Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Loughborough

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Gospel Reading for this Sunday:– Matthew 22:15-21

Jesus had the rare gift of expressing a lot of meaning in very few words.

Take his famous saying from today’s Gospel reading for example,

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”

There is so much packed into this one sentence.

First, “pay your taxes!” Jesus and the other New Testament figures like Peter and Paul, urged the disciples to be good citizens. Doing our bit for the community in which we live is an important part of keeping Jesus’ command to love one another and by supporting the authority of those in power they hoped to be left alone to practise their faith freely.

Perhaps the most important part of Jesus teaching here though, is to be aware of the distinction between the ways of the world and the ways of God. It has often been said that Christians are “…in the world but not of it.” We follow Christ within our human societies but our core values are those of the Gospel. We can see from looking around us that the secular world does not always share our views on things like the sanctity of life, our duty to share the good things of God’s creation and to welcome strangers and outsiders. Like Thomas More we should be “..the King’s good citizens, but God’s first.”

Although Jesus makes the distinction between worldly matters and divine, there is no doubt which he thinks are the more important. We are to give God His due – by believing in Him and the one He has sent, by spending time with Him in prayer and by keeping His commandments.

God bless

Fr Paul

Prayer intentions for this week are as follows

Dates of Services	Prayer Intentions
Saturday 17th October	People of the Parish
Sunday 18th October 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time	George Raymond Wainwright R.I.P.
Monday 19th October	Barry Griffiths ints.
Wednesday 21st October	For Angel
Saturday 24th October	All Front Line Workers
Sunday 25th October 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time	People of the Parish

This weeks notices

Parish Finance: The pandemic has had a major effect on our parish income.
Between April and September offertory income in 2020 was £1042 compared with £21582 in 2019.

Our parish bank balance has decreased from £13067 on 1st April 2020 to £9960 on 30th September.

I am very grateful to those who continue to make their contributions to the running of our parish either by Standing Order or by their offerings at Mass.

Commemoration of the Faithful Departed: (All Souls’ Day) 2nd November – there will be two Masses in remembrance of our dead – at 9:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. The usual limits on numbers in church apply.

Domestic Abuse: The National Board of Catholic Women have produced a booklet on raising awareness of domestic abuse with the hope that it will help victims to get the help and support they need. To see the full message and PDF of the booklet, please click. https://wordpress.com/page/sacredheartloughboro.org/757

Christmas Mass Services There will be three Christmas Masses, a vigil Mass at 5:30 on Christmas Eve, Mass during the Night at 8:00 p.m. (No midnight service) and Christmas Day Mass at 10:00 a.m. on Christmas Day. Attendance is subject to pre booking and the usual limit on numbers attending will apply.

Second Collections

None this week

Public Mass within the Parish and COVID

A guidance to be followed please

• Do not attend Mass if you have any symptoms of COVID – 19.  
• Face masks are to be worn at all times. (Remove briefly only to receive the host)
• Stewards will be on duty at each Service.
• At all times, use the distancing rule advised by Government.
• Within the church you will see signage. Please ensure this is followed.
• Enter the church via main door.  There will be a one-way system only.  Please do not go back on yourself.
• Sanitiser is to be used before entry into the church via hand pump, located either side of the doors above the Holy Water font.
• Within the church you will see areas where you may or may not sit.  You will be guided by the stewards.
• No hymn or service books will be used during Mass.
• All kneels are not to be used, as these have been put out of action temporarily.
• All prayers and dismissal will be said before we receive the Holy Sacrament.
• You must take all your belongings with you as you will not be able to return to your pew.
• A steward will guide each person when to receive the Holy Sacrament.
• The Holy Sacrament will be placed in your left hand and NOT YOUR TONGUE.
• Remove you face covering slightly to enable placing the host into your mouth. You must replace your face covering as you walk out of the church following the directional signs via foyer and exit. 
• Please do not linger in the foyer due to social distancing.

Church Times and Attendance

To prevent anyone being turned away who has not been able to receive Mass until now, it is essential they contact the Parish Office to add their name to the list.

If your name is on a list and you are not attending that Mass, it is crucial Fr Paul is contacted to cancel your name, to give the space to another parishioner who would like to attend.

NO BOOKINGS AHEAD OF THE 7 DAY S WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Masses at present are: Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.

With numbers increasing, we can only add another Mass to the week, if we have stewards to support it. Further information will be available shortly, ONLY if the parish is in a position to support it.

^{Please Help Us With Stewardship At Our Weekly Services}

To continue with opening our church for Mass on the designated days, please if your able to give a small amount of time to welcome and support our parishioners.

If you are interested and aged from 18 – early 70″s, who are fit, healthy and active, are welcome to put their names forward. All we ask is you speak to Fr Paul who will ask you a few questions, not to catch you out, but are able to do this role without worry. Your well-being is essential to all of us.

Thank you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Parish Weekly News

Children’s Liturgy:

Due to the present situation and bubbles are in place within schools etc, for the safety of all within our Parish, Children’s Liturgy will not take place this side of the October school half term. We will review this on a month bases following the diocese guidance.

In the mean time, we have the Parish Children’s Liturgy Page which shares the Gospel in a fun, meaningful way.

Children’s Liturgy Web Page:- https://sacredheartloughboro.org/home/childrens-liturgy/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please find additional notices to refer to by following the links

Nottingham Diocese Interaction News:– https://sacredheartloughboro.org/interaction-nottingham-diocese/