Welcome to our parish website. We hope you find the contents here helpful whether you are a parishioner or a visitor. If you have an enquiry please either email the Parish Office  stmarysphilip@aol.co.uk  or call 0191 460 4274. The Parish Secretary, Julie Hindmarsh, can be contacted this week by email  stmarysphilip@aol.co.uk or by telephone 07891 162205, Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 2pm.

PARISH NEWSLETTER The latest edition is available here.

28/02/21 SUNDAY MASS FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT (Year B) is now available on our YouTube Channel.  Sunday Morning Mass continues to be available on our YouTube Channel each Sunday from 9.00am.

CAFOD LENT FAST DAY APPEAL 26 FEBRUARY 2021  Abdella lives in an extremely remote and mountainous part of Ethiopia. It takes him ten hours a day to collect water. He says his life is being wasted as he has no time for anything else. If you would like to help Abdella and vulnerable communities around the world to access clean water and to provide other vital support, you can donate online at www.cafod.org.uk/lent or by telephoning 0300 100 0089. CAFOD envelopes are also available if you are attending Sunday morning Mass. For more information about this year’s Lenten appeal together with reflections and prayers for Lent, please visit the CAFOD website www.cafod.org.uk.  Bishop Robert has recorded a short message of encouragement for this Lent’s CAFOD appeal which you can watch it here.

PUBLIC MASS AT IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CHURCH DURING THE NATIONAL LOCKDOWN Until further notice, public Mass will be celebrated in Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Sunday mornings at 10.00am. In order to ensure that all those attending Mass can have a seat and be safely accommodated inside the church, there is a dedicated telephone ‘booking in’ system – the telephone number is 07388 814715 and you can contact this number Monday – Wednesday, 11am – 6pm. Please be advised that this number does not accept text messaging and there is no facility to leave a message.

For those who have booked-in and are attending Mass, the church will be opened half an hour before the published Mass time.

The wearing of a face covering is mandatory unless a person has an exemption from this. When travelling to and from church, and whilst in church, you must observe strict social distancing (2 metres) from anyone not in your household or support bubble and you must not mingle with anyone not in your household or support bubble before, during or after Mass. A one-way system is in place in the church, plus hand sanitisers at the entrance (Main Doors) and exit (Day Chapel). Once in church please be guided by the volunteer stewards.

You will also see a poster on display with Immaculate Heart’s QR code which can be scanned using the NHS COVID-19 app if you have downloaded it onto your mobile phone. Please feel free to scan this code but note contact details will also still be requested, manually noted and safely stored for 21 days.

N.B. Until further notice, the obligation for the faithful to attend Mass on a Sunday or Holyday of Obligation is suspended.

For details of how the National Lockdown affects places of worship and acts of worship in church, please visit the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales website here.

Masses broadcast from other locations can be viewed at www.churchservices.tv

Weekday Readings at Mass 1 – 6 March: Lent Week 2

For this week’s Fun Activities please click here

SUPPORT FOR PARISHIONERS DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC