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20th January 2021

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am writing to you with renewed hope in these difficult times. A blessing for many during this lockdown is the opportunity to continue to come together for public worship. Government has recognised that public worship is central to our Catholic life and of benefit to the community at large. I know that some of our parishes, for safety sake, have taken the decision to stream Mass only for the present online.

Whether your parish remains open or closed for the moment we must all, however tiresome, continue to follow the rules and play our part in protecting our neighbours and ourselves in the coming months.

Also, to address letters and emails I have received questioning the ethical and moral nature of the vaccines being offered. I know that many of you will be asking yourselves what you will do when you receive your invitation for vaccination, especially with the misinformation that is circulating, not least on social media.

You may not be aware, but the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a Note on the 21st December 2020, in which it clarifies the absence of morale culpability on the part of those receiving the vaccine when there is no choice which vaccine is received. In fact, it says that there is a responsibility on the part of all to seek the vaccination as it is not just a matter of protecting one’s own health, but also the protection of others health as well.

We all know the effects of misinformation. It seeks only to divide and destroy and to hold people in fear. In the end it is the decision of each individual whether to receive the vaccine or not. However, this decision must be made from a well-informed conscience by listening to the voice of the Church and her teachings and not to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the loud voices we hear in social media.

In the darker days over the last few weeks and months I have returned to the words of the prophet Jeremiah as a source of encouragement and hope and for this reason I share with you. “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. The Church and her teaching is always for our welfare not evil and offers us hope for the future.

Let us continue to hold one another in prayer.

Yours in Christ the Redeemer

+ Ralph Heskett CSsr

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

Today, we begin our preparations to celebrate, once again, the Christmas story.   It is the story that marks the beginning of our salvation. At Christmas, we recall and give thanks for that moment in history when our God stooped down to meet us in the guise of a vulnerable child.

In his Christmas Novena, St Alphonsus describes this moment in these words:

Behold, then, the Immensity becomes an infant, whom the heavens cannot contain: see him imprisoned in his poor rags and laid in a narrow manger on a bundle of straw which was at once his only bed and pillow.

On Christmas Eve 1223, Francis of Assisi was determined to give the people of his town an experience of the first Christmas. So, he assembled a cast of people and animals and arranged them in a cave in the small Italian town of Greccio. From that day, the Crib has been at the heart of the liturgical and devotional life of Christian families at Christmas time. Children love to re-tell the story for us. In our churches and homes, the figures of the Holy Family, the shepherds, the Magi and the animals tell the story in picture and colour for all to see.

This Christmas, as always, the crib will be placed in a prominent place in our churches. In previous years, it has provided a special focus for our prayer. As individuals and families, we have gathered before the child in the crib and lingered awhile in prayer; perhaps to take a moment to give thanks for graces and blessings received or maybe to petition the infant before us on behalf of the family, of the church, of the world.

This Christmas, when you come to celebrate Mass and visit the crib, covid-19 restrictions will mean that it is not possible to linger before the crib as in previous years.

This Christmas then, perhaps, we are being asked to do something different, namely, to find a special place for the crib in our homes along with all the decorations, lights and tree.

This year, it is in the home that we are invited to find the time and space as family or individual members to pray before the scene that recreates for us the beginning of the story of our salvation.

This year, it is in the home that we are invited to pray in thanksgiving for faith, family and friends.

This year, it is in the home that we are invited to linger before the Holy Family with the prayers and petitions that are urgently on our minds and in our hearts in a wave of prayer and supplication.

This year is a moment for us to create in our homes a little Church of the Nativity.

We are not quite sure yet what Christmas will look like this year, but we do know that it is likely that it will be like no other in living memory. However, there is no reason why it cannot be better than any other in living memory, if our minds and hearts are fixed on the child “laid in a narrow manger on a bundle of straw” and the truth, he reveals to us: our God Emmanuel. Our God has been with us in the darkest days of 2020 and now His light is being brought to bear on us as we look to 2021.

With my prayers for a blessed Advent and Christmastide and health in 2021.

Yours sincerely in Christ, the Redeemer,

Rt Rev Ralph Heskett CSsR

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You will have heard over the weekend that the Government has agreed plans to open places of worship for private prayer only on Monday 15^th June.  We welcome this news as the first step towards opening our churches for the celebration of Mass and the other Sacraments.  However, not every Catholic Church will open on the 15^th June and your church may not be amongst the first group to do so.  You have shown extraordinary patience in recent weeks and I ask you to exercise your patience a little longer if you are disappointed that your church is not included in the first group.  Hopefully it will follow quickly.

The preparations of re-opening the churches in the Diocese for private prayer are well underway.  This includes obtaining cleaning materials, and necessary equipment and plans for some basic training for volunteers so that we can be confident of providing a safe place when our churches re-open from the 15^th June, with Government guidelines being fully observed.

