Journey of Faith (RCIA)
A series of informal talks, designed to give an insight into the teachings and traditions of the Catholic church, continues on Monday 22nd January at 8pm in the Parish Centre with The Sacraments, Baptism and Confirmation.
You are welcome to attend some or all of these talks; if you would like more information please speak to Fr Kevin.
May they rest in peace
Please pray for the Repose of the Souls of those who died recently in the Parish
Frances Ryan†
Monday 5th February
10.15am Requiem Mass
Adrian Dann†
Wednesday 7th February
5pm body received into the Church
Thursday 8th February
10.15am Requiem Mass
Helen Cotton†
Thursday 8th February
5pm body received into the Church
Friday 9th February
2.15pm Requiem Mass
Kay Dodd†
Thursday 15th February
3pm Requiem Mass
We pray for our sick
Eileen Byczynski, Maureen Gooding, Paul Keane, Graham Addecott, Mabel Addecott, Christian Ryan, Arthur Mills, Mike Rubbert, Teresa O’Brien, Maureen Deekes, Noel Fagan, Patricia Abram, Tina Doveaston, Pat Lynch, Rose Craft, Addi Brady, Ben Wilson, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Brita Irons, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nan Carrit, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Lyn Gopee, Margaret Harrington, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Dympna Addecott, Janet Woods, Lynne Hilkene, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch, Roy Widdecombe, Johanna Lynch, Maria Clark, June Moncaster, Sheila McBrearty, Anthony King, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Edward Martin, Johnnie Pool, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Barbara Sheaf, Josephine Griggs, Colleen Worley, Antonella McConalogue, Fr Jean Laurent Marie, Noel Kolb, Eddie McConalogue, Georgina Cornwell, Lorraine Hart, Dawn Deleigh, Wyn McCafferty, Linda Dean, Annie Holland, Martin Buckley, Chas Taylor, Martha Braun, John Lavery, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, David Clark, David Askew, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Sharon Levill, Bernadette Lane, David Kislingury, Maureen Ward, Jane Jowers, Irena Solecki, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Rosemary Arscott, Lanto Bellis, Richard Collins, Niqui Denkmayer, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith and children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Lucy Price, Connie Price, Mary Isherwood, Frazer Gregory, baby Talia Emery and Hattie Seymour.
Please Pray for the Dead on their anniversaries
Bp Bernard Ward, Fr Christopher Quirke, Pope Benedict XV, Bp Arthur Doubleday, Fr John O’Sullivan, Fr John Hibbert, Fr Alfred Field, Bp Patrick Casey, Hubert A. Connolly, Jimmy Baker, Catherine Morris, Frances May Emmerson, John Mansfield, Rose Nice, Isobel King, Conor Patrick Hartley-Anderson, Mary Vermeulen, John Dillon, T. Fitzpatrick, Mary Lilian Clarke, Ellen Rose Brooks, Sarah Mann, William Hands, Kathleen Cooke, Phylis Faulkner, Ida Wallace, Bridget McGrath, Huguette Farrelly, Vera Plummer, May Fazio, Elsie Tyrrell, Phyllis Collins, Michael McDermott & Gloria Dickens.
May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace
SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Sunday 14th January
We enter this weekend some weeks of Ordinary Time before the season of Lent. The Gospel presents us with the calling of the first two disciples of Jesus: Through these words of the Baptist, these two disciples are moved by grace to approach the Lord. John’s testimony is an example of the special graces God distributes to attract people to himself. Sometimes he addresses a person directly by stirring his soul and inviting him to follow him; at other times, as in the present case, he chooses to use someone close to us who knows us, to bring us to meet Christ.
Dear Friends in christ
We enter this weekend some weeks of Ordinary Time before the season of Lent. The Gospel presents us with the calling of the first two disciples of Jesus: Through these words of the Baptist, these two disciples are moved by grace to approach the Lord. John’s testimony is an example of the special graces God distributes to attract people to himself. Sometimes he addresses a person directly by stirring his soul and inviting him to follow him; at other times, as in the present case, he chooses to use someone close to us who knows us, to bring us to meet Christ.
