Our Lenten Stations of the Cross continues this Friday at 6:30pm on Zoom. Joining details can be found in the St Cuthbert’s Parish Community Facebook Group or by contacting Andy Doyle (andydoyle1066@sky.com or 0798 543 4185).

If you would like to lead Stations on one of the Fridays of Lent (excluding Good Friday), get in touch with Andy.

If you’re not able to join us on Zoom on Fridays, there’s a recorded version of the Stations, with readings and meditations based on the Gospel of Mark, on our YouTube channel.

We have a number of regular online events. Please do join us on Zoom. You can access the log-on details by joining the parish Facebook Group, ‘St Cuthbert’s Parish Community’, or by emailing margaretdoyle1066@sky.com

Sunday: There will be a shared reflection on the readings and the Gospel, at 11.00am.

Saturday: There will be a virtual coffee morning, at 10.30am.

Monday to Friday: Morning Prayer of the Church (Lauds), at 8.00am.

Many members of our community could still be feeling isolated, especially now we are back in lockdown. If you are in need of any practical help, eg with grocery shopping or collecting prescriptions, or if you just want to chat, please contact Fr Andrew by email, or by telephone on 0191 384 3442. If you know of someone who might need support, please make contact with them, or let Fr Andrew know.

During the lockdown churches can continue to celebrate Mass publicly, while maintaining the usual Covid-19 safety practices, and Mass at St Cuthbert’s will continue for the time being. Thank you to the volunteer stewards and cleaners, who have made it possible for us to continue celebrating Mass as a community.

The capacity of St Cuthbert’s church is limited to 36 places under the diocesan Risk Assessment, and members of a single household or support bubble can sit together. Please observe all of the rules, which have been put in place for everyone’s safety; socialising with anyone outside your household or bubble is prohibited.

If you wish to attend Sunday Mass, you must book a place, by emailing office@stcuthberts-durham.org.uk or telephoning 0191 384 3442, by 6pm on Saturday. You will be asked to give a contact telephone number or email address. If you come to church without having booked a place at Mass, you may be asked to leave. 

For weekday Masses, you can attend without prior booking, but you will be asked for ‘Track and Trace’ details. We have a QR code displayed at the church entrance, which you can scan using the NHS Track & Trace app.

Please do not come to church if you are in the ‘clinically extremely vulnerable’ group, if you are showing any of the symptoms of Covid-19, or if you have any concerns about your safety. The obligation to attend Sunday Mass has been dispensed by the Bishops until further notice.

All Masses at St Cuthbert’s are live streamed on our YouTube channel.

Volunteers are needed to clean the church after each opening, and to act as stewards. If you can help, please get in touch by telephone or email.

Receiving Communion: Please wait in the pews until instructed by the stewards to come forward to the priest for Holy Communion, always aware of social distancing in the queue. Please unloop your face covering and hold your arms at ‘full stretch,’ so that there is a good distance between you and the priest, with hands, palms upwards, one on top of the other, extended as flat as possible. Consume the Sacred Host and then replace your face covering, before moving back to your seat.

Please note that we are obliged to keep all the church doors open during Mass, for maximum ventilation, in order to prevent the spread of the virus. So remember to wrap up warm for Mass!

The latest edition of the Finchale Partnership’s newsletter is now available here.

Partnership Newsletter Feb 2021

Gardens, grounds and the Bounds Cafe are open daily 11am-3pm. A lovely spot for a socially distanced walk. https://www.ushaw.org/

A ‘Retreat in Daily Life’ brings the experience of an individually guided retreat to you, fitting around your work and study commitments.

What does it involve?

• Roughly 30 min daily personal prayer & 30 min daily one-to-one meeting with a guide for 5 days.
• An opening (Sunday evening) and closing meeting (Friday) to top and tail the retreat
• Evening workshops exploring how to live out faith in this complex world (e.g. ways of praying, discerning God’s will and making God-centred decisions, images of God)

This year, all meetings and workshops will be held online, via Zoom or other platforms.

Who is it for? Christians wanting to deepen their prayer life, or if you aren’t sure what you believe but are willing to risk seriously exploring the reality of God. Either way, for any generous soul willing to commit to the elements of the week.

Why do it? When we are generous, God is more so. Everyone receives even more than they give. We meet a God who loves us and wants to use our gifts. It can also be a great help in making or confirming decisions, big or small. We learn new ways of praying.

Will it affect my work or studies? Yes and no. Participants will be busier that week because of these extra demands, hence the need to be generous. The retreat runs alongside a normal week, however, so no one will miss any lectures, seminars, or housework responsibilities. Sorry 🙂

Contact Fr Andrew Downie – email: andrew.j.downie@durham.ac.uk, tel.: 0191 384 3442

We can now live stream Masses and services from St Cuthbert’s. To see our live stream search for ‘St Cuthbert’s Catholic Church, Durham’ on YouTube) or click here.

If you’re new to YouTube, the easiest way to access our livestreams and to check which Masses we have scheduled for streaming for the next week is to subscribe to our channel.

Once you have subscribed, if you go into YouTube, there’s a section called ‘subscriptions’ (probably at the bottom of the screen on a tablet or phone, but in the column on the far left if you are on a computer). That will take you to a screen with lots of videos from all the channels you have subscribed to.

Click on the picture of St. Cuthbert’s (in the column on the left on a tablet or phone, but you may need to click on Manage’ at the top right on a computer) and it will take you to our channel.