I remind you that with the lifting of restrictions to enable our churches to open for private prayer is the first step towards fuller use of our churches for the celebration of Mass and other Sacraments and “We await that time with deep longing but with patient understanding that the protection of the health of our society, especially the vulnerable in our society is a proper cause for caution and care.”  (Cardinal Nichols, 7^th June 2020).

Yours in Christ the Redeemer,

 

Rt Rev Ralph Heskett CSsR

DIOCESE OF HALLAM

Pastoral Letter for the Feast of the Holy Family

To be read at all Masses 28/29 December 2019

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,

This time in between Christmas and the New Year is a precious time to be spent with family and friends, but especially family, both immediate and extended. While we celebrate the life of our own families and the bonds of love and affection that bind us together, the church invites us to look to and celebrate the life of the newly formed family of Nazareth and see it as a model for our own.

The three readings chosen for today’s feast each speak to us of a different aspect of the family that we find in the life of the Holy Family of Nazareth and to which we aspire in our own family.  The readings, as one commentator suggests, speak of the significance within the family of the devotion of the father (and indirectly the mother), the devotion of children to parents and the debt of mutual love.

In today’s gospel we are reminded that the uniqueness of the Holy Family of Nazareth did not shield them from some of the struggles and dangers that are part of the human condition.  In particular, Matthew’s story which is not found anywhere else in the gospels, tells us that when Jesus was still a toddler, he and his parents, Mary and Joseph, had to flee from Nazareth to Egypt fearing for his safety. We cannot imagine what it must have been like for them to suddenly find themselves having to leave their home and flee to another country not knowing, when, if ever, it would be possible for them to return home in safety. The decision to flee, Matthew tells us, was at the instruction of an angel in a dream.  The instructions are all about the child and his wellbeing and safety which are entrusted to Joseph.   The angel doesn’t hold back and could not be more direct:

“Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt and stay there until I tell you……”

We are not privy to any advice Joseph may, or may not, have been given on how he might support his family in a land he did not know. He just has to trust the angel’s message. Later in the story only when it was considered safe for the family to return home and the child’s safety was assured, Joseph is given further instructions:

“Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.”

The second reflection offered in the readings is that children owe their parents a debt of gratitude. This is beautifully and concretely stated in the first reading by its writer, Ben Sirach.  There we are reminded that honour, respect, sympathy, and kindness should be the attitudes of children towards their parents. The language of Sirach puts flesh, if you like, on the commandment of love and a reminder that the family is where love is made concrete through the words, actions, gestures, and attitudes to those closest to us.

The third aspect of family life expressed in the readings for today’s feast is that of mutual love. Paul writing to the church at Colossae paints a word picture of what a truly Christian family should look like.  The members should be compassionate, kind, gentle and patient. He exhorts them to bear with one another and forgive each other. We all know that there is plenty of opportunity in the family to exercise both! And Paul’s final point here is that the cord that holds all the different aspects of family life together is mutual love.

“Over all these clothes, to hold them together and complete them, put on love.”

In the story of the Holy Family of Nazareth God’s plan was accomplished. This is true of every family. It is in the family that God’s plan for us is worked out most of the time. Perhaps today is an opportunity to reflect on and acknowledge this simple truth.  An invitation, too, for us to be more fully present to each other and for each other in the coming year.

Precious things always need to be guarded and protected.

Bishop Ralph

Pastoral Letter read at all Masses on the weekend of 26/27 October 2019

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

On Vocations Sunday in May, I invited, through a Pastoral Letter like this one, for men to come and meet me to find out more about becoming a Priest.  Now I am offering the same opportunity for those who would like to explore the possibility of becoming a Deacon.

There have always been men ordained as Deacons with a special emphasis in their ministry on people in need.  In the early centuries Deacons were commonplace in dioceses, assisting their Bishops in many ways according to their talents, but always modelling their lives on Christ, the Servant.   Over time, Deacons faded from view as becoming a Deacon became only a stepping stone on the pathway to Priesthood.  But more than 50 years ago the Church restored the holy order of Deacon, making it again a permanent order and open to married men.

Here in Hallam we have 15 Permanent Deacons at work across the diocese.   But more are needed, and younger.   More than half of our Deacons are now over 70, with very few under 60.   Now is the time for us to ask men already active in their parishes and with a heart for those in need, to come and see how their existing life of service can be developed and more fully given for the life of the Church.  “The harvest is ripe, but the labourers are few”.

Deacons are ordained while in full time employment. Their talents, working life, as well as their married and family life all add to the life experiences brought into ministry. This working and family experience, enhanced by the grace of ordination, places Deacons in a unique position, enabling them to become a bridge between the Church and the wider world.   Importantly, they are in a position, as ministers, to lead others in building these bridges.