The two disciples already had a keen desire to see the Messiah; John’s words move them to try to become friends of our Lord: it is not merely natural curiosity but Christ’s personality which attracts them. They want to get to know him, to be taught by him and to enjoy his company. “Come and see” a tender invitation to begin that intimate friendship they were seeking. Time and personal contact with Christ will be needed to make them more secure in their vocation. The apostle St John, one of the protagonists in this scene, notes the exact time it took place: “it was about the tenth hour”, roughly four in the afternoon. Christian faith can never be just a matter of intellectual curiosity; it affects one’s whole life: a person cannot understand it unless he really lives it; therefore, our Lord does not at this point tell them in detail about his way of life; he invites them to spend the day with him. St Thomas Aquinas comments on this passage saying that our Lord speaks in a lofty, mystical way because what God is (in himself or in grace) can only be understood through experience: words cannot describe it. We grow in this understanding by doing good works (they immediately accepted Christ’s invitation and as a reward “they saw”), by recollection and by applying our mind to the contemplation of divine things, by desiring to taste the sweetness of God, by assiduous prayer. Our Lord invited everyone to do all this when he said, “Come and see”, and the disciples discovered it all when, in obedience to our Lord, “they went” and were able to learn by personal experience, whereas they could not understand the words alone. Jesus has called each of us in the same way. St Peter reminds us that we should ‘make this call and choice of ours, a daily reality.” God bless us as we move to live the vocation God has given each of us more faithfully.
Msgr Kevin Hale
Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
Homily available at LourdesLeigh.org
SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Sunday 14th January
SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Sunday 14th January
Saturday 5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30pm–7.30pm Exposition & Confession
8.00am Mass Elaine Williams, RIP (Anniv) (MC)
9.30am Mass Eric Major, RIP (Anniv) (PM)
11.30am Mass Patrick Farrell, RIP (Anniv) (TE)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 15 Feria
9.00am Mass Jeremiah O’Connell, RIP (W&PO’C)
Tuesday 16 Feria
9.00am Mass Edward & Eileen Brennan, RIP (Anniv) (AG)
Wednesday 17 St Anthony, Ab
9.00am Mass The Brawn Family
Thursday 18 Feria
9.00am Mass Alfredo Tisi, RIP (K&LW)
Friday 19 St Wulstan, Bp
12Noon Mass Special Intention for Joe & Joan Hurley (MS)
Saturday 20 St Fabian, P, M
10.00am Mass Adrian Dann, RIP (S&B)
10.30am-11.30am Exposition & Confession
THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Sunday 21st January
Saturday 5.30pm Vigil Anne Young, RIP (CWL)
6.30pm–7.30pm Exposition & Confession
8.00am Mass Frances Emmerson, RIP (Anniv) (AE)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Andrew & Mary Murray, RIP (UO’K)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We pray for our sick
Maureen Gooding, Paul Keane, Graham Addecott, Mabel Addecott, Christian Ryan, Arthur Mills, Mike Rubbert, Teresa O’Brien, Maureen Deekes, Noel Fagan, Patricia Abram, Tina Doveaston, Pat Lynch, Rose Craft, Addi Brady, Ben Wilson, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Brita Irons, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nan Carrit, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Lyn Gopee, Margaret Harrington, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Dympna Addecott, Janet Woods, Lynne Hilkene, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch, Roy Widdecombe, Johanna Lynch, Thomas Corrigan, Maria Clark, June Moncaster, Sheila McBrearty, Anthony King, Norma McCleverty,
Belinda Balazsi, Edward Martin, Johnnie Pool, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Barbara Sheaf, Josephine Griggs, Colleen Worley, Antonella McConalogue, Fr Jean Laurent Marie, Noel Kolb, Eddie McConalogue, Georgina Cornwell, Lorraine Hart, Dawn Deleigh, Wyn McCafferty, Linda Dean, Annie Holland, Martin Buckley, Chas Taylor, Martha Braun, John Lavery, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, David Clark, David Askew, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Sharon Levill, Bernadette Lane, David Kislingury, Maureen Ward, Jane Jowers, Irena Solecki, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Rosemary Arscott, Lanto Bellis, Richard Collins, Niqui Denkmayer, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith and children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Lucy Price, Connie Price, Mary Isherwood, Frazer Gregory, baby Talia Emery and Hattie Seymour.
