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Bishop Vincent is laid to rest

On Monday 1 June Archbishop Malcolm celebrated Mass for Bishop Malone in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel of the Metropolitan Cathedral. The Mass was livestreamed so that his family and many friends could join in. Bishop Malone’s sister, Mary, who lived in America for many years, was also remembered as she had died on 28 May at the age of 92, just ten days after her brother. In his homily Archbishop Malcolm recalled the help which Bishop Vincent had given him on his arrival in Liverpool: ‘When I came to the diocese, Bishop Vin was still very active as Vicar General, even though he had retired as an Auxiliary Bishop some seven years before. It was hard to see what he had actually retired from doing. He helped me understand the workings of the diocese, with a chart of course, but he also offered a listening ear and a kind word, as a brother bishop, a true brother to me, whom I had known for nearly 14 years, but I only saw the true man as he helped me settle in. He was always supportive, never critical of any of the brethren but would help me understand them with kindness – a true teacher and friend.’ Due to the restrictions caused by the current pandemic Bishop Malone’s funeral was a graveside service prior to interment in the family grave at Allerton cemetery on Tuesday 2 June. On a warm, sunlit morning a very small group of priests, family and friends observed social distancing as Bishop Vincent was laid to rest with his parents. The service was led by his brother Auxiliary Bishop, Tom Williams, and Archbishop Malcolm led prayers and gave the blessing. Bishop Tom read from St Matthew’s account of the Ascension which concluded with the following words: ‘Go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all the commands I gave you, and know that I am with you always, yes, to the end of time.’

Clergy Appointments

The following appointments will take effect in the Archdiocese of Liverpool in July and September 2020.

From 1 July 2020 Fr Kevan O’Brien, parish priest, Holy Cross, St Helens Fr Jonathan Brown, chaplain to Carmel Monastery, Allerton

From September 2020 Canon Thomas Neylon, parish priest and dean in Widnes Fr Carl Mugan, parish priest in Widnes Canon Michael Fitzsimons, parish priest, St John Fisher, Knowsley and St Columba, Huyton Fr Philip Carr, parish priest, St Julie, Eccleston and English Martyrs, Haydock Fr John Hindley, parish priest, St Philomena and Holy Name, Fazakerley Fr Kevin McLoughlin, parish priest, Holy Family, Southport Fr Leo Daley, parochial administrator, Our Lady and All Saints, Parbold in addition to St John the Evangelist, Burscough. Fr Joseph Simionato FDP, parish priest, Our Lady of the Annunciation, Standish and St Bernadette, Shevington Fr Bruce Walles, parish priest, Our Lady of Walsingham, Netherton in addition to St Benet, Netherton Fr Michael Thompson, parish priest, St Mary, Castletown and St Columba, Port Erin Fr Leo Cooper, parish priest, St Benedict, Hindley Fr Kenny Hyde, parish priest, St Richard, Skelmersdale Fr Dominic Risley, assistant priest, St Michael and All Angels, Kirkby Deacon Peter Murphy, assistant priest, Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King

Deacon Paul Rooney to the parishes of St Austin’s, Thatto Heath and St Teresa, Devon Street, St Helens, the St Helens Pastoral Area and Liverpool Hope University

The service of charity

By Steve Atherton

It came as a terrible shock to us to have church categorised as a ‘non-essential’ service, less important than supermarkets and even off-licences. Our bishops have an obvious concern for the opening of church buildings so that we can worship and express our faith through the Mass, and public and private prayer. We need our churches for our life as a community: for Baptisms, First Communions, weddings and funerals.

Yet closed churches do not mean that we can no longer express our Catholic, Christian faith. In his exhortation ‘On the Call to Holiness in Today’s World’, Pope Francis says that ‘the ultimate criterion on which our lives will be judged is what we have done for others’. These words make it clear that we express our faith by our actions towards other people.

With this in mind, and with an awareness of the impact of the pandemic on some of the most vulnerable people in our area, the Archbishop and the Trustees recently decided that diocesan funds ringfenced for charitable initiatives would go to support local charitable projects. Grants of £5,000 have been made to Feeding Liverpool (www.feedingliverpool.org) and SWAP (www.swapwigan.org) to help their much-needed work to continue.

