Parish of the Holy Child & St Joseph
Midland Road, Bedford
Please click on the image to view the newsletter:
Bishop David Oakley has released a Pastoral Message for the Third National Lockdown. He encourages us to find refuge and shelter in the Word of God and Jesus, truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
As of 5th January 2021 we enter another lockdown in England.
Under the new restrictions, churches are allowed to remain open for both private prayer and collective worship. Mass will therefore be celebrated as usual.
As before, we are obliged to wear face coverings and to sanitise our hands. Contact tracing is also in place. We must remain vigilant regarding the rules already in place for places of worship, especially to avoid mingling with anyone outside of your household or support bubble when attending church, both inside the building and outside.
Pray that there will not be a further lockdown depriving us of our religious practise.
Many of you are generously sponsoring young children in Uganda in their education. Ted Fawcett, parishioner at St Joseph’s and chairman of EVC Uganda, gives us an update on the achievements of the charity during 2020:
As I look back on 2020, with all its disruptions, I am pleased to report much positive news about our work in Uganda. The building of a boys’ and a girls’ dormitory at one of our primary schools has been completed and work has commenced there on the building of a five-classroom block, which will be used for the teaching of IT and vocational skills. This is due for completion in April and all of this work is a great step forward for the school. Regular inspections are carried out by qualified people on all EVC building work and the standard is consistently very high.
With the closure of schools in March, due to the virus, our team in Uganda has worked tirelessly and successfully to provide outreach education to the EVC sponsored children in their homes. On 15th October, those children due to sit their Primary Leaving Examination and those secondary students due to sit GCSE and A level exams returned to school. We hope to see the schools reopen for the remaining children in early January.
[Read more…] about EVC Uganda: A Good News Story
