Counters & Folders
Counters: Brian Mountier & Peter Smythe
Folders: Jae Trower & Clare English
Barleylands Fun Walk - Brentwood Catholic Children's Society
Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society is inviting families to join us at the Barleylands Fun Walk on Sunday 8th September 2019 to increase awareness of our work. This is a great fun, family event with a choice of walks on the Barleylands site in Billericay, the longest being no more than 2 miles and a shorter walk which is suitable for children & toddlers. There will be stalls serving cakes/biscuits and ice-cream available from 12pm and the community walk will start at 12.45pm & finish around 2pm. This is an ideal opportunity for families or parish groups to get together and have a fun afternoon while raising much needed funds for BCCS’. For a sponsorship form and more information, please go to https://www.bccs.org.uk/fundraising-and-events or contact Julie on jabbott@bccs.org.uk Look out for our BCCS pitch at the start line and come and say hello!
HARP
Thank you for all the recent donations of groceries and clothing, which we are very grateful for. However, due to incidents of bed bugs in donated bedding, we can no longer accept duvets or any form of bedclothes.
This month's wish list: bottles of squash, individually wrapped biscuits, small packets of crisps, men's and women's deodorants.
Altar Serving
We would like to recruit some more Altar Servers: anyone post-First Holy Communion age who would like to be trained to serve Holy Mass, is asked to give their names to Father Kevin or send to the parish Office.
Please Pray for the Repose of the Souls of:
Denise Gianelli, RIP who died recently. Her Requiem Mass will be held on Friday 27th September at 11am followed by committal at Southend Cemetery.
Basil Emmerson, RIP who died recently. His Requiem Mass will be held on Wednesday, 2nd October at 11am followed by committal at Southend Crematorium.
Baptism Preparation Evenings
The next Baptism Preparation Sessions will take place on Tuesdays 10th and 17th September. They will take place the Parish Centre at 8pm. For further information, please contact Catherine or Andy Harris on 077333 27295.
Pivotal Players - New from Bishop Barron
There will be a screening of the NEW instalment in Bishop Barron’s best-selling ‘Pivotal Players’ series, which is a multi-part film series that illumines a handful of saints, artists, mystics and scholars who not only shaped the life of the Church but changed the course of civilisation.
Series 2 of this ground-breaking series will be shown on Monday evenings at 8pm in the Parish Centre with two incredible saints from the fourth and fifth centuries:
St. Augustine of Hippo – 23rd September 2019
St. Benedict of Nursia - 30th September 2019
You can watch the "The Pivotal Players - St. Augustine & St. Benedict" series trailer here: https://youtu.be/kUNogvef5lM
Tea on the Terrace - 21st September 2.30pm
Come and enjoy a superb Afternoon Tea in the Parish Centre and meet friends old and new. Tickets will be on sale after all Masses from this weekend and from the Parish office during the week. £8 adults and £25.00 for a family.
OLL Ladies Group
OLL Ladies Group meets on Thursday at 10.30am in the Parish Centre. This will be an opportunity to put your name down for the trip to Cambridge in October or just come along and enjoy tea and cake in a friendly, relaxing space. Subs only £1.
First Holy Communion 2020
There will be a parent’s meeting on Thursday 26th September at 8pm in the Parish Centre for those parents who have registered their child for First Holy Communion in 2020.
The Bethlehem Nativity Group
A missionary from Bethlehem,The Holy Land will visit us this weekend to briefly talk about the Holy Land and sell religious articles made out of Olive Wood from the Holy Land to help and support the poor Christian families, (“when you help the poor you help our Lord”).
We Pray for our Sick
Lyn Gopee, Vita D’Souza, Patricia Vanner, Amy Louise Fox, Sarah Savage, Bill O’Connell, Sheena Reeves, Janet Weale, Charlotte O’Neil, Ella Williams, David Kislingbury, Mark Shepherd, Eileen Bines, Frank Bramley, Mark Hartley, Canon Daniel Harnett, Austin Butler, Christine Robinson, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Rose Craft, Maureen Gooding, Dympna Addecott, Pat Lynch, Christian Ryan, Mike Rubbert, Tina Doveaston, Addi Brady, Ben Wilson, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Nan Carrit, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Janet Woods, Lynne Hilkene, June Moncaster, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch, Maria Clark, Roy Widdecombe, Johanna Lynch, Anthony King, Chas Taylor, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Johnnie Pool, Edward Martin, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Hugh Isaacs, Josephine Griggs, Colleen Worley, Dawn Deleigh, Lorraine Hart, Linda Dean, Wyn McCafferty, Antonella McConalogue, Eddie McConalogue, Sharon Levill, Georgina Cornwell, Annie Holland, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Bernadette Lane, Irena Solecki, Ianto Bellis, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Richard Collins, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith, Mick Cordingley & children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
Please Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Mgr Canon Michael Wilson, Fr Charles Johnson, Fr Conrad Smith, Fr Theophilus Borer, Abp George Andrew Beck, AA, Canon James Hemming, Deacon Arthur Woods, Fr Louis Heston, Edith Murray, William Peck, Marie Bailey, Francis Ryan, John Burns, Mary Cope, Winifred Gansen, Joseph Manton, William Allen, Jim Hayes, Peter Green, Joseph Thurlow, Elsie Ivett, Anne Brooks, Mary Manton, William Wheaton, Kathleen Matthews, Eliza Moore, Mary Wright, Wilfred Sawyer, Kathleen McGowan, Anne McCarthy, Veronica Maguire, Joyce Wager, Alan Bush, Patricia Lawrence, Kathleen Horning, Bill Jarrett, Ann Dodd, Marie Browne, Jack Abbott, Dario Peretti, Philomena Conley & Frank Maguire.
