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22
Mar 2020
We can't congregate but we can unite spiritually says Harrogate's Catholic Dean
Many churches across the district are streaming their Sunday morning services this morning..
Canon Jim Callaghan, the Catholic Dean of Harrogate, has written these reflections after a tumultuous week:
Two weeks from now the Church throughout the world begins the celebration of Holy Week; the days in which we commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), the Lord’s Supper (Maundy Thursday), Jesus’ Passion and Death (Good Friday) and the joy and glory of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The Diocese of Leeds is the Catholic Church across most of what was Yorkshire’s historic West Riding and our Mother Church is Leeds Cathedral. The Harrogate Deanery has three parishes in Harrogate, plus one each in Knaresborough, Ripon, Bishop Thornton, Pateley Bridge and Wetherby. On an average weekend, these churches have an attendance of more than 2,000 at Sunday Mass. That number easily doubles at Easter, with our young people returning from Universities and Colleges to be with family for the Easter Celebrations, not to mention tourists and other visitors to the area.
In the past few days our Bishops, in common with all other major faith groups, heeding advice from H.M. Government, have suspended all public worship until further notice.
This temporary suspension of the public celebration of the Mass is for the Catholic community “unprecedented and disturbing” in the words of our own Bishop. Other religious believers and the wider community will share our sense of dislocation; a feeling of being displaced from where we ought to be.
In these challenging days and weeks however, we remain in communion with Christ and with each other. Our Priests will continue to celebrate the Eucharist privately each day, praying for the whole community, and we would encourage all our people to unite with us spiritually.
We hold in prayer especially those who are already sick and housebound and all who care for them, those in Harrogate District Hospitals and all our Doctors, Nurses and related staff who are at the forefront of the NHS. Indeed, our prayer for them is one of solidarity and thanksgiving for all that they are doing.
Our churches remain open each day as places for private prayer and reflection, though without any formal services. In our churches and in our houses this Sunday we will pray for each other and for the whole nation.
May the Lord Bless us, protect us from all harm and bring us safely home to Him.
From today, you can join the Right Reverend Marcus Stock, Bishop of Leeds online, as he celebrates Sunday Mass at Leeds Cathedral. Live-streamed at 11.00 hrs via YouTube: www.leedscathedrallive.org.uk
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