Fifth Sunday in Lent

Download Bulletin 6th April 2025

+ Rt Rev Paul Swarbrick, Bishop of Lancaster’s Pastoral Letter on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill for Fifth Sunday of Lent

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I wish to speak with you today about the process in which our Parliament is currently considering legalising assisted suicide through the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. As I have made clear earlier in this debate, as Catholics we have maintained a principled objection to this change in law recognising that every human life is sacred, coming as a gift of God and bearing a God-given dignity. We are, therefore, clearly opposed to this Bill in principle, elevating, as it does, the autonomy of the individual above all other considerations…..

Complete Pastoral Letter

Daily Prayers Lent 5

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Download Bulletin 30th March 2025

Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Lent, is a day of celebration and a brief pause from the penitential emphasis of Lent, known as “Rejoice, O Jerusalem” in Latin, and marks the halfway point of Lent. 

DEACON GEORGE’S HOMILY FOR 4TH SUNDAY IN LENT

The story of the Prodigal Son is probably one of the most well-known stories in the Gospels.  It is a story about a sinner who repents of his sinful ways.  But this story is a double-edged parable, because there are two sinners, the younger son and the elder son.  The younger son demanded his hereditary share of the family property.  But since there were two sons, the eldest son always received a double share, hence two thirds for him, and one third for the younger son.  The younger son immediately turned his share into cash and wasted it in a foreign land.  He abandoned the three main aspects of his life, by abandoning his family, his nation and his religion.  He left his family, to live among foreigners, and worked among pigs, showing total disrespect for his religion.  Whereas, the elder son served his father daily, but only through a sense of duty, and not through any sense of love….

Complete Homily for 4th Sunday in Lent  

Daily Prayers Lent 4

 

Second Sunday in Lent

Download Bulletin 16th March 2025

ST PATRICK PATRON OF IRELAND 17TH MARCH

DEACON GEORGE’S HOMILY FOR SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Jesus often went up a mountain to be alone, to pray and converse with his Father.     And today was no different.  Now, a week earlier, Jesus had asked Peter, “Who do you say I am?  Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  So this time, Jesus decides to take with him, Peter, James and John, his closest disciples, and go up the mountain.  Whilst on the mountain top, Jesus receives an answer, and a response to his prayer.     Jesus is transformed, his appearance changes, and his garments shine with heavenly brightness.  His face does not belong to this world but is like that of the world to come.  The disciples are having a glimpse of the glorified Christ.  This glory denotes the presence of heavenly royalty, and the Kingdom of God is in the midst of his people…..

Complete Homily for 2nd Sunday in Lent

Daily Prayers Lent 2

First Sunday in Lent

Download Bulletin 9th March 2025

STATIONS OF THE CROSS IN CHURCH EVERY FRIDAY AT 11.15AM

Bishop’s Pastoral Letter First Sunday of Lent 2025.
My dear people,
With the placing of the blessed ash on our foreheads we have begun once more the Holy Season of Lent, remembering that we are dust, and into dust we will one day return. We may be familiar with Lent, with its penances, its call to more heartfelt prayer and its call to share more generously with the poor, but this is a new Lent for us all. We are asked not merely to repeat what we have done before, but to go deeper into the life of Christ. The world has changed over these past twelve months, not all for the better, and we too have all grown older.
Let us take a moment to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, as he continues to struggle with poor health and the frailty of his years. He still leads us. His example is a rich lesson in Christian discipleship….

Bishop’s Pastoral Letter Lent 2025

Daily Prayers Lent 1

 

Ash Wednesday

MASS AT KENDAL WILL BE AT 12 NOON AND 7PM ON WEDNESDAY 5TH MARCH

AND AT KIRKBY LONSDALE ON TUESDAY 4TH MARCH AT 5.30PM

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Download Bulletin 2nd March 2025

Fr Hugh’s Homily for 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

There are some of us, of course I am not including myself, who when asked directions we just want to be helpful.  So the car pulls up beside us full of tourists, or a lorry from away somewhere, and they ask us the way to Staveley for example, or how to get to the Spar in Heron Hill.  And for some reason we give them directions when we are really not sure at all of the way.  How the one-way system will be a real problem, or what roads are open and so on.  So off they go, and we feel quite pleased with ourselves, leaving them going off in all sorts of directions, but never the right one…..

Complete Homily for 8th Sunday

Daily Prayers Week 8

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Download Bulletin 23rd February 2025

Fr Hugh’s Homily for 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many of you may know the story of John Pridmore.  He grew up in the East End of London, mother a Catholic but the family did not practice.  Father left home early in John’s life.  He quickly began fighting and then discovered that dealing in drugs made him a lot of fast money.  He basically became a gangster.  Lived a life of violence and promiscuity. At 19 he was in prison.  As he said, he never actually decided on this way of life, it simply happened.  At some point his step-father gave him a Bible and with little to do he began to read it and he came across the story of the Prodigal Son, which we all know so well.  This was the moment he began to change. What he discovered was that, just like the younger son who went off with his Father’s money and wasted it, his life felt completely empty…..

Complete Homily for 7th Sunday

Daily Prayers Week 7

Read the 2025 Winter Parish Magazine here

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

lightI have called you by your name… you are mine!

As Catholics we are called to bring God’s Light to the world. Our faith is not just a matter of what we believe nor is it just a matter of how we live our lives. We exist so the world might find its salvation in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Faith is a matter of what we are and who we are and we are sons and daughters of God. God, the Creator of the Universe, the One who knows what is happening on remote planets in solar systems millions of light years away from here, looks at us and says, “They are mine! They entered my family when they were baptised. I did not just give them life. I gave them my life.” Many of us are confirmed, the Lord looks on us and says, “These are the leaders of my people. They are my front line. I am giving them my Power, my Holy Spirit so they can bring others to me. They are mine and I am theirs.” What are we? We are the people of God. May we have the courage to be the people God created us to be.

RACIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY: This weekend the Catholic Church in England and Wales will celebrate Racial Justice Sunday – the theme is: “You are at the heart of the Church”. We will celebrate the contribution of Travelling Communities to the Church in England and Wales. It is an opportunity for us to pray for, reflect on and respond to racial justice matters within the Church and wider society. There are plenty of leaflets for this in church – please take one.

HCPT CHILDREN’S PILGRIMAGES TO LOURDES –  There will be a meeting at 12 noon on Saturday 15th February in the parish centre if you are interested in finding out more details about the HCPT & Lourdes Pilgrimages.

Download Bulletin 9th February 2020