This week

Good news from Right to Life UK sent out on Friday afternoon

The Second Reading debate of Baroness Meacher’s assisted suicide Bill has just ended. Following mass opposition from over 60 Peers who spoke against the Bill in the debate, Baroness Meacher has not taken her assisted suicide Bill to a vote!

This is an excellent outcome.

The assisted suicide lobby would likely have pushed for a vote at the Second Reading if they felt they had the numbers to win. However, it looks like they realised that they would be unlikely to have sufficient support to win a vote today.

The Bill is now unlikely to be given time in Parliament to be debated in the House of Commons and become law, given that it is not supported by the Government.

Sunday Masses at Ossett (8.30 a.m.) and St. Joseph's, Bradford (1.00 p.m.)

Tuesday at Ossett (6.00 p.m.)

Wednesday at St. Winefride's (6.00 p.m.)

Thursday at St. Anthony's, Clayton, (9.30 a.m.) and St. Joseph's, Pontefract (7.00 p.m.)

Friday at St. Austin's, Wakefield (7.30 p.m.)

Reminder that a Mass of requiem (English and Polish) will take place at noon at St. Walburga's on Monday for Christina Niczyperowicz. Please see other details in my last post.

Mass next Sunday will be the transferred Feast of All Saints. Mass on All Souls at St. Joseph's at 5.00 p.m.

Life and death

The date of the Lord's debate on assisted euthanasia has been put back a week to this Friday 22nd October. Such a change would be a very slippery slope. If it becomes enshrined in law it will enable anyone who has less than six months to live to end their own lives. Please see my previous post about who to contact.

Listening to a programme on the radio last week,  I was reminded of the ease with which David Steel was able to get his nefarious bill through Parliament in the late sixties. Everything would be restricted and yet people now regard abortion as a "contraceptive".

At school whenever euthanasia was discussed we smirked at the idea that one day someone would knock at granny's door and tell her to roll up her sleeve. . 

We'd heard all that in history lessons about Germany in the Hitlerzeit, it couldn't happen again. 

We're not smirking now. 

On Monday 25th. October there will be a requiem Mass in the Ordinary Form for Christina Niczyperowicz who lost her valiant battle with cancer last year during lockdown. Christina was always a champion for the pro-life cause. Her son Richard sometimes plays the organ for us at St. Joseph's and her husband Jan also serves there. Mass at noon at St. Walburga's, Shipley. May Christina's soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.

  

Pentecost XXI

Firstly I would ask your prayers for the repose of the soul of Catholic pro-life MP Sir David Amess who was appallingly and disgracefully murdered at his constituency surgery this lunchtime, in similar fashion to Jo Cox,  MP for Batley and Spen five years ago. May he rest in peace and may our Lady comfort his mourning family. 

Masses this Sunday for the  Pentecost XXI:

8.30 a.m. St. Ignatius, Storrs Hill Road, Ossett (NB no Mass here on Tuesday.)

1.00 p.m. St. Joseph, Pakington Street, Bradford

This week there will be Mass as follows:

Wednesday 6.00 p.m. St. Winefride's, Wibsey, Bradford

Thursday 9.30 a.m. St. Anthony's, Clayton, Bradford

                7.00 p.m. St. Joseph's, Back Street, Pontefract

Friday 7.30 p.m. St. Austin's, Wentworth Terrace, Wakefield

*Confessions usually available before Mass.

This week &c.

Firstly apologies for those who turned up at Ossett a couple of weeks ago for the Tuesday evening Mass. It had slipped Father Aladics' mind to let me know that he was away and so I was unable to post the information on this blog. There will be Mass tomorrow (Tuesday at 6.00 p.m.) but not next week (19th. October) as Father will be away. Sunday Masses are unaffected - (8.30 a.m.) Father informs me that the congregation is growing here on Sundays.

No Mass on Wednesday at St. Winefride's as Mgr Grogan is on holiday.

Masses as usual on Thursday at 9.30 a.m. at St. Anthony's, Clayton and at 7.00 p.m. at St. Joseph's, Pontefract. 

Mass on Friday at St. Austin's, Wakefield at 7.30 p.m.

Fr. Aladics has also alerted me to the fact that he will also be offering Mass on Wednesday December 1st at 11.00 a.m. at Lyford Grange in the south of Oxfordshire. I remember reading about this place in Evelyn Waugh's biography of St Edmund Campion. It is in honour of St. Edmund Campion that the Mass will be offered followed by a picnic, short talk about the life of this heroic martyr and a Rosary Walk. Please contact Fr. Aladics if you are interested in attending this event as places are limited.

It is also hoped that in the spring we shall be able to have Mass in this diocese in honour of  one or some of our own Yorkshire Martyrs. We are not short of them. 39 are listed in the Diocesan Year Book.

Holy Martyrs of Yorkshire pray for us!

