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Pope’s Message for the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly Sunday 23rd July 2023 

CITY OF LINCOLN CIVIC SERVICE

St Hugh’s will host the City of Lincoln Civic Service this Sunday, 12th March at 3pm.  The Civic Service brings together the Civic Party (Mayor, Sheriff, and their consorts), members of the city council, and invited guests from other local authorities to give thanks for the Civic Year which draws to a close in May. The service will consist of hymns, readings, and prayers, and the school choir from St Peter and St Paul Catholic VoluntaryAcademy will be taking part. Parishioners are invited to attend and also join the guests in the Hall for the hospitality that will be offered after the event.

DEACON JOHN WILFORD’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF ORDINATION

Tuesday, 29th November at 10am in St Hugh’s Church

You are invited to Deacon John Wilford's 25th Anniversary of Ordination to the Diaconate, 

starting with 10am Mass at St Hugh's, followed by refreshments in the church hall. 

EVERYONE WELCOME!

Fr Patrick Bassey

Silver Jubilee of Priestley Ordination Mass

Friday, 22nd July 2022 at 7pm

Live Stream 

https://youtu.be/m63ZhVLaDSs 

CAN YOU HELP!

Hall Committee:  We are a ‘small’ group of retired people who arrange and put on parish events eg Harvest Supper, Christmas Party etc., and assist with work in the church and rectory when asked eg painting, gardening etc.  We need more people to join the team as the saying goes ‘more hands make light work’ and our hands are dwindling.  Please give it some thought and if you would like to join the team speak to Noel either after Mass or give him a ring: 07914 501706 or email: noel.harris@ntlworld.com

Flower Arrangers:  Please speak to Liz Thorley if you can help with arranging the church flowers.  This is usually done on a Thursday but we are flexible!  You can see Liz in the church most days, or contact her by email: ethorley@hotmail.co.uk  or leave your details with the parish secretary.

Church Cleaning:  We clean the church after the 10am Mass on Thursday.  Can you help?  If you can please speak to one of the existing team after Thursday Mass - you can tell who they are as they will have a duster or a vacuum cleaner in their hands.  Many hands make light work, and we get-together in the church hall afterwards for a cuppa and a chat - we’d love to get to know you!  (Members of our Polish community clean the church on the 3rd Sunday of the month; we don’t clean on the Thursday of that week.

Sunday Refreshments:  We need more people to join the refreshment rota.  Sunday morning Masses only.  Email the parish secretary if you can help: email: office@sthughslincoln.org.uk

NOTTINGHAM DIOCESAN DRAFT SYNODAL RESPONSE 

(click on heading for link to the page)

CATHOLIC BISHOP'S CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES

Guidance for Churches - January 2022

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KUhZISNvympVV4E6_qdQMieSMVEMS2NF/view?usp=sharing 

The Synodal Process at St Hugh’S

By the time you read this article we will have had the second of our open parish meetings as part of our synodal journey. Hopefully next week we will be able to provide a summary of our

deliberations and an indication of any proposed actions which we as a parish can undertake to reach out to those who are marginalised or separated from the church.

Of course, not everyone is able to engage with parish meetings for a variety of different reasons. Therefore some people may wish to contribute to the synod process by answering the synod questions on the diocesan web-site: www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/synod2023  If you click on the section ‘Have your say’ you will be taken through to the questions. This would also be a good way to encourage non church going family and friends to have their say in the process.

Pope Francis, Bishop Patrick, and hopefully all of us very much want to hear what they will have to say.

A reminder that the questions are:

· What is my dream for the Church, for my parish so that it can become more outward

looking and missionary?

· To achieve this what do we need to do differently or stop doing?

· How do I hear and respond to God’s Holy Spirit in my life, what signs of the Spirit at work do I see in the life of our parish?

· What steps may the Holy Spirit be calling us to take, on our journey into God’s future?

· As a parish do we know who are the people who feel marginalised or separated from the parish and society?

· How best can our parish respond? Suggest at least two identifiable ways in which, as a parish, we will reach out and listen to the marginalised or separated.

As you can see the questions go from the open ended to the very specific. It is important that we start from our dreams for the Church, but we are also asked to arrive at some definite actions that we as a parish will be able to take over the coming weeks and months.

You can also follow the Synodal process by following the QR code above.

The Synodal Process at St Hugh’s  

As a parish we have begun making our contributions to the diocesan phase of the Synodal

Process. Our first meeting was on Tuesday November 2nd, and we thank those who could make it. Attendance was very encouraging, though we are ready to welcome even more people in the next meetings.

It was observed by many during the meeting that our parish is blessed with rich cultural and

national diversity, and that we are a friendly parish with a welcoming and strong community

spirit. The children liturgy and the increasing presence and participation of young adults give both dynamism and hope to our parish life.

