Bulletin - 1/2 February 2025

Parish Details

Parish of Saint Joseph, Malvern, Worcestershire

Archdiocese of Birmingham, Registered Charity 234216

Address: 125 Newtown Road, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 1PF

Parish Priest: Fr. Nazarius Mgungwe fr.nazarius.mgungwe@rcaob.org.uk 01684 574250

Parish Administrator: Nazzarena Wood stjoseph.malvern@rcaob.org.uk 01684 574250

PAC Chairman: Edd Hogan, 07500 639308

Parish Safeguarding Rep: Kevin Douglas 01886 832468

Health & Safety, Room Bookings: Sue Stubbings 01684 541716

St Joseph's School - Head Teacher: Thérèse Langford 01684 573016

School Secretary: Charlotte Wilkinson 01684 573016

Co-Chairs of Governors: Chris Park & Maggie Griffiths 01684 573016

Safeguarding

The Parish operates in accordance with Statutory Safeguarding Guidance and the National and Archdioceses policies & procedures at all times. Our Parish Safeguarding Representative is Kevin Douglas. He can be contacted at sg.stjoseph.malvern@rcaob.org.uk or alternatively the Diocesan Safeguarding team can be contacted on 0121 230 6240 safeguarding@rcaob.org.uk if you have any concerns.

---

Confessions

Fr Naz hears confession in the Confessional from 10:30am until 11 am on Saturdays or by appointment.

Mass Times

• Sat 1st Feb 10.00am - Holy Mass

  • Feria in Ordinary Time

    • Melly Balbag RIP Recent

• Sat 1st 6pm - Holy Mass

  • Eve of Feast of The Presentation of the Lord

    • World Refugees (Helen Connelly)

• Sun 2nd 11am - Holy Mass Livestreamed

  • Feast of The Presentation of the Lord

    • Rita & Tom Durcan ✟ (Helen Connelly)

• Mon 3rd 12 noon - Holy Mass Livestreamed

  • Feria in Ordinary Time

    • Clive Baker RIP - recent - (Maggie Griffiths)

• Tues 4th 7.45am - Holy Mass

  • Feria in Ordinary Time

    • Pro Populo

• Weds 5th - Private Mass

  • Memorial of St Agatha, Virgin, Martyr

• Thur 6th 10am-6.45pm - Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

• Thur 6th 7pm - Holy Mass Livestreamed

  • Memorial of St Paul Miki, and Companions, Martyrs

    • Charles Sylvia Walker ✟ (The Craig Family)

• Fri 7th 9.15am - Holy Mass

  • Feria in Ordinary Time

    • Private Intention (Fran Mainini)

• Fri 7th 3pm - Mass at Dalvington Care Home

• Sat 8th Feb 10am - Holy Mass

  • Memorial of St Josephine Bakhita

    • Holy Souls

• Sat 8th 6pm - Holy Mass

  • Eve of Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    • Thanksgiving for new baby (Anne & Paul Lewis)

• Sun 9th - Family Mass for First Holy Communion Children & Families Livestreamed

  • Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    • Chuck Walker ✟ (Irena & Stefan Scicinski)

Holy Mass at St Joseph's is livestreamed on some days via YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@stjosephs.rcparish.malvernuk 

---

About This Week's Mass

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

YEAR C 1ST – 2ND February 2025 – Parish Mass Book Page number 299 (Back of Mass Book)

This Feast Day is known under four names:

1) The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord (by prayers and the payment of “five shekels to a member of the priestly family” (Nm 3:47-48; Lk 2:22), to redeem or buy the firstborn male child back from the Lord’s service). In 1997, Pope John Paul II

designated the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord as the Annual World Day of Consecrated Life.

2) The Feast of the Purification of Mary commemorating the Jewish practice of the purification of the mother after childbirth and the presentation of the child in the Temple.

3) The Feast of Encounter between the New Testament, represented by the Baby Jesus, and the Old Testament, represented by the holy witnesses: Simeon and Anna). In a sense, this feast celebrates the meeting point of the two “Testaments.” Thus Jesus, who is the new Temple of God, enters the ancient temple ushering the law of love

4) The Feast of Candlemas because of the tradition of blessing and distributing candles and holding a candlelight procession on this day. These practices are drawn from Simeon’s words in the gospel for this feast, in which he prophesies that the child Jesus will become “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.”.

Pope’s Prayer Intention for February

For vocations to the Priesthood and religious life. Let us pray that the ecclesial community may welcome the desires and doubts of those young people who feel a call to serve Christ’s mission in the priesthood and religious life.

Gospel Share Group

Gospel Share Group meets every Friday in the McEnnis Room at 7.30 pm for one hour. Please come and join in.

