'Hacked' email account

On Sunday 5th January we were advised that our email account had been 'hacked' by persons unknown & this situation lasted until Wednesday 8th January. Within that period emails were sent to many of our contacts purporting to come from us advising that we were stranded in Ukraine having lost money, passports & tickets & requesting that funds be sent to enable us to get home. Hopefully anyone contacted would realise that this was a scam & ignored the request. Should anyone have been unfortunate enough to respond, please contact your local police as soon as possible. Additionally we were unable to receive emails & would ask that anyone having sent messages in the period 5th-8th January re-send them when they will be dealt with. We thank those of our friends who did contact us for their thoughtfulness.

Temporary changes at SS Joseph, Patrick & Cuthbert, Coxhoe

There will be no Thursday Masses from 16th January 2014 until 13th February 2014. Ash Wednesday 5th March 2014. Low Mass with Imposition of Ashes 12noon. No Mass on Thursday 6th March. Feast of St Joseph Wednesday 19th March 2014. Low Mass at 12noon. No Mass on Thursday 20th March.

Gift Aid can help

Can it be suggested that, like St Joseph's in Gateshead, congregations at EF Masses be encouraged to Gift Aid their contributions (by collection or otherwise). There is no extra cost to the donor, simply put your donation in a specially numbered envelope and the Government returns an extra 25% (or the current rate of income tax) of your donation to the church. The only stipulation is that you must be a UK taxpayer. The only person knowing who you are is the Gift Aid organiser of the parish and, hopefully, they will be so busy logging the envelopes they won't have the time (or inclination) to check which number refers to which member of the congregation. LMS subscriptions can also be treated in this way.