Serving the Homeless
The Committee of ‘Serving the Homeless’ would like to thank everyone who participated in, or attended, our ‘Evening of Carols and Readings,’ before Christmas. The ecumenical service was well attended and we were delighted to receive almost £1200 from the collection, raffle and subsequent donations. This money has gone to start a new project at Southend YMCA, ‘Mary’s House.’ This will be a home for a younger age group with troubled backgrounds, which may help break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
During 2016 we were able to spend £16,000 on homeless projects within the Southend area. We are now fundraising to furnish HARP’s White Heather House, which is a hostel for homeless women.
Our next two events are a second collection on 29th January, for Homelessness Sunday and a 3 course Sunday lunch at 12.30pm at ‘Affinity’ on 29th January. Tickets for this are £20. Telephone Theresa, 335122, Linda, 558217 or Jo 474062. Thank you for your continuing support for this work.
Jo Ronan, Chair, Serving the Homeless
Talk by Jim McEvoy, Street Pastor
On Monday 23rd January at 2.15pm Jim McEvoy has been invited to give a talk on his work as a Street Pastor. People like Jim are trained volunteers from local Churches who can be seen around the Town and the Seafront most Fridays and Saturdays, helping people in a variety of different ways. The Catholic Women's League extend a very warm welcome to any Parishioners who would like to meet Jim and enjoy what promises to be a very interesting talk. Refreshments are available and admission is free.
Catholic Women’s League
The first business meeting of the New Year is on Monday, 9th January at 2pm in the Newman Room. Do feel welcome to join us.
Unwanted Gift Sale 14th January 10.30am-1.30pm
The Social and Fundraising team need donations of your unwanted/un-needed Christmas gifts for a sale to raise funds for the Parish Centre. Please leave them in the old Baptistery. Join us for delicious refreshments and lunches. We'd love to see you. If you want to help us or need your donations collected, please call Sue 07816 141492 or Angela 07940 183452. Thank you for your support.
New Altar Servers Required
Any child who has received First Communion and would like to become an Altar server please contact the Parish Office on 478078 or leave your name and telephone number via the Parish Website.
ABC - About being Catholic
The series of informal talks designed to give an insight into the teachings and traditions of the Catholic church continues every Monday, starting at 8pm in the Parish Centre. 9th January: Liturgy & The Sacraments. You are welcome to attend some or all of these talks; if you would like more information please speak to Fr Kevin or telephone Pat O’Connell on 712123..
Collection for The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children - SPUC
In 2017 SPUC is commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the passing of the 1967 Abortion Act. Over 8.7 million unborn children have lost their lives due to abortion in the last 50 years. Since 1967 SPUC has been working tirelessly to uphold the sanctity of human life from conception until natural death. Please help make 2017 a landmark year in SPUC’s historic campaign to win legal protection for unborn children. Please be as generous as you can to help SPUC and help save mothers and babies from abortion.
Pastoral Letter
I hope that the celebration of Christmas and our entering into the New Year bring you God's peace and many blessings.
In today's Gospel Saint Luke tells us how the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem brought astonishment and joy to the shepherds and to all who witnessed the coming of the Infant Saviour. In the midst of this "Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart".
Dear brothers and sisters,
I hope that the celebration of Christmas and our entering into the New Year bring you God's peace and many blessings.
In today's Gospel Saint Luke tells us how the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem brought astonishment and joy to the shepherds and to all who witnessed the coming of the Infant Saviour. In the midst of this:
“Mary treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart”
Today we celebrate the Feast of Mary the Mother of God — a human being just like ourselves but uniquely filled with the grace of God. Mary is our mother but also someone who shows us what Christians can become by the grace of God.
Pope Saint John Paul II called Mary The First Disciple of the Lord — the first to believe in the Gospel; Emeritus Pope Benedict calls her The Great Believer.
Saint Augustine was so astonished at the grace of God revealed in the perfection of Mary's life that he said:
“The blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will, and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christ’s disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb Him whom she would obey as her Lord”
Mary gives birth to the Redeemer at Bethlehem; at Pentecost she is in the midst of the apostles as the Church comes to birth. When we witness to the Gospel as faithful disciples of Christ we also imitate Mary. In Saint Augustine's words:
“By bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your power to become mothers of Christ”
If we want to make progress as disciples of The Lord we can look confidently to Mary our Mother and Companion. St Augustine tells us that we should imitate Mary in her discipleship and her Motherhood.
Mary gave birth to the Word of God; throughout her life she lived and breathed that same Word
“Blessed are they who hear and do the Word of God”
She continues to share this treasure in all ages and amongst all peoples.
