Holy Week 2020 at Holy Family Parish
WebCam – Mass and Holy Week Liturgies from Holy Family Parish Church are available by webcam. Please look for the parish website www.holyfamilyparish.ie on your computer/smartphone, and scrolling downwards, click on the link www.mcnmedia.tv/camera/holy-family-parish-1
Mass at 10.00 am on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Holy Thursday 9th April
10.00 a.m. Morning Prayer of the Church
7.00 p.m. Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament until 9.00 p.m.
Good Friday 10th April
10.00 a.m. Morning Prayer of the Church
12.00 Stations of the Cross
3.00 p.m. Celebration of the Lord’s Passion
7.00 p.m. Stations of the Cross
Holy Saturday 11th April
10.00 a.m. Morning Prayer of the Church
7.00 p.m. EASTER VIGIL (shortened form)
Easter Sunday 12th April
Mass at 9.00 a.m. and 10.30 a.m.
Mass during Easter Week will be at 10.00 a.m. Monday to Saturday inclusive. All these ceremonies will be available on the web camera and you are invited to join with the celebrant in the prayers of the liturgies.
Please tell neighbours, relatives, fellow parishioners and friends about the Holy Week services and Masses from Holy Family church available on the webcam.
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Letter to Parishioners
6th April 2020
Dear Parishioners,
I am writing to you during these tragic times unknown since the Second World War. Our lives, as normally lived, as well as parish life, are disrupted.
Suspension of public Masses in the Church is sad. Holy Week liturgies must be held in an empty locked church. The Public Health Authority directives must be followed to the letter for our own good. Such restrictive measures, inconvenient as they may seem, are in our best interests. Archbishop Martin said that we must adhere strictly to them as our moral obligation and our patriotic duty. Hopefully, the spread of the Covid-19 virus may be arrested by total engagement with these measures. Compliance may be difficult and may call for self control. This crisis leads one to focus on the value of human life, relationship with God and mortality.
Web Cam - Mass from Holy Family Parish Church is available by web cam. Please look for the parish website www.holyfamilyparish.ie and click on link www.mcnmedia.tv/camera/holy-family-parish-1 Mass is celebrated at 10.00a.m. Monday to Saturday inclusive, and at 9.00a.m. and 10.30a.m. on Sundays may be viewed on web cam. Holy Week liturgies will also be available on web cam. (timetable enclosed)
Let us pray for one another and join in the Mass as best one can through the media available and observe the measures in place for our common good. Elderly people may need practical help. Keep in contact with them. God remains present to us. Holy Week liturgy recalls the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ that ended with the triumph of his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. We pray and hope our “Good Friday” of present suffering will end one day when the covid-19 is at last overcome. The virus is physical evil. Ask our Lady’s intercession that this evil may be overcome. One might pray the Rosary, the Hail Holy Queen and the Memorare.
Let us pray for the victims of the virus and for their bereaved. Keep in mind the medical and health-care professionals, carers and other workers in the services who heroically put their own health in danger as well as all who supply our food and provide other essential services. Also don’t forget the post person who may be the only human contact for a cocooned person during any day. Fr. John Killeen and the Reverend John O’Neill (deacon) join with me in wishing you all the blessings of the risen Lord at Easter.
May God bless us all and keep us safe and healthy. May Mary our Blessed Mother protect us. Let us pray for one another.
Yours in Christ
Michael O’Connor, Administrator.
Church Leaders’ joint statement in full:
“In these days when we can no longer gather and ‘be church’ in the traditional way, the call to live out the Gospel as agents of God’s mercy and compassion through the sacrifices that we make to protect the vulnerable, and by finding new ways to be Good Samaritans and good neighbours is as powerful as ever.
“To all who are suffering, have lost loved ones and are anxious in these unprecedented days, we pray that you may find strength and comfort in the loving presence of Christ who promised to be with his people always (Matthew 28:20).
“As Church Leaders, we want to thank everyone in our health and social care services and those working on the frontline, for their courage as they work selflessly to minimise the suffering caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Alongside our chaplains and pastoral teams, they have chosen to walk towards the danger for our sake. We owe it to them to play our part in limiting the spread of this virus by staying home and practising social distancing when we need to go out.
“With this crisis has come a heightened awareness of our interconnectedness and interdependency and a new recognition of the vast array of jobs that are essential to the functioning of our society. All our workers, whether called into service at this time, or asked to stay home, need to be adequately protected.
“In the midst of this suffering, however we can see many signs of hope. The speed with which local communities, involving churches, community groups, charities, businesses and other local community leaders, who have mobilised in response to this unprecedented challenge, has been a great reassurance to many.
We will need many volunteers for our health service and to protect the vulnerable. Charities that provide much-needed support, also need donations, so please consider giving online. We are all called to make sacrifices, but the burden of suffering will not be evenly shared.
Covid-19
In just the past two weeks, pattern of our everyday lives has radically changed.
Though we cannot attend Mass physically in our parish church, let us pray for ourselves, and for the Lord’s healing of the sick even if some are not used to praying. God created the world and everyone and everything in it. Where did the Corona novel virus come from? There may still be a long way to go before Covid-19 and its consequences is overcome.
Can it be controlled, mitigated and defeated by human ingenuity?
We pray especially for the sick, and for the bereaved and those who are now isolated and feel abandoned, some with little or no prospect of any help.
The healthcare workers, ambulance drivers, the Gardai other essential workers and all who work on the frontline are heroic. The bio-scientists are working hard to produce effective treatments and vaccines. All these are purveyors of hope in a despondent situation with increasing infection and deaths,
Let us be thankful for those workers in distribution trade and in the shops and pharmacies who provide us, at risk to their own health, with our food and medicines as well as those who maintain essential services. Let us remember our families, and friends, neighbours, colleagues, fellow parishioners and civic and political leaders for the inevitable challenges in the coming days. We also remember other people throughout the world who are likewise suffering. We pray for those working in the security and safety services recognising that, “We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy” (Daniel 9:18).”
There is however one constant throughout –God tells us, “do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my right hand” (Isaiah 41:10.).