Sunday Bulletin and Mass Intentions
The Sacred Heart R.C. Church
Queens Avenue, Tunstall, ST6 6EE
sacredheart.tunstall@rcaob.org.uk
Saint Joseph’s R.C. Church
Hall Street, Burslem, ST6 4BB
Parish Priest: Fr. R. K. George pp.sacredheart.tunstall@rcaob.org.uk
Parish Secretariat: Carol Critchlow
Office hours: Wed, Thurs, and Fri 10 am to 2 pm
13 Queen’s Avenue, Tunstall, ST6 6EE
01782 838357
www.parishclustersacredheartstjoseph.org.uk
The Parish operates in accordance with Statutory Safeguarding Guidance and the National and Archdioceses policies & procedures at all times. Our Parish Safeguarding Representatives are Kathryn Barnett and Ellen Churchill. They can be contacted at: sg.sacredheart.tunstall@rcaob.org.uk and sg.stjoseph.burslem@rcaob.org.uk or alternatively the Diocesan Safeguarding team can be contacted on 0121 230 6240/ safeguarding@rcaob.org.uk if you have any concern.
Church Calendar
22nd Dec St Wilfrid’s First Holy Communion candidates commitment Mass at SH
24th Dec Christmas Eve Vigil Mass 7pm SH
25th Dec Christmas Day Mass 10.30am SH
9th Jan St Wilfrid’s at 9.30am Mass SH
18th Jan Family Mass at SJ
19th Jan Pax Christi Second Collection
2nd Feb Pro Life Second Collection
* Additional information in the bulletin
Weekday Masses at Sacred Heart, with the exception of Masses where we are joined by the schools, will be held in the Chapel. Enter via the back entrance of the church.
Please Pray for the Repose of the Souls of our departed family members and parishioners, especially: Doreen Sarah Margaret Mary McGreevy, Andrew Hall, Vincent McNicholas, Brian Turner, John Dale, Pat O'Rielly and those whose anniversaries occur at this time. May their souls rest in peace. Amen.
Pope’s Prayer Intention for January 2025
For the right to an education.
Let us pray for migrants, refugees and those affected by war, that their right to an education, which is necessary to build a better world, might always be respected.
Hospital Chaplaincy Team
The Royal Stoke Chaplaincy team can be reached on 01782 676400. You will need to specify that it is the Catholic Chaplain that you want.
RCIA
Are you an adult interested in being baptised or received into the Catholic Church? Please contact the Parish Office for more information.
Confessions
Sacred Heart
Friday 10.00 am – 10.30 am (During Adoration)
Sunday 10.00 am – 10.20 am
St Joseph’s
Wednesday 5.00 pm – 5.50 pm (During Adoration)
Saturday 4.30 pm - 4.50 pm
Eucharistic Adoration and Rosary
Sacred Heart
Friday 10.00 am – 10.30 am
St Joseph’s
Wednesday 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm
Thank you
Thank you to Aldi Kidsgrove for their generous voucher as a raffle prize at Sacred Heart
Thank you
Thank you to Freshview foods Ltd for their generous donation of a fruit hamper in the Sacred Heart Christmas raffle.
Thank you
Thank you to St Mary’s Norton for their generous donation of £329 to the foodbank at St Joseph’s raised at their Christmas fair.
Thank you
Thank you to McGoughs for organising and arranging all the Christmas flowers at Sacred Heart.
St Joseph’s Raffle
Thank you to all who supported the Christmas raffle, St Joseph’s raised a brilliant £558
Sacred Heart Raffle
Thank you to all who supported the Christmas raffle, Sacred Heart raised £676
Sacred Heart Christmas Party
Thank you to everyone involved in the Sacred Heart Christmas Party it raised £146.20
Hyrox Endurance Event
Kathy Cooke’s son Jacob is taking part in a HYROX ENDURANCE EVENT on 26th January. It's a 10 mile race with a 10 minute intense work out aftery every mile! He has kindly offerd to donate his effort as a fundraiser for St Joseph's Centenary. Please see Kathy Sue or Janet at the back of Church who will put you down as a sponor. Good luck Jacob.