May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace.
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Friends in Christ
On every occasion possible, our Lord takes the opportunity to remind the Pharisees of the need for humility, the need to know our place before God. He does this through a variety of teachings, and in the Gospel of this Sunday, in the parable of the banquet. Why is it that our natural inclination is to seek the first place? We all have natural ambition, and there is nothing bad about that, but it needs to be tempered with humility and the true knowledge that we have of ourselves, seeing ourselves all the while, as God sees us. This is what the Readings at Mass this Sunday remind us.
Dear Friends in Christ
On every occasion possible, our Lord takes the opportunity to remind the Pharisees of the need for humility, the need to know our place before God. He does this through a variety of teachings, and in the Gospel of this Sunday, in the parable of the banquet. Why is it that our natural inclination is to seek the first place? We all have natural ambition, and there is nothing bad about that, but it needs to be tempered with humility and the true knowledge that we have of ourselves, seeing ourselves all the while, as God sees us. This is what the Readings at Mass this Sunday remind us.
Many of you will be starting a new school year this week: students, staff and families all resume the normal pace of life that gets a welcome renewal over the Summer weeks. We thank God for all the benefits we have enjoyed: our holidays (if we were fortunate enough to go away), the fine weather, our friends and the many good things we enjoy. If God is always kept at the centre of our lives, our families and our relationships, then we are guaranteed joy and fulfilment. As we begin a new academic year, it is also a time when life in the Parish resumes; with preparation for the Sacraments and the other initiatives we are trying to implement; always with an eye to evangelisation, the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we go forward together united in faith, hope and charity.
God bless you all, and especially our schools in the coming weeks!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Priest@LourdesLeigh.org ✚ 01702 478078
The Sunday Homily is available as a podcast at LourdesLeigh.org
Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Sunday 1st September
Saturday 5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30pm–7.30pm Exposition & Confession
8.00am Mass Intentions of Vivien Clancy (100th Birthday) (CB)
9.30am Mass Frank Edgley, RIP (Anniv) (SN)
11.30am Mass John & Pat Moon & Valerie Griggs, RIP (SM)
4.00pm Mass Helen Hiscock, RIP (MH) - Extraordinary Form
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 2 Feria
9.00am Mass John Jarvis, RIP (Anniv) (VJ)
Tuesday 3 ST GREGORY THE GREAT, P, D
9.00am Mass Liam Armstrong, RIP (JA)
Wednesday 4 St Cuthbert, Bp
9.00am Mass Phyllis Cheeseman, RIP (Anniv) (CC)
Thursday 5 St Teresa of Calcutta, Rel
9.00am Mass Margaret McFarlane, RIP (Anniv) (MW)
Friday 6 Feria
12Noon Mass Intentions of Karen Clark (MC)
12.30pm Exposition after Mass until
8.00pm Holy Hour & Benediction
Saturday 7 Feria
10.00am Mass Antoinette Cowell, RIP Memorial Mass
10.30am-11.30am Exposition & Confession
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Sunday 8th September
Saturday 5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30pm–7.30pm Exposition & Confession
8.00am Mass Frank & Ann Ryan, RIP (Anniv) (JL)
9.30am Mass Jim McEvoy, RIP (STH)
11.30am Mass Dennis Hippard, RIP (Anniv) (SH)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
The Sacrament of Penance is available on request
Services from the church are live streameember
On Holy Communion
The Church teaches us that the Mass is the source and summit of the Christian life. From this follows the essential importance of our participation at the Mass every week; this is not simply a precept of the Church but a commandment of God Who wills His People join together in worship every Sunday, the Lord's Day. The best and ultimate expression of our participation is Eucharistic Communion. Our Holy Communion with Christ at Mass is an expression of our faith in His real presence in the Sacrament; it signifies our communion with one another; and it is an assent to the full body of teaching of the Catholic Church; this is the meaning of the Amen we pronounce at the moment of reception. There are often people at Mass who cannot receive for various reasons, either because they are not Catholic, have not received first Holy Communion or because there are spiritual obstacles which have not yet been overcome. Each of us participates in the Mass according to our capacity, but it is our presence at Mass that is important wether or not we receive Holy Communion. There has evolved the custom, for those not receiving, to come forward and with a clear indication (an arm placed on our shoulder) to receive the sign of the Cross; this is not exactly a blessing - the blessing is given to everyone at the end of Mass - but a symbol of the touch of Christ at that moment.
