Our Lady Queen of Heaven
Catholic Church, Harwich, Essex

Fourth Sunday of Easter 12 May 2019

Fr Frank writes:

My Dear Friends,

This Sunday, in particular, we think and pray about vocations in our Church. Pope Emeritus Benedict has written:

In presenting the mystery of the Church in our time, the Second Vatican Council gave priority to the category of “communion”. In this perspective, the rich variety of gifts and ministries acquires great importance for the People of God. All the baptised are called to contribute to the work of salvation. In the Church, however, there are some vocations which are dedicated especially to the service of communion. The person primarily responsible for Catholic communion is the Pope (……) with the Bishops (…….) assisted by the priests.

The Church in England needs more priests. Please pray for vocations to the sacred ministry.

Easter ends on the Feast of Pentecost (8/9th June). This is the day when we celebrate the Church of many languages and nations. To emphasise this I would like the readings at Mass that weekend to be in a language other than English. If your first language is not English and you would like to read at one of the Masses that weekend please let me know (preferably by email or by written note). If we have any volunteers for this wonderful task, I promise I shall sign the Eucharistic Prayer using the language of the deaf! But only if we have volunteers!!

May the Risen and Glorified Christ bless you now and always.

Frank ofs

Sunday Smile:

A new rector had preached his first sermon but a sudden emergency had prevented one of the churchwardens from attending church that day.   When the churchwarden saw the rector during the week, the following conversation took place.

Churchwarden: “I was so sorry to have missed your first sermon, rector.”

Rector (with great modesty): “Oh, you didn’t miss much.”

Churchwarden: “So they tell me.”