The top line will give you the videos we have already streamed, and if you scroll down you will come to ‘Upcoming live streams’.

Thank you all for your kindness to me over the Christmas season, and for your contribution to the life of our parish during the past year. Let us pray for one another as we move forward into 2021 – Fr Andrew.

With no prospect yet of congregational singing we have a somewhat different Carol Service for 2020. The compilation of music, readings and images of our church has been put together by Alison McLean, and will give you a sense of what we might have experienced at St. Cuthbert’s had things been different this year.

The video is available in our Parish Facebook group. If you know of anyone who would enjoy watching this video but is not on Facebook, please ask them to get in touch with Alison at alison.mclean1@hotmail.com and she will send a link to their email address.

Thank you to Alison, and to everyone who took part in the music and the readings, for their contributions.

A short annual briefing on the Parish Finances from John Marsland, as chairman of the Parish Finance Council.

This time last year I was reporting on a financially difficult year, however, this year has been even more challenging with lockdowns and a closed Church for some periods.

You may remember that we spent about £40K on repairs and maintenance during last year. This year the equivalent figure is about £10K and most of this is for the fire alarm upgrade.

We expected to see a significant deterioration in our financial position following the closures of the Church and the restriction on the number of parishioners who could attend during services. However, as a result of the low spend on repairs and maintenance, our balances are in better shape than we expected. We have £34839 in the Parish account and £31145 in the deposit account with the Diocese.

As always, your generosity continues with many parishioners continuing to donate with standing orders or online even though they are unable to attend Church at this time. Many thanks for your continued contributions.

The next few months are shrouded with uncertainty and our stewardship needs to be sensitive to unforeseen demands and we will continue to depend on your donations even more as things unfold. We are also fully aware that our Church is an old building and significant repair costs can be incurred at any time.

With regard to the Diocese as a whole, the latest information is that the financial position is stable, for now the pandemic shock has been absorbed, however the future is still uncertain.

If you have not already set up a standing order or online donation and would like to do so please contact Andy Doyle for details, he can be contacted via the Parish Office for which the number is on the weekly bulletin.

A further significant contribution to our funds is made by the Gift Aid scheme, currently around £8K per year. This excellent scheme costs nothing to join with no complicated paperwork and is of considerable benefit to the Parish. If you would like to join, again, please contact Andy.

I hope and pray that my next annual report in November 2021 will report on a more stable situation, in the meantime, I will ensure you are briefed on any significant financial events if they occur.

Many thanks again for your support during the past year.

John Marsland

November 2020

This year’s programme has now begun, with online sessions every Tuesday at 7.00pm. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Andy Doyle on andydoyle1066@sky.com  or Fr Andrew.

Sadly, and as a result of the new COVID restrictions, our Mass of Remembrance scheduled for Saturday 7th November is not open to the public. Names of deceased family and friends can still be added to our Parish Book of Remembrance by e-mailing Andy Doyle (andydoyle1066@sky.com).

Our Online Gospel Reflection on Sunday 8th November will begin with a two minute silence in memory of those who fell in two world wars and the many subsequent conflicts.

The Government has announced a four-week lockdown in England, starting today. During lockdown, there will be no public worship. However, St Cuthbert’s Church will be open for private prayer this week, at the following times:

Saturday 7th November 9.30-10.30am.

Tuesday 10th November 12 noon – 1.00pm

Thursday 12th November 5.00-6.00pm

Saturday 14th November 10.00-11.00am

Morning Prayer of the Church will be celebrated on Zoom, Monday-Friday at 8.00am.

Virtual Parish Coffee Morning: Saturday at 10.30am.

Online Sunday Gospel Reflection: Sunday at 11.00am.

For details of how to take part in these online events, and for information about the opening of the church for private prayer, see the ‘St Cuthbert’s Parish Community’ Facebook page, or email Fr Andrew on parish.priest@stcuthberts-durham.org.uk

We hope to begin the live streaming of Masses from St Cuthbert’s soon, but in the meantime, you can find a list of churches in our diocese which are live streaming here.

During this new lockdown, it’s important that we all keep in touch and look out for one another. If you are in need of any practical help, eg with grocery shopping or collecting prescriptions, or if you just want to chat, please contact Fr Andrew on the email address above, or on 0191 384 3442. Or if you know of someone else who might need contact or support, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Parish bulletins and Catholic newspapers will be available for collection in a box outside the church door. Please pick up a copy of the bulletin and put it through the letterbox of a friend or neighbour who might not be able to get out.

You can read a statement from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales on the new lockdown here.

Everyone is welcome to join us for Morning Prayer of the Church (Lauds), at 8.00am, Monday to Friday, on Zoom. For details of how to take part, see the ‘Durham University Catholics’ page or ‘St Cuthbert’s Parish Community’ Facebook group.

Did you know that you can still hear our choir each week as they record the music for us all to hear?

As further local restrictions are now in place in the North East, it seems that it will be some time before we are all able to attend Mass at St. Cuthbert’s and meet together as a community. So we will be continuing to offer opportunities for everyone to participate as much as they are able on-line.

In our parish Facebook Group you will find the links to our Virtual Coffee Morning every Saturday, the Gospel Reflection every Sunday morning and the weekly bidding prayers, as well as the recordings which the choir make for us every week.

If you haven’t already joined the Facebook Group, search for ‘St. Cuthbert’s Parish Community’ or follow the link from the Parish Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/stcuthbertschurch.