The Parish of Our Lady and St Patrick Oldham

THE SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER (YEAR C)
WEEK: APRIL 27TH - MAY 3RD 2025

SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

“Put your finger here and see my hands…do not disbelieve but believe.”

YOUR CHARITABLE PRAYERS are requested for our parishioners and friends, especially those whose names appear below.
SICK: John Green, Joan Killeen, Christine Clarke, Tony Kenny, Luke Burke, Dominic Boardman, Connie Marrone, Alexander Loughlin, Surya Duval, Margaret Lawless, Peter Barlow, Jean Barlow, Nynna Carpio, Terry Cummins, Elizabeth Flanagan, Margaret Emsis, Francis Doyle, Linda Solan, Rosemary Guilfoyle LATELY DEAD: Leigh Cook, Kevin Mullin, Ron Heaton, Richard Melling, Maria Cavanagh, Jimmy Wood, ANNIVERSARIES, Doreen Alicia Whitehead, James Patrick Rothwell, Dawn Francene Cookson and baby Robbie, Morgan Otoghile, William Melia, Arthur Heatley, Patricia Lynch, Zofia Royales

LAST WEEK'S COLLECTION: £1,732.98

Standing Order: £674.00 a month

CHURCH BOXES / DONATIONS
Donation from Syro-Malabar Community for use of the church - £125.00; Caritas (Homeless) £20.00; Donations from AA and NA for the use of the meeting room £160.00

Many thanks for your kind generosity.

If anyone needs the Bank account details to set up Direct Debit payments, please contact Father Phil.

THIS SUNDAY'S MISSALETTE

The Second Sunday of Easter - Missalette

NOTICES:
All Masses will continue to be live streamed. A link is provided on the Parish website: www.smwsp.org.uk or via the Twitter App (@PhilipSumner13).

POPE’S FUNERAL
For the last week, many of us will have seen the crowds of mourners filing past the pope’s coffin in the Vatican. Many thousands of people from all over the world stood in line for hours. On one occasion, the Vatican authorities had to extend the time available, leaving the lines of those paying their respects to file past all through the night. It has been clearer than at any other time during his papacy that his prophetic voice and his personal witness have been both powerful and necessary in our world. His messages on poverty, climate change, immigration, synodality and the need to build interfaith relationships have often been criticised by some but his voice was heard and appreciated by many more. People from different faiths and from the secular world, as well as Christians of different denominations have shown their appreciation of him. Debbie Abrahams MP sent me a text message saying: My sincere condolences on the death of pope Francis – he’s a huge loss to the world.”

ORDINATION TO DIACONATE ANNIVERSARY
On 12th May, it will be 50 years since I was ordained a deacon in Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. All priests spend about a year as deacons, prior to ordination to the priesthood. My class (just seven of us) from seminary will be returning to Liverpool for the day to celebrate together. There will be no Mass in the parish that day but there will be a Eucharistic service at 12noon.

ASSEMBLIES IN RADCLYFFE HIGH SCHOOL
Each day last week, I gave assemblies to different year groups at Radclyffe High School on the Festival of Easter. During the week, I spoke to all 1500 pupils. It was a privilege to be given the opportunity and one that was given because of my involvement in the work of the Oldham Interfaith Forum. The Headteacher, John Cregg, wrote: “As staff and students we have really appreciated listening to your thought-provoking messages each day.”

80TH ANNIVERSARY OF VE DAY 8th May 2025
Reminder This year sees the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe and a series of events will be taking place around the country on the anniversary of VE Day itself, 8th May 2025. These will include the ringing of church bells at 6.30pm.

SPECIAL DAYS THIS WEEK
Monday 28th April – St. George, Patron of England: According to tradition he was a soldier in the Roman army. Saint George was a soldier of Cappadocian Greek origin and member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, who was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith. He became one of the most venerated saints in Christianity. Tuesday 29th April – St. Catherine of Siena: (25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380). She was a lay member of the Dominican Order, and a mystic, an activist and an author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. Canonized in 1461, she is also a Doctor of the Church. Wednesday 30th April - St. Pius V: born Antonio Ghislieri, in 1504. He became Pope and was perhaps most known for his role in the Council of Trent. He died in 1572. Thursday 1st May – St. Joseph the Worker Friday 2nd May - St. Athanasius Saturday 3rd May – Ss Philip and James (Apostles)

THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS
We live, now, in a more scientific, secular and sceptical world. There’s been a massive falling away from belief in God. It’s in this context that we are asked to be a missionary Church. Our young people are growing up in such a world. They can surely identify easily with Thomas in today’s Gospel. They want more evidence. They don’t want to feel foolish. But, the problem is that, in such a world, the wonderful Christian virtues of love, faith and forgiveness suffer. Being asked to prove love kills it! And I suspect that any teenager would agree that it’s great to be trusted by the adults around them. While faith, of this sort, isn’t blind, when someone trusts you, they’ve taken a leap into the unknown. And, in an utterly rational world, why would you forgive someone who doesn’t deserve it? When Jesus appears to the disciples in the upper room on this second Sunday after his Resurrection, this time when Thomas is there, the first thing he does is say “Peace be with you”. We know from his visit on the previous Sunday that this greeting of peace includes the notion of forgiveness. But, because of Thomas’ denial, Jesus brings him, in a very intimate way, back to the foot of the cross. “Put your finger here.” For his part, Thomas suddenly learns his lesson. There, at the foot of the cross, he hears the unequivocal message, “I love you and I forgive you”. It’s this realisation that enables him to go beyond the rational to genuine belief. That’s why he’s able to say, “My Lord and my God!” It’s by being drawn out of the world of the purely rational that he’s able to know that Jesus has truly risen. If we are going to bear witness to the resurrection in our world, our priority should not be to try to convince people intellectually. We don’t need to find Christian intellectuals to engage in high profile debates with the likes of Stephen Fry or Professor Richard Dawkins. It should rather be to create a vibrant community where people sacrifice themselves for each other, where forgiveness is lived in very personal ways and where people feel as though they belong, with all their faults. We heard, in the first reading today, of just such a community that existed among the early Christians. This must have had an influence on the massive growth of Christianity in the world. We hear of non-Christians at the time saying, “See how these Christians love one another!” It’s here that we witness people enabling each other to belong. In our ever more secular world, in which people have to prove themselves, all too many are feeling alienated. They need to be introduced to that world where proof is not as important, and failure is accommodated. Then we can know, through faith, that God is present in our world and truly proclaim, “My Lord and my God!”

SOLAR PANELS
Given the rather large electric bill for 2024 (just over £6,200), I asked the people who had installed our solar panels to give me a report on their efficiency. They have written to say that, through March of this year, we had a total demand of 1395kwh, of which we bought 646kwh and generated 746kwh. They had forecast that we would only generate 651kwh during March So, we significantly exceeded that. In the three days just prior to 6th April, we used 123kwh but generated 77 of those through the solar panels and only have to buy 34.7kwh. The sun has done well for us during the last week too!

PARISH TEAM MEETING
The next Parish Team meeting will be on Thursday 22nd May at 7.00pm. We will discuss how to nominate the individuals requested for the implementation of the synodal process, among other matters.

PARISH FINANCES
Three weeks ago, we dipped briefly into the red, but we have now clawed our way back into the black, but only to the sum of £4,102. The reason for the dip is that we were hit with a whole series of bills at the same time. £8,000 was taken out to pay for the removal of some fly-tipping from the St. Mary’s site. £12, 351.24 was taken out for electricity (for a whole year) and gas (for 2 months). We must remember also that it wasn’t too long ago that we paid £20,000 for the solar panels and almost £30,000 for the new boiler in the church. But, we are expecting a few thousand pounds from last year’s Gift aid scheme to be paid into our account soon and we hope, at some stage, for the sale of the land at St. Mary’s. We are still investigating the possibility of changing the heating system in the house to electric radiators that use electricity super-efficiently. There are, of course, a couple of problems with that: we can’t afford it and we need 3 phase electricity coming into the house, and we don’t have that now. Someone came around to see how many radiators we would need. He was to send me some costings but, so far, they haven’t arrived.

WEEKLY SERVICES
SUNDAY:	10.00am. 12.30pm (Polish Mass) 6.00pm
MONDAY:	12 noon Mass
TUESDAY:	12 noon Requiem Mass for Richard Melling
WEDNESDAY:	12 noon Mass
THURSDAY:	12 noon Mass
FRIDAY:	12 noon Mass
SATURDAY:	12 noon Mass