14TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
(YEAR C)
WEEK: JULY 6TH - 12TH 2025
“The hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants.”
YOUR CHARITABLE PRAYERS are requested for our parishioners and friends, especially those whose names appear below.
SICK: John Green, Joan Killeen, Christine Clarke, Tony Kenny, Luke Burke, Dominic Boardman, Connie Marrone, Alexander Loughlin, Surya Duval, Margaret Lawless, Peter Barlow, Jean Barlow, Nynna Carpio, Terry Cummins, Elizabeth Flanagan, Margaret Emsis, Francis Doyle, Linda Solan, Fred Kibblewhite, Daniel Keane, Ethel Keenihan, Peter Bradbury,
LATELY DEAD: Breeda Bradley, Michael Martindale, Norma Hill, Fe Jardell
ANNIVERSARIES: Reynaldo Dante Eustaquio, Phil McDermott, Irene Melia, Jimmy Flood, John Miley, Kathleen Street, George K. Varghese, Mariamma George, Thomas V. Varghese, Thomas Kutty. K., Paul Lawless, Margaret Hywell. Mick McGinn
CONGRATULATIONS
Yesterday (Saturday), Obinna Harrison Oyeocha and Chikadibia Lilian Amaechi were married here in Our Lady and St. Patrick’s Parish. Congratulations to them!
LAST WEEK'S COLLECTION: £863.00
Standing Order: £572.00 a month
CHURCH BOXES / DONATIONS
NA £30.00 for rent of the meeting room
Many thanks for your kind generosity.
If anyone needs the Bank account details to set up Direct Debit payments, please contact Father Phil.
THIS SUNDAY'S MISSALETTE 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Missalette
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NOTICES:
All Masses will continue to be live streamed. A link is provided on the Parish website: www.smwsp.org.uk or via the Twitter App (@PhilipSumner13).
ST MARY AND ST PAUL'S PARISH, DUKINFIELD IS CELEBRATING ITS 200 YEAR ANNIVERSARY with a Parish Heritage Day at St Mary's Church, Dukinfield on Sunday 13th July, from 12 noon to 3pm and would like to invite the parishioners of Our Lady and St Patrick to join us. There will be an exhibition in church, including the display of the original Parish Registers going back to 1825 and a picnic and games in the church garden. St Mary's Dukinfield has a close connection with our parish in Oldham. The mission was started in 1825 by Fr James Fisher. Rev. James Fisher was not just serving Dukinfield. He also used to go to Oldham for Mass, which was said in a room over the General Cornwallis Inn. In 1829 Oldham became its own Mission and had its own priest, although when he fell ill in 1830, Fr Fisher again had to look after the congregation in Oldham, until a new priest arrived in 1835.
PARISH TEAM MEETING
The Team meets this Thursday at 7.00pm.
MARY’S MEALS |
SYNODAL PROCESS AND THE SALFORD DIOCESE
The bishop writes: “Our Diocese continues its journey of renewal and listening, begun by the Synod process. A synod implementation team has been formed to guide the four key areas identified at our voting day in March. Each grouping of Leadership and Collaboration, Community and Outreach, Young People and Schools, and Spirituality and Formation, have their own dedicated subgroup.
As these teams begin their work, two recommendations are already developing.
The Community and outreach group is recommending the establishment of Welcome Teams in every parish. Parishes are encouraged to share their good practice on Welcome and are asked to form teams by the First Sunday of Advent
Ideas and opinions are being gathered which may promote appropriate support structures for our clergy. Let us continue to pray that we may discern what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church in our Diocese in these times.
Stay with us on our journey!”
FAITH IN ACTION AWARDS AT NEWMAN COLLEGE |
SPECIAL DAYS THIS WEEK
Wednesday 9th July – St Augustine Zhao Rong and his companions. - He was a Chinese soldier who witnessed the martyrdom of Bishop John Dufresse in Beijing. He was so moved by the faith of the Bishop that he asked to be baptised and later became a priest. He was then martyred himself in 1815. There were 120 other Chinese martyrs, killed between 1648 and 1930 whom we also remember on this day.
Friday 11th July – St. Benedict - He was traditionally accepted as the father of western monasticism. He was born in Norcia in 480 and eventually gathered followers in Subiaco before moving south to Monte Casino in 529. Here he founded perhaps the most famous monastery and composed his rule, which is still the indispensable guide for the Benedictine Order. He died in 547.
THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS
It’s important, first, to recognise the context of today’s Gospel reading; Jesus has just decided that he and the disciples must travel to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival. He knows that there, in Jerusalem, he will meet his death. Normally, Jews from the Galilee region would make a detour to avoid passing through Samaria, but Jesus notably decides otherwise. They have already been rejected in one Samaritan village because they were heading towards Jerusalem. So, Jesus decides to send disciples on ahead of him to test the water in other towns and villages. Today’s translation of the Gospel tells us that he sends out 70 of these disciples. Most translations would acknowledge, in a footnote, that there is uncertainty whether the actual number was 70 or 72. Why is this important? Luke is quite obviously and deliberately portraying Jesus as a second Moses (though much greater). Some of you will remember that Moses was concerned about all the responsibility on his shoulders (Numbers 11) and God invites him to call 70 elders to the Tent of Meeting where the Spirit would come down on them. These began to prophesy. But there were two others, who hadn’t been at the Tent of Meeting, who also began to prophesy. In a similar way, Jesus recognised that he had to commission people to take on his work after he would no longer be able to do so.
The people Jesus chooses, he sends out in pairs; they journey together but they must travel very light because they have to learn to become dependent on God and others, and not on themselves. They must learn to discover, as our first reading suggests, that “the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants.”
This reading always reminds me of a time in my previous parish when I was met by several parishioners as I was going into the church to say Mass. We used to have daily Mass in a side chapel so as not to waste heat. Two men had arrived for Mass who were obviously unshaven, and this was the cause of the consternation. We went ahead with the Mass as normal, and it became clear that the two men were well accustomed to the liturgy. I approached them after the Mass and it turned out that one was a priest and the other a teacher, both from Italy. They had been on a retreat with a difference. At the end of the retreat, the retreat giver had sent them of in pairs to different parts of the world. They were given return plane tickets, but they were to take no luggage and no money. They would be away for two weeks and were to depend totally on the charity of others. By the time they had arrived in our church, they had already spent two very cold nights at one of the Manchester train stations. I put them up for the night, but they insisted that they would have to move on the next day. About a month later, I received a letter from them which sang the praises of the different people who had helped them so much. I don’t know that I would have accepted such a challenge, but we all need to have more faith in God being with us.
DIOCESAN JOB VACANCY: Cathedral Site Officer |