Home

Live streaming of 10am Sunday Mass

26th September: https://youtu.be/DwAAaOYOY0U

COVID UPDATE

As the restrictions on Covid ease the parish team are constantly reviewing our procedures to ensure the minimum of restrictions consistent with our safety. We are now having singing at some Masses and altar servers will be coming back onto the sanctuary soon. We are hoping to restart a formal reader's rota for Sunday Masses and anyone wishing to become a reader should speak to a member of the Clergy. We will also start inviting thecongregation to offer a sign of peace. A physical sign should only be made with familymembers with a gesture or smile being made to others in the congregation. We would remind you that communion in the hand is the preferred way of receiving but if you wish to receive the Blessed Sacrament on the tongue please come up at the end of the line and allow the minister time to sanitise their hands. Deacon Kevin

Pulpit Announcement for Sunday 18 July 2021

As you will no doubt be aware tomorrow England moves into ‘step 4’ of the easing of lockdown restrictions and it is an opportunity for us to review and change some of the measures we are currently taking at St Hugh’s. We are sure you are also aware that the number of cases is currently increasing and whatever we do we must do carefully and cautiously, and always acting with concern for the wellbeing others especially those who are most at risk.

From next Sunday we will revert back to having Masses at 8.30am, 10.00am, and 6.00pm. We will also increase the capacity of the church by restoring the majority of the benches back to their original positions.

Following the advice received at national and diocesan level we will maintain the current level of social distancing in the front section of the church. Hence there will be a small number of seats at the front of the church that will still maintain a 2-metre distance from other households and these need to be booked in advance by phoning the parish office certainly before 3pm on Thursday. Seats in the rest of the church do not now need to be booked in advance.

We are still strongly urged to keep a record of all those who come to Mass to support the NHS track and trace system. Hence when you arrive at church you will be given a slip of paper on which to write your contact details which we will retain for 21 days.

We are required to maintain our current systems for hand hygiene, ventilation, and church cleaning, and we strongly urge everyone to continue to wear face coverings unless you are medically exempt from doing so.

We will make some changes to the way we currently celebrate our Masses, most notably we will resume people coming up to the altar row by row to receive Holy Communion. People are still recommended to receive Holy Communion in the hand but those who wish to receive on the tongue may once again do so. We will also resume passing the collection baskets around the church rather than taking the collection as people depart.

Other changes will follow later in the summer, including hopefully the resumption of congregational singing and the resumption of tea and coffee in the hall after Mass. We hope to welcome back our altar servers once the new school year begins.

We would like to thank everyone for their support and co-operation throughout the pandemic and to urge us all to remain careful and vigilant as legal restrictions ease. Even if we are no longer required to do certain things by the law, our concern for the wellbeing of others should urge us to go beyond the letter of the law to keep one another safe and well.

Finally, we need volunteers to help with putting back the benches and giving the church a good clean on Tuesday evening at 6pm, all are welcome!

With our prayers and blessings,

Parish Clergy

TOWER FUND MY GIVING LINK

Work has begun to restore the tower at St Hugh's, in Lincoln! Throughout 2021, they aim to complete as much of the work as possible to ensure the tower is both safe and retains its character as a Grade II listed building. If you would like to contribute financially to the works currently being undertaken, please post any donations in an envelope marked ‘St Hugh’s Tower Fund' St Hugh's Church, Broadgate, Lincoln, LN2 5AQ or by donating here: https://tinyurl.com/szwj8r4t

STATEMENT ON THE MARRIAGE OF BORIS JOHNSON AND CARRIE SYMONDS AT WESTMINSTER CATHEDRAL

https://rcdow.org.uk/news/wedding-in-westminster-cathedral/

Pastoral Letter for Pentecost Sunday, 23rd May 2021

Pastoral Letter for the 7th Sunday of Easter - Diocesan Safeguarding Sunday

drive.google.com/file/d/1On3r5MfX9Lxq-GzEYb9g8zbTDtEB0mSu/view?usp=sharing

CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF ENGLAND AND WALES

Reflection by the Bishops of England and Wales

The Day of the Lord

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XOVa5v0eUfDWraBEDuwH7X7U2U-pCp8v/view?usp=sharing

