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Sunday Masses at St. Mary’s: Saturday Vigil at 5.30pm and Sunday Morning at 10.30am

Sunday Masses at St. Paul’s: Saturday Vigil at 4pm and Sunday Morning at 9.15am

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The weekday Masses this week will be at St. Mary’s:

Monday at 10.am; 

Tuesday is the Requiem for Mrs. Maureen Gillespie  

Wednesday at 10am; 

Please book through Eventbrite as this makes things easier for the stewards meeting you at the church door.

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Newsletter

Thirtieth Sunday of Year

October 25th 2020

My dear parishioners at St. Mary’s and St. Paul’s,

Our journey through the Pandemic continues and I hope this finds you well and in good spirits despite the many challenges we are facing. Let us continue to encourage one another and look out for one another. While listening to the radio during the week I heard the First Minister of Scotland say that we should not underestimate the importance of a kind word or a smile or an offer of help.

Last Sunday we celebrated Mission Sunday and Fr. Vincent Lockhart, National Director of Missio Scotland, asked the Catholic community of Scotland to reach out to our brothers and sisters who live in the Andes Mountains in Peru. There is no doubt that praying for others allows them to find a place in our thoughts and in our hearts and so I want to thank you for your generous response to the appeal and I am glad to tell you that I was able to send £2,000  in your name to Missio Scotland to support the people of Llusco in the diocese of Sicuani. Let us continue to pray for them and hope that their situation improves, especially for the disabled children who were mentioned in Fr. Vincent’s letter.

Next Saturday morning begins our parish celebration of First Holy Communion and this will continue over three weekends because of the restricted numbers in the church at the moment. I look forward very much to welcoming our young parishioners and their families for this special occasion.

In one of the Eucharistic Prayers we find these words: “Look with favour on the oblation of your Church, in which we show forth the paschal sacrifice of Christ that has been handed on to us, and grant that, by the power of the Spirit of your love, we may be counted now and until the day of eternity among the members of your Son, in whose Body and Blood we have Holy Communion.”

This beautiful prayer reminds us that the Eucharist is both a gift and a responsibility. For over 2,000 years the Catholic Church has sought to hand on the Eucharist with great reverence and faith, for it is the source and summit of all authentic Christian life. Jesus is the Bread of Life and invites us to embrace life ever more deeply with all its joys and sorrows. My prayer for our First Communicants and indeed for us all is that we will go on receiving Holy Communion with love and faith until the day of eternity dawns for us.

I am very grateful to Mrs Fitzpatrick and the teachers of St. Mary’s for their good work in preparing the children for this special moment of encounter with Jesus in the great sacrament of Holy Communion. Of course we are all sorry that we are not having our usual celebration, but still, we want to do our best for the children in circumstances that no one could have predicted.

Please remember our First Communicants and their families in your prayers,

Father O’Brien

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First Holy Communion Cards and Gifts are available in the stall at St. Mary’s Church and in the stall at St. Paul’s Church.

Christmas Cards will be available at St. Mary’s from early November

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A Message from the Catholic Men’s Society: Let the Children Live – Zoom Meeting: parishioners and friends are invited to join us on Monday 26thOctober from 11am, for a presentation on the work of ‘Let the Children Live’ our adopted charity, which helps street children in Medellin, Columbia. Fr. Peter Walters is in the UK just now and he has agreed to give us a presentation on the situation in Medellin (Columbia). The street children whom he cares for are facing new challenges in the pandemic. Also, the situation in neighbouring Venezuela, which is hardly reported on in the UK, has added seriously to problems which the charity faces. This is an opportunity to have an insight into the caring side of the church.

To join the Zoom meeting contact ; you will be sent an invitation to the Zoom meeting with (a) a link to Zoom (b) meeting ID (c) password. If you are already using Zoom you will only need (b) and (c). The meeting will be opened at 11am and start about 11.15 to allow signing in. The host gets a message you are joining and clicks you into the meeting.

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Recently Deceased:Kevin Shallow, Eugenio Palazzi, Maureen Gillespie, Michael Dunn, Mary Smith, Jim Glancy, Charles Wallace, Margaret Hannah, James Dunbar, May Cairns, John Greaney (Oban), Thomas Currie McGougan, John Dalton, Jane Dalton, Dorothy Kirkham, Michelle Simpson, Thomas Cooper, Andy Leonard

Special Remembrance:Tommy O’Donnell, Eddie and Betty Smith, Margaret and Sandy Paterson, Sarah Turner, Jim and Mary Neary, John and Mary McCaig, Hugh Connor, Joseph O’Neil, Brian and Margaret Bonnar, John Allen, May Kinnie, Anna McAdam, Ella Paterson, James and Christopher Whyte and our own deceased relatives and friends and all the benefactors of St. Mary’s and St. Paul’s through the years, reqiescant in pace.

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  St Mary's Mass Times

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Contact St Mary's and St Paul's, Hamilton

120 Cadzow St, Hamilton ML3 6HP, UK

01698 423552