God, our loving Father, we thank you for blessing our parish

with all we need to respond to our vocation to be a missionary parish in our community.

We thank you for all our parish members who, in response to your call, give of themselves so freely to enrich our parish life

in ways of love and service. Pour out afresh the gifts of your Spirit upon each of us that we may be inspired

to serve you in new and creative ways as missionary disciples, bringing your Light to the world.

We ask your blessing as we journey together in hope through Christ Our Lord. AMEN

This Week’s Saints: Tue: St. John Mary Vianney,

born in Lyons in 1786, after much struggle was or-dained and sent to Ars, where by holiness he drew peo-

ple back to the sacraments, especially Confession. He died in 1859. Bl. William Horne, last of the Carthusian

monks of the London Charterhouse, was hanged, drawn & quartered in 1540 at Tyburn.

Wed: DEDICATION OF THE BASILICA OF ST MARY MAJOR: the doctrine of

Mary, Mother of God was pro-claimed at the council of

Ephesus (431); afterwards Pope Sixtus lll erected a Basil-

ica on the Esquiline Hill in Rome to honour her, later to be known as St Mary Major. St. Oswald, King of Northumbria, worked to

spread Christianity in Britain, and was killed in battle near

Oswestry in 642. Thu: The Transfiguration of the Lord

Fri: St Sixtus ll became Pope in 257; at Mass in the catacombs, he and his deacons were executed on the spot. St. Cajetan, a

brilliant lawyer, founded the Congregation of Clerks Regular or “Theatines”, to work with the poor and needy. The order also

embraced the earliest “credit unions” to assist the poor. He died in 1547.

Sat: St. Dominic, born in 1170 in Spain, became a priest and preached against the errors of his day, founding the Order of

Preachers (Dominicans). He died in 1221. Bl. John Felton was arrested and martyred for fixing a copy of Pope Pius V’s bull ex-

communicating Queen Elisabeth I to the gates of the Bishop of London’s palace. Bl John Fingley, priest, and Bl. Robert Bickerdike, executed at York in the reign of Elisabeth I.

The Pope’s prayer for August, for all those who work and live from the sea, among

them sailors, fishermen and their families.

Let us pray for the people of the parish of St. Mary (The Hidden Gem), Manchester, and for Mgr Anthony Kay, their parish priest.

For all who live on Cromerty Square, Callender Square and Dalkeith Square.

For all with Coronavirus, John Keatings, Joe Goss, Vomys Clarke and all the sick

For Fr. Peter Sheahan, Fr. Bernard McGarry and all who have died recently together with

Canon Richard Vereker, Eileen Thornton, and all remembered at this time.

WELCOME WITAMY KAABO BEMVINDO ������

THE PARISH OF OUR LADY AND ST. JOSEPH, HEYWOOD,

SUNDAY 2nd AUGUST 2020, partner parish St. Martin’s, Ganye, Nigeria

St Joseph’s Presbytery, Mary St, OL10 1EG Tel: 01706 369777 Fr Paul Daly Fr Bob Hayes

paul.daly@dioceseofsalford.org.uk robert.hayes@dioceseofsalford.org.uk Parish Office Mon—Fri 9am-1pm Nicola.davies@dioceseofsalford.org.uk

Livestreamed Masses on parish

facebook page. google Our Lady and St. Joseph’s Parish, Heywood,

Facebook, and click on the link.

www.catholicheywood.com Twitter @CatholicHeywood

Instagram catholicheywood (Facebook)

Our Lady and St. Joseph’s Parish Heywood

www.dioceseofsalford.org.uk At all public Masses there is a capacity of 80 at two metres apart.