Mary, The Star of the New Evangelization, remains the model and inspiration for all of us. Pope Saint John Paul II in his encyclical The Mission of the Redeemer, reminded us that evangelisation will always be the first task of the Church. Likewise, in the Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium) Pope Francis insists that missionary outreach must be at the centre of all the Church's activities.
Next year we celebrate our Centenary as the diocese of Brentwood. We can look back with great gratitude at the grace of God but we also need to dare to be brothers, sisters and, yes, mothers of Christ in the world in which we live.
We must seek new and creative ways of sharing the great treasure of our Catholic Christian faith in a world hungry for the justice and peace of God's Kingdom. Every parish should now have a Steward of the Gospel and during the past year our Stewards have been praying and undergoing training for the great mission ahead. Like Mary, Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church, we are called to be like Christ, think like Christ, feel like Christ and act like Christ in all that we do.
May The Lord give us many blessings in the Year ahead — for our families, our parishes, our diocese and our world.
Yours in Christ and Mary,
+Alan Williams, S.M.
Bishop of Brentwood
Mary, Mother of God
We begin the new Year with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Truly, there is no better way of beginning 2017 than by putting ourselves under the maternal protection of the Mother of our Saviour. This New Year is also the start of our Diocesan Centenary. Brentwood Diocese is, like our Parish, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. As we move through this milestone Year, we hope to mark the occasion with several important celebrations, the details of which will follow.
Dear Friends in Christ
We begin the new Year with the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Truly, there is no better way of beginning 2017 than by putting ourselves under the maternal protection of the Mother of our Saviour. This New Year is also the start of our Diocesan Centenary. Brentwood Diocese is, like our Parish, dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. As we move through this milestone Year, we hope to mark the occasion with several important celebrations, the details of which will follow.
As we end one year and begin a new one, let us raise up our hands in thanksgiving to the Most Blessed Trinity, who has called us to live in the Church, the Body of Christ. May Mary accompany us each day of this New Year, as we all seek and strive to know, love and serve Christ in His Holy Catholic Church!
At the end of this Christmas Octave, I thank you all for the greetings that you have sent to me and the other Priests of the Parish: the many cards, gifts and the generous Christmas Offerings. As always at this time, I extend a particular thanks to all of the members of the Parish Family who contribute to the practical and day-to-day efficient running of life here. Without the collaboration of so many of you — especially with my out-of-Parish duties — it would not be possible to continue effectively as Parish Priest. I thank you in the only appropriate way possible: remembering you and yours each day in the prayer of the Divine Office and at Holy Mass.
I am also very grateful to the Priests of the Parish — Fathers Con Joyce, Basil Pearson & John McCollough — for their continued work, availability and willingness to assist me whenever requested.
At the start of a New Year, as we celebrate the Motherhood of Mary, I make some words of St Ambrose my own for you all:
“Let the soul of Mary be in each one of you, to proclaim the greatness of the Lord. Let the spirit of Mary be in each one of you, to rejoice in God. According to the flesh only one woman can be the mother of Christ but in the world of faith Christ is the fruit of all of us. For every soul can receive the Word of God if only it is pure and preserves itself in chastity and modesty.”
Wishing you all a very blessed and grace-filled New Year!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Octave of the Nativity
Mary, Mother of God
Saturday 31
5.30pm Vigil Mass Anna Siani, Deceased, Anniversary
6.30 Exposition & Confession
Sunday 1 January 2017
8am Mass Marcia Clarke, Deceased
9.30 Mass The People of the Parish
11.30 Mass Daniel Abel, Deceased
4pm Mass in Extraordinary Form Private Intention
5.30 Vespers & Benediction
Saints Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops, Doctors of the Church
Monday 2
10am Mass Maureen Regan, Deceased, Anniversary
10.30 Rosary
The Most Holy Name of Jesus
Tuesday 3
9am Mass Thomas Henry Gunn, Deceased
9.30 Rosary
Weekday of Christmas
Wednesday 4
9am Mass Maria Lena, Deceased
9.30 Rosary
Weekday of Christmas
Thursday 5
9am Mass Anne Young, Deceased
9.30 Rosary
2.15pm Requiem Mass Liliana Petrini, Deceased
Weekday of Christmas
Friday 6
12noon Mass Intentions of the Catholic Women's League
12.30-8pm Exposition
8pm Holy Hour & Benediction
Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Priest
Saturday 7
10am Mass Terence, Maisie & Eugene Renehan, Deceased, Anniversary
10.30 Exposition & Confession
Counters & Folders
Counters: Tony Cousins, Mary Cook & Jacky Hoggett.