Pro- life

On Friday 15 October, members of the House of Lords will be debating the Second Reading of Baroness Meacher’s ‘Assisted Dying Bill 2021’ – YOUR letter or email to a member of the House of Lords asking that they attend the debate and oppose the Bill could save lives – and souls!

‘Assisted Dying’ and ‘Dignity in Dying’ are simply euphemisms for ‘Assisted Suicide’.

There are many ways in which we can rightly and properly assist people to die with dignity: by offering them our love and care, by supporting them and their families with our prayers, and through the services provided by palliative care and hospices. Advanced age, sickness, or improperly-managed pain, should never be the reason for someone to want to commit suicide; least of all with the help of the very healthcare professionals who care for them, and the families who love them.

There are a few members of the Lords who live in our region, some of whom are from Catholic backgrounds and some others and may be presumed to be pro-life because of their good record on how they have voted in abortion debates and also on previous Bills regarding ‘assisted dying’. As well as praying that they will speak and vote against the Bill, please consider sending them a personal letter or email, from the heart, about how and why you believe life is sacred even as it comes to a close. Ask them if they would kindly attend the debate on 15 October and voice their opposition to the Bill.

If you feel able to, share with them and others your own inspiring stories of friends and loved ones who have approached the end of their life in faith and hope and have gone to God fortified by the Sacraments and Rites of Holy Mother Church.

As Catholics we believe in the dignity of all human life throughout its natural span. Living with the fear of death and pain is part of our human condition – if that natural fear is met with compassion, prayer and the best medical, pastoral and spiritual care, all people can live – and die – with true dignity.

 

Apart from members of the House of Lords who we know are Catholics and very likely to take part in this debate (e.g. Lord Alton and Lady O’Loan), just a few other active members of the House of Lords from our own region include:

The Rt Hon. Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate – timothy@kirkhope.org.uk

The Rt Hon. Lady McIntosh of Pickering – mcintoshac@parliament.uk

All members of the House of Lords may be contacted by post via their Westminster address: House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW

The Rt Hon. the Earl Peel lives in the Diocese and is an Amplefordian, so may well take a Catholic view on this issue

The Rt Hon. the Viscount Eccles of Moulton has spoken eloquently and voted against similar ‘assisted dying’ issues in previous debates. His wife is Baroness Eccles in her own right.

(NB – Whatever a peer or peeress’s title, a letter or email to them should simply begin Dear Lord/ Dear Lady plus their Surname – e.g. Dear Lord Kirkhope … Dear Lord and Lady Eccles …)

 

This is the Year of St Joseph; he is the Patron Saint of making a ‘Happy Death’.
St Joseph: pray for us. 

LIVING WITH DIGNITY: YOUR Letter Can Save Souls! | Diocese of Leeds

Masses this week

Thank you to Mgr. Grogan who offered Mass for the first time at St. Joseph's, yesterday. It is refreshing to see so many priests on the rota now at St. Joseph's.

This week Masses are as follows:

Tuesday - 6.00 p.m. St Ignatius, Ossett

Wednesday - 6.00 p.m. St. Winefride's, Bradford

Thursday - 9.30 a.m. St. Anthony's, Clayton  AND  7.00 p.m. St. Joseph', Pontefract

Friday - 7.30 p.m. St. Austin's, Wakefield   BUT NO MASS at St. John's, Buttershaw.

Sunday Pentecost XIX  :

St. Ignatius, Ossett at 8.30 a.m. 

St. Joseph, Bradford at 1.00 p.m.

Very promising news

Today when I arrived at St. Joseph's, Bradford, the parish Priest told me that one of the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal from the nearby St. Pio friary was waiting to have a word with me.  He introduced me to Fr. Franciszek who was ordained in May and has since being a minister at a solemn Mass and has said the old Mass on many occasions since his ordination. Fr. had already contacted the bishop to seek permission, which he duly received,  to say the Mass. He wanted to know if he might join the rota - and so we now have six or seven regular celebrants who are willing and able to celebrate the Mass for us on Sundays at St. Joseph's and in their parishes. It was very moving at the end of Mass for the people to kneel individually to receive his first blessing. Ad multos annos Fr. Franciszek. Originally from Nebraska, Fr. trained for the sacred priesthood in New York. We wish him God's blessing in his priestly ministry.

This week there will be Mass as follows: 

Tuesday, St. Ignatius, Ossett, 6.00 p.m.

NO MASS on Wednesday at St. Winefride's

Thursday, St. Anthony's, Clayton, 9.30 a.m.

                 St. Joseph's, Pontefract, 7.00p.m.

Friday, St. Austin's, Wakefield, 7.30 p.m.

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost , St. Ignatius, Ossett, 8.30 a.m.

                                                          St. Joseph's, Bradford, 1.00 p.m.