Baptisms, weddings and funerals the capacity is 30. Please be patient with the stewards.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Church opens 8.30am, MASS 9am with First Holy Communion of Nancy Walsh

MASS 11am Polish Mass 4pm Church opens 5.30pm, MASS 6pm

MONDAY Church opens 6.15pm, MASS 6.30pm, church closes after Mass

TUESDAY St. John Mary Vianney

Church opens 8.45am, MASS 9am, church closes after Mass

WEDNESDAY The Dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major

Church opens 8.45am, MASS 9am, church closes after Mass

THURSDAY THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD

Church opens 8.45am, MASS 9am, church closes after Mass

(First) FRIDAY St. Sixtus II and Companions, St. Cajetan Abstinence from meat

Church opens 8.45am, MASS 9am, church closes after Mass

Livestreamed Mass (church closed) 6.30pm

(First) SATURDAY St. Dominic Church opens 10.15am, MASS 10.30am

Followed by Confessions & Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament till Benediction at 12noon Church opens at 5.30pm, First Mass of Sunday 6pm

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Church opens 8.30am, MASS 9am MASS 11am (livestreamed)

Baptism of Maisie Abigail Hardman 2pm Church opens, 5.30pm, MASS 6pm

Want to be a Catholic? These times made you think about

life, meaning, purpose? Speak to Fr. Paul or Fr. Bob.

Been watching us at livestreamed Masses?

St. Joseph’s or Our Lady/St. Paul’s born & bred?

Drifted away? Trying to find your way home?

We will listen to why you moved away and help you, if and when you feel ready,

to find your spiritual way home.

You are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to wear face masks in church, particularly when entering and leaving

church, ie when you might come into less than two metres distance from some-

one else. Children under 11 and anyone whose health and breathing would be compro-

mised by covering their face is exempt from wearing a face covering. If you are wearing gloves in church, please remove them before Holy Communion.

The obligation on Catholics to attend Mass on Sundays is still sus-pended.

Numbers are limited to 80 people for Sunday Mass. Government restrictions only allow 30 people at baptisms, weddings,

funerals. If you display symptoms or are self-isolating, you should NOT attend.

If you are vulnerable, please make a careful decision as to whether to attend or not.

We need some more stewards urgently to assist with a week-

day Mass each week or fortnight and for the 9am Mass on Sunday. Please help by

emailing Nicola.davies@dioceseofsalford.org.uk

TRACK AND TRACE is optional in church. However, it is in everyone’s interest, if some-

one is tested positive, that those at that particular Mass be contacted. Of course, given the two metre social distancing and the hygiene regime in force, it is unlikely that the virus

will be passed on in church. But it is better to be prudent. Therefore, if you use the offertory envelopes, please write on the

envelope your phone number and the Mass time you attend. If you don’t use the envelopes, or at weekday Mass, write your name and

phone number on a piece of paper together with the date and Mass you attend. Please place the piece of paper in one of the collection

baskets at the church doors or on the altar rails.

Congratulations to the winners in the July Draw of the 200 Club: Ann Noonan £182.50 John Wilson £73

G Evans £36.50 Val Middleton £36.50 The parish gained £365

New members always welcome. It’s a way of paying off the parish

debt and having a chance to win yourself. More members means higher prizes!

If we got 50 more members then each month the parish would gain £500 or £6000 a year) and the prizes would be as follows:

1) £250 2) £100 and two prizes of £50 each. Please speak to Fr. Paul, Fr. Bob or Nicola at the parish office to join.

On 2nd August, next Sunday, all Catholics in a state

of grace can obtain a Plenary Indulgence, known as the Portiuncula Indulgence. When we recover from the

flu, our bodies remain weakened for a time, and prone to infections. We guard against this and repair the damage

by taking vitamins. So too it is obvious that, even when our sins are forgiven, by the grace of Confession, our

souls remain weakened. We become, therefore, prone to sinning again. If we are careless about the state of our

souls, then they deteriorate. For example, if we get used to telling the odd lie to get us out of a scrape, then before

we know it, and probably without realising it, we become inveterate liars. To guard against this, the Church assists us with the merits of Our Lady and

all the saints applied to us like vitamin supplements for the soul. These are called Indulgenc-es and are a sadly neglected part of our Catholic Faith. The history of the Portiuncula Indul-

gence, and how to obtain it, is below:

St. Francis repaired three chapels. The third was popularly called the Portiuncula or the Little Portion, dedicated to St. Mary of the Angels. It is now enclosed in a sanctuary at Assisi.

