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
Sunday 10am Mass and Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 10.00am
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
Saturday 6pm Mass
Trinity Sunday 04.06.23
Live and recorded Masses at St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham
Please click on the picture link below
For todays Mass Readings and for the Readings for the Week
click on the date link below
Live and recorded liturgies and addresses of Pope Francis with English commentary
Please click on the picture link below
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
Notices
Cake Sunday 04.06.23 - Yummy! Taste see that the cake is good.
Cuppa & chat in the hall 10.30am. after Mass Tuesday 6th. June
The tea is good, but the chat is better!
ADVANCE NOTICE
Quiz night Friday 30th. June - 7.00pm.
For “Churches Without Walls” and "Community of Enquiry" meetings, programme and information click here
"Talking Philosophy & Theology: a Carmelite Perspective - Reading & Discussion Zoom Group - Open to All" - A group of Third Order Carmelites, a lay organisation, are offering a course via Zoom on the philosophy that is woven into the spirituality of Ss Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Sr. Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein). Meeting via Zoom May - June - July - 1st. & 3rd. Wed. evenings at 7.45 for 8.00pm until till 10.00pm. - 2nd. Thurs. afternoons at 12.45 for 1.00pm until 3.00pm. Should anyone be interested please contact james.hunter200@btinternet.com Click here for more details
Grapevine Newsletter
May 2023
Faith and Footprint: Caring for Creation
Monday 5 June at 7.00 on Zoom
Three times a year Caritas hosts an online workshop for anyone working for a greener Church, including those who are involved in a parish Livesimply programme with CAFOD.
Our next workshop is on World Environment Day, 5 June. With input from Will Cruddace at CAFOD we’ll focus on:
• Planning for activities for the Season of Creation, which starts on 1 September
• Designing a ‘campaign journey’ for your parish and assembling resources
• Hosting a screening in your parish of The Letter or Global Healing - more on this below.
Laudato Si’ Week
21 – 28 May 2023
Pope Francis’ encyclical on care for our common home, Laudato Si’, celebrates its anniversary on 24 May. To mark this, and to reflect on our relationship with the Creator and creation, we celebrate Laudato Si' Week.
The Cost of Living Crisis
At the Bishops' Conference, we are acutely aware of the impact of the cost-of-living crisis up and down the country.
The crisis is having a devastating effect on families, pushing many deeper into poverty and leading many others to struggle with day-to-day living costs.
"See, I Do a New Thing"
Bringing our Church’s social mission to life
A workshop near you this summer
Lincolnshire: 3 June at Our Lady of Lincoln
Book today for this summer's Caritas day of refreshment and inspiration in your part of the diocese. "See, I Do a New Thing" is for anyone who wants to see the Gospel come to life in their neighbourhood and wider world. Join us to:
Celebrate how our parishes have been responding in the post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis
Help each other develop what comes next for your local and global outreach
Build peer-support and collaboration with your local Caritas Hub and the diocese.
The workshops are a great opportunity to meet fellow Catholics from nearby parishes face-to-face, and build collaboration for a better world.
A message from Bishop Patrick 29.03.23
Click on the picture link above for the message
Street Pastors in Lincoln
Seventeen towns and cities in Nottingham Diocese have a Street Pastors scheme which reaches out to young people..
Lincoln Street Pastors are looking for people who are willing to offer up their time and their prayers for the Night Time Economy streets of Lincoln and become one of the team of Lincoln Street Pastors.
To find out more about what's involved follow the links below.
Diocesan Magazine
Spring 2023
Who owns food?
Our friends at CAFOD have launched a new campaign to ‘Fix the Food System’. It highlights the threat to farmers worldwide from the growing monopoly of a small number of seed corporations. The solution to this injustice is ‘seed sovereignty’ – safeguarding the age-old rights of farmers and consumers to self-determination.
But food sovereignty is not just a challenge for people abroad. In a five-minute read, we explore the wider vulnerabilities of our food system, and how Catholic social teaching can help us respond. And we highlight some farms here in Nottingham Diocese where we can already see principles of Catholic social teaching in action.
This is the first of a number of articles on food and justice over the coming year, thanks to support from CAFOD
Love the Stranger
Becoming a hospitable Church to those from other shores
In partnership with the Sisters of St Joseph of Peace
Wednesday 17 May 2023
7.00 – 8.30 p.m.
Join an online conversation about what we can do to support those fleeing violence and destitution, or settling in our diocese for a better life.
“In 2023, people making dangerous journeys across the Channel to reach the UK are called by various names: ‘refugees’, ‘asylum seekers’, ‘migrants’, and often by more derogatory terms.
“Love the Stranger … articulates our Christian duty to look beyond such labels and see the person who has left their homeland in search of a better life. The document places the human being at the heart of our pastoral outreach, looking beyond statistics and policies to the person – each with a name, a face and a story.”
