020 8300 2480

sidcup@rcaos.org.uk

020 8300 2480

sidcup@rcaos.org.uk

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St Lawrence's Roman Catholic Church, Sidcup

St Lawrence's Catholic Church, Sidcup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fr Paul Kyne: Parish Priest

Welcome to the Roman Catholic Parish of St

Fr Allan MacDonald

Fr Allan MacDonald: Assistant Parish Priest

Lawrence of Canterbury. St Lawrence’s is a busy, friendly

parish with a large number of lay people assisting in various ministries, sacramental preparation, and organizations that make up our parish family.

As the parish priest, I offer a warm welcome to all who attend our services and community functions. Children, teena

Deacon Peter Varnes

gers, students, twenty-somethings, parents with young families, those more established in life, right through to the very oldest members of our community – all are welcome! 

Our website aims to give you an insight into our parish life and help you to identify areas of work that may interest you the most. Please visit the ‘Our Parish’ page and navigate to parish ministry for more information.

If you are a new parishioner I would encourage you to register online or complete a New Parishioner Registration form, kept at the back of the church and pass to me or Fr Allan at one of our services.

If however, you would like to know about our Liturgy, baptism, marriage, etc. please visit the ‘Sacramental Life’ page where you will find information about sacramental preparation and the church’s teachings

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St Peter Chanel RC, our parish primary school is a vital part of our community and close links are fostered between the parish and the school with termly mass being held at the 10.00 am Sunday service.  Many of the children along with their parents are involved in the parish preparation programs for the First Holy Communion and sacrament of Reconciliation. After making their First Holy Communion children are invited to become altar servers from Year 3 onwards

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We are proud of our lively and active parish and I hope that St Lawrence’s will be a place you can find Jesus Christ, grow in your faith, and play an active part in the parish using the gifts that God has given you through your baptismal calling

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God Bless

Fr Paul Kyne

Dear Father

Dear Deacon

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has today updated its advice to Dioceses and Parishes regarding the necessary measures to be taken to combat the spread of the Coronavirus.

We are now at Stage 2 of the advice, a copy of which is attached along with a Decree relating to these. This Decree is mandatory within the Archdiocese.

All measures outlined in Stages 1 and 2 should now become effective.

Please read the advice carefully and make sure that your parish communities and facilities are compliant.

With respect to the specific measures of Stage 2, the Decree outlines the following which must now be implemented:

1)    The sign of peace is to be suspended at Mass. In order not to create confusion in the minds of the lay faithful, I request that all priests and deacons simply omit any reference to the offering of the sign of peace, prior to the Agnus Dei.

2)    Holy Communion from the chalice shall cease to be offered to the lay faithful. The practice of intinction is not to be introduced as an alternative.

3)    Those who choose to receive Holy Communion on the tongue should be encouraged to receive on the hand instead. Their doing this represents an act of loving charity to their community.

4)    Holy water stoups in churches and chapels are to be emptied.

5)    Churches and chapels that are open daily for private prayer should continue to remain open. Care should be given to ensuring that surfaces of high contact (e.g. light switches, door handles and areas around the door) are regularly sanitized throughout the day.

6)    Ministers should wash and also sanitise their hands before and after distributing Holy Communion. Shared towels should not be used in toilet areas or the sacristy.

7)    Shared hymnbooks and Mass books should cease to be used. Single-use Mass sheets may be used; though these should be disposed-of immediately after use.

8)    A decision will be made nearer the time as to whether on Good Friday, the traditional ‘Veneration of the Cross’ is to be observed by a simple genuflection.

The Decree is effective for four weeks after which these requirements shall either be rescinded or renewed. These requirements are also subject to amendment at any point.

In addition, key things for parishes to do are:

1.     Ensure everyone maintains good hygiene (we should be doing this already) especially at Mass and parish gatherings. The best way of protecting us from spread is for everyone to use universal good hygiene, which will effectively disrupt spread of the virus. So display the public information poster attached, which states: ▪ Catch it – sneeze into a tissue ▪ Bin it – bin the tissue ▪ Kill it – wash your hands with soap and water or alcohol hand gel ▪ Do not touch your face unless you’ve washed your hands

2.     Ensure good regular cleaning of surfaces lots of people touch regularly, including such things as door handles.

3.     Ask everyone attending Mass to sanitise their hands as they come into church using sanitised gel dispensers (make these available in porches or entrances).

4.     Ensure ministers of the Eucharist sanitise their hands before and after distributing communion (we should be doing this anyway as a matter of course.)  This can be done by washing hands thoroughly (for 20 seconds at least with soap and water) discreetly before proceeding to the sanctuary or using good quality hand gel discreetly.

5.     Remember to use good hand washing and gel use technique. You can find more here https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthybody/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/ and a poster here https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/resources/posters/en/  b. People who do catering are especially important for hand hygiene, and it is very important to ensure cups and utensils are properly washed and cleaned and surfaces cleaned

6.     When visiting parishioners at home, wash hands before giving the sacraments.  No pastoral visits to people who are self-isolating until isolation ends.  However do offer phone support.

7.     Visits to people in care homes or Hospitals should follow advice from the staff on infection control.

8.     Advise those most vulnerable (elderly, people with weakened immune systems and long term conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease) to refrain from large parish gatherings and stay at home.

9.     Ask anyone with cold or flu symptoms to refrain from attending Liturgy, public events not attend the sacrament of reconciliation if symptomatic (They may have an ordinary cold but equally it is important to ensure a precautionary approach.)

10. Suspend catering (teas, coffees etc) at large parish gatherings where multiple people touch mugs, utensils, biscuits etc.

This information, together with other resources and a Q & A can be found at: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/home/our-work/health-social-care/coronavirus-guidelines/

Please now put in the place the measures outlined across all aspects of parish life. They are to protect everyone, especially the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.

Finally, please pray for those who are suffering from the Coronavirus, those who have died because of it, and all those working to prevent it spreading and to care for those affected.

With sincere thanks for your assistance

Yours devotedly in Christ

+ John

Most Rev John Wilson

Archbishop of Southwark

NB: Documents to read

i. CoronoVirus Advice

ii. Decree suspending sign of Peace and Reception of Chalice at mass

MASSES

Please download December’s 2021 Mass Readings from here


Sunday Mass Times

Sun 8.30am, 10am & 11.30am

Weekday Masses:

Monday, Wednesday – Saturday: 9:30am

Tuesday: 9:45am

Morning Prayer of the Church:

Sat 8:45am

Sacrament of Reconciliation:

Saturday Morning – 11am – 11:30am.
Saturday Evening – Before and After the 6.30pm Mass

Mothers’ Prayers:

Mon 4.30pm at 33a Priestland Park Avenue, Heika Varnes 0208 3005074

  Diary Dates:

 

Announcement:-

Please be aware of the increasing risk of cybercrime and online fraud. If you ever receive an email stating a change in bank account details purporting to be from the Archdiocese or any of our Parishes, we recommend you contact us immediately by telephone on 0208 682 7880 before transferring any funds to the account, in order to verify that the email is genuine and not a scam.

Thank you.
Fr. P. Kyne

 

Donations / Gift Aids:

For those wishing to make a donation or Gift Aid to the church, please press the red button above to download a form.

Many thanks

Fr. P. Kyne