The friars came to live at the Little Portion in early 1211. It became the “motherhouse” of the Franciscans. This is where St. Clare came to the friars to make her vows during the night

following Palm Sunday in 1212 and where Sister Death came to Francis on 3 October 1226.

Because of the favours from God obtained at the Portiuncula, St. Francis requested the

Pope to grant remission of sins to all who came there. The privilege extends beyond the Por-tiuncula to others churches throughout the world.

A plenary indulgence is a mighty tool for works of mercy and weapon in our ongoing spiritual warfare. A plenary indulgence is the remission, through the merits of Christ and the

saints, through the Church, of all temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven.

To obtain the Portiuncula plenary indulgence, a person must visit one’s parish church,

with the intention of honouring Our Lady of the Angels. Then perform the work of reciting the Creed (take a Mass sheet home with you) and Our Father and pray for the Pope’s desig-

nated intentions. You should be free, at least intentionally, of attachment to venial and mor-

tal sin, and truly repentant. Make your sacramental confession 8 days before or after. Partici-pate at Mass and receive Holy Communion 8 days before or after.

CAFOD CORNER: Prayer of a health worker

Merciful God, we place into your care all refugees and migrants,

especially the Rohingya.

God who hurts with humanity, we lift our voices and pour out our hearts to you,

in sadness and grief, for those who don't have anyone to hear

their suffering and pain, for those who don't have anyone

to love and care, for those who don't have nyone to tell their stories

and especially for those who have been suffering due to this pandemic and struggling with corona-

virus to see another day in their life. We pray for their courage of heart and strength

of mind and body. Keep them safe from harm. Amen. Prayer: Inmanuel Chayan Biswas, who works for

Caritas Bangladesh in Cox's Bazaar refugee camp

Pope Francis on the Amazon and the Environment (cont’d)

I encourage everyone to advance along concrete paths that can allow the reality of the

Amazon region to be transformed and set free from the evils that beset it. Let us now lift our gaze to Mary. The Mother whom Christ gave us is also the one Mother of all, who re-

veals herself in the Amazon region in distinct ways. We know that “the indigenous peo-ples have a vital encounter with Jesus Christ in many ways; but the path of Mary has

contributed greatly to this encounter”. Faced with the marvel of the Amazon region, which we discovered ever more fully during the preparation and celebration of the Synod,

I conclude this Exhortation by turning to her:

Mother of life, in your maternal womb Jesus took flesh, the Lord of all that exists.

Risen, he transfigured you by his light and made you the Queen of all creation. For that reason, we ask you, Mary, to reign in the beating heart of Amazonia.

Show yourself the Mother of all creatures, in the beauty of the flowers, the rivers,

the great river that courses through it and all the life pulsing in its forests. Tenderly care for this explosion of beauty.

Ask Jesus to pour out all his love on the men and women who dwell there,

that they may know how to appreciate and care for it. Bring your Son to birth in their hearts, so that he can shine forth in the Amazon region,

in its peoples and in its cultures, by the light of his word, by his consoling love, by his message of fraternity and justice.

And at every Eucharist, may all this awe and wonder be lifted up to Father’s glory.

Mother, look upon the poor of the Amazon region,

for their home is being destroyed by petty interests. How much pain and misery, how much neglect and abuse there is in this blessed land

overflowing with life!

Touch the hearts of the powerful, for, even though we sense that the hour is late, you call us to save what is still alive.

Mother whose heart is pierced, who yourself suffer in your mistreated sons and daugh-

ters, and in the wounds inflicted on nature, reign in the Amazon, together with your Son.

Reign so that no one else can claim lordship over the handiwork of God.

We trust in you, Mother of life.

