Please Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
Waltrand Anne Kirk, RIP who died recently.
Allan Thompson, RIP who died on 25th March.
Mary McKeever, RIP who died recently.
Please Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Patrick Donohue, Fr Owen Fitzgerald, Fr John O’Mahoney, Fr William Donelan, Fr George Duckett, . Winifred Duffield, Patricia Abram, May Provera, Andrew Traynor, Eileen Goodwin-Self, John Clements, Ian Walker, John Adams, Agnes Dorothy (Queenie) Ransom, Martin Payne, Peter Abel, James Kennedy, Sebastiano Marino, Stephen Bendall, Orla Shapiro, Antonio Capone, Mary Ellen O’Driscoll, Kenneth Sigovallan, Doris McEvoy, Cecelia Spendley, Wilfred Walton, Phyllis Osment & Beryl Rombaut.
We Pray for our Sick
Anne Owen, Adrian Barclay, Patricia Ann Darroch, Peg Larman, Ian Irwin, Sylvia Clancy, Patricia Vanner, Amy Louise Fox, Sarah Savage, Bill O’Connell, Janet Weale, Charlotte O’Neil, Ella Williams, David Kislingbury, Mark Shepherd, Eileen Bines, Breege McCaffrey, Mark Hartley, Austin Butler, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Pat Lynch, Maureen Gooding, Dympna Addecott, Ben Wilson, Christian Ryan, Mike Rubbert, Tina Doveaston, Addi Brady, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Rose Craft, 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, Georgina Cornwell, Antonella McConalogue, Eddie McConalogue, Sharon Levill, 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, Keith Maliff & children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
The start of the Paschal Triduum
Let us begin the Paschal Triduum with a resolve — even in our isolation — to follow Jesus as closely as we can
Let us begin the Paschal Triduum with a resolve — even in our isolation — to follow Jesus as closely as we can…
Audio version:
This is also available as a podcast in iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher
A Holy Week Like no Other
As we approach a Holy Week like no other any of us has ever experienced, let us keep the Cross at the centre of our lives…
As we approach a Holy Week like no other any of us has ever experienced, let us keep the Cross at the centre of our lives…
Audio version:
This is also available as a podcast in iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher
How to live Holy Week at home
Next week will be a very strange Holy Week. This year there will be no pubic Chrism Mass or washing of feet on Maundy Thursday, no public veneration of the cross on Good Friday, no public Easter Vigil. But what we can do is live Holy Week at home. We can live-stream Masses and the Good Friday liturgy, perhaps Stations of the Cross too, and we can do our best to live it from home in other ways. Here are some tips on how to enter into the spirit of the week from home:
Making Sunday Special When You Can’t Get to Mass
In these difficult times, Catholics in the UK and across the world find themselves unable to attend Sunday Mass. To keep your spiritual life flourishing, here are some things you can do when you can't go to Mass.
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
This Sunday at Mass we celebrate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to begin the days of His Passion. We listen again to Saint Matthew’s account of the Passion.
Dear Friends in Christ
This Sunday at Mass we celebrate the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to begin the days of His Passion. We listen again to Saint Matthew’s account of the Passion. My favourite words on Holy Week are of St Albert the Great: One tear shed over the Passion of Our Lord is worth more than a whole year of fasting on bread and water. Maybe that tear will come as we listen to the account of Passion this Sunday or on Good Friday; or when we meditate on the Way of the Cross, or gaze upon the Crucified Lord and kiss the Cross on Good Friday. Perhaps it may come when we feel the pain of separation from the Sacraments and Holy Communion in these days of trial. Whatever our experiences this Holy Week, we must not let it pass as though life is on-hold. I suggest that we try to follow the liturgies of this Week as best we can. Use one of the resources available like Magnificat (which you can access free online) or the App Universalis (for the Divine Office and liturgy). Take one of the blest palms which you can collect from the outside altar in the Memorial Garden of the church. Set up a simple altar at home so that as families there is a focal point for our prayer this week. Have the crucifix centrally placed and together follow the live-streaming of the Paschal Triduum Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday I shall have to celebrate alone in the church for the first time in my life! As I stand at the Altar each day alone, I know that I am surrounded by the Saints and Angels, and that even without the physical presence of you, the Faithful, I am comforted to know that so many of you are following as best you can. By these efforts we can relive the events of Holy Week with deep faith and piety.
Holy Week brings home to us that we are in need of the Redemption ever more keenly in our time. At the end of the dark drama of Holy Week there is the brightness of the Risen Christ. Our world, whether it knows it or not, stands more than ever before, in need of the Redemption. Let us together try to follow Our Lord from His entry into Jerusalem, through to the Upper Room of the first Mass, to His sacrificial death on Calvary, to the tomb, and then finally to the glory of Easter Day. I pray for you all intensely at this time; pray for me, please!
