Roman Catholic Church

ISLE OF MAN

Welcome to the official website of the
Roman Catholic Church on the Isle of Man.

 The Isle of Man is one of the 18 pastoral areas which make up the Archdiocese of Liverpool,
and on the Island there are 7 Roman Catholic churches

For details of PUBLIC WEEKDAY AND SUNDAY MASSES at a church near you, please CLICK THE ‘READ PARISH NEWSLETTERS’ BUTTON BELOW, and select the LATEST NEWSLETTER for your area, or SCROLL DOWN and look at the GREEN BOXES where you’ll find NEWS HEADLINES from our churches around the Island, for the coming week.

Our Lady Star of the Sea
and St Maughold, Ramsey
St Patrick’s, Peel
Parish Priest
Father Brian O Mahony CSSp
T: (01624) 813181
E: ourladystarofthesea@rcaol.org.uk

St Mary of the Isle and St Joseph, Douglas
St Anthony’s, Onchan
Parish Priest and Area Dean:
Monsignor John Devine
T: (01624) 675509
E: saintmaryiom@rcaolp.co.uk

St Mary’s, Castletown
and
St Columba’s, Port Erin
Parish Priest
Fr Joseph Kiganda CSSp
T: (01624) 822272
E: saintmarycastletown@rcaolp.co.uk

READ PARISH NEWSLETTERS

THANK YOU FOR VISITING US!

YOU’VE REACHED THE INFORMATION HUB
FOR ALL OUR ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES

COVID: The rise in the number of Covid cases on the Island is an inevitable consequence of relaxing border restrictions. As we learn to ‘live with’ Covid we recognise that some of those carrying the virus will bring it with them to Mass. Prudence demands that we continue to respect the request to sanitise our hands on entering and leaving church and to maintain reasonable social distancing.  

Thank you for continuing to observe measures to give others peace of mind and keep each other safe.  

Respect those wearing face coverings. 
Maintain hand sanitising and
reasonable social distancing. 
Socialise outside the church building.
Holy Communion will be given
under one kind, in the hand only,
avoiding skin contact with the minister.
Exchange the sign of peace without close contact. 
=====================================

WORDS FROM POPE FRANCIS
“Faith begins when we realise we are in need of saving.
We are not self-sufficient; by ourselves we flounder:
we need the Lord,
like ancient navigators needed the stars.
Let us invite Jesus into the boats of our lives.
Let us hand over our fears to him
so that he can conquer them.
Like the disciples, we will experience that
with him on board there will be no shipwreck.
Because this is God’s strength:
turning to the good everything that happens to us,
even the bad things.
He brings serenity into our storms,
because with God life never dies.”
===================================
Our prayers and best wishes go to ALAN MOLLOY.
A parishioner of St Columba’s, Port Erin,
Alan often attends midday Mass in St Mary’s.

Alan will be ordained as a Permanent Deacon in
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
at 3pm TODAY  Sunday 18th July.

The celebration will be live streamed on
The Cathedral YouTube Channel
The Cathedral Facebook page

Alan has asked for our prayers.
We wish him and his wife
Helen every blessing for the future.

MASSES  IN St MARY & St JOSEPH,  DOUGLAS
Saturday at 5pm   Sunday at 11am
Monday to Friday – Mass at 12.10pm
Except Tuesday 20th – Requiem Mass at 12 noon
 
MASSES  IN ST ANTHONY’S, ONCHAN
Wednesday 21st – Funeral Service at 10am
Thursday 22nd – Requiem Mass at 10am
Sunday  at 9.30am

ALL MASSES IN St MARY & St JOSEPH, DOUGLAS
are live-streamed, at the following times:

SATURDAY EVENING AT 5pm

SUNDAY AT 11am

MONDAY TO FRIDAY AT 12:10pm

VIEW LIVE STREAM

WE WELCOME our ‘Live Stream’ church family
Thank you for joining us – we are pleased to receive your prayer requests, or just to have an email chat.
Email direct to our Parish Office,
using the CONTACT tab 

MASS TIMES in the SOUTH
Sunday Masses 
St Mary’s, Castletown at 9am
St Columba’s, Port Erin at 11am

Weekday Mass in St Mary’s, Castletown
NO WEEKDAY MASSES 19 – 24 JULY
Eucharistic Service at 10am on Wednesday & Friday

Weekday Mass in St Columba’s, Port Erin
NO WEEKDAY MASSES 19 – 24 JULY
Eucharistic Service at 10am on Tuesday & Thursday

MASS TIMES in the NORTH and WEST
Sunday Masses
St Patrick’s, Peel at 9am   
Our Lady Star of the Sea, Ramsey at 11am

Weekday Mass in St Patrick’s, Peel
Monday & Tuesday at 12noon
Thursday & Friday at 12noon