One of the most useful aspects of Love the Stranger is its 24 principles drawn from Catholic social teaching. Each one expresses succinctly why immigration policy cannot be a matter of indifference, and places the dignity of each individual at the heart of the choices we must make as citizens and as a country.
Join us on 17 May to find ways to take action in your own parish and diocese.
Pope Francis June 2023
For the abolition of torture
Torture. Oh my God – torture!
Torture is not past history. Unfortunately, it’s part of our history today.
How is it possible that the human capacity for cruelty is so huge?
There are extremely violent forms of torture. Others are more sophisticated, such as degrading someone, dulling the senses, or mass detentions in conditions so inhumane that they take away the dignity of the person.
But this is not something new. Let’s think of how Jesus himself was tortured and crucified.
Let us put a stop to this horror of torture. It is essential to put the dignity of the person above all else.
Otherwise, the victims are not persons, they are “things,” and can be mistreated mercilessly, causing death or permanent psychological and physical harm lasting a lifetime.
Let us pray that the international community commit itself concretely to abolish torture, guaranteeing support to victims and their families.
June 2023
CAFOD Syria-Turkey Earthquake Appeal
Help us to provide urgent food, water and shelter to survivors of the earthquake.
Ukraine
Pray for Peace in Ukraine
Click on the picture link above for details
Good news for prospective hosts
of Ukrainian refugees
October 2022
We are happy to announce a new matching service under the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, supported by the nationwide Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN) in England and Wales.
St John of God Hospitaller Services in partnership with CSAN are offering a matching pathway, training and support programme for sponsors and individuals displaced by the war in Ukraine. We aim to support people on their journey and provide opportunities to integrate into our community in the UK.
After months of the brutal Russian war in Ukraine, the number of people fleeing the war and in need of shelter remains high and will continue to rise as winter is fast approaching.
We are very conscious that so much of our attention is rightly focused on those at home who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. There will be those in our communities less affected by that who may be able and willing to open their hearts and homes to displaced people from Ukraine. Can you help?
CAFOD Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal
At least 3 million people have fled their homes to escape conflict in Ukraine. Your donations will reach families who are in urgent need of help.
Parishes of Welcome
The war in Ukraine shows no sign of ending soon, and its people are continuing to flee. Would you like to help your parish extend a welcome to refugees? Are you seeking to host a family or individual - or do you already have a guest and experience you'd like to exchange with fellow hosts?
We have received numerous expressions of interest in hosting refugees from the conflict in Ukraine. Compassion and solidarity are alive and well in the Diocese of Nottingham. That's why we're opening a Parishes of Welcome scheme, to help you find the support you need as a welcomer, locally and nationally, within the Church and beyond.
Even if you don't have spare accommodation, there are already plenty of opportunities to develop the care, support and accompaniment that will help those who have fled Ukraine to find a place of safety.
Pope Francis Message for the 56th World Peace Day 01.01.23
Click on the picture link above to read the message
Sponsorship to all Ukrainian refugees
Click on the picture link above for details
Caritas in Ukraine
Caritas Ukraine and Caritas-Spes are working on the ground to help about 13.000 people in different parts of the country, and especially in critical areas such as Mariupol, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kyiv and Odessa. Caritas Internationalis have launched a campaign to support their work, especially for the most vulnerable people, such as the elderly and children in the conflict zones.
#HelpUkraine
Organisations in Derby serving the Ukrainian community have come together to launch the #HelpUkraine appeal. The national launch was hosted by the Ukrainian Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel, near the Arboretum. It is introduced in the video above by Fr David Senyk, parish priest of communities the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy in the area of our diocese.
You are invited to donate to this appeal, which is managed by the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain with the Church's support. It represents the efforts of Ukrainians here in Nottingham Diocese and across the UK, and is the perfect way to show solidarity with our own neighbours, and their efforts for their compatriots, in this crisis.
Young Adults' Pilgrimage to Walsingham
It was wonderful to join the The Diocese of Nottingham's Annual Pilgrimage to Walsingham last June. The biggest point of the feedback was that it would have been wonderful to have 2 nights not just one. So this year we are delighted to be going from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th June. We will join with the rest of the Diocese as they gather on Saturday 17th for their pilgrimage.
The cost of the stay will be £150 which includes dinner on Friday; breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday; breakfast and lunch on Sunday, and of course accommodation (a twin room).
Please fill out this form so that we can secure your place: https://forms.office.com/e/103Pwix42H
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
The Joy of Love
New reflection document on Marriage and Family Life
Click on the picture link above for details
Pope Francis Message for the second world day for Grandparents and the Elderly 24.07.22
Click on the picture link above for details
Pope Francis Letter to Married Couples December 2021
Pope Francis Message for the first world day for Grandparents and the Elderly 25.07.21
Click on the picture link above to read the letter
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.
'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.
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
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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."
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