News & Notices

Mass through the week will now be celebrated in the Back Room.

UKRAINE APPEAL

A special collection will take place this weekend for parishioners to donate to replenish the money the parish has already given to the appeal. Your generosity, as always, will be appreciated.

Consecration of Russia & Ukraine

On Friday, March, 25, 2022, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis and bishops throughout the world consecrated Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, praying especially for peace and an end to war. Please unite your prayers with theirs using the following prayer:

Personal Prayer for the Consecration of Russia & Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Most glorious Mother, Queen of Heaven and Earth, To you do we turn in our time of need. Your Heart is most pure, Your virtues overflow in superabundance, You are the Immaculate Conception, You are our Mother and Queen. In the face of grave evil, In this time of war, In this time of devastation and chaos, We entrust all to you. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Please pray for us, Cover us with your mantle of protection, Free us from violence, Free us from war. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Call us to repentance, Open the eyes of sinners, Pour down your Son’s mercy, Pour down His abundant grace. We consecrate to your Immaculate Heart this day, Ourselves and our loved ones, Our families and churches, Our communities and countries.

Most Immaculate Heart of Mary, In union with the Holy Father in Rome, With the bishops throughout the world, With all the faithful at prayer, We consecrate Russia and Ukraine to you.

Receive them into your Immaculate Heart, Bring healing and peace, Strength and wisdom, Love and compassion, Mercy and forgiveness, Reconciliation to all. Through the powerful mediation of your Immaculate Heart, Bind Satan and all demons, Thwart their evil plots. St. Michael the Archangel, All angels and saints, Pray for Ukraine, Pray for Russia, Pray for peace in the world, Pray for peace in every heart. Immaculate Heart of Mary, Pray for us. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Have mercy on us. Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen.

Why Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary?

In an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in Fátima, Portugal on July 13, 1917, our Blessed mother made the following request:

“You see Hell, where the souls of poor sinners go. To save them God wishes to establish in the world the devotion to my Immaculate Heart. If they do what I will tell you, many souls will be saved, and there will be peace. The war is going to end. But if they do not stop offending God, another and worse one will begin in the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that is the great sign God gives you that He is going to punish the world for its crimes by means of war, of hunger, and of persecution of the Church and of the Holy Father. To prevent this, I come to ask the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of reparation on the first Saturdays. If they listen to my requests, Russia will be converted and there will be peace. If not, she will scatter her errors through the world, provoking wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated. In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to Me, and it will be converted, and a certain period of peace will be granted to the world”.

Parish Website. www.stpauls-rc.co.uk

Our redesigned Website will be launched this coming week. Please take time to look at it and let us know what you think.

Coffee Morning

On Wednesday 30th March - please join us in the back room at 10am for coffee and a chat. All welcome.

Rotas: Easter Tridium

A list is in the Piety Stall for volunteers to add their name to cover the various ministries during the services for Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. If you are available for any of these ministries please add your name to the list so we ensure all ministries are covered during this very important time in the worshipping calendar of our parish.

Weekly Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross will normally be at St Paul’s on a Friday evening at 6pm and at St John the Baptist on Sunday afternoon at 5pm. We would earnestly request, where possible, for all the parishioners to come and enjoy the spiritual experience of attending the Way of the Cross. For those unable to come to church on a Friday evening Stations of the Cross will be available from 6:00pm each Friday on the Parish Facebook Page www.facebook.com/groups/143816098991252/ .

Stations of the Cross, also called Way of the Cross portrays events in the Passion of Christ, from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his entombment. Prayerful meditation through the Stations of the Cross is especially common during Lent and on Fridays throughout the year, in commemoration of Christ’s Crucifixion on Good Friday. The devotional exercise of visiting and praying in front of each of the 14 stations and meditating on the Passion of Christ stems from the practice of early Christian pilgrims who visited the scenes of the events in Jerusalem and walked the traditional route from the supposed location of Pilate’s house to Calvary. Tradition holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, set up stone markers at her home outside Jerusalem to prayerfully retrace the steps of her son’s Passion

Baptism

Parishioners of St. Paul’s, St John’s and Our Lady and St Joseph are asked to pray for the following children who will be baptised in one of our parishes during 2022:

Ayda, Aiden, Alfie Benjamin, Amelie Cate, Clark Thomas, Flora Adeline, Frankie Jefferey, Lily Annabelle, Marcus, Oscar James, Roman James and Theo Christopher (brothers), Rudy Francis, Torbjorn Samhain. Deacon Rob.