EASTER TRIDUUM

Our Easter Services are now fully booked but you can view them online using the following links:

Holy Week at St Hugh's will also be available on our livestream channel using the following links which are also available via the parish website:

Palm Sunday 10am: https://youtu.be/Dl6syftcsTM

Maundy Thursday 7pm: https://youtu.be/nsWisMDrwsQ

Good Friday 3pm: https://youtu.be/-a123xzmJL4

Easter Vigil Saturday 7pm: https://youtu.be/lXrTZ7ufbMs

Easter Sunday 10.45am: https://youtu.be/nNEJCYmvEC4

CHURCH TOWER UPDATE

CHURCH TOWER UPDATE

The Diocesan Building and Sites Commission have given the go ahead for the work on the church tower to proceed and the scaffolding company will be on site this week to build up the scaffolding to the top of the tower. Hopefully the necessary work can be done during the summer months. I am sure people will have a number of questions about what this all means: Please do not enter the site area without checking with the workers on site.

How much will it cost? The contract price, reconfirmed by the main contractor, is £315,000 + VAT + professional fees. As the church is a listed building we will be able to reclaim the VAT but adding in professional fees we can expect a cost of about £350,000.

Where will the money come from? Despite our best efforts it is clear that we will not be eligible for any ‘lottery heritage funding’. As a parish we can commit £150,000 from

our ‘savings’ whilst still retaining some money (£20,000) for any unexpected but

necessary expenditure in the coming years. Thank you to all who have helped with fund raising so far, your efforts over the past 2 years have brought in approximately £34,000 for the Tower Fund and this has reduced the amount that we will need to borrow.

How will we borrow the remainder of the money? The diocese is offering us a ‘hybrid’ loan. The first £60,000 we will repay as a conventional diocesan loan over 15 years. Based on current interest rates this will mean a repayment of just short of £5,000 per year. Paying off this part of the loan will need to be a major focus for parish fund raising over the coming years. The remainder of the money (anything up to £140,000) will be lent to us from the ‘poor and needy parishes fund’ on an indefinite and interest free basis. We would repay this from any capital receipts (e.g. legacies) that might come into the parish over the coming years. If there are no such receipts then as a last resort consideration would be given to the rental or the sale of the Rectory to pay

off this debt.

I know it will come as a shock to move overnight from being a parish with savings in the bank to being a parish in debt to the diocese, however the work to the tower is

necessary and can’t be delayed any longer. I hope we can work together as a parish

to pay off the debt we will incur. I hope too that others in the city and beyond who

appreciate St Hugh’s will help us. However it is also important that as a parish we do not lose sight of other matters and not least the importance of being outward looking and missionary as we are being called to be, not only by our diocesan Bishop and by Pope Francis, but above all by the Lord himself.

With good wishes and prayers, Fr Eddy.

EASTER TRIDUUM

To book your Masses for Holy Week please use this link: EasterBookings@sthughslincoln.org.uk

IMPORTANT information: Holy Week and Easter 2021

We are thankful that this year we will be able to celebrate our Easter Triduum (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil) as well as our Easter Sunday Masses together in St Hugh’s. However we will have to strictly adhere to the guidelines for social distancing and therefore places will be limited. In order to allow as many people as possible to attend we will be putting on some additional services, as well as adjusting times of Masses on Easter Sunday as follows:

1st April, Maundy Thursday 7pm

2nd April, Good Friday 3pm and 7pm

3rd April, Holy Saturday 7pm

4th April, Easter Sunday 8am, 9.15am, 10.45am and 6pm

In order to book a place at any of the above listed times we have set up a dedicated email address which is available from now. Please send an email to the following address:

EasterBookings@sthughslincoln.org.uk

Your email MUST contain the following information:

• The Service or Services you wish to attend,

• The names of all individuals who will be attending

• A contact telephone number for our track and trace records

Please note bookings WILL NOT be accepted for anyone outside your own household.

If you are unable to email your booking then please contact the parish office between 9am and 3pm on Mondays-Thursdays only.

Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, and you will be contacted to confirm if you have secured your requested seats or where possible offering an alternative.

Unfortunately once a service is fully booked we will not be permitted to add additional people into the church on the day.

Please continue to book places at all other Sunday and weekday masses (including Palm Sunday) using the usual tickets@sthughslincoln.org.uk email address.

