Updates – Page 7 – Advent to Easter

Palm Sunday 2020

What happened today Jesus, who had spent the night with his disciples at Bethany, asked two of them to go to nearby Bethphage and bring the donkey and colt tethered there. Kings would normally arrive by horse but Jesus rode on a donkey when he set out for Jerusalem. The disciples laid their cloaks on […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Holy Week 2020

The late Patrick O’Donovan of The Observer said that Holy Week was the peculiar privilege of Christians and their most important week of the year. This year it will be unseen by many without the reminders of the outdoor Palm Sunday processions and pictures of The Queen distributing Maundy money. But throughout the world thousands […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Passion or Carlin Sunday

This Sunday, between Mothering Sunday and Palm Sunday, is Passion Sunday. The name comes from the Latin passio meaning suffering and refers to the suffering of Christ as he approached his cruxifiction. Sunday is the start of the week during which we shall be able to begin following Christ’s last days of his ministry on […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Today: Looking to Christmas

Today, Wednesday 25 March, is a bright moment in Lent when we can look ahead to Christmas and the time when we might have conquered the virus. If today is the feast of The Annunciation then it’s nine months to Christmas, the normal length of a pregnancy. Were churches open then flowers might be making […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Mothering Sunday 2020

Not so many flowers will be presented to mothers this Mothering Sunday. But we shall be seeking, maybe via phone and email, to help and thank our mothers who have looked after us and, in many cases, worked hard to make home a special place for the coming months. We pray for mothers alive and […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

St Joseph’s Day without doughnuts

We know Joseph as the faithful husband of the Virgin Mary. Together they brought up Jesus and watched over his early years. St Joseph’s Day 19 March often passes without much notice in the UK but today we could think of those who usually keep today with much celebration. It is a holiday in Malta. […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

A quiet St Patrick’s Day

This may be the quietest St Patrick’s Day for many young people as they face a 17 March without a parade in Dublin. Mary Kenny, writing in The Catholic Herald, suggests that “maybe it’s no bad thing, if St Patrick’s Day is a little more focused on Patrick himself, and a little less on pints […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Keeping Lent in our hearts

As we move deeper into Lent many are finding it difficult to attend church due to the threat of Coronavirus. In Rome and Venice there are no services on Sunday or weekdays. Those elsewhere who are able to go will find communion only in one kind and a ban on shaking hands, kneeling and using […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Fat Thursday

It’s Fat Thursday today which means that Lent is approaching. Lent starts next week on Ash Wednesday 26 February. Pancakes are the great feature on Shrove Tuesday but Fat Thursday means doughnuts in Poland and Polish shops.

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023

Updates

Beales first to welcome Father Christmas

Today’s confirmation that Beales department store in Bournemouth has gone into administration is sad news. The flagship shop on the original site and its many branches remain open but the future is uncertain. Beales in Bournemouth is one of Britain’s oldest department stores having opened in 1881. In 1885, with the shop’s upper floor devoted […]

Leigh Hatts 5 years agoOctober 29, 2023