Weekday Mass in Our Lady’s, Ramsey
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday at 10am
Wednesday at 7.30pm
Saturday at 12.30pm & 6.30pm

 


Greetings
from Monsignor John

18th July  2021
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year B for Sundays – Cycle I for Weekdays

 

Dear Parishioners,

Claude AnShin Thomas suffered for years from the trauma of war as a Vietnam combat veteran. A retreat with Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh set him on the path of mindfulness and healing. He is now a Zen Buddhist monk. He recounts his story:

I suffer from a disturbed sleep pattern that has been a part of my life since a night-time attack in Vietnam in 1967. Since that time, I haven’t slept for more than two consecutive hours in any one night. . . . My sleeplessness became the central symbol of my not-all-rightness, of my deepest fears that I would never be all right. . . Part of the reason I had difficulty sleeping was because of my night terrors: the sounds of artillery (that isn’t there) firing in the distance, of helicopters on assault, that special look of everything illuminated by artificial light, the sounds of small arms fire, of the wounded screaming for a medic. For me, this is what rises up out of the silence that is special to night. I hated the sun going down. I fought and struggled with my inability to sleep, and the more I fought, the more difficult the nights became. So I turned to alcohol and drugs (legal and illegal) for relief, but my suffering just got worse. . . .

Some years after getting sober, I was standing at the kitchen sink in my cottage in Concord, washing dishes. Above the sink was a window through which I could see a row of fifty-foot-tall pine trees that lined the driveway. That day as I did the dishes, I was watching a squirrel busy doing whatever it is that squirrels do, when I had a powerful experience. A voice inside me, the voice of awareness, said to me, “You can’t sleep, so now what?” I began to laugh. It was a moment of complete acceptance. I finally understood that I just was how I was. To resist, to fight, to attempt to alter the essential nature of my life, was in fact making matters worse, and now I understood that I simply needed to learn how to live with the reality of who I was.

In this moment I discovered that it was here, in the midst of suffering and confusion, that healing and transformation can take place, if I can stop trying to escape.

But I’m not special, you know. You can do this, too. You can face your own sorrow, your own wounds. You can stop wanting some other life, some other past, some other reality. You can stop fighting against the truth of yourself and, breathing in and breathing out, open to your own experience.

You can just feel whatever is there, exploring it, until you also discover the liberation that comes with stopping the struggle and becoming fully present in your own life. This is the real path to peace and freedom.  You could do this for yourself; you could do this for your family. Our whole world will benefit. [Claude AnShin Thomas, At Hell’s Gate: A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace (Shambhala: 2004)]

The Liverpool Archdiocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes due to take place from 25-30 July 2021 has been cancelled due to the pandemic.  The organisers have instead arranged a Lourdes at Home Pilgrimage Programme.
Archbishop Malcolm will celebrate the opening Mass in the Metropolitan Cathedral at 3.00pm on Sunday 25 July.
The pilgrimage will conclude with a picnic followed by the Rosary and Torchlight Marian Procession in Our Lady’s prayer garden, Southport Road, Lydiate from 6.00pm on Friday 30 July. There will be two celebrations each day at venues across the Archdiocese which people will be able to attend.
The full programme is available   BY CLICKING HERE

To read the rest of this week’s news   CLICK HERE

Fr John 

Monsignor John Devine OBE MA VF
Saint Mary of the Isle   Hill Street       Douglas      Isle of Man     IM1 1EG

===========================================

This coming week we celebrate the feast days of two important female saints –
Mary Magdalene and Bridget, Patron of Europe.

In his book ‘Let us Dream ’ Pope Francis has this to say:

‘A sign is something that stands out and strikes us. A sign of hope in the Covid crisis is the leading role of women. Women have been at the same time among the most effected and the most resilient in this crisis. Affected, because they are more likely to be on the front line – about 70 percent of those working in health care worldwide are women – but also because they are harder hit economically while working in the informal or unpaid sector. The countries with women as presidents or prime ministers have on the whole reacted better and more quickly than others, making decisions swiftly and communicating them with empathy.
What does this sign invite us to think about? What might the Spirit be saying to us? I think of the strength of the women in the Gospel following the death of Jesus. They were not paralyzed by the tragedy, nor did they flee. For love of their Master, they went to the tomb to anoint Him. Like so many women in this pandemic they were able to hold it together, to get around obstacles in their path and keep hope alive in their families and communities…. Could it be the perspective women bring is what the world needs at this time to face the coming challenges? Could the Spirit be prompting us to recognise, value and integrate the fresh thinking that some women are bringing to this moment?’

===========================================

Emergency Telephone Numbers
These can be more effective than dialling 999!