It was also observed that in spite of this general atmosphere of familyhood, the Masses are dull at times and a few people still feel marginalized or prefer to be uninvolved spectators who just

worship and hurriedly go away.

It was agreed that concerted efforts should be made to give all a sense of belonging, integration and commitment.  Also, the liturgy should be made more vibrant with music for the active

participation of all. The parish should engage more in outreach program to the sick, housebound  and those parishioners who find it difficult to attend church, as well as the homeless and charity

organisations in the community. This could be one way of practicing what we hear in church.   

Please join us as we continue to ask:  1) What is my dream for the Church, for my parish so

that it can be more outward looking and missionary?  2) To achieve this what do we need to do differently or stop doing?  3) How do I hear and respond to God’s Holy Spirit in my life, what signs of the Spirit at work do I see in the life of the parish?  4) What steps may the Holy Spirit be calling us to take, on our Journey to God’s future?  5)As a parish  do we know who are the

people who feel marginalised or separated from the parish as a society?  6) How best can our parish respond? Suggest at least two identifiable ways in which, as a parish, we will reach out and listen to the marginalised or separated.

The next two meetings take place in St Hugh’s church hall on Saturday, 13th November at 12noon, and Tuesday, 30th November at 10.30am.  If you didn’t attend the first meeting please try to attend one of the remaining meetings (or both). 

The synodal process invited us to journey together, and you can also answer the questions raised via the diocesan website: www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/synod2023 or by following the QR code above.

Sir Edward Leigh MP our guest speaker on the topic of Faith and Politics. 29th October 2021

Questions were asked from written submissions and the attendees. The overall response was that a politician has a responsibility to the majority view. Notwithstanding that, a politician has a duty to pursue the concerns of each and every constituent no matter what their political persuasion. However, in extremis the politician would be obliged to follow what they perceive to be the overriding view of the majority.

That was how I interpreted Sir Edward’s response following my reading out to him the questions that had been posed.

It was a very interesting evening. Two major factors were brought to the floor that certainly illustrated the potential, if not actual, conflict between faith and politics.

The first was assisted dying, euthanasia. The second; on demand abortion at any time before birth. Needless to state that there was plenty of discussion. The general view was that neither was in the public interest or in accord with the principles of faith.

A further meeting with the same topic and a different member of parliament will take place in the New Year. Perhaps parishioners will be able to attend that meeting. Our meeting coordinator will keep you informed as to when it is.

 Yours fraternally

 Terence P O’Halloran ChFP FCII BSc (Hons) President Lincoln Catenian Circle

Message from Fr Matthew

"I would like to thank everybody who attended my leaving Mass on Thursday. I found the occasion very moving. 

Thanks also for the very kind collection for me which is very much appreciated. 

Please remember to keep me in your prayers and I will keep you in mine." 

(The photo below shows a few of the people who were at Fr Matthew's Mass - including Merdyn his dog!

The Synodal Process at St Hugh’S

As a parish we have been asked to contribute to the diocesan phase of the Synodal Process which has now begun.  Bishop Patrick has asked all parishes and chaplaincies to make tome to consider the following questions over the next few weeks.

· What is my dream for the Church, for my parish so that it can become more outward

looking and missionary?

· To achieve this what do we need to do differently or stop doing?

· How do I hear and respond to God’s Holy Spirit in my life, what signs of the Spirit at work do I see in the life of our parish?

· What steps may the Holy Spirit be calling us to take, on our Journey into God’s future?

· As a parish do we know who are the people who feel marginalised or separated from the parish and society?

· How best can our parish respond?  Suggest at least two identifiable ways in which, as a parish, we will reach out and listen to the marginalised or separated.

As you can see the questions go from the open ended to the very specific. It is important that we start from our dreams for the Church, but we are also asked to arrive at some definite actions that we as a parish will be able to take over the coming weeks and months.

In order that we may consider these matters together there will be three parish open meetings, taking place at different times with the hope that everyone might be able to get to at least one of the meetings. The dates and times are:

Tuesday 2 November at 7.30pm (after Mass for All Souls Day).

Saturday 13 November at 12 noon (after Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament)

Tuesday 30 November at 10.30am (after morning Mass)

The synodal process invites us to journey together but if for some reason people wish to respond individually to the questions, they can do so through the diocesan web site: www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/synod2023 or by following the QR code above.

THE SYNODAL PATHWAY BEGINS - WE ARE INVITED TO JOURNEY TOGETHER  

This Sunday Pope Francis will launch a time of listening and discernment in preparation for the next worldwide Synod of Bishops in October 2023. This process will have a ‘diocesan phase’ which Bishop Patrick will launch this weekend by means of a pastoral letter. We will also have a special hour of prayer at 5pm prior to the usual 6pm Mass this Sunday.

