum of 10 people (excluding stewards) can be in church at any one time and may stay for a maximum of 15 minutes at a time. We will update you further in next week’s newsletter.

WEEKDAY ONLINE MASS via Zoom with Fr David takes place every Wednesday at 9.15am. All those who contacted the Parish Office for the previous Zoom link will automatically be sent the new week’s link (it is now the SAME link each week). If you would like to join this week, please contact Phoebe Gibson in the Parish Office ([email protected]) for the Zoom meeting link and if you need any help with Zoom (https://zoom.us). Would you like to do a reading one Wednesday? Please do let Phoebe know.

ST CATHERINE’S CHILDREN’S ONLINE LITURGY is every Sunday at 11.15am via Zoom. We have a private Facebook Group ‘St Catherine’s Children’s Liturgy’ which has information on how to get involved each Sunday. Please do join! Please email Phoebe ([email protected]) in the Parish Office for details or if you have any questions.

LOOKING AFTER EACH OTHER:If you are in need of help or would like a friendly voice on the phone, please do email Fr David [email protected] or Deacon John Fegan [email protected] and they will contact you.

CHURCH OFFERTORY GIVING:

• Your donation can be put into your envelopes as usual and then put into the collection once Masses recommence. You can just use one envelope to do this if you prefer. For safety reasons please do not post envelopes through the presbytery door.

• Alternatively you could set up a Standing Order. The form can be found on our website or please email Phoebe Gibson in the Parish Office ([email protected]) for a copy. If you bank online, you can use the information on the form to set up a Standing Order. Or, you can print off the form, complete your details, and submit it to your bank.

• An online donation page is also available to simplify the process of giving online. The webpage allows you to make a one off donation or a regular monthly payment. It can be found at https://investmycommunity.com/not-logged-donator/page/StCatherine&StMartinaHoylake2203 This link is on our Parish website. If you would like to give in this way but would like some help then please email the Parish Office and one of us will contact you to talk you through the process. Please do not give more than you can afford. Please note that you may adjust or cancel your Standing Order at any time, should you wish. We would like to thank you for supporting your parish during these difficult times; it is very much appreciated.



Our website stcatherineshoylake.org.uk is full of information on how to access mass online as well as keeping you up to date with Fr David’s Reflections, Diocesan News, the Parish newsletter, Sunday bulletins and resources for daily prayer. If you would like any help accessing it or have any feedback, please email [email protected].

USEFUL SUPPORT CONTACTS • Helpers in Hoylake & Meols is a local group on Facebook set up to match local volunteers with anyone that

needs shopping and prescription pick up. • NHS Volunteer Responders Portal. This site will provide you with further information if you are self-isolating

and need support. You can find out how you can access support and things to consider if you are going to receive support. https:// royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk/nhs-volunteer-responders-portal/isolating volunteering

• NHS Mental Health Crisis Line 0300 303 3972. It covers Wirral, Chester West, Chester East and is staffed 24/7.

• Kooth is aimed at young people (aged 11-25) offering free, safe and anonymous support through booked, online counselling sessions. www.kooth.com

• Age UK Wirral offers a prearranged shopping service. Please contact them on: 0151 482 3456. • Government List If you are at high risk and a clinically extremely vulnerable person, you can register on the

government website and will deliver a weekly grocery pack www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable • If you require any help with Council Tax payments during the crisis please contact Wirral MBC via any of the

following contacts: [email protected] 0151 606 2002 www.wirral.gov.uk/council-tax/support

WIRRAL FOODBANK is continuing to support people. If you need food support, please visit wirral.foodbank.org.uk/get-help/how-to-get-help/. 5 for the Foodbank! Can you pop 5 items into your supermarket trolley? The foodbank needs tinned meat, tinned fish, tinned vegetables, tinned fruit and custard. Donation points are available at the following supermarkets: Tesco (Heswall, Rock Ferry and Bidston), Asda (Birkenhead, Bromborough, Liscard and Arrowe Park), Sainsbury’s (Upton and Greasby).

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(Redemptorist Publications)

Jesus says that God our Father knows each one of us and loves us very much. God cares for all the birds, so of course God cares for us. We are all God’s children and God loves us all.

Dear Jesus, thank you for loving me so much. When I am frightened, help me to remember that you are with me. Amen.

