2nd Sunday of Advent
Readings: Isaiah;40: 1-5, 1-11 Psalm 84, 2 Peter 3:8-14, Mark 1:1-8
SERVICES FOR WEEK 5th – 13th December 2020
Sat 5 Dec 18.00 Thomas, Peter & (Fr) David Hennessey RIP
Sun 6 Dec 2nd SUNDAY OF ADVENT
08.30 Tony Speed RIP (Jones)
10.30 Deceased Members of the Creasy Family
Parish Mass – available to engage with via website at any time.
Vincent Jeyaseelan RIP (Hughes)
Mon 7 Dec 09.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
10.00 St Ambrose Lawrence Keefe RIP (Keefe)
Tues 8 Dec Immaculate Conception Eusebio Vaz RIP (Vaz)
Weds 9 Dec 10.30 PRIVATE Funeral Mass for Vincent Jeyaseelan
Thurs 10 Dec Sonny Sheehan RIP (Sheehan)
Fri 11 Dec 10.00 PRIVATE Funeral Mass for Tony Speed
Sat 12 Dec 11.00 Confessions
18.00 Tony Speed RIP (Hughes)
Sun 13 Dec 3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT
08.30 Vincent Jeyaseelan RIP, Mary & Family (Frake)
10.30 Arsenia Mencias RIP (Bernarte)
Parish Mass – available to engage with via website at any time
John & Anne Rayer (Wedding Anniversary)
FINANCES – from the Diocesan and Parish finance teams. .
Direct Bank Payments to RCAS St John Fisher Church, Sort code 51 70 14, Account 01831763
Please put your name and if you use envelopes, your envelope number, as the code
LINKS AND CONTACTS.
Our Diocese of Southwark: http://www.rcsouthwark.co.uk Lots of information and further links.
Bexley Council Helpline: 020 3045 5398. The helpline is open from 8am to 6pm.
CATHOLIC NEWSPAPERS
The weekly Catholic newspapers can be obtained directly (postage free) by subscription:
Catholic Universe and Catholic Times Go to http://www.thecatholicuniverse.com or ring 0161 820 5722 and they will arrange for you. Special offer 3 months for £22.00 or 12 months for £80.00
The Herald has a similar offer: Ring 0207 448 3607 or go to http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/subscribe
HAPPY DAYS! We are back in church for this Second Sunday of Advent.
Advent is a wonderful season but Christmas is coming and this year we are all wondering what to do and who to do it with! So we must devote space in the newsletter once more to:
CHRISTMAS IN ST. JOHN FISHER
Masses: Christmas Eve: 6 p.m. & 10 p.m. and Christmas Day: 9 a.m. & 10.30 a.m.
Although the ‘Sunday obligation’ to attend Mass remains suspended, many individuals and families will want to take part in Mass at Christmas. We want to accommodate as many people as possible and so we need to know how many people wish to attend each mass. So, this weekend at masses there are booking forms in church for each of the masses on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Telephone and emailed bookings will be accepted when the office opens on Monday.
We will, wherever necessary, and just for Christmas, reconfigure the seating arrangements from our current 2 metre spacing to the government permitted 1 metre (+) spacing, ensuring that there is at least I metre around any individual or family grouping. We will, like many other churches therefore, not permit kneeling at any such mass, only standing and sitting. This will allow people to be safely placed in benches one behind the other, thus increasing our capacity but within safe limitations. Where numbers allow, we will revert to our current ‘normal’ arrangements.
In any case, as the Archbishop reminds us: “the Church regards each day in the Octave of Christmas as if it were the solemnity itself. Liturgically, each of the days from 25th December until the 1st January is ‘Christmas Day’. So if it is not possible to attend mass on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day this year, why not go to mass on any of those 8 days of Christmas with the same sense of joy and solemnity.” Indeed, this year, all of the collections (including electronic giving) which are taken on each of the days within the Octave of Christmas including 1st January 2021, will constitute the annual personal Christmas offerings of the faithful for their priests.
At the end of the day, if it seems necessary I am perfectly happy to say an extra mass!
We are not allowed to enjoy communal singing but we will listen to recorded versions of carols. Masks will continue to be worn.
God Bless 
STEWARDING
We are very grateful to the stewards who have volunteered to staff the church during these times.
Please ring John Rayer (01322 523499) if you can help.
PARISH MASS BOOKS
It is good to follow the mass (especially the readings) in a missal if you have one. We all got used to using the Parish Mass Book so…
We will offer everyone the chance to borrow their own copy of the parish mass book. None can be available for casual or occasional use but there is nothing stopping everyone keeping and caring for their own. Bring it to mass and take it home each Sunday. The idea is that for a £10 deposit you can take your copy home and because there is a series of them covering 3 years, when the next is due, you return and swap your copy for the next one in the series, or return it at any time and get your deposit back. We will introduce this next weekend.
RIP
We in the parish mourn the loss of three of our members:
Patricia Coyne, Tony Speed and Vincent Jeyaseelan. May they rest in peace.
Link to view Vincent’s obituary: https://www.funeralguide.co.uk/obituaries/82920
Please print off this newsletter, using the screenshots below, and post it through the door of any parishioner you know without electronic access and make sure everyone feels okay and feels connected.
stjohnfisherbexley.org 
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