Our Lady Queen of Heaven
Catholic Church, Harwich, Essex

Corpus Christi (A) 14 June 2020

For Catholics on the Tendring Peninsula….

SPECIAL NEWSLETTER XII – keeping in touch.

CORPUS CHRISTI (A)                                                                                                13/14 June 2020

Catholic Parishes of:

Our Lady Queen of Heaven, Dovercourt:              01255 503383

email                     Harwich@dioceseofbrentwood.org

website                 www.harwichcatholics.org.uk

Sacred Heart and St Francis of Assisi, Frinton-on-Sea:         01255 674475

email                     Frinton@dioceseofbrentwood.org

website:                 www.frintoncatholicchurch.wordpress.com

Masses to be celebrated in our churches this week:           

Monday (15th):                       (Frinton)                  9.00am      John Turner

Wednesday (17th):                  (Frinton)                  11.00am     Eileen Mary Corbett & Marie Bernadette Hines RIP

Thursday (18th):                      (Frinton)                 11.00am     Jane Robinson (Friends)

Friday (19th):                           (Frinton)                  9.00am      Anne Hughes RIP (Maureen Maguire)

Saturday (20th):                      (Frinton)                  6.00pm      Kathleen & Sonny Lombardi RIP

Joe Lombardi RIP

Holly Crowley RIP

Peter Huckle RIP     (Lombardi family)

Sunday (21st)                          (Dovercourt)           10.45am     The Turner family (Dunbar)

In addition to these Masses, Fr Bill will continue to celebrate Mass in The Presbytery. His intentions this week are:

Tony Farry RIP (Kathleen Farry)

Dunn and O’Callaghan Family RIP

George and Angela East (Noons Family)

Christine McDonald RIP (Brian and Family)

All Parishioners

 

My dear friends,

Today we celebrate the Feast that most of us call Corpus Christi – The body and Blood of Christ. On this day we give special thanks for the gift of the Holy Eucharist – the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Communion. The Mass is so central to our faith that we celebrate it every day. What a wonderful gift Christ left us!

Your inability to Receive the Blessed Sacrament as a result of the current pandemic causes pain – of this I am clear. Like you, I look forward to the day when we can once again come together as a community.

Meanwhile I can assure you that Mass continues to be celebrated in our parishes and that you are all remembered on these occasions.

This weekend our First Holy Communion children should have been celebrating receiving the Blessed Sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time, either on Saturday morning (Dovercourt) or Saturday evening (Frinton). This will now be put back until things return to normal and they can complete their preparation course. We pray for our children who must feel a great sense of disappointment.

The day when we will be able to open our churches for private prayer grows near. I shall keep you advised by email of our progress towards being able to pray in a safe environment. At the moment an opening on Monday will not be possible as we haven’t got the necessary PPE. The earliest we will be open for prayer is from Monday 22nd. There is still no news as to when we can begin celebrating Mass with a congregation present.

May Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, fill you with every good gift.

Fr Frank

 

A hymn for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi:

This is my body, broken for you,                                                             This is my blood poured out for you,

bringing you wholeness, making you free.                                            bringing forgiveness, making you free.

Take it and eat it, and when you do,                                                      Take it and drink it, and when you do,

do it in love for me.                                                                                                Do it in love for me.

A very familiar hymn this week. There are many beautiful hymns that reflect this week’s theme but this one gets to the heart of the matter in a simple and direct way.

“I am the living bead which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.” (words from St John’s gospel.) (AJ)

 

Offertory: A simple way of continuing to donate to church funds, go to:

For Harwich & Dovercourt parishioners: https://www.dioceseofbrentwood.net/donations?parish=harwich-and-dovercourt

for Frinton & Walton parishioners: https://www.dioceseofbrentwood.net/donations?parish=frinton-on-sea

 

Sunday Smile: The Trout Inn, which lies between the villages of Wansford and Driffield at the foot of the Yorkshire Wolds, is a popular port of call for cyclists and ramblers. The elderly vicar of Wansford asked the innkeeper if he would display a notice giving details of the services at the village church. The innkeeper gladly obliged and the notice read:

“We will be glad to see you at any of our services. Clothes don’t matter.”