COVID – 19 CORONAVIRUS The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales have advised us to carry out the following procedures in the wake of the virus. Everyone attending Mass to sanitize their hands as they enter the Church, using the sanitized gel dispensers; Communion will be under one kind, Holy Communion to be received on the palm of the hand; suspend the physical sign of peace; Holy Water stoups to be removed.
(8th March 2020)
SAFEGUARDING The Bishop has instructed that all Eucharist Ministers require to have a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check in place. If you are a commissioned Eucharist Minister, and have not had a DBS check carried out, then please contact Yvonne on 01628 605764 or by email using this link as a matter of urgency and she will arrange for a DBS to be carried out.
(12th January 2020)
SACRED VESSELS Fr Joseph has purchased new sacred vessels, if you would like to make a donation towards the cost of the vessels please place in an envelope and mark ‘Sacred Vessels’ and place in the collection bag.
(12th January 2020)
LETTER OF THANKS received from Mrs J O’Keeffe, Headteacher, Our Lady of Peace Catholic Primary & Nursery School. “Dear Parishioners of Saint Gilbert’s R.C. Church, Eton Wick, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the School to thank you very much for the beautiful statues, Crosses and Stations of the Cross which will be displayed around our School and cherished dearly. The Stations of the Cross will be used in our environmental area once they have been varnished for outside weather conditions. Your generosity is very much appreciated and you can rest assured that they will all be well looked after. God bless you all”.
(19th January 2019)
ST GILBERT’S, ETON WICK The Bishop has issued the following announcement : “Following extended deliberations at Pastoral Area level, and consultations with the Diocesan Trustees and the Property Committee, I have had to make the difficult decision that St Gilbert’s Church should be closed. The reasons for the decision include, first and foremost, the life and mission of the local parishes with fewer Priests, whilst Fr Emmanuel is with you at present this is only a temporary arrangement, and one Priest serving three centres long term is not sustainable.
Another issue is that there are significant repairs and maintenance required to the Church with costs estimated at £35,000, and the Diocese cannot spend that money on a Church which only has a Sunday Mass once a month, therefore the Trustees have decided that the Diocese cannot allocate any money to Churches which do not have a long term future. I am conscious of how painful this decision will be for the community at St Gilbert’s, especially those who have given such support and loyalty over the past years. I hope and pray that they can make this sacrifice with the best possible grace in the service of Christ and his Church”.
(8th December 2018)
GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION (GDPR) YOUR ACTION IS NEEDED! You may be aware that new data protection legislation came into force in the UK on 25th May 2018. It governs how personal data is processed and we as a Parish now need to obtain your informed consent to continue to use your personal data in our Parish. GDPR covers the personal data (e.g. addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses) we collect and hold in our Parish to ensure you as Parishioners can be contacted, for example for preparation to receive the Sacraments, when organising Parish group meetings or rotas, or to process Gift Aid donations. ‘Informed consent’ means that we tell you how we process and use your data, so that you can decide whether to give your consent for its use within the Parish to continue.
If we do not receive a written consent from you, we have to remove your details from our Parish register and from any groups to which you may belong. Consent forms can be found at the Church porches, we ask that these are returned to the Presbytery, as soon as possible. A separate Consent Form is required for each adult within each family. A Data Privacy Notice sets out how the Parish processes personal data, and a copy of the Data Privacy Notice is available on the Parish website, or from the Parish office. If you have any questions, please contact the Parish office.
(May 2018)
WHAT TO DO ONCE YOU RECEIVE YOUR DBS CERTIFICATE…
Once you have received your DBS certificate you have 14 days to send it to be verified by the safeguarding and welfare Co-ordinator, Ms K Taylor-Duke at Safeguarding office, Bishops House, Marriott Street, Northampton, NN2 6AW. (In the past this did not need to be done as two copies were sent out, one to Ms K Taylor-Duke and one to you.
Due to Government cutbacks only one is now sent out which has created a lot more paperwork and work for you.) You will need to enclose a self-addressed envelope so the DBS form may be returned to you. (Both these envelopes can be provided if required). You now also have the opportunity to register your new DBS certificate online at www.gov.uk/dbs which may help with you not having to renew your DBS every three years. (That is unless you change your volunteer role which may require another DBS certificate!). I hope this information helps clarify the steps to validating your DBS certificate when it arrives.
BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUP
The group offer a safe and confidential place to speak about your loss in an informal and relaxed setting. It is held at Holy Family Church, Langley. Please contact Graham Wheeler on 01753 538072 for further details.
Holy Family RC Church, 226 Trelawney Avenue, Langley | SL3 7UD
Holy Family Parish website
RAISE MONEY FOR CAFOD WHILE SHOPPING ONLINE
Do you do any shopping on the internet? Gifts? Books? At no extra cost to you or to CAFOD, you can raise money to support CAFOD’s work by doing your online shopping with a simple tool called Give as you live. It’s really simple. Visit www.cafod.org.uk/giveasyoulive to find out more and sign up.
Give As You Live (for Cafod)
MASS INTENTIONS
We are very booked up with Mass intentions at the present moment and a number of you have been disappointed and unable to get the dates you had hoped for. Please book very early if you want a specific date or anniversary. Please let us know if you are happy for us to send on your intentions to another priest (perhaps a retired priest or a priest in a parish with fewer Mass intentions) or to the missions. We are of course always happy to include your intentions in the Bidding Prayers of any Sunday Mass. Please be aware too that very occasionally Mass dates have to be moved because of funerals, holidays, illnesses and other unexpected circumstances.
CAR PARKING WITH CARE AND CONSIDERATION
Please don’t block our neighbours’ driveways. Don’t park on the yellow hashed access to the Vicarage at St Andrew’s. Don’t park on the pavements: disabled/children’s buggies can’t pass. At Our Lady of Peace if you park on the descending access road near the side door of the Church you are blocking access to the disabled parking spots and leaving our disabled parishioners stranded.
PAX CHRISTI
Pax Christi, Peace of Christ, is a gospel-based lay-inspired, peacemaking movement. The movement strives to help the Church and the wider community to proclaim and to make peace, through its experience and ideas, and especially through the witness and action of its members.
Visit the Pax Christi website.
