NEWS & EVENTS

St. Vincent de Paul
RC Church
Norden,
Rochdale
OL12 7QL

Parish Priest :
Father James Manock.
nordencatholic@outlook.com

01706 645361


	Sunday 22nd December 2024 4th Sunday of Advent and Beginning of Christmas Octave Year C

Music and Liturgy
We need new musicians and singers to help our parish celebrate so if you have any ability please contact Graham on 07875842218 or graham@nordendesign.co.uk letting us know your interest.

The National Network of Pastoral Musicians and the Society of St Gregory are there to help with our music and liturgy.

Just before Lockdown the Diocese was organising meetings for musicians and singers across the Diocese and hopefully these will restart so that we can share music and problems with colleagues in other Parishes.


	ROCHDALE FOOD BANK Please place your donations in the boxes at the back of the Church. The Food Bank is currently short of everything except pasta and breakfast cereal—especially tinned items. More details at rochdalefoodbank.org.uk and a full “shopping list” is available by the donations box.


NEWSLETTER , LINKS and DOWNLOADS This Week’s Newsletter Bibles in Your Hand Pray Each Day See our CAFOD Page Caritas Click here to find out about CARITAS Volunteer Week Rosary Leaflet including Pope Francis’s Prayers Diocese of Salford Website.

You can give to St Vincents using the Code below



TODAY’S MASS Click HERE for Readings and the Order of Mass

SAFEGUARDING Click HERE for contacts and further information and HERE for the Guidance Procedure

HARD OF HEARING If you wear a hearing aid, set it to T for the Induction Loop System

GOING ON HOLIDAYS? Need local Mass Location and Times in England & Wales? Need a Mass Leaflet in English? Speak to Fr. James. Click HERE for a worldwide directory of Catholic Churches

Does any of the following apply to you? Are you New to the Parish? Do you know someone, who is sick or in Hospital? Would you like a visit? Do you think the Parish may be able to help you? Do you think you may be able to help the Parish? If so, please speak to Fr. James Alternatively, try our Parish Groups page for information.




	WINE TASTING EVENING Many thanks to all parishioners who came along to the Wine Tasting Evening and thanks to those who dressed up and made it so much fun. We raised £439 for RADAR. Thanks to Father James and Robert and to Rochdale Catenians for organising the event. BACK TO GREEN! On Monday we go back to green! After the sea-sons of Lent and Easter, we return to “Ordinary Time” which will take us all the way to the begin-ning of Advent on 27th November. We understand what to do with the seasons – fasting and stations in Lent, rejoicing and baptism in Easter – but Or-dinary Time can feel a little vague! It is meant to be a season where we concentrate on learning more of Jesus in the Scriptures, and deepening our relationship with him: the main thing we will do, Sunday by Sunday this year, is read through the Gospel of Saint Luke, so now might be a good time to dust off your Bible and have a look at Luke’s Gospel! WORLD YOUTH DAY 2023 Young people between the ages of 16 and 30 are invited to join us next year as our diocesan Youth Ministry Team travels to Lisbon for World Youth Day 2023. Taking place between 31st July - 7th August 2023, World Youth Day will see young people from across the globe meeting in Lisbon to celebrate Mass with the Holy Father. Applications to join our diocesan trip are now open. You can find out more and apply by visiting https://tinyurl.com/h7enn9p8 HEYWOOD FOOD BANK Heywood Food Bank, which is run by the members of Our Lady and Saint Joseph’s S.V.P. Conference, is moving to new premises in June. Their new home requires some basic joinery work including repositioning of existing, and supply and fix of new racking. If you are a joiner, or you know of a joiner who would be interested in providing a quote for this work please contact Brian on 0788 788 0102 to discuss. Many thanks. PARISH PILGRIMAGE We are glad to announce that the Parish Pilgrim-age is back! This year a pilgrimage has been or-ganised to Lindisfarne—Holy Island—from 4th—7th July this year. The cost is £399.00 (sharing) or £469.00 (single room) and includes coach travel, dinner, bed and breakfast, and excursions to Holy Island, Seahouses, Bamburgh, Durham and York. Travel Insurance is not included. For more infor-mation or to book please contact Cath Naden or Northern Star Travel (0161 773 2115). SAINT PAUL’S LADIES The ladies of Saint Paul’s Anglican Church have invited the ladies of Saint Vincent’s to afternoon tea at 2.00 p.m.in Saint Paul’s Church Hall, Black-pits Road, Norden, on Thursday 16th June, in place of the Christmas Social. Please sign up on the list in the porch if you would like to attend. NEW CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER In the porch you will find copies of “The Catholic Post”, a new monthly national Catholic newspaper. We have been sent these copies free of charge to give people a taste: please take a copy and have a read over a Sunday cuppa! HELP FOR THE HOMELESS Please contact Jackie Heatley or Jennie Curran on 01706 517202 for enquiries