Do not abandon us in this dark hour.

Amen.

Given in Rome, at the Cathedral of Saint John

Lateran, on 2 Febru-ary, the Feast of the

Presentation of the Lord, in the year 2020,

the seventh of my Pon-

tificate.

FRANCISCUS

Pope Francis on the Amazon & Care for our Earth (Querida Amazona 101-11)

Jesus Christ appears as the Spouse of the community that celebrates the Eucharist through the figure of a man who presides as a sign of the one Priest. This dialogue be-

tween the Spouse and his Bride, which arises in adoration and sanctifies the community, should not trap us in partial conceptions of power in the Church. The Lord chose to reveal

his power and his love through two human faces: the face of his divine Son made man and the face of a creature, a woman, Mary. Women make their contribution to the Church

in a way that is properly theirs, by making present the tender strength of Mary, the Mother. As a result, we do not limit ourselves to a functional approach, but enter instead

into the inmost structure of the Church. In this way, we will fundamentally realize why, without women, the Church breaks down, and how many communities in the Amazon

would have collapsed, had women not been there to sustain them, keep them together and care for them. This shows the kind of power that is typically theirs.

We must keep encouraging those simple and straightforward gifts that enabled women in the Amazon region to play so active a role in society, even though communities now face

many new and unprecedented threats. The present situation requires us to encourage the emergence of other forms of service and charisms that are proper to women and respon-

sive to the specific needs of the peoples of the Amazon region at this moment in history.

In a synodal Church, those women who in fact have a central part to play in Amazonian communities should

have access to positions, including ecclesial services, that do not entail Holy Orders and that can better sig-

nify the role that is theirs. Here it should be noted that these services entail stability, public recognition and a

commission from the bishop. This would also allow women to have a real and effective impact on the or-

ganization, the most important decisions and the di-

rection of communities, while continuing to do so in a way that reflects their womanhood.

In particular places pastoral workers often envisage

very different solutions to the problems they face, and consequently propose apparently opposed forms of ecclesial organization. When this oc-

curs, it is probable that the real response to the challenges of evangelization lies in trans-cending the two approaches and finding better ways, perhaps not yet even imagined.

Conflict is overcome at a higher level, where each group can join the other in a new reali-ty, while remaining faithful to itself. Everything is resolved “on a higher plane and pre-

serves what is valid and useful on both sides”. Otherwise, conflict traps us; “we lose our perspective, our horizons shrink and reality itself begins to fall apart”.

This does not mean relativizing of fleeing from problems, letting things stay as they are.

Authentic solutions are never found by dampening boldness, shirking concrete demands

or assigning blame to others. Solutions are found by “overflow”, that is, by transcending the contraposition that limits our vision and recognizing a greater gift that God is offer-

ing. From that new gift, accepted with boldness and generosity, from that unexpected gift which awakens a new and greater creativity, there will pour forth as from an overflowing

fountain the answers that contraposition did not allow us to see. In its earliest days, the Christian faith spread remarkably in accordance with this way of thinking, which enabled

it, from its Jewish roots, to take shape in the Greco-Roman cultures, and in time to ac-quire distinctive forms. Similarly, in this historical moment, the Amazon region challenges

us to transcend limited perspectives and “pragmatic” solutions mired in partial approach-es, in order to seek paths of inculturation that are broader and bolder.

Have you got one morning or afternoon to spare a week?

Heywood Little Monkeys Charity Shop is looking for some vol-unteers to enable it to reopen as soon as possible. Volunteers are

needed for an afternoon or morning slot. Heywood Little Monkeys supports needy families with chil-

dren in our town and the shop is our biggest source of income. Without a few extra volunteers we can’t open fully and the fami-

lies will suffer. If you can help, please see Fr. Paul.

It is very unlikely that large gatherings, such as First Communion Masses, will

be allowed in the next few months. If families would like to arrange a First Com-munion Mass for one or two children, with the num-

ber of guests limited to 30 people, please contact Fr. Paul. These Masses will begin in August. When and if

communal celebration is permitted, it will be held. However, if the children are ready now to receive the

Bread of Life, why deprive them of such a gift?