Newsletter Folders: Amanda Phipps & Clare English.
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children - SPUC
There will be a collection after each Mass next weekend for this worthy cause; please give as generously as you can.
APF Boxholders
The Missio Calendar 2017 is now at the back of the church in the usual place ready for collection if you have not already received one. Joan Caunce, 01268 757505.
Christmas Shoebox Appeal Update
The destination of your filled shoeboxes this year was to Bulgaria and Zambia. Thanks on behalf of all the children.
Dates for your Diary
11th February Start of the Diocesan Centenary year celebrations Feast of our Lady of Lourdes - Mass 12 Noon, followed by Parish lunch in parish Centre
22nd March Centenary Mass at Brentwood Cathedral
Saturday 6th & 13th May First Holy Communion Masses - 10.30am
Saturday 22nd July Walsingham Centenary Pilgrimage
24th September to 1st October Parish mission
Monday 24th/Friday 28th July Parish Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
Please Pray for the Dead on their anniversaries
Canon Patrick McKenna, Fr Francis Heenan, Canon John Bloomfield, Fr Jim Wilkinson, John Sinclair, Joan Gibbins, Kate Lessons, Kathleen Lewin, Gregory Power, Maureen Guihen, Emily Swann, Mary O’Toole, Annie French, Jules Deuss, Ethel Milo, Simon Burgoyne, Violet Jackson, Millicent Ransom, Joseph Hazell, Eileen Murray, Maureen Regan, Len Gardner, Hannah Flintoff, Denis Cartwell, Eileen Bull, Len Plummer, Anthony Ryan, Hilda Edwards,Walter Burden, Ricky (Lola) Clarke, Francis Heenan, Lena Austin, Lucien Staw, Eric Tarrant, Niall Cooney, Essie Glauda, Mary Herbert, Arthur Jackson, Ivy Whiting, Phyllis Sullivan, Patricia Dear, Sibyl Hardy, Gerald Vickers, Minnie Fogarty, Brian McInerney, Blodweh Owen, Louise Marsden & Hester Masi.
May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace.
Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Priests of the Parish join in wishing you all the joy and grace of the birth of our Lord.
The Priests of the Parish join in wishing you all the joy and grace of the birth of our Lord.
December Week IV and the Christmas Octave
Fourth Sunday of Advent
Saturday 17
5.30pm Vigil Mass Tony Poulton & Anne & Albert Shaves, Deceased
6.30 Exposition & Confession
Sunday 18
8am Mass Paul Emmerson, Deceased, Anniversary
8.30 Confession
9.30 Mass The People of the Parish
10.30 Confession
11.30 Mass Marcia Clarke, Deceased
12.30 Confession
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Weekday of Advent
Monday 19
9am Mass Rafael Menacho, Deceased, Anniversary
9.30 Confession
Weekday of Advent
Tuesday 20
9am Mass Delia & Michael McHale, Deceased
9.30 Confession
Weekday of Advent
Wednesday 21
9am Mass Bernadette Perry, Deceased
9.30 Confession
8pm Penance Service
Weekday of Advent
Thursday 22
9am Mass Clare Chadwick, Deceased
9.30 Confession
Weekday of Advent
Friday 23
12noon Mass Jim Kennedy, Deceased
12.30pm Confession
Weekday of Advent
Saturday 24
10am Mass Graham & Dympna Addicott, Wedding Anniversary
10.30-noon Confession
The Nativity of the Lord
Saturday 24
5pm Carols
5.30 Vigil Mass Deceased relations & friends of Braggard & Underwood Families
10.30 Carols
11pm Mass The People of the Parish
Sunday 25
8am Mass Private Intention
9.30 Mass Private Intention
11.30 Mass Private Intention
Saint Stephen, the first martyr
Monday 26
10am Mass Intentions of Altar Servers & their Families
Saint John, Apostle, Evangelist
Tuesday 27
10am Mass Alison Shepherd, Deceased
The Holy Innocents, Martyrs
Wednesday 28
9am Mass Tim & Betty O’Leary, Deceased
Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Bishop, Martyr
Thursday 29
9am Mass Ugo Gardin, Deceased, Anniversary
11am Mass with the Bishop and Seminarians — All welcome
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph
Friday 30
12noon Mass Steve & Agnes McManus, Deceased, Anniversary
Seventh Day of Christmas Octave
Saturday 31
10am Mass Anna Siani, Deceased, Anniversary