A HAPPY AND HOLY EASTER TO YOU!

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

BY DECREE OF THE BISHOP, ALL MASSES ARE NOW SUSPENDED AND CHURCHES ARE NOW TO BE CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

During the Covid 19 Crisis, it is Fr Stephen's intention to continue to stream the Sunday Mass at 10 a.m. each week and if and when possible to add any other prayers appropriate to the Sunday.

If you can, join him with your family simply by going to the Parish Facebook page via this link or the icon for the Parish Facebook Page, which you can find in the left column.

Other online celebrations of Mass can be found by scrolling down the page or clicking here

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PENTECOST NOVENA (ASCENSION TO PENTECOST)

"Oh, if only… unanimous and fervent prayers could be raised to Heaven in every part of Christendom, as they were once in the Cenacle [upper room] of Jerusalem for a rekindling of the Divine Spirit"

Blessed Elena Guerra

The Novena to the Holy Spirit was introduced into the Church by Pope Leo Xlll in 1900, in response to a series of letters that he had received from Blessed Elena Guerra, who was a sister of an Italian congregation 'the Oblates of the Holy Spirit'.

She felt that it was important for the Catholic Church to be renewed and return to the 'Upper Room' with the fervour of the first Christians at Pentecost. "Pentecost is not over. In fact, it is continually going on in every time and place because the Holy Spirit desires to give Himself to all people."

When Pope Leo introduced the novena he asked the Church to set aside the nine days between the feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost every year to pray the novena with the particular intention of the restoration and unity of the body of Christ.

Each day of the Novena has its own theme for prayer, and the Catholic Bishops conference have also asked that we join with the ecumenical initiative Thy Kingdom Come, praying in particular during this time for people we know personally, to come to a deeper faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ.

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PENTECOST NATIONAL ROSARY RELAY RALLY: SUNDAY 31st MAY 2020

At this coming Pentecost, every diocese in England and Wales is invited to take part in a "National Rosary Rally" which will be held between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

The Clergy and Faithful in each diocese are invited to pray the Rosary during the hour chosen for them.

The hour allocated to the dioceses of Brentwood and Plymouth is 11 a.m.

"The Holy Rosary is not only a weapon to put to flight the enemies of God and of Religion but, above all, it fosters and nourishes the Gospel virtues. And in the first place, it reanimates the Catholic faith by contemplation of the divine mysteries and improves our understanding of the truths revealed by God."

Pope Pius XI, 1937 "Ingravescentibus malis"

The Blessings of our Bishops are coming in by the hour and many dioceses are going all out to promote their "Rosary Hour" with some of the Bishops leading their Diocese in the Rosary at their allocated time.

You are invited to locate the allocated hour for your Diocese on the flyer attached and share, share, share!

Most of all Save the Date, the Hour and the Time!

Pope Francis is encouraging Catholics to pray the Rosary in their family homes during the month of May, especially when the Pandemic is making us aware of the value of our families and making it possible for us to pray together in lockdown at home.

He encourages simple Rosaries and joining online Rosary initiatives to pray to Our Lady for deliverance from Covid-19 and he has composed two prayers for this intention.

"The Psalter of the Most Holy Virgin which we pray in order to placate God's anger and implore her intercession."

Pope Gregory XIII, 1573 "Monete Apostolos"

In Jesus we TRUST

Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us

Our Lady help of Christians, come to our aid!

St. Joseph, patron & protector of the Universal Church, pray for us

Saints of our Isles, pray for us

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REGINA CAELI LAETARE

(To be said or sung in place of the Angelus during Eastertide.)

Regina caeli, laetare, Alleluia	O Queen of heaven, rejoice, Alleluia
Quia quem meruisti portare, Alleluia	For He who you were privilged to bear, Alleluia
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, Alleluia	Has risen as He said, Alleluia
Ora pro nobis Deum, Alleluia	Pray to God for us, Alleluia
V. Gaude et laetare, Virgo Maria, Alleluia	Rejoice and be glad O Virgin Mary, Alleluia
R. Quia surrexit Dominus vere, Alleluia	For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia
Oremus	Let us pray
Deus qui per resurrectionem Filii tui, Domini nostri Iesu Christi, mundum laetificare dignatus es: praesta, quaesumus, ut per eius Genetricem Virginem Mariam, perpetuae capiamus gaudia vitae. Per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen	O God, who by the Resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has given joy to the world: grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of eternal life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

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ON-LINE CELEBRATIONS OF MASS

Information about online celebrations of Masses is shown below. In this way the faithful can participate at home in the prayers of the priest at Mass.

The National shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham, will continue its full liturgical programme and will be available to all on the internet at by clicking here

The 12 noon Pilgrim Mass and all major pilgrimages are available to watch LIVE each day on the internet.The link is live stream.

 

Aid to the Church in Need has kindly set out links to other Churches that stream Masses. Here are three of them

	Click this link	Bournemouth Oratory
	Click this link	St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham
	Click this link	St John's Cathedral, Portsmouth

You can see a more comprehensive list by clicking this link

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Our Lady, Star of the Sea Coronavirus Support Group

Are you self-isolating and need a helping hand?

A support group of volunteers has been set up to help any parishioners in need during the Corona Virus emergency.

The support group can help with

• Shopping
• Collecting and delivering medication
• Telephone support if you are feeling isolated or have any queries

Helen Harris is co-ordinating this and her email contact details are

Helen's telephone contact details are given in the Parish Newsletter which you can access via the button in the left hand column near the top, or you can download this poster by clicking this link

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Publication of Diocesan Newspapers During the Coronavirus Crisis

The CathCom group has put many UK Catholic Diocesan newspapers onto the web and these can be accessed via the link www.churchpaper.co.uk This will help parishioners to stay in contact with their Church and their community.

