Fourth Sunday in Lent. Laetare Sunday

​St John the Evangelist Parish
Aurs Rd., Barrhead, G78 2RW.
 
4th Sunday of Lent
(Laetare Sunday)
15th March 2026
 
Rev Monsignor John Canon Tormey: Parish Priest
Rev Fr Joseph J McGill: Curate
Rev Denis Murphy:  Deacon
Email: [email protected]  Tel: 0141 881 0769
Website: www.stjohns-barrhead.org
 
Mary Hallan: Safeguarding Co-Ordinator: [email protected]
 
Times of Holy Mass:
Sunday: 4pm (Vigil), 10:00am, 11:30am and 5:00pm.
Weekday Mass: Monday-Saturday 10:00am.
Workers’ Mass: Wednesday 7:30am.
Holy Days of Obligation: Vigil 7:00pm, 8:00am and 10:00am.

Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession):
Saturday 10:30am-11:00am, 3:15pm-3:45pm.
Monday-Friday 9:30am-9:50am​.
 
Stations of the Cross:
Every Friday during Lent at 7pm.
 
Last Week’s Collections:
First Collection GA: £252.40 NGA: £1,165.94
 
The Second Collection this week is in aid of the Papal and Episcopal Charities, which includes SCIAF.
 
Response to Psalm:
‘The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.’
 
St Vincent de Paul Society: 
The SSVP provide spiritual, social and financial support to anyone in need. We visit parishioners of St John’s at their homes or in local care homes. If you know of anyone who might benefit from this offer from the members of the SVdP, please get in touch by calling: 075123 02877 or speak to one of our members after Mass who will be collecting for the Society in the porch.
 
Happy Mother’s Day:
Happy Mother’s Day to all our families. We thank God for all that mums do for their family. May God bless you every day.
 
Prayer to St Michael: St Michael the Archangel, defend us in the day of Battle; Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, cast into Hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
​
We pray for those who have died recently:
John M. De Souza.
 
We pray for the anniversaries of:
John Brady, Morag Cassells, Mark and Irene Clougherty, Rose Anne Greville, Stephen Hickey, Teresa Leckie, Josephine Martin, Tommy McAllister, Eddie McCormick, Neil McDade, Edward McGorrian, John and Mary McMullen, Eddie Monaghan, Frank Monaghan, Jack Morton, Margaret Mullins, Jim Ross, Patricia Stewart, Frank Ward and for the month’s mind of Gerry Connelly and the 12 month’s mind of John Cahill.
 
St John’s Safeguarding Notice:
Please be aware that no-one can enter the parish hall during parish group lets Monday – Thursday. There are always children and vulnerable adults whose carers are responsible for them while they are in the hall. This is normal safeguarding protocol for the Diocese of Paisley. Thank you.
 
Gift Aid Boxes:
Gift Aid boxes are now available at the back of the church for the start of the new tax year. If you donate by standing order there are boxes for the Special Collection only. Many people who donate by standing order have asked for these for the second collections only.
 
If you donate through gift aid and do not have a standing order, please pick up a full set of envelopes at the back of the church.
There are lists with names and the envelope number.
Full Boxed Envelopes run from 1 to 90. Special Collection Boxed Envelopes Only, are numbered from 91 to 220. We ran out of Special Collection Boxed Envelopes – those after 180 on the list may have to wait a week longer for the newly ordered ones to arrive.
 
Thank you to all our parishioners who donate regularly, whether with Gift Aid or not. Our Annual Collections increased by 7% last year, and our Special Collections (including the Building Fund collection) increased by 24%. Thank you to everyone for your generosity. May God reward you.
 
 I would ask and encourage parishioners wishing to set up new standing orders to complete a standing order form and gift aid declaration, if applicable, and return them to the parish priest. These forms can be obtained from the parish website. Alternatively, you can set up regular faster payment to the parish via your online banking system. Parish bank details as follows:
St Johns Church
Sort Code 80-05-54
Account No 00761597
 
Alternatively, please scan the QR code below to give via our online giving page:
 
 
Church Restoration Work:
Fr John along with PPC member Michael Ward attended the Diocesan Finance and Property Meeting on Friday 13th March at 2:00pm. At this meeting, after hearing the reports on all five tenders by the Project Management Team, we (the parish) agreed, with the Diocesan and Finance Committee, to select Cairn Contracts, who won the deal with the lowest tender out of five tenders to the Corrected Tender Amount of £694,233.55 plus VAT and Fees; this was after strict investigation into their costings.
 
I would like to stress that there is no reduction in the quality of the restoration work which was put out to tender. However, one substantial saving in the lowest tender was due to not putting up scaffolding up all around the outside of the church at the one time, but only section by section (scaffolding as you know is very expensive to erect.) They plan to move along the outside roof and wall repairs section by section – i.e. outside repairs to gutters. windows and replacing slates, broken down pipes, renewal of lower roof surfaces and gutters, etc.
 
At the same time scaffolding will go up inside the church on the west wall to remove damaged plaster, remove the failed polystyrene insulation in the cavity walls, then let the walls dry out (with the use of humidifiers) and then plaster and paint the walls. There is also included a price to repair some other parts of the church where there is water ingress (e.g. at the Sacred Heart wall.) The outside brick walls will also be cleaned where there is staining, including on the bell tower.
 
In tandem with this work we have paid for an investigation by a team of heating consultants, who want to look again at the floor heating to see if the old system can be reinstated, as they say this is the best way to heat the church. If not possible, they will look at the existing radiators system.  To this end the diocese have agreed to increase our budget by the £35k grant money awarded to the church which will go towards a new heating system.
 
And to help cover the overall restoration costs, the Diocesan Fabric and Finance Committee agreed at this meeting to a further increase of £24k to the original budget of £907K, in order to cover the VAT and Fees for the work that will now be carried out make our church wind and water tight.
Well, I nearly fell off my seat when they made this increase in our budget. Then I remembered that I had asked St Joseph to help us, and he has been praying all the time for our project to be a success. Thank you so much, St Joseph. And thank you to all of you for your donations and fundraising. The Diocesan Finance and Property Committee were very impressed by the magnificent sums raised by your fundraising efforts. 
 
This restoration work will take at least 26 weeks, or longer if the walls need longer to dry out; then the newly plastered walls will be painted. We do not have a budget to repaint the whole church yet; that will be a later phase. So, we will need to decide what colour will best fit in with the rest of the church’s colour scheme. Once we have paid off this work, we can move on to the next phase of making the church beautiful inside: repair of parquet floor and entrance doors, perhaps new carpets down the main and side aisles.
 
Once work permits and initial site works are in place we expect the work to commence after the Easter holiday, around 17 April. This now means we will have Holy Week and Easter in the church. There will be a public meeting with the Project Management Team before Easter to let the whole parish know what works are being done and to give you a more in-depth explanation of all the work that will be done.
It is finally happening, my dear parishioners. Deo Gratias.
 
Mission at St Peter’s Church, Paisley:
You are invited to a 3-day Mission in St Peter’s Church, Paisley which includes the celebration of Mass, Eucharistic Adoration and talks. Dates: March 24th, 25th, and 26th. Time: 6:30pm – 8:30pm. Theme: Evangelisation.
 
Coalition Against Assisted Dying Vote (Thursday 26th March):
The next few weeks are very important for our country and we must make every effort both practically and spiritually to defeat the assisted suicide bill which will be voted on, before our parliament goes into recess and before the election, on Thursday 26th March 2026.
We have prepared a letter for all parishioners to send to Mr Tom Arthur MSP detailing the key reasons he should vote against the bill and I would ask you to sign and address the letters which will be available at the back of the church. These letters should be sent to Mr Arthur to show our collective opposition, as a parish community, to the bill.
Please take time to sign a letter to lobby our MSPs not to vote for the Assisted Dying Bill. Letters at the back only need your signature. Many thanks. Fr John
 
40 Days of Life for Glasgow:
This is an anti-abortion campaign conducting 12-hour daily prayer vigils (8:00am – 8:00pm) on Hardgate Road, near the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital running from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. The group aims to end abortion through prayer, fasting and community outreach, to advocate a culture of life and offer alternatives to abortion to those visiting the facility. There is an open invitation to join them at any day during this vigil. Please keep them in your prayers.
 
Prayers for Fr Joe McGill’s dad, Stephen:
Fr Joe’s dad was taken into hospital on Monday the 2nd of March after sustaining a head injury as a result of a fall. Stephen was moved from ICU to HDU this week and is making small steps in recovery. Please keep Stephen, Fr Joe and his family in your prayers.