Woodhall Spa Parish
Welcome to Woodhall Spa Parish
Our Lady and St Peter Woodhall Spa
click on the picture above to see inside and here to see the garden
Church Open for Sunday 10am Mass and Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 10.00am - the booking system is suspended
Serving Woodhall Spa, Horncastle, Coningsby and Metheringham
Parish Priest Fr John O'Donnell
Our Lady and St Peter
15 Cromwell Avenue, Woodhall Spa, LN10 6TH
Tel 01526 352245
e-mail catholic.church.woodhallspa@gmail.com
The Catholic Church in England and Wales
Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period
(reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)
St Mary's Church of England Church, Horncastle
click on the picture of the church to see inside
Church Open for Saturday 6pm Mass - the booking system is suspended
'For the duration of this emergency the obligation to attend Sunday Mass is removed - see catechism of the Catholic Church 2181 – this pandemic is the "serious reason" why this obligation does not apply at this time.'
Catholic Conference of Bishops of England & Wales.
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales 19th November 2021
Read a statement from the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales on the attendance at Mass on a Sunday and the Sunday Obligation
Click on the picture link above for the full statement
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales 15th July 2021
Step 4 Guidance for Communal Worship during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Click on the picture link above for the full statement
This Guidance is offered to the Dioceses of England and Wales as the country moves into Step 4 of the Government's Covid-19 Response Roadmap. This comes into effect on Monday, 19 July 2021.
Liturgies Live Streamed from the private chapel at Bishop’s House, on the Bishop’s YouTube account.
Previous liturgies available to view
Please click on the picture link below to access the account
Mass Sunday at 10 am, for mid-week Mass times check Sunday Mass stream
For todays Mass Readings and for the Readings for the Week
click on the date link below
Live and recorded liturgies of Pope Francis with English commentary
Please click on the picture link below
Live and recorded Masses at St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham
Please click on the picture link below
Monday – Friday 1 pm Mass
Saturday 10 am Mass
Sunday 10 am Mass
ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION PRAYER
Offered as an example of a suitable prayer for use by home viewers wishing to participate in a Live Streaming of the Mass
After the celebrant has received Holy Communion himself, the celebrant reads aloud the Act of Spiritual Communion, and invites the home viewers to say the words of the prayer with him.
My Jesus, I believe that You are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen
Advent Week 1
Bishop Patrick Pastoral Letter for the start of the Synodal Process
May the Lord open our hearts & minds that we may hear & respond to the promptings of God’s Holy Spirit as we begin this journey!
Pope Francis November 2021
People who suffer from depression
Overwork and work-related stress cause many people to experience extreme exhaustion —mental, emotional, affective, and physical exhaustion.
Sadness, apathy, and spiritual tiredness end up dominating people’s lives, who are overloaded due to the rhythm of life today.
Let us try to be close to those who are exhausted, to those who are desperate, without hope. Often, we should just simply listen in silence, because we cannot go and tell someone, “No, life’s not like that. Listen to me, I’ll give you the solution.” There’s no solution.
And besides, let us not forget that, along with the indispensable psychological counselling, which is useful and effective, Jesus’ words also help. It comes to my mind and heart: “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Let us pray that people who suffer from depression or burn-out will find support and a light that opens them up to life.
Pope Francis Opening of the Synodal Path
Celebrating a Synod means walking on the same road, walking together. So often God points out new paths. He invites us to leave our old habits behind. Everything changes once we are capable of genuine encounters with him and with one another, without formalism or pretence, but simply as we are.
In these days, Jesus calls us, as he did the rich man in the Gospel, to empty ourselves, to free ourselves from all that is worldly, including our inward-looking and outworn pastoral models; and to ask ourselves what it is that God wants to say to us in this time. And the direction in which he wants to lead us.
May we be pilgrims in love with the Gospel and open to the surprises of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Francis Video Message
August 2021
The Vaccination Campaign against COVID-19
Advent 2021
Advent has a two-fold character: it is a time of preparation for the Solemnities of Christmas, in which the First Coming of the Son of God to humanity is remembered; and likewise when, by remembrance of this, minds and hearts are led to look forward to Christ’s Second Coming at the end of time.