"Catholic Southwest" can be found by scrolling down the papers to the left. Once you have found it, click the "Download" button to load the document onto your computer.

The website can access over 600 editions of Catholic Newspapers around the country.

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The Benedictine Monastery at Nursia, Italy

Click on the image to the right entitled "Monks of Nursia" will show you the work being done to restore the delapidated 16^th Century Monastery, badly damaged in the earthquake of 2016

In the latest newsletter, Br Augustine, the Kitchen Master describes the preparation of the kitchen for Lent and also gives one of the recipes that help the monks mark this period of the year

The recipe "St Benedict's Lenten Lentils" can be seen by following this link and there is an opportunity to download a pdf copy.

THE CHURCH OF ST JOSEPH

		St Joseph’s Entrance
		Click the buttons to cycle through pictures of our Church

Address and Map to St Joseph’s Church
	1 Stavordale Road, Weymouth DT4 0AB

OUR HISTORIC CHURCHES

By 1979, as a result of the unremitting zeal of Priests and Parishioners, there were no less than 7 Catholic Churches in Weymouth and Portland. However within these last 33 years, Churches have had to be closed one by one. Shortage of priests has been one reason but another is that with better transport and with parishioners being more mobile, there is not the same need to have a Church in every locality. Our many churches carry with them a rich history and this can be accessed via the 'History' button on the left hand side of this page.

The latest Church to close – 8th September 2012 – is St Augustine’s. This had originally opened for worship on 22nd October 1835 and was the first Catholic Church to be established in this area since the Reformation.

St Joseph’s Church, dedicated on 19th March 1934, is now the Parish Church of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Over the past months, it has been refurbished and extended to accommodate worshippers from the original parishes. There is a completely new parish hall. To see the various features of the refurbished Church, please click on the small arrows to the right and left of the picture above.

Photographs of St Augustine’s Church and a short description can be found by clicking this link.

Similar pages will be prepared for the Church of Our Lady and St Andrew, Portland and the other Churches in the area as information emerges.

PRAYER FOR OUR NATION

Almighty God and Father, we come before You as Your children to implore Your divine assistance and intercession at this time, when our nation is moving further and further away from You and Your teachings. Its various governments are pursuing a secular agenda, enacting laws that are contrary to Your divine law and to Your law of nature, laws that would further marginalise Your Church and Your people.

Father, strengthen our faith and our willingness to be seen and counted as Your witnesses at this time. Help us to do all that we can to oppose existing and proposed legislation offensive to Your Holy Name

We ask this through Your beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

Prayer courtesy of Rev Fr Stephen Geddes, Parish Priest

 

Parish Priest:	Rev Fr Stephen Geddes	Tel No:	01305 786033
		Email:
Deacon:	Rev Geoffrey Carey	Tel No:	01305 786033
Deacon:	Rev Dr Jonathan de Kretser	Tel No:	01305 832945
Parish Office:	1 Stavordale Road Weymouth DT4 0AB	Tel No:	01305 786033
		Email:

Our Parishes are part of the Plymouth Diocesan Trust – a Registered Charity No 213227
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Getting the most out of this site

To get the most out of this site, please note that almost all the pictures have 'hot links'. Mouse over a picture and click! There will also be a pop-up explanation of the link

“New!” tags are attached to hot links and buttons where new material has been posted within the last few days.

Some buttons will give an indication of the last update of the page to be linked to.

To open documents such as Newsletters, you need a copy of Adobe Acrobat reader on your computer. Your computer should already have a copy, but you can download the latest version of Adobe Acrobat by clicking the button at the bottom of the right hand column of this page.

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Writing to a Peer in the House of Lords

There are currently 778 peers in the House of Lords. They do not have constituencies like MPs do, and you can write to any peer or several peers. Choose as you wish. (Some people choose a peer whose surname has the same initial letter as their own).

If you have MS Excel on your machine, the list of Peers and their political affiliations is given in this link. This also includes an application for randomising a choice of up to six Lords should you so wish to use it.

If you do not have access to MS Excel or are unfamiliar with its use, you can download this pdf list of all the members and make the choices yourself. Click here to do so

Advice on how to write to a peer is given in this link. Note that there are different types of peer and each has a different mode of address.

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Problems with using Internet Explorer 10 (IE10)? — Switch to ‘Compatibility View’

The most recent version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, Internet Explorer 10, comes bundled with Windows 8. IE10 is also being automatically updated on some Windows 7 machines.

It can happen that this automatic download onto the Windows 7 machine may be incomplete. In such cases, some Web sites may not yet work correctly in Internet Explorer 10, including the Secure Remote Access service.

But you can still use these Web sites in Internet Explorer 10 by turning on Compatibility View.The easiest way to do this is as follows:

Press the ‘Alt’ key on your keyboard. (It is usually found to the left of the space bar). This reveals the IE toolbar at the top of the screen, with File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools, Help

Click Tools. This reveals a drop down list; from this find and click the option Compatibility View Settings. This opens a small window. There are three checkboxes at the bottom of this window.

Click the checkbox for the option Display all web-sites in compatibility view is checked. Ensure that it is properly checked (ticked)

Close the window. Press function key F5 to refresh the screen. This should solve the problem

Other solutions can be found on the ‘Microsoft answers’ page Set Desktop IE10 to Always Use Compatibility View

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