• When you are sad, phone John 14
• When you have sinned, phone Psalm 51
• When you are facing danger, phone Psalm 91
• When people have failed you, phone Psalm 27
• When it feels as if God is far away from you, phone Psalm 139

=============================================

Although the Manx Government have permitted a substantial relaxation of Covid-related restrictions –  for everyone’s peace of mind and safety – please note the following :-

• The obligation to go to Mass on Sunday remains suspended. Many may feel insecure at the idea of returning to Mass.
• The requirement to sanitise hands on entering and leaving church and to maintain reasonable social distancing is still in place.
• The wearing of masks is a reasonable precaution that must be respected.
• The sign of peace will be exchanged without making contact.
• Holy Communion will continue to be distributed only in the hand and under the form of bread. Please ensure that you receive in a way that minimises the possibility of skin to skin contact with the minister.
• Socialisation within the church at the end of Mass is discouraged. There’s space to meet outside.
• Please respect any reluctance to shake hands or hug from friends you haven’t seen for a while.

=====================================================

A Friendship Blessing – from Anam Cara:
A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O’Donohue

May you be blessed with good friends.
May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.
May you be able to journey to that place in your soul
where there is great love, warmth, feeling and forgiveness.
May this change you.
May it transfigure that which is negative, distant or cold in you.
May you be brought into the real passion,
kinship and affinity of belonging.
May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them and may you be there for them;
May they bring you all the blessing, challenges,
truth and light that you need for your journey.
May you never be isolated.
May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging
with your anam ċara.

“PEACE” – A SONNET BY MALCOLM GUITE
Not as the world gives, not the victor’s peace,
Not to be fought for, hard-won, or achieved,
Just grace and mercy, gratefully received:
An undeserved and unforeseen release,
As the cold chains of memory and wrath
Fall from our hearts before we are aware,
Their rusty locks all picked by patient prayer,

Till closed doors open, and we see a path
Descending from a source we cannot see;
A path that must be taken, hand in hand,
Only by those, forgiving and forgiven,
Who see their saviour in their enemy.
So reach for me. We’ll cross our broken land,
And make each other bridges back to Heaven.

A PRAYER FOR ALL WHO ARE LIVING WITH DEMENTIA

It steals upon our loved ones,
it steals when we do not understand what is happening;
why it is happening?
The happening is that slow dying
The taking away of a precious loved one.
We see someone we loved and treasured,
someone who won our respect,
we see that person denied of dignity and slowing;
losing an awareness of life and living.
It hurts…oh, how it hurts.
Let prayer be our help;
let prayer be our strength;
let prayer rise like a fountain of love.
May we come together in prayer for our cherished one.
Dear God, we pray, may your will be done.

 

A Poem on the Death of His Mother….. by Seamus Heaney
When all the others were away at Mass
I was all hers as we peeled potatoes.
They broke the silence, let fall one by one
Like solder weeping off the soldering iron:
Cold comforts set between us, things to share
Gleaming in a bucket of clean water.
And again let fall.
Little pleasant splashes
From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.

So while the parish priest at her bedside
Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying
And some were responding and some crying
I remembered her head bent towards my head,
Her breath in mine, our fluent dipping knives–
Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

Pope Francis Prayer Intention for June:

 We pray for young people who are preparing for marriage with the support of a Christian community: may they grow in love, with generosity, faithfulness and patience.

==============================================

From EPISTOLA AD DAKYNS by T.E. Brown

… The next is where God keeps for me
A little island in the sea
A body for my needs, that so
I may not all unclothed go
A vital instrument whereby
I still may commune with the sky
Even now between its simple poles
It has the soul of all my souls
But then – whatever I have been
Whatever felt, whatever seen
The loves, the hates, the hopes, the fears,
The gathered strength of all my years
All that my life in one was wrought
Of complex essence shall be brought
And wedded to those primal forms
That have their scope in calms and storms
And I shall be the living heart
And I shall live in every part.
(T.E.Brown)


HOLDING AND LETTING GO

We have a call to live, and oh
A common call to die.
I watched you and my father go
To bid a friend goodbye.
I watched you hold my father’s hand,
How could it not be so?
The gentleness of holding on
Helps in the letting go.


For when we feel our frailty
How can we not respond?
And reach to hold another’s hand
And feel the common bond?
For then we touch the heights above
And every depth below,
We touch the very quick of love;
Holding and letting go.