So often people ask, “What does a Deacon do?”  But this misses a vital and deeper question.  Namely, what is a Deacon?  It is what a Deacon is rather than what he does that matters.   Any amount of ‘doing’ does not make a Deacon.  It is the ‘being’ that is key.  Deacons are to be “a living icon of Christ the Servant within the Church”.   So a Deacon is first to become as Christ in his servant roles, orientated to the needs of the community in which he serves.  Only then does whatever the Deacon does make sense in the context of his ordination.

That said, the ordained ministry of a Deacon has three parts: teaching, sanctifying and pastoral leadership.  Teaching is exercised by proclaiming the gospel, preaching and in catechising, especially adults at the margins of the Church.  His sanctifying office is exercised in personal prayer, the solemn administration of Baptism, as an ordinary minister of the Eucharist, in blessing (including the blessing of Marriages) and as an ordinary minister for funerals.  His pastoral role is exercised in many forms but includes his example, encouragement and servant leadership in whatever may be needed within and beyond the community he serves.

I am asking for men between 30 and 60 years of age to consider whether God might be calling them to greater ministry within the Church, especially for those in need within it and beyond.

Accompanying this letter are leaflets with very basic information about the Permanent Diaconate, but importantly, an invitation to those listening who may be interested, to meet with me on Monday 4 November at Bishop’s House, at 7.30 pm, to explore further the vocation to the Permanent Diaconate.  Wives would be most welcome to join us.  These leaflets are available today as you leave the Church, or through my office.

Yours sincerely in Christ, the Redeemer.

 

Pastoral Letter for the Year of the Word 2019/2020

Read at all Masses on the weekend of 28/29 September 2019

“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” (St Jerome)

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Tomorrow (Monday 30^th September) Cardinal Nichols will launch the Year of the Word, under the title “God who speaks”. This is an initiative of the Bishops of England and Wales, to promote a deeper understanding of the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures to help us all to come to a more loving, more personal relationship with Christ who is God’s living Word among us (Jn. 1,1-18).

Tomorrow is the Feast of St Jerome (347-420)) whose translation of the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible into Latin, known as the Vulgate – ‘for the common people’, was the bed-rock of the Western Church’s knowledge of the sacred texts for many centuries. Sadly, as fewer people knew Latin the sacred Word became a closed book. The Second Vatican Council emphasised the need to renew interest in the Scriptures (DV Chapter 6)¹; but for many the Bible remains a strange and scary work, that seems to have little relevance in our daily lives.

St Jerome eloquently stated that ‘Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ’. The reverse is also true: the more we know about the Scriptures the more we know Christ. In the sacred texts of the Jewish people which Jesus knew well and which we share with them, as in the books that form what we call the New Testament, we encounter Jesus. Guided by the Holy Spirit and the teachings of the Church we are led to a deeper relationship with the Lord.

Throughout this Year of the Word, which begins in earnest on the 1^st Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the liturgical year, there will be many opportunities to grow in knowledge and understanding of the Bible. The key themes of the year are: celebrating, living and sharing God’s Word.

Much is already happening in our parishes with bible study groups, prayer groups, some pursuing lectio divina or other ways of engaging with the Scriptures. Our adult formation team provides regular opportunities for biblical study around the diocese. Let us aim to have in every parish a group devoted to reflecting on God’s Word. No Mass should be celebrated without the Word being opened in a brief homily. (see Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini Part 2– The Importance of the Homily²)

Today’s readings call us to act on behalf of the poor. Amos is known as the prophet of social justice.  In the first reading he berates the wealthy who care only for themselves, as does the rich man in Jesus’ parable, who eats sumptuously every day while the poor man is eaten by the street dogs. One dresses in expensive purple, the other is purple with bruises, Lazarus’ name which means ‘God helps’, is known to the anonymous rich man and is known to God who delivers Lazarus to Paradise. We are very generous in helping the poor, at home and overseas.  For this I thank you. This clearly shows our love for our neighbour which is one of the hinges on which swings the Greatest Commandment. The other is love of God whom we encounter in the Word.

Notice in the Gospel-passage Abraham emphasises the need to know Moses and the prophets, shorthand for the Scriptures. There we see our hope for life with Christ in the Resurrection.

Christ is really present in His Word, opened and shared, as He is really present in the Eucharist, broken, poured and shared.  We must revere the Word as we do the Blessed Sacrament (DV.#21).

Dedicate yourselves to spending some time each day with the Lord in His Word, and take some of the opportunities offered in this Year of the Word.

Finally, I ask that of all of us who celebrate and try to live God’s Word also share it – with each other and with those around us.  I pray that this Year of the Word will be a chance for all of us to enter into a conversation with the God Who Speaks.

Yours sincerely in Christ, the Redeemer,

¹ Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation of Vatican II

²Verbum Domini, The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. Pope Benedict XVI, Alive Publishing, Stoke on Trent, 2010, 95.