Together with time, talent, treasure Many

thanks for your generosity last Sunday £485.50 (GiftAid) & £373.37 (Loose), as well as £80 per week

in Standing Orders and £70 for CAFOD. Please post your offerings through the Presbytery Door or in the

basket at Mass in church. Please take out a Standing Order or ask how to do it; email the parish office.

Given the Fire Detection system our parish is now formally in debt of £17 000.

Alternatively you can donate via the Diocese of Sal-

ford website. Click on the site www.dioceseofsalford.org.uk and in the top right cor-

ner you will see a button marked DONATE. Click on that, scroll down to the parish name and go from

there.

Logos – Mary Oliver

Why wonder about the loaves and the fishes?

If you say the right words, the wine expands.

If you say them with love

and the felt ferocity of that love

and the felt necessity of that love,

the fish explode into many.

Imagine him, speaking,

and don’t worry about what is reality,

or what is plain, or what is mysterious.

If you were there, it was all those things.

If you can imagine it, it is all those things.

Eat, drink, be happy.

Accept the miracle.

Accept, too, each spoken word spoken with love.

Pope Francis on the Amazon and the Environment (cont’d)

In an Amazonian region characterized by many religions, we be-

lievers need to find occasions to speak to one another and to act together for the common good and the promotion of the poor.

This has nothing to do with watering down or concealing our deepest convictions when we encounter others who think differ-

ently than ourselves. If we believe that the Holy Spirit can work amid differences, then we will try to let ourselves be enriched by

that insight, while embracing it from the core of our own convic-tions and our own identity. For the deeper, stronger and richer

that identity is, the more we will be capable of enriching others

with our own proper contribution.

We Catholics possess in sacred Scripture a treasure that other re-ligions do not accept, even though at times they may read it with interest and even es-

teem some of its teachings. We attempt to do something similar with the sacred texts of other religions and religious communities, which contain “precepts and doctrines that... of-

ten reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men and women”. We also possess a great treasure in the seven sacraments, which some Christian communities do not accept

in their totality or in the same sense. At the same time that we believe firmly in Jesus as the sole Redeemer of the world, we cultivate a deep devotion to his Mother. Even though

we know that this is not the case with all Christian confessions, we feel it our duty to share with the Amazon region the treasure of that warm, maternal love which we ourselves have

received.

None of this needs to create en-

mity between us. In a true spirit of dialogue, we grow in our ability

to grasp the significance of what others say and do, even if we

cannot accept it as our own con-viction. In this way, it becomes

possible to be frank and open about our beliefs, while continuing to discuss, to seek points of contact, and above all, to

work and struggle together for the good of the Amazon region. The strength of what unites all of us as Christians is supremely important. We can be so attentive to what divides us

that at times we no longer appreciate or value what unites us. And what unites us is what lets us remain in this world without being swallowed up by its immanence, its spiritual

emptiness, its complacent selfishness, its consumerist and self-destructive individualism.

All of us, as Christians, are united by faith in God, the Father who gives us life and loves

us so greatly. We are united by faith in Jesus Christ, the one Saviour, who set us free by his precious blood and his glorious resurrection. We are united by our desire for his word

that guides our steps. We are united by the fire of the Spirit, who sends us forth on mis-sion. We are united by the new commandment that Jesus left us, by the pursuit of the civi-

lization of love and by passion for the kingdom that the Lord calls us to build with him. We are united by the struggle for peace and justice. We are united by the conviction that not

everything ends with this life, but that we are called to the heavenly banquet, where God will wipe away every tear and take up all that we did for those who suffer.

All this unites us. How can we not struggle together? How can we not pray and work to-gether, side by side, to defend the poor of the Amazon region, to show the sacred counte-

nance of the Lord, and to care for his work of creation?