(Malcolm Guite from The Singing Bowl)

WHEN ATTENDING MASS, PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING :

We are really grateful to our stewards who have given so much of their time throughout the crisis. As we gradually return to normality, we must be ready to perform U-turns. With their experience of monitoring social distancing and sanitising surfaces, they are prepared should the situation change.
Some dismiss our vigilance as unnecessary. Younger and more robust members of our community may opt for a casual approach to protective measures. For the sake of our vulnerable parishioners, we unapologetically err on the side of caution. Please, continue to sanitise your hands on arrival and on leaving our churches and maintain reasonable social distancing. Thank you 

• The Sunday obligation is still suspended.
• Please adhere to social distancing guidelines in place. Any children accompanying you must do the same.
• Please sanitise your hands when you enter and leave the church. Holy water fonts are not in use .
• There will be no hymns books, Mass books or newsletters.
• You will be guided to a bench by a volunteer steward. It may not be where you usually sit.
• Toilets will remain closed at all times except for a genuine emergency.
• Only the priest will be on the sanctuary – without deacons, servers, readers etc. 
• There will be no children’s liturgy or choir and no live singing.
• There will be no Sign of Peace.
• Holy Communion will now be distributed at the normal place in the Mass.
• You may only receive the Sacred Host in your hand and not on your tongue. Communicants must avoid skin to skin contact with the minister’s hands.
• People receiving Communion are instructed to approach the altar with their arms outstretched so as to maintain a reasonable distance from the minister.
• Please do not gather at the back of church to chat.
• Baskets will be available at the entrance (and exit) for your weekly Offertory collection.

This year is the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical ‘Laudato si’
Its message is just as prophetic today as it was in 2015.
The encyclical can provide the moral and spiritual compass for the journey
to create a more caring, fraternal, peaceful and sustainable world.
Catholics around the world are being encouraged to pause, wherever we are,
and say this prayer at noon each day:-

Loving God, Creator of heaven and earth and all that is in them,
you created us in your own image and made us stewards of creation.
You blessed us with the sun, water and bountiful land so that all might be nourished.
Open our minds and touch our hearts, so that we may attend to your gift of creation.
Help us to be conscious that our common home belongs not only to us,
but to all of your creatures and to all future generations,
and that it is our responsibility to preserve it.

May we help each person secure the food and resources that they need.
Be present to those in need in these trying times,
especially the poorest and those most at risk of being left behind.
Transform our fear and feelings of isolation into hope and fraternity,
so that we may experience a true conversion of the heart.

Help us to show creative solidarity
in addressing the consequences of this global pandemic.
Make us courageous to embrace the changes
that are needed in search of the common good.

Now more than ever may we feel that we are all
interconnected and interdependent.
Enable us to listen and respond to the cry of the earth
and the cry of the poor.

May the present sufferings be the birth pangs
of a more fraternal and sustainable world.
Under the loving gaze of Mary Help of Christians,
we make this prayer through Christ Our Lord.   Amen.

Prayer of Spiritual Communion used at live-streamed Masses
Lord Jesus Christ,
You promise to be with us when two or three are gathered together in your name.
You promise to be with us until the end of time.
You are with us when we hear your Word in the Sacred Scriptures.
You are with us in those who are hungry and thirsty, sick or in prison and in the face of the stranger.
You are with us in our beautiful world and in the very stuff of the entire Universe.
You are with me in the very depths of my being;
And you are with us in the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist.
Today I am unable to receive you in this Sacrament of your Body and Blood.
Lord Jesus, strengthen my belief that you are always with us until you come again.
I believe that one day I will see you face to face
when there will be no more suffering, no more tears and no more sadness.
Lord Jesus, stay with me and with those I love throughout this day and for the rest of my life.
You who live and reign for ever and ever. Amen

Pope St John Paul II – on his visit to England in 1982 – had this to say about
the place of sickness and suffering in the life of the church:

‘Today I make an urgent plea to this nation. Do not neglect your sick and elderly. Do not turn away from the handicapped and the dying. Do not push them to the margins of society. For, if you do, you will fail to understand that they represent an important truth. The sick, the elderly, the handicapped and the dying teach us that weakness is a creative part of human living, and that suffering can be embraced with no loss of dignity. Without the presence of these people in your midst you might be tempted to think of health, strength and power as the only important values to be pursued in life. But the wisdom of Christ and the power of Christ are to be seen in the weakness of those who share his sufferings.
Let us keep the sick and the handicapped at the centre of our lives.
Let us treasure them and recognise with gratitude the debt we owe them.
We begin by imagining that we are giving to them;
we end by realising that they have enriched us.’              (Southwark Cathedral, 28 May 1982)


CLICK HERE TO FIND DAVID CRYSTAL’S DAILY READINGS ON LINE


SOME WORDS FROM POPE FRANCIS

SOME OF THE POPE’S TWEETS ON THE PANDEMIC:
‘Today in the tragedy of a pandemic, in the face of the many false securities that have now crumbled,
in the face of so many hopes betrayed, in the sense of abandonment that weighs upon hearts, Jesus says to each one of us :”‘Courage, open your heart to my love”.’

‘The current pandemic has highlighted our interdependence: we are all linked to each other, for better or for worse. Therefore, to come out of this crisis better than before, we have to do so together, all of us, in solidarity’

The official website of the Roman Catholic Pastoral Area of St Maughold, Isle of Man in the Archdiocese of Liverpool

©2020 Roman Catholic Church Isle of Man | Safeguarding & Privacy Policy