In preparation for Holy Communion, if we are receiving, we should have fasted from food and drink (except water) for one hour. This is not necessary if we are elderly or have to take medicine. Above all, it is necessary that we be in a state of grace; this means that if we are conscious of serious sin we should have gone to sacramental Confession first.
In receiving Holy Communion the universal norm of the Church is reception upon the tongue; in England there is an Indult (a special permission) for receiving Communion in the hand. Whichever form we choose, it is important that we indicate clearly and receive with proper care and reverence. Before we receive, we should make an act of adoration in recognition of the One we are receiving; this takes the form of a genuflection or deep bow as the person in front of us is receiving. St Augustine reminds us: Adore first, what you are to receive. If receiving upon the tongue, the proper manner is to extend our tongue so that the Sacred Host can be placed upon it easily; the Host should not be pecked-at or snatched with the lips. If receiving in the hand, this is done by placing one hand upon the other, receiving the Host in the palm and then placing it into the mouth carefully before moving away; and not done one-handedly. Children especially, are asked to ensure that they raise their hands to a suitable height and stand close to the priest or extraordinary minister. If we are carrying a child or a walking aid, it is common sense to receive on the tongue. The Host should not be snatched or walked-away with; we ask everyone to be vigilant in this. When receiving the Blood of Christ from the chalice, we take the chalice carefully with both hands, sip, and carefully return it. In whichever manner we receive we pronounce a distinct and audible Amen.
The period after Holy Communion is for private prayer, and if there is a Communion chant or hymn, this is followed by a period of silent thanksgiving. It is a help and kindness to everyone else at Mass if a prayerful silence is observed, remembering that this time is an intimate moment of Communion with Jesus, our Lord and God. Those who have not received Communion might like to make what is called a Spiritual Communion at this point, using a formula such as:
“I wish Lord to receive You now, with the purity, humility and devotion with which Your most holy Mother received You, and with the spirit and fervour of the Saints.”
There is nothing greater in the whole of our Catholic Faith that the Presence of Jesus with us at Mass and in Holy Communion. We can never grow too-used to this Gift and Mystery and by continually reminding ourselves of Who it is we receive, then we will approach the Altar with ever greater awareness, faith and devotion.
St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) 'Awareness Month' 2019
‘Awareness Month’ is our annual opportunity to highlight the SVP’s presence in our local parishes and communities and promote a deeper appreciation and understanding of our work. This in turn can help people who are in need of support to know how to contact us, and those who may be thinking about joining the Society to take their interest further.
Founded in Paris in 1833 by Blessed Frederic Ozanam with a group of companions, and taking St Vincent de Paul as its patron, the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) is a Christ-centred organisation made up of almost 10,000 volunteers across England and Wales. While every local group or ‘Conference’ is unique, our mission is the same; to seek and find those in need, to help them in the spirit of justice and to tackle the causes of poverty where we can.
With Christian values at our core, members of the St Vincent de Paul Society work in a variety of different ways including visiting and befriending the lonely and housebound, supporting locally (and in strict confidence) individuals and families in financial need, as well as supporting SVP Conferences in developing countries with disaster relief efforts and the education of their young people. Our Annual Appeal to parishioners’ for their financial support will be made at Masses in the parish on 21st & 22nd September; SVP ‘Gift Aid’ envelopes are available at the back of the Church if you are able to increase the value of your donation in this way. Should you would like to know more about the work that takes place in your local Conference please contact: Francis O’Brien Tel. 01702-552373.
Next Parish Evangelisation Meeting
Following our August 'break', the monthly Parish Evangelisation Team meetings now recommence with the September meeting being held this coming Thursday, 5th September, 8-9pm, in the Parish Centre. All parishioners are considered members of the Parish Evangelisation Team - we are all called to share the Good News of the Gospel! - so all parishioners are invited to attend these monthly meetings held on the first Thursday of each month (bar August!). Please join us - you will be most welcome! Meetings culminate with a period of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament and conclude promptly at 9pm.