Father Luke writes ...

the Church Services page for updates on the transition back to public Masses in our churches in Brandon and Mildenhall.

There are some circumstances where people may not be able to wear a face covering. Please be mindful and respectful of such circumstances, noting that some people are less able to wear face coverings, and that the reasons for this may not be visible to others. This includes (but is not limited to): 

• Children under the age of 11 (Public Health England does not recommend face coverings for children under the age of 3 for health and safety reasons)
   
• people who cannot put on, wear or remove a face covering because of a physical or mental illness or impairment, or disability  

We are now in transition back to public worship with limited attendance.  See the Church Services page on this website.

These are trying and difficult times for all of us and I encourage you to read the letter from the Cardinal which is available below.

Our faith continues and the Mass will still be celebrated albeit without a public congregation, you are invited to participate spiritually in the Mass and instructions with prayers for at home, along with other resources to help you do this are found here. (See 'When Mass cannot be celebrated publicly' leaflet – No Public Mass pdf -- below.)

Daily Mass will be celebrated Tuesday – Friday at 10 am and broadcast live from our Facebook Page.

Sunday Mass will be streamed live at 11:00 am via our Facebook Page

Important: You do not have to be signed up to Facebook to view our Facebook Page – it will ask you to login in or sign-up but you do not need to do this to watch the live video, so you can ignore it and just click ‘Not Now’ when the box comes up.  It will then function like any other website.

It is better, however, to create a free account because you can interact with the page and we can keep in contact with each other (you don’t have to load any pictures up or use it for anything else) – so please do consider signing up for a Facebook account. To be clear, you do not need to sign up if you simply want to watch the video.  If you can’t hear any sound, just either press the screen (if it’s a touchscreen) or hover the cursor (little arrow moved by the mouse) over the video window. In the bottom of the video, a speaker icon with an ‘X’ will appear - tap that icon to unmute the sound.

If you do not have the internet but you do have Sky you can watch a daily Mass (usually at midday) on EWTN which is channel 588 on Sky.

Other ways to stay in touch:  The weekly newsletter will continue and be uploaded to our parish website as usual. If you or someone you know would like a hard copy delivered to you then get in touch and we will arrange this.

If you need anything and or are struggling in any way, please contact me and I will support you in any way that I can.  I am on phone 01842 812200 and email bmrcparishpriest@outlook.com

Let us look out for each other, pray for one another and keep the faith!

Be assured of my continued prayers and affection for you all,

Fr Luke

Concerned as we are about the COVID-19 disease and it social and economic effects, as Christians we must never forget that we are one global family, united in the struggle against the pandemic. Now is not the time to build barriers, but for the world to unite in love and compassion.

Out of love for our brothers and sisters across the world CAFOD is organising a petition to the UK government asking them to ensure that the most vulnerable and marginalised people are the priority in the UK’s international efforts as well as at home.

Visit www.cafod.org.uk/coronavirusto add your name to the petition, to donate and to find text and ideas for sharing the petition online.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 

                                                                                                     James 2: 4-18

Please remember that there are now more people than ever in need of our support for food and the basic essentials.

The Food Bank is based In Mildenhall at the Kings Project, King Street.

Leave your contribution there or at the Co-op.

At present, there is an urgent need for Long Life Milk.

All non-liturgical groups have now ceased to use St John’s until further notice. These include The Tuesday Lunch Bunch, Slimming World (Wednesday) and the Thursday Line Dancing Club.

This will mean a loss of income to the parish and you are asked to think about how the whole parish community can counter this by the contributions made through the weekly offertory via standing order please contact Fr Luke or Phillip Kemp for more details.

It is pleasing and hopeful to see how people are responding to the challenge of the virus by offering to help and support their neighbours – evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work in our community and that neighbourhoods are ‘pulling together’.Remember too that our best friends ever are ready to help. 

Pray to Jesus and Our Lady of Walsingham, and your prayers will be answered.

You might also want to include saints who are patrons for those with medical problems:

• St Luke is an obvious choice, but there are also:
• Ss Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia;
• The Fourteen Holy Helpers of the Rhineland
• St Hugh of Cluny
• St Theobald of Provins