To provide some information about these charities, Feeding Liverpool is an ecumenical pilot project of Feeding Britain – and a wonderful example of the strength of ecumenical relationships among churches in Liverpool. In ‘normal’ times, the aims of Feeding Liverpool are to: • Create arenas for practitioners to share and shape good practices in relation to tackling hunger and food insecurity in the Liverpool city region • Draw on experiences from the ground to influence policy debates locally and nationally • Raise awareness and understanding of food policy and related issues

Since Covid-19, Feeding Liverpool has played a key role, in collaboration with the mayor’s office, in the procurement and distribution of food supplies to support vulnerable households, using funds secured through its relationship with Feeding Britain and with local churches. Feeding Liverpool understands food insecurity as one part of a wider web of poverty and seeks to change the structures that allow injustice to continue.

Its chief challenges and concerns are as follows: • Un/under-employment; loss of income, e.g. ‘furloughed’ workers not receiving the 20% top-up • Delays in receiving Universal Credit • Debt, including dangers of informal lending • Digital exclusion, e.g. ensuring tablets/stable internet connections for schoolwork; financial digital exclusion, e.g. older people who are fearful about leaving their homes but do not have access to cash or online banking to pay for home deliveries • Social isolation and fears to ask for help, particularly among those struggling to care for children • Deteriorating mental health; especially for young people over

summer holidays, groups who are continuing to shield/fearful to leave home, single parents, single people • Vitamin D deficiencies – both in young children but also in shielded and vulnerable population • Dependency on free food parcels; the need to move away from free food parcel models towards encouraging affordable food initiatives • Tailored debt advice/support • Understanding the pandemic’s impact on Liverpool through collection of suitable data

SWAP – the Support Wigan Arrivals Project – looks after the interests of over 1,000 asylum seekers in Wigan borough and the surrounding districts by providing advice, case work support, and language classes. It has maintained its outreach to some of the area’s most vulnerable people despite a funding crisis during the pandemic. Asylum seekers and refugees are doubly disadvantaged by having very limited accommodation and not always being able to understand health instructions. They are one of the groups least likely to have digital access, making it difficult for their children to keep in contact with schools.

Nationally, the Bishops’ Conference has acted by creating an online booklet titled Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic which serves as a toolkit for parishes, providing advice from the Caritas Social Action Network and the St Vincent de Paul Society (Nugent, in the case of our diocese) as well as a full list of contacts.

Although lockdown may be easing for some, many in our parishes will continue to need our support. Hopefully this document will encourage, support and enable this important work. It can be reached via www.liverpoolcatholicresources.com or www.liverpoolcatholic.org.uk (by clicking on ‘Prayer and Other Resources’). Please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

The quotation from Pope Francis at the start of this article goes on to say: ‘Our worship becomes pleasing to God when we devote ourselves to living generously, and allow God’s gift, granted in prayer, to be shown in our concern for our brothers and sisters.’

Together in Spirit

by Deacon Kevin Duffy

When we embarked on our Lenten journey this year none of us would have imagined that we would be unable to go to Mass before we reached Palm Sunday, but the pandemic led us into strange times. Priests were left to celebrate Mass alone as Deacons and the faithful were unable to enter church buildings. For those able to access the internet virtually attending Mass became the norm. As a deacon I felt lost as to what I could do. In prayer and discernment, I felt the Holy Spirit calling me to create a WhatsApp group. I began to work through my phone contacts to see who used WhatsApp and invited them to join the ‘Together in Spirit’ group. I told them I did not know what it actually was going to be but felt the Spirit would guide us. Around 30 people whose only connection was I had their number and they used WhatsApp began to virtually walk together through these strange times. What evolved with God’s grace has been amazing. Paradoxically my journey through Holy Week and the Easter season has been the most fruitful of my life. Father Tony Slingo during spiritual direction asked me what the group was. I thought its not a conventional group such as a scripture group who may now meet virtually at the same time as usual. I thought, is it a community? Although we all shared the same faith it feels so much more than just a loose grouping by faith. It is a continuing conversation some just listen and others share their thoughts and feelings. The freedom from a specific time of a conventional group means people contribute when they are able. That may be after they have attended daily Mass virtually somewhere in the world, a thought that strikes them as they read a spiritual book or reflections on the passage of the bible as prayers before going to sleep. My role has been facilitation of this Spirit filled discussion. People are able to say what they feel without fear of judgement or stay silent listening to others speak. Of course, we have sadly joined in prayer for friends and family who have died. There are no long uncomfortable silences, no one can control the conversation as sometimes happens in traditional groups. With the routines and rituals of traditional faith life pruned away new and flourishing growth has sprung forth. The best way I can describe it is an extended family gathered around a communal table each offering food to nourish each other. What the new normal holds for our faith lives we don’t know but we know we will continue to be Together in Spirit at our virtual table in the future.