Fr George’s annual leave
Fr George will be taking his annual leave from the 7th January until the 7th February. Please give a warm reception to Fr Carol George as we welcome him back as he covers Fr George’s time away.
Thank you from Fr George
Fr George would like to give a heartfelt thank you for the generous Christmas gifts and donations he received over Christmas.
Parish Foodbank
The parish foodbank’s last day before Christmas is the 17th December. The foodbank will reopen on the 7th January. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the individuals, schools, groups, businesses that have supported the foodbank throughout 2024. On this lead up to Christmas, both St Margaret Ward and St Peter’s have provided help so that we can give an extra treat to those who will have so little at this time of year. Thank you to everyone who has donated food, money and other items. The parish would also like to say a big thank you to the volunteers who help out at the foodbank, giving up their precious time, going all over the place picking up supplies and doing such valuable work.
Potto Lotto All money raised through the Potto Lotto is going towards Sacred Heart Presbytery running costs. Remember to nominate Sacred Heart, Tunstall so we receive 50p of every £ donated.
St Joseph’s Car Park
The car park at the back of St Joseph’s, accessed via Pack Horse Lane (ST6 4BA), will be open for the Saturday Mass from 4pm to 6.30pm.
Parish foodbank
The Parish foodbank is open on Tuesdays 11am to 2pm, no referral required.
All Readers
Bidding prayers are now available on the website.
New Deanery website
https://northstaffordshire-catholicdeanery.org.uk/ The deanery now has a new website where you can find information on local churches and their mass times, priests, newsletters etc.
Mass Intentions We have received a lot of mass intentions and spaces are filling up quickly. All future booked Masses can be seen on the new website, on the same page as the bulletin. Bookings are entered in the order they arrive on the office desk. If you have booked a mass and don’t see it on the website, please contact the office.
The Jubilee Year ‘Pilgrims of Hope’
The Jubilee of Hope will begin in December 2024 with Pope Francis opening the ‘Holy Door’ in St. Peter’s Basilica, offering the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence and a year of special graces. The Jubilee of Hope will end on the feast of the Epiphany in 2026.
The Jubilee Prayer
Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.
May your grace transform us Into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.
May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos In the sure expectation Of a new heaven and a new earth,
When, with the powers of Evil vanquished, Your glory will shine eternally.
May the grace of the Jubilee Reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, A yearning for the treasures of heaven. May that same grace spread The joy and peace of our Redeemer Throughout the earth. To you our God, eternally blessed,
Be glory and praise for ever.
Amen
From ‘The Jubilee Companion Booklet’, available from the back of church minimum donation £1.50
The Jubilee Year ‘Pilgrims of Hope’
Jubilee Logo: Meaning
The logo chosen for the Holy Year depicts four stylized and graceful figures, in four colours that recall the shades of the rainbow: red, orange, green, and blue. The choice of colours is not random, just as the colour of sacred vestments throughout the liturgical year is not. Red symbolizes love, passion, and self-sacrifice, Christ’s sacrifice and His boundless love for humanity, but also the fire of the Holy Spirit and His strength that animates Christians. Orange expresses joy, vitality, and enthusiasm, the light that illuminates the path of faith. Green is universally recognized as the colour of hope, growth, and rebirth. Blue, finally, symbolizes faith, peace, and tranquillity, evoking the sky and spirituality, and inviting contemplation and prayer.
The four figures represent humanity as a whole, in its differences and similarities. They proceed to embrace each other, expressing the solidarity and brotherhood that should unite the peoples of the world. Leading them is the red figure, clinging to a Cross formed by a black curve that ends, at the bottom, with an anchor. The Cross is not rigid, not static, but bends towards humanity as if to embrace it. As for the anchor, Monsignor Fisichella himself explained its meaning: “As is known, the anchor has often been used as a metaphor for hope. The anchor of hope is the name given in seafaring jargon to the reserve anchor, used by vessels to perform emergency manoeuvres to stabilize the ship during storms.” The sense of this symbol in the Jubilee logo is clear: it is precisely in the most difficult moments that we need to rely on an anchor that gives us security and guarantees salvation, and what better anchor than the Cross, a symbol of Christ and His infinite love for all of us? The presence of small agitated waves at the bottom of the logo confirms the existence of dangers and obstacles, of those personal events and events of the world that make each of our lives not always easy.