For these two reasons, Advent is a period for devout and expectant delight.
For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission
A two-year 'synodal' process is taking place in the Catholic Church from October 2021 that culminates in the final Synod Gathering of Bishops in Rome in October 2023. The overall theme is "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission".
It’s an invitation for us, as Catholics, to ‘walk together’ and every member of the Church has the right to speak, and the obligation to allow those charged with the work of discernment the freedom to do so.
Notices
23rd November 2.30pm Synodal Parish meeting in the parish hall seeking your views on the Parish and the Church as part of the Synodal process - email or letter submissions are welcome.
For the Synodal timeline and guidance for the parish participation click here.
And for Synodal Timeline Notes click here.
For “Churches Without Walls” and "Community of Enquiry" meetings, programme and information click here
Grapevine Newsletter 10.11.21
Caritas Diocese of Nottingham invites you to
its online 2021 Justice and Peace Assembly - Saturday 20 November 2021
Join us via Zoom, just days after the COP26 climate summit closes, to listen for what the Spirit is saying to the Church – particularly as parish communities called to mission in these turbulent times.
Keynote speakers:
Lord Deben, Chair of the Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK Government on climate policy.
Raymond Friel, Chief Executive of Caritas Social Action Network.
A change of era will be the centrepiece of a process for building our social mission as a post-pandemic, post-carbon Diocese. It will:
build on a series of Here: Now: Us workshops in the Diocese in Autumn 2021
launch our diocesan environmental policy, and the journey to fulfil it
chart a course for works of justice and charity in our parishes and diocese.
Nottingham Diocesan Internet Café
Nottingham Diocesan Internet Café is a one-stop shop for you and your parish during the Covid-19 pandemic. Help your parish to thrive, and your own discipleship to flourish, during lockdown and beyond.
Nottingham Diocese goes green
On 23 September the Diocesan Board of Trustees formally approved a far-reaching environmental policy framework for the diocese, its parishes and schools.
The policy challenges us to live out Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si in our life as a Church. It establishes an endeavour to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, and to make our land a home for nature. It's an ambitious vision, and everyone has a part to play.
Bishop Patrick is encouraging parishes to get involved in the Love Christmas initiative. The scheme is a national initiative, growing through a network of thousands of churches and other local organisations to share share 'Bags of Kindness' with people in their neighbourhoods.
In the wake of the COVID pandemic, many people continue to live isolated from friends, family and community; often struggling with financial distress, poor health, job uncertainty and bereavement. Love Christmas brings Catholic parishes and other local churches together to give, pack and deliver practical gifts. It strengthens personal connections in communities across the UK and lets people know we are with them, and they are not alone.
It's a great way to lift our eyes from concerns about the impact of the pandemic on our own parish congregation, look outwards to the wider community, and build our confidence for mission. Follow the link below to see if Love Christmas is something could your parish could do.
We are delighted to launch in the Autumn - Christus Vivit (Christ is Alive), this is the Diocese of Nottingham's ministry for those aged 18-35. The Adult Formation for Mission Department will be working closely with the Vocations Team and a group of young adults to plan events and activities in for young adults in the diocese.
We will be starting with monthly meetings in Nottingham that will be focused on bringing young adults together to pray, grow in faith and socialise, we have organised two pilgrimages to different pilgrimage sites in the diocese, click on the picture below to see the list of dates.
Join our mailing list here
Pope Francis Message for the first world day for Grandparents and the Elderly 25.07.21
Novena on the Care of Creation
The 'God Who Speaks' team offers this Novena of readings and prayers as tangible action to respond to the urgent climate change issues we all face.
please click on the picture link
A Father's Heart - A Podcast for Catholic Dads
This new podcast series from the Diocese of Nottingham for the Year of St Joseph will explore what does it mean to be a Catholic Dad , taking St Joseph as our model. Each month a section of the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde will be explored through conservation with two dads from the Diocese of Nottingham sharing their thoughts and experiences.