Bishop Tom to livestream Mass for care workers

Bishop Tom Williams is to livestream Mass from the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in order to show a spiritual solidarity with the Sick and their Families, NHS Front-Line workers and those working in Social Care. The Mass is part of the initiative where a Catholic Bishop celebrates a livestreamed Mass in a Cathedral each Thursday at 7.00 pm. Bishop Tom will celebrate the Mass on Thursday 9 July, others planned include:

Thursday 11 June - Bishop Patrick McKinney, St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham

Thursday 18 June - Archbishop Bernard Longley St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham

Thursday 25 June - Bishop Alan Hopes, Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich

Thursday 2 July - Archbishop John Wilson, St George’s Cathedral, Southwark

The livestreams can be found by visiting the Cathedrals’ webpages.

May crowning in Croxteth

by Sandra Ryan

Online giving launched

In response to the amazing generosity of parishioners who have expressed a wish to continue giving to their parishes while churches are closed the Archdiocese of Liverpool is now offering an opportunity for people to donate online. The donations website is at: https://donate.liverpoolcatholic.org.uk/ with the following message:

Are you able to help?

Daily life has changed dramatically in these last weeks and many people are experiencing difficulties in adapting to a new situation. We continue to follow the necessary government restrictions to protect those around us, and our churches remain closed. There is no public worship at this time, but maintenance costs remain unchanged. Many people have shown their generosity by asking how they can continue to make their offerings to support their parish. In response to this we are now able to offer this online giving facility so that those who wish to, and are able to do so, can continue to make donations directly to their own parish.

How can I donate?

If you would like to donate to your parish it is easy to do. Choose your Parish Area from the menu and then find your parish in the list. You will be offered a choice of donation amounts.

This year Our Lady had an unusual May crowning on the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs church, Croxteth.

Deacon Chris Housbey led a rosary service linking up with the children in the school Hub who made rosaries out of pipe cleaners and flower bouquets out of tissue paper. His daughter Caitlyn, aged 14, crowned the parish statue on behalf of the local children, parishioners and Salesian sisters who were watching via the parish live stream system.

The children later did their own socially distanced procession and listened to Marian hymns recorded by the parish music group. Father Chris Fallon the parish priest has been trying many ways to engage with homes, the sick and families in the community using a variety of innovative technologies.

Deacon Chris said ‘it was a great honour and brilliant the children could join in from the school hub. So many are missing church but the daily live streaming from the parish is still bringing all members of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and St Teresa's together’.

Donations may be made by standing order, as a one-off donation, or as a regular weekly donation. If you are a UK taxpayer, you can also use Gift Aid which could increase the value of your donation by 25% at no extra cost to yourself. If you wish to Gift Aid your donation, please tick the box. We are grateful for your support and our prayers remain with you at this time.

