NEWS

Our Church can now be re-opened for private prayer and visits after Sunday 21 June. Stewards have to be available during the opening times, so that means we cannot be open every day, but will have to specify days and times. Stewards will provide information and guide visitors through the safety procedures. This is a very welcome step, after more than twelve long weeks of the Church being closed, so please make good use of the possibility. Saint Peter’s will be open for private prayer on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11.30am until 12.30pm. Christ is waiting for us in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Let’s make a firm appointment with him and keep it.


In the seventeenth century, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French Visitation nun, had a personal revelation involving a series of visions of Christ as she prayed before the Blessed Sacrament. Christ emphasised to her his love and his sorrow caused by people's indifference to this love. He revealed Twelve Promises for those who consecrate themselves to His Sacred Heart. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a beautiful way for us to encounter the fullness of the Gospel, the good news of God’s saving love poured out for us in Jesus Christ. Click here to see an ebook called The Twelve Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus from which you can learn more to help you grow in knowledge and faith. Our prayer is that you fall ever more deeply in love with our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been, for countless people around the world, a great and unexpected trial. But for Catholics, who were already struggling with the abuse crisis and a dramatic rise in disaffiliation, this trial is not only economic, social, or medical - it is spiritual. Plunged into a time of darkness and separated from the sacraments and their parish communities, the faithful are feeling isolated, disheartened, and uncertain about what the future holds.
A new ebook from Dr Stephen Bullivant is available for the parishes of Saint Bride and Saint Peter. It is an insightful and encouraging analysis of the coronavirus, shedding light not only on the Church’s present moment or similar crises of the past but also on the immediate future. A former Oxford researcher and expert in Catholic disaffiliation, Dr Bullivant looks at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Church from both the spiritual and secular perspectives, weaving in his own personal reflections as a Catholic convert and a husband and father. This ebook is a unique roadmap for this challenging time, one that will help to bring clarity, focus and energy to Catholics everywhere. It is definitely worth reading. I hope you get something from it in the lockdown. Catholicism in the time of Coronavirus can be seen by clicking here.