Called to accompany those seeking healing?

Do you feel called to accompany those seeking inner healing? The Diocese will be providing training in this ministry, initially to help you discern how God may be directing you. A residential training course will take place at Minsteracres Retreat Centre and will run across 2 sessions: Session 1: 22^nd - 23^rd April 2022 - Session 2: 15^th - 16^th July 2022. For more information see the poster on our Notice Board, or contact the Vicariate for Faith & Mission admin team who can provide further details and application forms. adminfaith.mission@diocesehn.org.uk

The Church’s Wet Cement Moment

Are we, as the church, in a “Wet Cement” moment still trying to figure out where we are going to go from here? What are your views on

1. What does the church look like in our time?

2. Will we as a parish re-write the narrative on the church?

3. Will we as a parish be a part of the future?

4. Do you feel our parish is in a “Wet Cement” moment?

What part are you playing, or would like to play, in re-writing the narrative on church?

We would love to hear your views on these topics and your way forward for our parish. Please pass on your views and ideas to Fr. Manoj or any member of the PPC for possible future discussions within our parish.

Diocesan Training

Information for forthcoming Liturgy Courses providing training for Welcomers / Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion / Sacristans is available on the Notice Board. If any parishioner is interested in any of the training courses please have a word with Fr. Manoj.

Diocesan Vacancies

The Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle is looking to appoint a new Senior Administrator in the Safeguarding Team. The role will be based in the Diocesan Offices in Newcastle and is full-time. Closing date for applications: 23 March 2022. Please visit www.diocesehn.org.uk for full details or alternatively contact us 0191 243 3301

Piety Stall

Grab a bargain in our winter sale. All items priced at 50p.

Lenten Reflections

The dedicated Diocesan Lenten Reflections have been contributed by a mix of clergy, religious and lay people to express the richness and variety of our diocesan community and can be found using the following link: https://diocesehn.org.uk/living-the-faith/liturgy-prayer/#seasonal

The benefits of Fasting (St. Thomas Aquinas).

Lent is penitential in character. This means that Lent is a time prescribed by the Church to engage in acts of penance and mortification in atonement for the sins we have committed. It is recognized that an integral part of repentance, defined as turning away from sin and back toward God, includes penance both as an expression of sorrow for having offended God and others and as a means of helping to redress the wrongs we have committed. Fasting has long been recognized as an excellent means of penance, with many spiritual benefits. In the post-modern world, however, the practice of fasting as a means of spiritual benefit has fallen into disuse. The focus is more often on the physical advantages of fasting while its spiritual benefits are disregarded. The Christian recognizes the primary importance of remaining spiritually healthy in view of eternal life, as opposed to a myopic, pagan view in which the material and temporal are given all the emphasis.

Adult Formation & Spiritual Nurturing Group

This will be held during Lent on Thursday evenings from 7pm – 8:15pm in the Back Room. Please come along to nurture and share your faith values with your parish family. Feel free to join in or just listen. Refreshments will be provided.

First Holy Communion and Confirmation

St. Paul’s Church along with Our Lady and St. Joseph’s, New Hartley, have planned the preparations for the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation. For further information please look at our First Holy Communion page on this website.

Church Housekeeping

A polite reminder to all parishioners whilst using the back room and facilities please ensure that all lights, fans, etc. are switched off. This will assist in keeping church costs as low as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.

