News Items

The need of the Ace of Clubs is greater than ever...

At the bottom of our monastery garden in London we have a centre where the poor, the vulnerable and the homeless come to be welcomed, fed and helped in many other ways. With COVID-19 we are one of the places where people can go and receive assistance.

Watch this short film and hear the people themselves...

... watch out for Br Mike CSsR

Our OSsR Nuns are a Praying hit on-line..

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The Digital Parish

We continue our Facebook series today here on The Digital Parish page asking some questions of priests, religious, bishops, lay people, who have been using digital media before and during the Covid-19 pandemic to reach out online.

As well as finding out how people are reaching out online, we are also interested in knowing how they themselves are coping in lockdown and what they miss most at this time of social distancing.

Our latest respondent is Sister Lucy Conway, a Redemptoristine Sister based in Dublin. Sister Lucy is pictured here playing her cello and with her community in Dublin.

Mass for the 2nd Sunday of Easter - Bishop Eton

New blessed Icon of Bl. Maria Celeste Crostarosa for the Redemptoristine Nuns in Slovakia...

(Kežmarok, Slovakia) Fr. Václav Hypius, CSsR, the Redemptorist Provincial and President of the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Slovakia, blessed an icon of the Redemptoristine Nuns’ Foundress on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the anniversary of the death of Bl. Maria Celeste Crostarosa, on 14 September 2019. This icon is on the right-hand side of the monastery church in Kežmarok and was painted by the artist and sculptor Jaroslav Halmo.

Faith alive during a pandemic...

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When a pandemic like the Coronavirus strikes the worldwide human family, nations have to mobilize all their resources to defend life and fight the disease. The UK government has been taking extraordinary, financial steps to do that. The NHS is now receiving the financial support it needs and three quarters of a million volunteers signed up to help in any way they can.

Pandemics are times of great worry for many. Yet the very specific thing Jesus asks us to do is not to worry: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life” Matthew 6: 25. As Christians we can substitute Christ’s gift of faith for worries. That is why Jesus can says to us: “Let your light shine before others so that they will see your good works and the give the glory to your Father in heaven” Matthew 5:16.

Living faith

Jesus compares faith to light. Switch on a light at night and the darkness in the house vanishes. Let the light of your faith shine on the spiritual darkness, that always seeks to take advantage of the times of national crises, and the darkness gives way to hope. About our hope St. Paul assures us, “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” Romans 5: 5.

Last Rites & Absolution during the Covid-19 crisis: Pope Francis...

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Usually when someone is sick or dying, they can ask a priest to come and anoint them or administer the Last Rites. Or, if they are too ill to do this themselves, a family member or friend who knows this is what they would want, can call the priest on their behalf. But what happens now, when health regulations due to risk of contagion from Covid-19 mean that a priest may not be able to attend the sick person?

Thanks to new provisions brought in during this crisis for the sick and the dying by Pope Francis, with the right disposition, they can still be assured of God’s love and mercy, and families need not worry that their loved ones were unprovided for at their hour of death.

Not only that, but the new provisions also include health-care workers, family members, and all those putting themselves at risk of contagion, who at this time cannot themselves access sacramental absolution because they are caring for the sick.