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 10:26-33

Find more children’s prayers at cafod.org.uk/kidzzone

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Catholic Agency forOverseas Development



12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

Some years ago, a remarkable French film was released called “Of Gods and Men.” The film went on to win several awards including the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival. It is the true story of a small community of Trappist monks living in a village not far from Algiers in Algeria who were murdered in 1996. The monks were deeply involved in the lives of the Muslim villagers, loving them and loved by them. In the 1990s violence begins to engulf the country, the violence of Islamic terrorists, and they know that it will threaten their lives. The monks must decide if they are called to stay or to leave. The film tells of their dawning realization that their vocation is to stay. In one scene they share with the villagers their hesitation telling them that they are like birds and perhaps are about to depart. A Muslim woman says, “We are the birds and you are the branch.” The youngest monk angrily declares that he did not become a monk to die. The Prior replies, “But you have already given away your life.” As the film draws to an end, the Prior says to a monk: “I think that each of us discovered that to which Jesus Christ beckons us. It’s to be born. Our identities as people go from one birth to another. And from each birth to birth we’ll end up bringing to the world the child of God that we are.” The monks discover that the more they conform their lives to Christ, the more they become themselves. They discover who they really are and come to the realisation that they cannot not stay. The final scene shows the monks walking through the snow to their place of execution. From the very earliest days Christians have been persecuted for their faith. Jesus was the preeminent martyr (the word means “witness”) and so it is not strange that Christians should see a link between those who have died for their faith and Jesus himself. The readings for this Sunday focus our eyes on suffering for what we profess. In our first reading Jeremiah must face terrible trials. “All those who used to be my friends watched for my downfall” he cried out. Jesus himself had to face sufferings in his ministry and he did not avoid them. In today’s Gospel Jesus instructs the disciples about the conditions and challenges of continuing his mission. The Gospel is both sobering and consoling. The disciples will face lethal opposition but should not be afraid of “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” because they are under God’s loving care and will have Jesus as their ultimate vindicator. The days of Christians being thrown to the lions may be over, but persecution has remained with us. Perhaps no more than in the twentieth century when more Catholics died for their faith than in all of the Roman persecutions combined. The late Pope John II was instrumental in recalling the powerful witness of those who died in our own times either out of hatred for the faith or for witnessing against social injustice or by uttering a prophetic protest against the suppression of human rights. In times past martyrs were often depicted with an ancient instrument of death (a sword or arrows), the more recent symbolism would have to show barbed wire, automatic rifles, electric cattle prods and other forms of violence. Of course, not every Christian will be called to witness to the faith by suffering a violent death. Most frequently, it will be a form a witness that may draw scorn, pity or indifference.



Many years ago I recall reading an extraordinary diary titled “An Interrupted Life.” The diary belonged to Etty Hilesum, a young Jewish woman, who discovered Christ while waiting to be sent to her death in Auschwitz concentration camp. I remember thinking at the time how she revealed something of the spirituality of the martyrs. She revealed that when suffering could not be avoided it could still be transformed by drawing it into a larger vision of life. This spirituality of suffering involved the embrace of death itself as an inevitable part of human existence. She writes: “I have looked our destruction which has already begun in so many small ways in our daily life, straight in the eye and accepted it into my life, and my love of life has not been diminished…I shall no longer flirt with words, for words merely evoke misunderstandings: I have come to terms with life…By ‘coming to terms with life’ I mean: the reality of death has become a definite part of my life; my life has, so to speak, been extended by death…, by accepting destruction as part of life and no longer wasting my energies on fear of death or the refusal to acknowledge its inevitability…it sounds paradoxical: by excluding death from our life we cannot live a full life, and by admitting death into our life we enlarge and enrich it.”

Etty Hillesum later described how she was determined not to escape from the world and it’s sufferings but to find God in the world. She included this prayer to God in a letter to a friend:

“I sometimes imagine that I long for the seclusion of a nunnery. But I know that I must seek You among people, out in the world. And that is what I shall do, despite the weariness and dislike that sometimes overcome me. I vow to live my life out there to the full.”

Those of us who have chosen to follow Christ have chosen to follow the one who was crucified. Following Christ is often difficult and costly. The paradox is that in dying to ourselves we find true life. But we need not be afraid. We have a God who promises us that he will not allow us to suffer alone, or to suffer beyond our strength. “Do not be afraid,” said Jesus, “every hair of your head has been counted and you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.”

Fr David Roberts *http://www.st-agnes-west-kirby.org.uk/blog/

st catherine’s church birkenhead road, hoylake, ch47 5af

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