Mass Intentions

Celebrating a Mass for the particular intention of you or your loved one is encouraged as we have quite a number of celebrations of the Eucharist without particular intentions. This could usually be done on the occasion of the Death Anniversary of your dear ones or on the special occasions in the family like a birthday or the wedding anniversary.

The Relics of St. Bernadette

The relics of St. Bernadette will be visiting England, Wales and Scotland during this year. They will be brought to our Cathedral on 1 and 2 October. It is hoped that this will be a time of pilgrimage and prayer for the whole Diocese. More details to follow from the Diocese.

Assistance required ?

If you or anyone you know would like to have a copy of the weekly Bulletin via email please give the name and email address to Peter K.

Thank You

We highly appreciate the care you render to the parish both in your service and financial assistance. May God bless you for your generosity.

Food Bank

Your future contributions will now go to the Food Bank to help those families less fortunate than ourselves.

Offertory

As you can see from the amounts published each week, our finances have dwindled substantially due to COVID. Perhaps you can consider whether or not you could increase your donations for the upkeep of the parish. If you pay income tax by joining our Gift Aid Scheme will increase your donations by 25% at no extra cost to yourself as we reclaim the tax you have already paid on you donation.

Laudato Si God’s Garden

Many of our church gardens are calling out to us for a bit of care and planning. We hope to meet friends old and new in our Diocese and this is the ideal opportunity for reflection, planning and time to build up our support network. For practical reasons our first meeting will be via zoom at 10:30am on Saturday 29th January. Please email clare.myersmyers@btinternet.com if you are interested and I will send out this weeks zoom link. We aim to keep the meeting to an hour, including short prayer, a talk about a local parish garden project & hopefully some ‘fruitful’ experience sharing. We hope to encourage and inspire a more fulfilling use of our church gardens (and school gardens). We look forward to happy gardening.

Bonus Ball

19th March No 7 David C. Spare Number 54 is avaiable £1 per week. See John R.

200 Club

12th March Draw: 1st No. 97 PH: 2nd No 85 Meg C: 3rd No 50 Graham:

Our Facebook page "St Pauls RC Church, Cramlington" https://www.facebook.com/groups/143816098991252/ Live Streams all our Masses. Alternatively you can watch them on our Parish YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/StPaulsRCChurchCramlington about 1 hour after they have started.

The Year of the Eucharist: the link below will take you to the Diocesan webpage for the Year of the Eucharist. There is a reflection booklet – ‘Encountering the Father’ which can be downloaded. https://diocesehn.org.uk/living-the-faith/year-of-the-eucharist/

HOLY ISLAND VINNIE CAMP 2022

Holy Island Camp will be running holidays for children in 2022. Our helpers are all volunteers and in order to go ahead successfully in 2022 we urgently need new volunteers to help in the kitchens, preparing food, washing up and clearing the dining hall. We also need caretaking staff who would be able to carry out a cleaning role. The work is tiring but fun. All helpers will be required to obtain a free Diocesan DBS check and some training. If you are interested please visit our website https://www.svp.org.uk/microsite/holy-island/about-camp

Memorial Book: Our Memorial Book in the Side Altar, has been updated to include all who have been buried from our parish to date. Please take time to have a look at them both. Thanks, Peter K.

First Aiders thank you to the following who volunteered: Margaret F for a Saturday evening and Jacqui H for a Sunday morning. Let's pray we do not need them!

Bulletin Items should be posted to the webmaster@stpauls-rc.co.uk email address by Wednesday 7pm for inclusion in the following weekend's Bulletin.

Adoration Of The Blessed Sacrament: Sunday 17th October saw the start of The Year Of The Eucharist in our Diocese. As part of our parish celebrations we now have Adoration Of The Blessed Sacrament on a Friday evening from 6:00pm - 7:00pm in the Back Room (replaced with Stations of the Cross at 6:00pm in church during Lent). We also have Adoration prior to the Saturday Vigil and Sunday morning Masses commencing half an hour before the Mass start time. We would encourage as many people as possible to come along to spend some quiet time in prayer with the Lord during these times.