	Hope in the Future Though interrupted, as so many things, by the pandemic, the Diocesan Hope in the Future programme continues: this Sunday in a special Holy Hour Bishop John is launching Stage Four: “Proclaiming the Good News.” Our schools and the celebrations of baptism, weddings, funerals, Christmas and Easter liturgies bring a significant number of people into contact with our parish. These times provide us with opportunities to engage people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. The Fourth Stage will place an emphasis on providing formation to deepen this engagement. You can join Bishop John at the Cathedral at 3.00 p.m. this Sunday, and the Holy Hour will be live streamed at churchservices.tv/salfordcathedral The Assisted Dying Bill Bishop John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has written an open letter inviting Catholics to pray for the defeat of the Assisted Dying Bill, due to be debated in the House of Lords in October. It encourages them to write to peers at the House of Lords stating the reasons why they oppose this legislation and particularly explain from personal experience the reasons why this change in the law should be opposed. Discussion and communication about this important matter is vital for the defeat of the Bill and in our diocese, Bishop John is asking all parishioners to act now by praying, writing and sharing. You can find out more details about how to help oppose the bill in Bishop Sherrington’s letter on the Diocese of Salford's website at https://www.dioceseofsalford.org.uk/action-on-the-assisted-dying-bill/ The “Forget-Me-Not Café” If you are interested in volunteering to help out in any way, and are available once a month on a weekday morning please contact Annmarie Thetford on 0743 200 4256, or leave your name and contact number with Father James and Annmarie will get back to you (please get in touch even if you already volunteered last year). Please also think if there are families that might benefit from this venture, and begin to extend invitations to them! Thank you. The Saint Joseph Project Our St Joseph Statue has been received and installed at the back right hand side of our Church. Thank you to all those who contributed. There is a book of remembrance at the base of the statue to remember all those who died during the pandemic. Requests for Masses & Prayers Recently Deceased: Barbara Boone, Mary Rose, Ronald Parkinson, Ivan Booley. Anniversaries: Sheridan Farrell, Ernie Kirkby, Vivienne Holt, Irene Karpluch. PRACTICALITIES REFRESHMENTS AFTER MASS Everyone is very welcome to stay behind after Sunday morning Masses and share a cuppa! Tea and Coffee are served in the Parish Centre after 9.00 a.m. and 11.00 a.m. Masses. The Fair Trade stall is operating each week at these times. TOILETS The toilet is located near the side entrance: children should not go out of Church unaccompanied. Please use the disinfectant wipes to clean all surfaces after every use—dispose of them in the bin but do not flush them down the toilet. Thank you. PARISH CENTRE The Parish Centre is now open again for parish use and outside bookings. Please contact Robert Allen on 0758 320 7810 for all enquiries.
				VOLUNTEERING ABROAD : FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE CATENIAN ASSOCIATION Are you (or is your child or grandchild) between 16 and 24? Are you thinking about helping at Lourdes or going abroad to help with a Charity? Did you know that each year the Catenian Association, through the Catenian Bursary Fund gives cash grants (nothing to repay) totalling over £100,000 to young Catholics to help with their expenses? If you would like more information please pick up a leaflet at the back of church. To see the few simple criteria and the wide range of projects we support and/or download an application form from www.thecatenians.com/bursary . There are leaflets at the back of church giving information about the Catenian Association. Local contact is Graham Sivills 01706 868697


Now that you are here, please have a look around and why not visit the outstanding daily prayer website produced by the Society of Jesus at *SACRED SPACE*.

	PRAYER REQUESTS Just a little reminder that we have a board in the narthex on which you are able to place requests for prayer. It is good for us to pray with and for each other, so please always feel free to ask for prayers by placing any needs on the prayer board.

		PARISH GROUP LIST On our Groups page we have a list of groups together with their contact details. We did think it was quite comprehensive until the Hope in the Future group examined it in detail. We need to update the list on that page and we should be grateful if all group organisers could confirm to Graham Sivills (01706 868697 graham@nordendesign.co.uk) their permission for their phone numbers (as printed in the list issued on the First Sunday of Advent) to be shown on the Parish Website and if willing provide an email address to be shown as well. Thank you all.

			FOODBANK A HUGE THANK YOU for your amazing generosity and please do continue as the need remains . The Foodbank is a Christian based organisation, which works from premises in Rochdale town centre. Their website www.rochdale.foodbank.org.uk is now updated regularly with lists of food products which are in short supply and those of which there is a surplus. To find this, from the home page, click on Give Help and then Donate Food. The collection box is at the back of church near the Notice board. Please continue to help!

				HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY If you are (or a relative) is in hospital, you will need to ask the ward staff to ask a priest to visit: and if you move from one ward to another, you will have to ask again! There is always a Chaplain attached to hospitals, who will visit if requested, and there is always a priest on call.

				CATHOLIC SINGLES Is an organisation which helps single adult Catholics of all ages meet, either one to one or through social events. Please tel. 0161 941 3498, visit the website http://www.catholicsingles.org.uk or email info@catholicsingles.org.uk

					OUR WEBSITE We owe a great debt of gratitude to our friend Brian Lillis RIP. who singlehandedly has looked after this website and developed it for the last 17 years. Having helped Brian set it up in the first place, I have picked it up and will keep it up to date as best I can until we as a Parish decide where it is going. I think I have ironed out most of the issues in transferring it from Brian to me but I would ask you to bear with me. Please let me know of any errors or changes in contact information and I will get them sorted. Our principal need at the present time is for input for a youth page. If we had the suggestions, then we will do our best to implement them. We do need suggestions for improvements to the site. We would be very grateful for help and assistance from IT professionals with internet expertise; we will do what we can but guidance is what we need. If you come across any ideas on other Parish websites please let us know and we will see what we can do. If you spot any errors, don’t leave us in blissful ignorance. Please help! Contact us at graham@nordendesign.co.uk