Holy Family Catholic Church

Holy Family Catholic Church Oxlow Lane Dagenham Essex. RM9 5XJ
Parish priest:- Fr. Stephen Myers MA, BSc(Hons). BA(Hons), PGCE, Cert. Theo.
Assistant Priest: Fr. David Pearce MA (Cantab), ACA, BTh(Hons)

20^th March 2020

Dear Parishioner,

Following official advice, but with a heavy heart, I have to announce that Masses and other services will no longer be celebrated in public in the church from Friday 20^th March until further notice. Therefore, all events and classes are cancelled including all our sacramental programmes.

​However, this does not mean our parish is closed. The church will remain open every day as a place of prayer and reflection. The church will be open each day from 9am until 10:00am and and from 10am until Noon on Sunday. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed for adoration on Sunday. Fr David and I will strive to be present as much as possible and will be available to hear individual confessions. We will be celebrating a private Mass each day. I am looking to set up a live streaming service so that people can be part of the Mass wherever they are. In the meantime people can watch Mass in parishes in our diocese by going to

https://www.churchservices.tv/ilford,

https://www.churchservices.tv/wickford or

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Qlx7NK3tU.

Prayer resources are available at the back of each church. Please do take one and keep it for future use. If you decide to come to church during this time, please do follow the necessary guidelines regarding hygiene and social distancing.

The Church is not primarily a building but a body made up of living stones. We are still a parish family and remain as such, especially in these challenging circumstances. Let us look after each other, especially the elderly and vulnerable, and keep in touch with each other. Let us try to keep alive rhythms of prayer at home. As the days go on, we will try to provide ideas about how to do this. I have set up a Twitter account to get information to all. Please go to Dagenhamhf on Twitter and ask to be allowed to log in and I will confirm it.

We look forward with hope to the time when we can resume our normal parish life and be together again. As soon as I am made aware of any change I will let the community know.

All current information regarding COVID-19 and the Cardinal’s message, can be found at:  www.cbcew.org.uk/ or https://youtu.be/vbZ0_x__Cxc

Yours in Christ,  Fr. Stephen Myers

When Mass cannot be celebrated publicly

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? :
the Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

These words from Psalm 26 were penned by David in the twilight of his life. Having experienced many ups and downs as King of Israel, he reflects on the one steadfast thing, the love of God for him. In these difficult times when our worlds can seem to be upside down and the familiar patterns of life are removed from us, we turn to God and rely on his mercy and loving compassion for us all. This booklet has been provided as a help for prayer when Mass is not available to us. Our priests will continue to offer Mass for the Church and the world at this time, and we can unite ourselves to their celebrations through a spiritual communion. St Thomas Aquinas
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Response to the diocesan proposal for renewal & restructuring

Holy Family is a vibrant parish in East London and has about 30 different nationalities that attend mass regularly. In fact, our parish is a mini United Nation. It is a fast growing parish, which bucked the trend of declining worshipers currently being experienced in some parishes. The parish is blessed with a Priest who works tirelessly to look after the growing population of the parish, in addition to his other very demanding responsibilities in the diocese. The parish is also blessed with some parishioners, who put in valuable time to assist the parish in several capacities. The parish has two schools: St. Joseph Primary school and All Saint College. The parish also has two hospitals within its catchment area: Queens Hospital, Romford and King Georges Hospital, Goodmayes.
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