St Joseph Novena
On the 8th December 2020, Pope Francis announced that there would be a Year of St Joseph from 8th December 2020 to 8th December 2021. This was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St Joseph being declared the Patron of the Universal Church.
To join in these celebrations the Diocese has produced a Novena to St Joseph leading to his feast day 19th March. The Novena takes as its focus the different groups or causes that claim St Joseph as their Patron Saint, as well as the themes of Pope Francis’ letter launching the year.
The Novena can be downloaded as a whole booklet here or by clicking on the image you can email: adult.formation@dioceseofnottingham.uk with ‘St Joseph Novena’ in the subject line to receive daily emails with the prayers for that day between 10th - 18th March.
'Being a Disciple'
The 'Being a Disciple' series was run in conjunction between the Diocese of Nottingham and Catholic Voices over four evenings on Zoom in January 2021.
Brenden Thompson, CEO of Catholic Voices presented in each session a fundamental principle of being a Catholic disciple. Session 1 explores the Word of God and how as disciples we are called to internalise it that means to live it, to share it and to seek to know it better.
This course was aimed at both those who would like to grow in their personal discipleship and those who want to help others grow.
The recordings are presented here for you to access and use this course to help you grow as a disciple or to help others in your community.
youth2000uk Youth 2000 seeks to draw young people into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, lived at the heart of the Catholic church. www.youth2000.org
Let us pray for peace, and let us bring it about, starting in our own homes!
May we help people to discover the joy of the Christian message: a message of love and mercy. Pope Francis
Pope Francis: our path is to take care of others
Pope Francis 03.02.15 - Daily contemplation of the Gospel
Daily contemplation of the Gospel helps us to have true hope. The Pope again urged people to take 10 minutes out of their day to pick up the Gospel and talk to the Lord, rather than waste it on TV soap operas or listening to other peoples’ gossip.
Take up the Gospel, read and imagine the scene, imagine what happens and talk to Jesus, from the heart. And with this we allow hope to grow, because we have our gaze fixed, we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
We should all carry out this contemplative prayer. 'But I have so much to do!'. At home, 15 minutes, pick up the Gospel, a small passage, imagine what happened and talk with Jesus about it. So your gaze will be fixed on Jesus and not so much on a TV soap opera, for example. Your ears will be focused on the words of Jesus and not so much on your neighbourhood gossip ... ".
Hope comes from this prayer, he said, adding "our Christian life unfolds in that context, between memory and hope": "Memory of our past journey, memory of so many graces received from the Lord. And hope, looking at the Lord, who is the only one who can give me hope. And in order to gaze at the Lord, to know the Lord, we pick up the Gospel and carry out this contemplative prayer.
Today, for example, try for 10 minutes - 15, no more – to read the Gospel, picture it and say something to Jesus. And nothing more. And so your knowledge of Jesus will be bigger and your hope will grow.
Bishop Patrick recommends the new Pocket Gospels
Pope Francis has said "Everyone should carry a small Bible or a pocket edition of the Gospels and should find at least a few minutes every day to Read the Word of God"
Priced £4.99 from the Bible Society
Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period
(reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)
Sunday & daily Mass live streamed at
Live Catholic TV
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Find your local Diocesan newspaper.
Thoughts from Elston Hermitage on Angels
Of all things visible and invisible angels then are part of that invisible side of God's creation and so worthily deserve our attention.
Angels are God's messengers not only for great occasions but we can be assured they are constantly looking after us too as promised by the Psalmist 'The Lord will command his Angels to guard you in all your ways, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone' (Ps. 91 11-12). Angels then are body and soul guards, and each of us has a guardian angel to watch over us.
Pope Francis: Guardian angels our companions on life’s journey
Pope Francis at Mass at Casa Santa Marta. "Guardian angels exist, they are not the fruit of imaginative doctrine, but companions that God has placed beside us on our life’s journey."
Travelling away or going on holiday?
Click on the link below to find out Churches and Mass times at or near your destination