FR PATRICK’S SUNDAY REFLECTION - 29TH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR

‘To practice environmental Justice’, and ‘To conserve the environment for use by future generations’.  These would serve as our sixth and seventh  ecological work of mercy. The Psalm today reiterates that the earth is filled with God’s kindness and mercy, and that God ‘loves

justice and right’.  In God’s Oikos (household) therefore, Mercy, Justice and Righteousness are the underlying virtues for an integral ecology.  Our attempts to safeguard a home for all God’s creatures, ‘must integrate questions of justice…, so we can hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’.  (Pope Francis).  The earth’s resources are the common patrimony of all.

Environmental justice and righteous living will entail that: the benefits and burdens of the

environment are shared equitably.  In the face of the prevalent global inequality, environmental justice demands that our use of the earth’s resources should not deprive others the use of these resources.  Equally, no one should be allowed to suffer the consequences of environmental

degradation or resource depletion more than others.  It is also the demand of justice that we

observe the precautionary principle of forestalling any possible negative effects of human

activities on the environment whether the impacts of these actions are fully known in the present or not. This is true not only for technological innovations in the production of goods and

services, but also even in the formulation of global economic and political policies. Victims

of environmental pollution caused by multinational companies must be adequately compensated and their land rehabilitated, just as the polluters must be held accountable. The sustainable use

of earth’s resources implies too the needs of the future generation are taken into serious

consideration. We must take concrete steps to leave an environment fit for their own habitation. Intergenerational justice and ‘solidarity are not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us. It is an ‘ecological holocaust’ and grave injustice when multinational companies employ in poor developing

countries, extraction and production patterns that fall below globally approved standards and are even unacceptable in their home countries. The debt profile of many developing nations today would never allow them to grow out of poverty and underdevelopment. It is grave injustice

to continue the present global structure/policy of loans from international donors without an

accompanying moral obligation to monitor their use.  

Please join Fr Patrick for the final Reflection Service on the theme of ‘Living simply,

sustainably and in solidarity’.  Which will take place in St Peter and St Paul Parish Hall on Wednesday, 20th October at 7pm.  You are all invited!

TOWER FUND MY GIVING LINK

Work has begun to restore the tower at St Hugh's, in Lincoln! Throughout 2021, they aim to complete as much of the work as possible to ensure the tower is both safe and retains its character as a Grade II listed building. If you would like to contribute financially to the works currently being undertaken, please post any donations in an envelope marked ‘St Hugh’s Tower Fund' St Hugh's Church, Broadgate, Lincoln, LN2 5AQ or by donating here: https://tinyurl.com/szwj8r4t 

STATEMENT ON THE MARRIAGE OF BORIS JOHNSON AND CARRIE SYMONDS AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

https://rcdow.org.uk/news/wedding-in-westminster-cathedral/ 

Pastoral Letter for Pentecost Sunday, 23rd May 2021 

Pastoral Letter for the 7th Sunday of Easter - Diocesan Safeguarding Sunday

drive.google.com/file/d/1On3r5MfX9Lxq-GzEYb9g8zbTDtEB0mSu/view?usp=sharing 

CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES

Reflection by the Bishops of England and Wales

The Day of the Lord

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XOVa5v0eUfDWraBEDuwH7X7U2U-pCp8v/view?usp=sharing 

CHURCH TOWER UPDATE

CHURCH TOWER UPDATE

The Diocesan Building and Sites Commission have given the go ahead for the work on the church tower to proceed and the scaffolding company will be on site this week to build up the scaffolding to the top of the tower. Hopefully the necessary work can be done during the summer months. I am sure people will have a number of questions about what this all means:  Please do not enter the site area without checking with the workers on site.

How much will it cost? The contract price, reconfirmed by the main contractor, is £315,000 + VAT + professional fees. As the church is a listed building we will be able to reclaim the VAT but adding in professional fees we can expect a cost of about £350,000.

Where will the money come from? Despite our best efforts it is clear that we will not be eligible for any ‘lottery heritage funding’. As a parish we can commit £150,000 from

our ‘savings’ whilst still retaining some money (£20,000) for any unexpected but

necessary expenditure in the coming years. Thank you to all who have helped with fund raising so far, your efforts over the past 2 years have brought in approximately £34,000 for the Tower Fund and this has reduced the amount that we will need to borrow.

How will we borrow the remainder of the money? The diocese is offering us a ‘hybrid’ loan. The first £60,000 we will repay as a conventional diocesan loan over 15 years. Based on current interest rates this will mean a repayment of just short of £5,000 per year. Paying off this part of the loan will need to be a major focus for parish fund raising over the coming years. The remainder of the money (anything up to £140,000) will be lent to us from the ‘poor and needy parishes fund’ on an indefinite and interest free basis. We would repay this from any capital receipts (e.g. legacies) that might come into the parish over the coming years. If there are no such receipts then as a last resort consideration would be given to the rental or the sale of the Rectory to pay

off this debt.

