***NEW: Social events for refugees at St Peter’s in Winchester, Wednesdays, 10 -1, every week. Find out more here. Volunteers needed to help! Contact us***
NEW: Sheila Wade from Portsmouth Caritas gave a talk in the Parish about the situation in Ukraine and the best ways to help – full of direct, straight-talking information. You can read a report here.
Prayer
Rosary in St Peter’s Five times a week, people gather together in church to say the Rosary: it is now going to be offered for Ukraine. The Rosary will be said after morning Mass in St Peter’s on Saturdays (after Mass @ 9am), Wednesdays and Thursdays (after Mass @ 10am), and at 11.30am on Mondays and Tuesdays (ie before Mass @ 12.15)
Fr Mark is recommending this Guided Prayer for Ukraine from Pray as you Go – click on the image to reach the website:
Practical Help
‘The most efficient way of informing parishioners, schools, and others in and outside the diocese of what is going on in the wider Catholic world and in the diocese’ is via
the Caritas web site
– and it is being updated regularly. Click here or on the image.
Many people are asking about offering a home to Ukrainian refugees,
and this question in particular: if people are interested in direct help to refugees, ie offering a room, should they just sign up to the government scheme, or is there likely to be any church-related scheme that they should stick out for?
We asked Sheila Wade, currently heading up Caritas in the Diocese (and who has just been in Hungary, finding out what life is like for refugees). She said –
“CSAN (Caritas Social Action Network, umbrella organization) and Caritas Portsmouth are directing people to Reset as a matching organisation for hosts. We are waiting to hear about the third pathway for faith and other organisations from UK Govt but no info yet.”
And again she recommended Caritas web site, above, with a lot of info and advice, being updated very frequently.
You can find out more, and register to host and be matched with a Ukrainian refugee on Reset’s website
The relevant page on the Caritas website is this
Resources for Homes for Ukraine – Caritas Portsmouth
Obviously this is a rapidly-changing situation, but at the moment everyone is operating through the government project, and going via Reset is a good way in at the moment.
If you are looking to donate – and currently the aid agencies say money is what is needed most, rather than goods – you may have seen the DEC mentioned. This is the Disasters Emergency Committee, where some of the most trustworthy and long-established aid charities (including our own CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam and others) combine to work together to help. CAFOD have a very useful and helpful webpage on how best to help.
There has already been an amazing response to our initial Parish’s CAFOD
appeal for Ukraine: over £5,500 is on its way to CAFOD, with more to follow
Spiritual Help
Bishop Philip’s Pastoral letter for Lent
looks at the issues in Ukraine and at spiritual and practical ways to help – he calls on us to ‘bombard heaven with petitions for peace’ you can find it here on our website
Fr Anthony & Fr Mark’s homilies
have also proved helpful, as they use the principles of the Seriously God campaign to look at everyday life – including our feelings about Ukraine and our fears that God has let us down.
You can hear a relevant Seriously God/Lent homily from Fr Anthony here, (10 mins) or click on the image