Please Pray

• For the Sick and Housebound, especially Clare Gray, Anne Wiseman, Martin

  Burger, Anne-Marie Elder and Elizabeth Docker. We include all those in hospitals, nursing homes & their own homes. Our Lady, health of the sick, pray for them. Amen

• For the Recently Deceased:

  • Martin Burger

  • Barrie Sykrme: brother to Sue Stubbings

  • John Crowe: Funeral at St Joseph’s church, Friday 14th

    February at 1.00pm

• For Those on the Anniversary of their Deaths, especially for the repose of the souls of Winifred Law, Jaseki Adamina Modlitive, Anthony Gaskill and Aiden Stopwell

Wedding Anniversary

Bridget & Ethel Nwosu

Second Collection Next Week

LIFE Charity.

WELCOME TO BISHOP DAVID EVANS

to the Workshop reflecting on ourselves as Pilgrims of Hope this Saturday 1st

February from 2.30-4.45pm in the McEnnis room. Bishop David will also be Main Celebrant of the 6pm Mass where he will award Ian Dawes with a Certificate in Foundations of Faith for the New Evangelisation run by Carol Ann Harnett.

First Communion and Confession Session

Lunchbox Talks

Thursday 6th February at 12:30 for 1:00pm at Great Malvern Priory: “Malvern College Concert”

AN IMPERSONATED EMAIL ADDRESS

has circulated among some members of the parish community as coming

from Naz. Please always use the rcaob email address to communicate with him and it is the only address Fr Naz will communicate with the community. Any attempt of communication from other email address should be considered as fraudulent and reported to recipient's internet service provider and also directly to the parish office or Fr Naz for further investigation.

THE FEAST DAY OF ST JOSEPHINE BAKHITA

the patron saint of victims of human trafficking and modern slavery, takes place on February 8. There are 50 million victims of human trafficking across the world and as many as 130,000 in the UK, hidden in plain sight in your neighbourhood. Pope

Francis describes human trafficking as “blood money” and a “crime against humanity”. We are all called to combat this evil trade. To find out more and what you can do, go to santamartagroup.org/resources. A link to further information can be found via: Santa Marta Group | St. Bakhita Day

MESSAGE FROM FR NAZ: HOUSE GROUPS

I have put together a Leadership Team drawn from the communities of St Joseph’s Malvern, St. Joseph’s Upton and Our Lady & St Alphonsus, Blackmore to help me plan Pastoral and Spiritual programmes in our three churches. This team has been through a lot of training on the Divine Renovation model, and it has had a series of meetings and one retreat in the past 12 months. With the help of this Leadership Team a first plan is in place to establish a number of House Groups in the coming few months. Hosted in the homes of parishioners of the three churches, the aim is to gather around 6-8 people per group to meet on regular basis and to be in the presence of Jesus, prayerfully reading through the scriptures, do Lectio Divina and grow in community with one another. There will be a variety of meeting days and times to hopefully suit differing availability/preferences. Keep an eye out on the newsletter for details of the first groups and if you are interested in either leading or joining a group, please talk it over with Fr Naz or Deacon Sean. Alice Kerby will be speaking at the weekend Masses as follows to introduce the initiative House Groups: St Joseph’s Malvern at the Weekend Masses of 8/9 February, Saturday 15th February at the 4pm Mass at Our Lady and St Alphonsus Blackmore, 16th February at the 9.00am Mass. Fr Naz

Malvern Hills Food Bank

Please remember the needs of the Food Bank especially at this time of year,

Diocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage

You are most welcome to join us this Jubilee Year as we journey to Lourdes in May.

The pilgrimage runs from Saturday 24 - Friday 30 May 2025 with the theme: "With Mary, Pilgrims of Hope". If you would like to travel to Lourdes but in need of assistance we can help. Assisted pilgrims have the support of doctors, nurses, carers and hospitaliers throughout their time on pilgrimage.

You will participate fully in the pilgrimage and experience the love of God through the care, love and friendship of volunteers.

Please contact the Lourdes Pilgrimage Office to discuss assistance requirements on 0121 230 6288 or admin.lourdes@rcaob.org.uk

As well as applications from assisted pilgrims we're also keen to hear from doctors,

nurses and carers eager to volunteer their time and experience Lourdes. Find out more here: https://www.birminghamdiocese.org.uk/lourdes-pilgrimage

PILGRIMAGE TO KNOCK

Escorted Tour to Westport, Knock & Co Mayo, 10th March 2025. £799.00 pps. Price includes flight, 10kg hold luggage, 4 nights’ in 4* Castlecourt Hotel, Westport with Dinner, Bed & Breakfast. Lunch on three days. All entertainment, excursions and transport included. Visit Knock, Galway City, Kylemore Abbey, Croagh Patrick, Ballintubber Abbey, Quiet Man Museum. Single supplement on Enquiry. Contact 01268 762 278 or 07740 175557 or email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com