Please Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr John King, Fr Gilbert Basil Pearson, Fr Neville Banks, Fr Kenneth Green Canon Charles Kuypers, Mgr Canon David Donnelly, Fr John Meehan, Georges Egidio, Dr Robert Clark, Catherine Mills, Pat Rogers, Patricia Manning, Eric Major,John Mayo, Anna Sokl, Rose-Margaret Gilbert, Mary Ann Foley, Elsie Nicol,Nancy Hume, Annie Shea, Gordon Wallen, Brigid Connolly, Violet Read,
Gabriel Craven, Patrick Connolly, Brenda Campbell, Germaine Cave-Palmer, Renee Warburton, Robert Garson-Gratidge, Breeda Hayes, Bridget Kelly, Maud Reddy, Catherine Woods, Eugene Regan, Barry Anderson, Anne Ryan, Bernard Leonard, John F Dillon, Ilene Axson, Dora Maria Trieste Arhott,Teresa Moule, Courtney Choat-Kelly & Kathleen Goddard.
May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace.
Dates for your Diary
Wednesday, 14th February Ash Wednesday
21st, 28th February ) Marriage Preparation
7th - 14th March )
12th & 19th May First Holy Communions
20th May Confirmation
HCPT 60
Rayleigh Parish has its own HCPT group which travels to Lourdes at Easter with disabled and disadvantaged children. Around 1,000 children from the UK travel to Lourdes, as well as groups from Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, USA and the West Indies. Including helpers, nurses, doctors and chaplains there are around 5,000 taking part in the pilgrimage. We are looking to expand our group and need more adult helpers to travel with us next Easter as well as a nurse for the group. If you are interested or would like some more information, please contact Sandra Spooner (Group Deputy) by email at spoonersandra@hotmail.com.
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land - Led by Fr Eamonn Power
The Parish of Our Lady of Canvey & the English Martyrs invites you to join their Pilgrimage to the Holy Land – In The Footsteps of Christ & the Holy Family (Travel dates: Thursday 10th May to Thursday 17th May 2018). This pilgrimage is organised and coordinated by Anam Cara Travel. Cost is £1,370. This includes 4* Hotels on a half board basis, flights & all excursions. If you are interested or for further information please contact Cathy on 07885 577 342.
Tea/coffee & Homemade Cakes
Every Monday & Thursday after 9am Mass. Why not pop into the Parish Centre, meet friends and enjoy coffee and cake!
Parish/Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes Monday 23rd - Saturday 28th July 2018
Five nights (full board) travelling with British Airways via Toulouse and staying at the Grand Moderne Hotel will cost £665 per pilgrim. Please indicate your interest by putting your name on the list in the Parish Office.
PILGRIMAGE to KNOCK SHRINE, IRELAND - 28th MAY 2018
Inaugural Diocesan Pilgrimage to Knock Shrine, Ireland, 28th May 2018. Led by Bishop Alan Williams. £699.00 per person sharing. Price includes flights from London Stansted with 15kg checked in bag, all taxes, transfers, 5 nights’ in newly refurbished Knock House Hotel, in the grounds of the shrine, with full Irish Breakfast each morning, light lunch and 4 Course Dinner each evening. All entertainment and guided tours included. Wheelchair accessible rooms in the hotel. Limited single rooms available. Groups and Individual bookings welcome. Excellent programme of prayer time, masses, liturgies, excursions and evening activities. We will also visit Ballintubber Abbey, Croagh Patrick, Westport and other famous sights in Co. Mayo. Contact 01268 762278 or email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com Knock Pilgrimages is a member of the Travel Trust Association and is fully protected by ATOL T7613.
Friday Film Night
Live Simply invite you to view The Shack (based on the highly acclaimed book)on Friday January 19th in the Parish Centre at 7.30pm.
Refreshments will be on sale in aid of refugee charities.
All are welcome.