We have a Whatsap Page, St Pauls RC Church Cram, which has parish information and is also for social connectivity as some people do not have access to Facebook..

Should you require further information please email webmaster@stpauls-rc.co.uk

Emmaus Bereavement Support Team consists of trained people across our Diocese to support and help those bereaved to cope with their loss. They will offer a service of listening and prayer for the bereaved to complement any support given by our parish. Bereavement is tough at any time but during COVID has been more difficult with family members unable to visit their relatives in Hospital or Care Homes. Should you wish to speak with the Team please contact either Frs. Manoj / Sebastian or ring the Team on 07732 980 740 leaving your name and contact number and a member of the Team will get in touch.

We have asked parishioners to pray the Our Father, Glory Be and Hail Mary on a daily basis at 7:30pm, or a suitable alternative time to suit, for our Prayer List and would be pleased should anyone else wish to join us. You might like to light a candle at the same time.

DO YOU GIFT AID? If you would like to join the scheme please see Sheila H. Thank you for your support. If you have not yet signed up and donate regularly by envelope or standing order and pay income tax please see Sheila H to complete a simple form.

CAFOD’s FREE WILL WRITING SERVICE offers you the opportunity to have your Will written professionally, by a solicitor, at no cost to you. You can have a weekday appointment with a local firm or via a telephone with a national firm. All they ask is you consider leaving them a legacy. More information is available via leaflets on the Notice Board or by telephoning Hannah on 020 7095 5367 or emailing legacy@cafod.org.uk Thank you.

If you wish to attend another church at any time including when there is no celebrating at St. Paul's with a congregation please ensure you contact that church prior to attending as many have a booking system in place and may have to turn you away.

Unfortunately this is what happened at St. John The Baptist, Annitsford at their Sunday Mass on 30th May.

Below are a few of the links for celebrations we have had over the years. More can be found on our YouTube link / account:

https://youtu.be/qsy_Er2MSwA Fr. Eddie Gibbons' Silver Jubilee Celebration, 4th June 1991.

https://youtu.be/cLkpUlbVexI St. Paul's Choir Concert Songs Of Praise, 9th June 1991.

https://youtu.be/HIXhGS_ye0U St. Paul's Choir Concert at Blyth Methodist Church Flower Festival, 23rd June 1993.

For information regarding attending Mass in person please see the "COVID 19 - Attending Mass" Page on this Website or our Facebook Page.

DIOCESAN INFORMATION

The new Diocesan Website, www.diocesehn.org.uk was launched on Friday 29th October 2021. Please take a look.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Hospitals While the chaplains do their best to visit those in hospital and ensure they receive the Sacraments there have been several cases recently where patients have been missed as they simply did not know they were there. If you or a loved one are admitted you should be asked your religion and if you’d like to see a chaplain. Even if you are not asked please tell staff and be as clear as possible so that details can be entered onto the system. In an emergency please ask the ward staff to call the On-Call Catholic Chaplain and someone will be there ASAP. If you wish to inform the chaplains directly then please see details on the contacts page.

Peertalk A peer support group for those with mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression, is now running in Newcastle at Brunswick Methodist Church, Newcastle, every Thursday evening, 7 – 8:30pm. This project is underpinned by the Methodist Church and offers a safe space to share without being judged. Be heard, respected and accepted, and receive peer support to help you work through mental health concerns.

Burials at St. John's, Annitsford Because of decreasing space availability, it was agreed by Fr. Harriott and the Parish Council that only a current member of St. John's Community (someone who attends Mass regularly and supports the parish) be buried or interred in the church grounds, unless there is space available into an existing family grave. Fr. Harriott and the FULL Parish Council ONLY have discretion to grant special permission for non-parishioners to be buried in the church grounds. Specification in a Will, should not automatically be taken by the Funeral Director as permission to a burial at St. John’s. We hope all will understand this decision the parish has had to take. Any questions regarding this should be forwarded to any member of St. John's Parish Council