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Issue 163 April 2018 Issue 175 April 2019

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! "# "$%&' Easter Joy    

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:     

Peter Woods appointed High Sheriff

   Celebrating marriage and family life

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Reflections from the Synod Office

by Matt Jeziorski

The work of Synod 2020 is ongoing. During these difficult and different days of pandemic we are still listening for the Holy Spirit speaking through our experiences as we discern where God is calling us. When the restrictions associated with COVID-19 came into effect in late March there were, of course, some significant implications for our Synod 2020 journey. Our instinct in the office was the practical: what needs to be moved or re-thought, how do we make provision for effective home-working, how do we navigate the uncertainty? Yet, when faced with the full effect of lockdown, it was the opportunities rather than the challenges that began to come to the fore. Public Masses were suspended, the doors of our churches locked, and gathering as a community with our friends, family, and neighbours impossible. We were all experiencing a very different way of being Church as many of us gathered remotely, online, and from our own homes. It was clear that our Synod could learn a great deal as we reflected on our experiences of being Church under lockdown and continued to pray our Synod prayer, help us to become the Church that you are calling us to be. Your reflections have come in from every area of our diocese in considerable numbers. Upwards of 250 individual responses have arrived in the Synod Office covering quite a breadth of experience and concern. Not unexpectedly we have seen a great deal of response to the experience of livestreamed Masses. A general gratitude for their availability is clear as people have been able to maintain a sense of community either in their own parish or as a virtual visitor to another. There is also a desire that livestreaming will continue as a service for the sick, the housebound, and those unable to get to Mass. How can communications technology be used to build community and promote a sense of belonging? Yet the experience of livestreaming has not all been positive. Technological limitations leave many feeling excluded, others want to join Mass from their local Church rather than being a live-stream tourist, whilst some find the experience of online Mass to be hard to engage with and yearn for the re-opening of our Churches. How do we ensure everybody is included? Concern for the sick, the vulnerable, the aged, those who faced three months of social isolation, sometimes alone, moved many people to ponder how well equipped our parishes were for responding to the needs of the vulnerable within our communities. Do we know the people of our parish, do we know their needs, can we contact them? What changes do we need to make to be able to do this more effectively in the future?

Whilst the overwhelming majority of reflections have been inspired and coloured by the immediate implications of COVID19, the period of lockdown seems also to have given people the space to ponder deeply some of the bigger questions about our Church and the future. Ideas continue to arrive about how the home-school-parish partnership can be strengthened, how our young people can be supported in the development of their faith, and how diocesan structures can be enhanced, how we use our Church buildings, the wellbeing and support of priests, how we reach out to the weak and the marginalised, and much more. We know that reflections will continue to be enriched as lockdown is gradually lifted, as our schools reopen, and as we look forward to our church doors opening at least for private prayer. The invitation remains to continue reflecting on the joys, sorrows, challenges, and struggles of living through lockdown and contribute your ideas and observations via the Synod website. Please go to www.synod2020.co.uk and click ‘Submit a Proposal’. The extended deadline is Tuesday 1 September.

Liverpool couple create garden café to raise money for global coronavirus appeal

In a normal week Jacquelyn Williams and her husband Alan would enjoy several trips to a local café or coffee shop but lockdown made this impossible, so they decided to get creative. Jacquelyn and Alan set up their own garden café where all proceeds go to charity. During lockdown, the couple from Liverpool embarked on a ‘Coffee Challenge’. They created a coffee shop in their garden and donated what they would have spent on coffee to the coronavirus appeal of international development charity, Cafod. This innovative idea gained a lot of attention in the community and the pair invited their parish to get involved – to set up cafés in their own gardens and raise money to help vulnerable overseas communities. Cafod education volunteer Jacquelyn William, said: “Before the lockdown, we never really thought anything about going a few times a week for a quick coffee and cake, but since we’ve been in lockdown, we realised how much we missed the experience of sitting down together for a relaxing hot drink. “So, we decided to recreate the experience in our own garden –

and it’s been a real treat! We wanted to do this challenge to show everyone how easy it is to fundraise and help others. “It doesn’t have to be something big. A small gesture really can make a big difference.” The pair’s chosen charity, Cafod, has recently launched an emergency coronavirus appeal and is scaling up its support to local aid experts. These local experts are providing food to vulnerable families, as well as improving handwashing and sanitation facilities across communities. Cafod is also helping churches in developing countries to use their networks to share hygiene messages through Catholic radio stations and to produce posters in local dialects on infection prevention.