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
Sunday 4th June Confirmation Mass - 11.30am
Saturday 22nd July Walsingham Centenary Pilgrimage
Monday 24th/Friday 28th July Parish Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
24th September to 1st October Parish mission
Counters & Folders
Counters: Jan Lewis, Sandie Hippard & Nina Bridgeman
Newsletter Folders: Bobby Newman & Emma Beardsell
Parish Fundraising
Thank you to everyone who supports the 200 Club. The results of the December draw are as follows:
1st prize £150 26 Miss J Gibbons
2nd Prize £100 218 Mrs Samatha Miller
3rd Prize £75 119 Mrs C Warwick-Brown
4th Prize £50 184 Mrs A Peoples
5th Prize £25 185 Mr J Kidney
Subscription is £5.00 per month, either by cash, cheque or direct debit. If you would like to join, please fill in a form which can be found at the back of the church or ring Linda Wall on 01702 558217.
Reception into the Church
During the 11.30 Mass this Sunday, those wishing to be received into the Church at Easter will be presented with copies of the Scriptures. Please keep them in your thoughts & prayers.
Parish Drama Group
A meeting will be held in the Parish Centre on Tuesday, 31st January at 7.30pm for anyone interested in forming a Parish drama group. If you are interested and cannot attend then please contact Angela Clements 07940 183452 or email angelaclements47@gmail.com.
Parish and Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
Monday 24th-Friday 28th July 2017
Four nights (full board) travelling with British Airways via Toulouse and staying at the Grand Hotel Moderne Soubirous will cost £565. Please indicate your interest by putting your name on the list in the Parish Office.
Carmelite Meeting
The next meeting is on Saturday, 28th January. We have a quiet time in the Church at 2pm followed by the Rosary at 2.15pm. We then go to the Parish Centre Newman Room for the meeting. This commences with a cup of tea, talk about our spiritual growth and how we can help one another spiritually, we then have Lectio divina, the meeting usually finishes by 5pm. All parishioners are welcome for all or part of the meeting, why don't you come and see what we do?
Unwanted Gift Sale
The Parish Fundraising Committee would like to thank everyone who donated and turned up to the unwanted gift sale last weekend. We raised over £200.
Serving the Homeless
Our next two events, both on 29th January, are a second collection, for Homelessness Sunday and a 3 course Sunday lunch at 12.30pm at ‘Affinity’. 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.
Prayer for the Homeless
“Loving God, in your house there is room for everyone.
Help us as we strive for a world where everyone has a home that truly meets their needs.
Give us the grace to welcome strangers and refugees.
Give us insight to see where inequality hurts.
Fill us with the courage to do our part.
Save us from being overwhelmed by the scale of the housing crisis,
And show us, Lord, where to begin
Amen”
Please remember in your prayers this week all who are homeless and those that fear they will lose their homes this year. There will be a collection next Sunday for 'Serving the Homeless' which supports many homelessness projects in this area.
Thank you for your continuing support
Jo Ronan
Scripture Group
Fr Con Joyce’s Scripture Group will next meet in the Parish Centre 8pm-9pm on Thursday, 2nd February. Fr. Con will be talking about the prophets. All welcome.
The Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society
The Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society is hosting a Charity Quiz Night on Saturday 25th February at the Brentwood Ursuline Convent High School. The format for the event will be teams of 8 people at a cost of £7.50 per person, with all funds raised going to bccs. The evening will start promptly at 7pm, with a short break halfway through and finish around 10pm; you are invited to bring your own drinks and nibbles. Please contact Julie Abbot– jabbott@bccs.org.uk 01268 784544 / 07912277413 to book your places (all teams must be pre-booked) or to request a Fundraising Quiz Pack for running your own quiz night in your parish for Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society.
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.
Confirmation & The Holy Spirit
ABC - About being Catholic is a 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. 23rd January: Confirmation & The Holy Spirit. 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.
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Friends in Christ
With this Sunday we begin what is known as Ordinary Time which continues from now until the start of Lent on 1st March. The liturgy of this Sunday draws our attention to Christ, the Lamb of God, who has come to take away the sins of the world. The words spoken by John the Baptist are heard in every celebration of the Mass. His invitation is a daily reminder to us of our responsibility and obligation, to show Christ to the world, to make Him known and loved. This is the real aim of the celebration of our Diocesan Centenary Year. This year we are celebrating one hundred years since our Diocese of Brentwood was founded (from the Archdiocese of Westminster). It comprises five London Boroughs and the County of Essex; a wide and varied constituency. In fact Brentwood is now the fourth largest Diocese in England Wales. This provides special opportunities and responsibilities for us to spread the Catholic Faith with renewed enthusiasm.
Dear Friends in Christ
With this Sunday we begin what is known as Ordinary Time which continues from now until the start of Lent on 1st March. The liturgy of this Sunday draws our attention to Christ, the Lamb of God, who has come to take away the sins of the world. The words spoken by John the Baptist are heard in every celebration of the Mass. His invitation is a daily reminder to us of our responsibility and obligation, to show Christ to the world, to make Him known and loved. This is the real aim of the celebration of our Diocesan Centenary Year. This year we are celebrating one hundred years since our Diocese of Brentwood was founded (from the Archdiocese of Westminster). It comprises five London Boroughs and the County of Essex; a wide and varied constituency. In fact Brentwood is now the fourth largest Diocese in England Wales. This provides special opportunities and responsibilities for us to spread the Catholic Faith with renewed enthusiasm.
The official start of the Centenary will be on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes - 11th February - it being the patronal festival of our Diocese and Parish. In Leigh we shall mark the commencement of the Centenary, and our Patronal Festival, by a period of exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. There will be a Sung Mass at noon on 11th followed by a Parish lunch in the Centre. I have invited Fr Stephen Morrison of the Norbertine Priory in Chelmsford to preach that day. Later on in the year, there will be a Parish Mission during the final week of September. I will give more details about this shortly and also indicate the way in which we can prepare for this. I hope 2017 can be for us, and the Diocese in general, a time of wonderful growth in Faith and renewed confidence in our mission to bring Christ to our world.
God bless you all
Msgr Kevin Hale
January Week II
Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saturday 14
5.30pm Vigil Mass Eric Major, Deceased, Anniversary
6.30 Exposition & Confession
Sunday 15
8am Mass Intentions of Peter Wilkinson
9.30 Mass Intentions of Graham & Dympna Addicott
11.30 Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Weekday in Ordinary Time
Monday 16
9am Mass Gabriel Craven, Deceased, Anniversary
9.30 Rosary
Saint Anthony, Abbot
Tuesday 17
9am Mass Marcia Clarke, Deceased
9.30 Rosary
Weekday in Ordinary Time
Wednesday 18
9am Mass Timothy Joseph Callaughan, Deceased
9.30 Rosary
Saint Wulstan, Bishop
Thursday 19
9am Mass Intentions of Gail
9.30 Rosary
5pm Body in Church Anthony Nesnas
Saint Fabian, Priest, Martyr
Friday 20
12noon Requiem Mass Anthony Nesnas
12.30pm Rosary
Saint Agnes, Virgin, Martyr
Saturday 21
10am Mass Bridie Seymour, Deceased
10.30 Exposition & Confession
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
Sunday 4th June Confirmation Mass - 11.30am
Saturday 22nd July Walsingham Centenary Pilgrimage
Monday 24th/Friday 28th July Parish Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes
24th September to 1st October Parish mission