Thus, the logo in its entirety takes on a clear meaning, and the Jubilee, with its twelve months of ceremonies and initiatives, becomes a long pilgrimage to be undertaken together, as brothers, towards salvation, guided by the Cross and the hope of salvation promised by God.
Appeal for the Churches
Sacred Heart, Tunstall
Tea and Coffee mornings after mass. Could you spare some time to help prepare tea and coffee after mass. It is a great opportunity to socialise after Mass and for us all to get to know one another.
Could you spare some time to help with the gardening?
Sacred Heart and St Joseph’s
Are you a driver, with access to a car that regularly comes to mass? Would you be willing to take communion to housebound and ill parishioners (subject to successful DBS check and training)?
Fundraising – both Churches require funds. If you have any ideas and are willing to help on any of our fundraising opportunities, please let us know. Both churches are trying raffles, tombola’s, car boot sales, day trips and anything else we can think of. For these to work, we need volunteers to help organise, donations of items we can use and parishioners willing to play and spend. Please do support as many of these initiatives as possible.
New Lectionary’s
Thank you to our very kind parishioners who have agreed to sponsor the New Lectionary’s at Sacred Heart, Tunstall and St Joseph’s, Burslem. We have been able to cover the entire cost.
“Volunteers aren’t free, they are priceless!”
Deanery and Diocese News
North Staffs Area Pastoral Council
Talk on the Meaning of the Jubilee Year by David McLoughlin B.Th and STL on Thursday 23rd January 7pm at The School Hall, St Wulstan Wolstanton, ST5 0EF
Pilgrimage to Lourdes
Every year, hundreds of pilgrims from across the Archdiocese of Birmingham join together for the Lourdes Pilgrimage. 2025 is the Year of Jubilee and Archbishop Bernard invites you to come with us on this very special occasion in the life of the Archdiocese: “It’s a great experience to be together with upwards of 700 fellow pilgrims.” The pilgrimage dates have been announced: Saturday 24 – Friday 30 May 2025, and you can now express your interest in a place or get more information by visiting www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/lourdes.
CAFOD Middle East Humanitarian Appeal
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) are launching an emergency appeal in response to the worsening crisis that we see in the Holy Land. CAFOD are pleased that the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East has been recognised and it plays an important role in how the Catholic community responds to this. Thanks to the support of the Catholic Community here in England and Wales, CAFOD have been supporting partners providing essential and life-saving responses to the huge need in Gaza to many thousands of people over the last year and have been able to allocate £60,000 out of core funds to Lebanon partners to support their immediate response. “Our Church partners have been clear that with more funds, they can do more to meet the desperate needs and provide essential items to their communities.” As a parish we will not be having a specific collection for the disaster appeal but if you would like to donate please visit the CAFOD website.
Encyclical Letter from the Holy Father
Dilexit Nos The fourth Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis’s pontificate Dilexit Nos – “He has loved us” on the human and divine love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has just been published. The Holy Father describes his letter as bringing together precious reflections of previous magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures to re-propose to the whole Church, devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pope Francis has written this Encyclical Letter amid the 350th anniversary celebrations of the apparitions to Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. An introduction by Bishop Mark Davies on the Bishops’ Conference website can be accessed by this link: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/bishop-davies-dilexit-nos/
Thank you!
One Stop Shop Packmoor
Thank you to the One Stop Shop Packmoor, for their very kind donation of Easter Eggs for all the Parish children.
This Parish is part of the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Registered Charity 235216.
Booked Mass Intentions for Sacred Heart and St Joseph's
As of the 10th January, here are all the booked Mass Intentions coming up.
If you know you have booked a Mass and it is not showing please do contact the parish office.
If masses are cancelled, the mass intention will be moved to the first available mass at your chosen church
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