I know it will come as a shock to move overnight from being a parish with savings in the bank to being a parish in debt to the diocese, however the work to the tower is

necessary and can’t be delayed any longer. I hope we can work together as a parish

to pay off the debt we will incur. I hope too that others in the city and beyond who

appreciate St Hugh’s will help us. However it is also important that as a parish we do not lose sight of other matters and not least the importance of being outward looking and missionary as we are being called to be, not only by our diocesan Bishop and by Pope Francis, but above all by the Lord himself. 

With good wishes and prayers,  Fr Eddy.

Fr Eddy’s Homily for Reception into Church and Vigil Mass for Deacon Peter Brogan RIP

In the few minutes that I have available this evening I am not able to give a full account of Peter’s life and ministry, and I am conscious that his children have prepared a eulogy which we will hear at the end of our Mass. However I would like to share a few thoughts based around the readings that Mary and the family have chosen for this Mass.

The First reading (Wisdom 4:7-15) speaks about the virtuous man who dies before his time. Peter was a virtuous man, and by the law of averages we can say that he died before his time. After all, 67 is these days a young age to die, and I am sure that Mary, his children, and his grandchildren, had hopes and indeed reasonable expectations of many more years of Peter’s company. But they, and others, will have heard Peter say on more than one occasion, ‘If the Lord wants me, I am ready’. Although Peter may have died suddenly, he was not unprepared. Perhaps we can truly apply some the sentiments of this reading to him, ‘He has sought to please God, so God has loved him’ … ‘his soul being pleasing to the Lord, he has taken him quickly’ … ‘grace and mercy await the chosen of the Lord, and protection his holy ones’.

The Second Reading (1 John 3:1-2) contains a phrase often used by Peter, ‘we are already the children of God’. This was part of his underlying attitude to life, that we are all

children of God. This helped Peter to welcome and accept all people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and faiths. Although quite conventional and even traditional in his own outlook, he would happily interact with anyone that life brought him into contact with. Whether in his working life in the fire service, or his ministry in parish and school, I am sure he would have faced many difficult and challenging situations, and he was able to face them with the faith and confidence that comes from knowing deep down that he and everyone is loved by God. Moreover as this reading reminds us, we can rejoice not only in what we have now, but also in what is promised to us for the future, that ‘we shall see God as he really is’. Our prayer for Peter tonight and tomorrow is that he is already experiencing this reality.

In the Gospel Reading (John 6:51-58) Jesus promises that whoever does ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life’. Peter not only attended Mass on a Sunday but he tried

to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion each and every day. When he was working on the school minibuses he would often come into Mass at St Peter and St Paul once he had completed his morning duties. I understand that Peter was at Mass and at Holy Communion here at St Hugh’s on the morning of his death, the best reassurance that he was indeed prepared and ready to meet the Lord when the Lord called him to himself later that day.

The Responsorial Psalm, which is based on Psalm 103, also contains a word for us tonight. Even in our sorrow and sadness we are invited to ‘Bless the Lord and worship his holy name’. Peter’s earthly journey and ministry is over. As a deacon he proclaimed the Gospel in word and deed, he had a heart for the poor and vulnerable, and he assisted at the liturgy of the church as befitted his role as a deacon. He now takes his place in the liturgy of heaven. There he will be ‘blessing the Lord and worshipping his holy name’. I am sure his word to us now would be another of his favourite phrases, ‘God is good!’ and that he would invite us to join with him in singing the praises of God who has safely gathered

Peter to himself and one day will gather us to himself too.

ALL CHANGE AT ST HUGH’S!

Bishop Patrick has asked Fr Matthew to become Parish Priest of the four parishes of Holy Souls, and St Bernadette’s, Scunthorpe, St Norbert’s Crowle, and St Thomas of Canterbury, Gainsborough.  It is a huge responsibility, and he will be assisted by Fr Liam Carpenter.  Fr Matthew will be leaving St Hugh’s the week beginning 15th February.  Hopefully sometime in the future we will be able to welcome Fr Matthew back for a ‘farewell’ Mass, and s party in the church hall.

Our new Parish Priest will be Canon Edward Jarosz (Fr Eddy) who will reside at St Hugh’s Rectory with Fr Patrick assisting him.  Fr Eddy will also remain the Parish Priest of St Peter and St Paul Church, Lincoln, where he will be assisted by Canon Geoffrey Hunton.

Whilst we are all sad to hear that Fr Matthew is leaving us, we are very glad that Canon Eddy is our new priest and welcome him to his new home when he takes up his ministry at St Hugh’s at the beginning of Lent.

Photography by June Fogg ©2002, Tom Finneran ©2009, Mike Holmes @2010    Website developed by Holmes Consultancy Services