Fr Eddy’s Homily for Reception into Church and Vigil Mass for Deacon Peter Brogan RIP

In the few minutes that I have available this evening I am not able to give a full account of Peter’s life and ministry, and I am conscious that his children have prepared a eulogy which we will hear at the end of our Mass. However I would like to share a few thoughts based around the readings that Mary and the family have chosen for this Mass.

The First reading (Wisdom 4:7-15) speaks about the virtuous man who dies before his time. Peter was a virtuous man, and by the law of averages we can say that he died before his time. After all, 67 is these days a young age to die, and I am sure that Mary, his children, and his grandchildren, had hopes and indeed reasonable expectations of many more years of Peter’s company. But they, and others, will have heard Peter say on more than one occasion, ‘If the Lord wants me, I am ready’. Although Peter may have died suddenly, he was not unprepared. Perhaps we can truly apply some the sentiments of this reading to him, ‘He has sought to please God, so God has loved him’ … ‘his soul being pleasing to the Lord, he has taken him quickly’ … ‘grace and mercy await the chosen of the Lord, and protection his holy ones’.

The Second Reading (1 John 3:1-2) contains a phrase often used by Peter, ‘we are already the children of God’. This was part of his underlying attitude to life, that we are all

children of God. This helped Peter to welcome and accept all people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and faiths. Although quite conventional and even traditional in his own outlook, he would happily interact with anyone that life brought him into contact with. Whether in his working life in the fire service, or his ministry in parish and school, I am sure he would have faced many difficult and challenging situations, and he was able to face them with the faith and confidence that comes from knowing deep down that he and everyone is loved by God. Moreover as this reading reminds us, we can rejoice not only in what we have now, but also in what is promised to us for the future, that ‘we shall see God as he really is’. Our prayer for Peter tonight and tomorrow is that he is already experiencing this reality.

In the Gospel Reading (John 6:51-58) Jesus promises that whoever does ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life’. Peter not only attended Mass on a Sunday but he tried

to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion each and every day. When he was working on the school minibuses he would often come into Mass at St Peter and St Paul once he had completed his morning duties. I understand that Peter was at Mass and at Holy Communion here at St Hugh’s on the morning of his death, the best reassurance that he was indeed prepared and ready to meet the Lord when the Lord called him to himself later that day.

The Responsorial Psalm, which is based on Psalm 103, also contains a word for us tonight. Even in our sorrow and sadness we are invited to ‘Bless the Lord and worship his holy name’. Peter’s earthly journey and ministry is over. As a deacon he proclaimed the Gospel in word and deed, he had a heart for the poor and vulnerable, and he assisted at the liturgy of the church as befitted his role as a deacon. He now takes his place in the liturgy of heaven. There he will be ‘blessing the Lord and worshipping his holy name’. I am sure his word to us now would be another of his favourite phrases, ‘God is good!’ and that he would invite us to join with him in singing the praises of God who has safely gathered

Peter to himself and one day will gather us to himself too.

ALL CHANGE AT ST HUGH’S!

Bishop Patrick has asked Fr Matthew to become Parish Priest of the four parishes of Holy Souls, and St Bernadette’s, Scunthorpe, St Norbert’s Crowle, and St Thomas of Canterbury, Gainsborough. It is a huge responsibility, and he will be assisted by Fr Liam Carpenter. Fr Matthew will be leaving St Hugh’s the week beginning 15th February. Hopefully sometime in the future we will be able to welcome Fr Matthew back for a ‘farewell’ Mass, and s party in the church hall.

Our new Parish Priest will be Canon Edward Jarosz (Fr Eddy) who will reside at St Hugh’s Rectory with Fr Patrick assisting him. Fr Eddy will also remain the Parish Priest of St Peter and St Paul Church, Lincoln, where he will be assisted by Canon Geoffrey Hunton.

Whilst we are all sad to hear that Fr Matthew is leaving us, we are very glad that Canon Eddy is our new priest and welcome him to his new home when he takes up his ministry at St Hugh’s at the beginning of Lent.

Photography by June Fogg ©2002, Tom Finneran ©2009, Mike Holmes @2010 Website developed by Holmes Consultancy Services