God bless you as individuals and families and keep you safe!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Saturday 4th April
5.30pm Vigil Vincent Dennett, RIP (MC)
6.30-7.30 Exposition with the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary
Sunday 5 April
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30-6.30pm Exposition & Benediction
6 April Monday in Holy Week
9am Mass Agnes Watkins, RIP (M&MO'D)
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 6-7pm
7 April Tuesday in Holy Week
9am Mass Tony Irons, RIP (Anniv) (JV)
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 6-7pm
8 April Wednesday in Holy Week
9am Mass Intentions of Simone Dann (MC)
6-7pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
9 April Maundy Thursday
8pm Mass of The Lord’s Supper Private Intention
10 April Good Friday — day of fasting & abstinence
3pm Solemn Liturgy of Our Lord’s Passion
8pm Meditations on the Way of the Cross & Blessing with the Relic of the True Cross
11 April Holy Saturday
8pm Easter Vigil & First Mass of Easter The People of the Parish
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
12 April
11.30am Mass Private Intention
5.30pm Exposition & Benediction
Public worship is suspended
All services are live streamed
Sacrament of Penance
The following may help us through the present crisis, especially if we are anxious about not being able to have access to the Sacrament of Penance (Confession) at this time:
The inability to respond to a person’s request to access the Sacrament of Reconciliation goes very much against all our instincts as priests and our desire to bring the Lord’s mercy to those who seek it. We cannot though, in this period of quarantine as well as the restrictions on travel and gathering together, provide a responsible and safe access to this Sacrament. For the safety of the penitent and ourselves at this time, the normal circumstances under which we can offer the Sacrament of Reconciliation to the faithful are almost entirely absent.
Recently, the Holy Father said something in a homily which may help someone who is unable to go to confession at this time:
“I know that many of you go to confession before Easter... Many will say to me: ‘But Father...I can’t leave the house and I want to make my peace with the Lord...How can I do that unless I find a priest’? ...Do what the catechism says. It’s very clear. If you don’t find a priest to go to confession, speak to God. He’s your Father. Tell Him the truth: ‘Lord. I did this and this and this. Pardon me.’ Ask His forgiveness with all your heart with an act of contrition, and promise Him, ‘afterward I will go to confession.’ You will return to God’s grace immediately.”
Our Catechism also address perfect contrition:
“When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called ‘perfect’ - contrition of charity. Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.”
Requests for individual confession are almost impossible to meet within the restrictions we are obliged to follow for the safety of penitents at this time. For this reason, it is deemed both reasonable and pastorally responsible for a priest to refuse a request for individual confession in these exceptional times. This will not be an easy thing for us to do. In these circumstances we must do all we can to explain to the penitent what the Church says they can and should do.
Therefore, the Bishops of England and Wales have asked that all who desire to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation should be encouraged and helped to make a Perfect Act of Contrition at this time.
Weekly Offerings
Thank you for the continued support you are providing to the Parish by sending in your offertory envelopes, the donations online and the new standing orders that many have taken out. This is even more appreciated given the financial difficulties many of us are having but the bills still keep coming in here too!
Many thanks!
Please Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
Waltrand Anne Kirk, RIP who died recently.
Allan Thompson, RIP who died on 25th March.
Please Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Deacon Geoffrey Piper, Fr Thomas Adkins, Dr Ronnie Shapiro, Leslie Drayton, Rene Sanctuary, Harry McNally, Rose Mary Brinkley, Donald Cussen, Mary McKenzie, Michael Maloney, Miriam Cunniffe, Marjorie Pollard, James Tully, John Welham, Laurence Westwood, Will Coveney, Robert Ellis, Anthony Irons, Clare Ann Houlihan, James Poskitt, Esther Martin, Frances Phillips, Christopher Bennett, Francis Hoey, Patrick Manning, Patricia Logan & Frank Nagle.
We Pray for our Sick
Anne Owen, Adrian Barclay, Patricia Ann Darroch, Peg Larman, Ian Irwin, Sylvia Clancy, Patricia Vanner, Amy Louise Fox, Sarah Savage, Bill O’Connell, Janet Weale, Charlotte O’Neil, Ella Williams, David Kislingbury, Mark Shepherd, Eileen Bines, Breege McCaffrey, Mark Hartley, Austin Butler, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Pat Lynch, Maureen Gooding, Dympna Addecott, Ben Wilson, Christian Ryan, Mike Rubbert, Tina Doveaston, Addi Brady, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Rose Craft, 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, Georgina Cornwell, Antonella McConalogue, Eddie McConalogue, Sharon Levill, 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, Keith Maliff & children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
Message from Fr Kevin
Keep your faith
Today I ask you to keep your Faith during this trial
Message from Fr Kevin
Today join in the Rededication of our land to our Blessed Lady at 11.30am Mass. Please join me in those prayers.
Today join in the Rededication of our land to our Blessed Lady at 11.30am Mass
Please join me in those prayers
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Dear Friends in Christ
We have begun the final two weeks of Lent: Passiontide. The purple veiling of our crucifixes reminds us of the sombre nature of these days contemplating Our Lord’s suffering and death. Let us not relax our fervent living of Lent during this crisis but redouble our efforts to pray and purify our lives of everything ungodly. Even if it is the most unusual Lent we have ever had!
Dear Friends in Christ
We have begun the final two weeks of Lent: Passiontide. The purple veiling of our crucifixes reminds us of the sombre nature of these days contemplating Our Lord’s suffering and death. Let us not relax our fervent living of Lent during this crisis but redouble our efforts to pray and purify our lives of everything ungodly. Even if it is the most unusual Lent we have ever had!
Celebrating Mass these days in an empty church is one of the most strange experiences I have had in my years as a priest. However, I am aware from your communications, that hundreds of you have been connected through the internet to the offering of the Mass. Do introduce others to this facility if they are not aware of it or don't know how to access it; this has proven to be such a great benefit. One of the most touching images I received last weekend, was children in a family setting up an altar at home with statues and candles with the live-streaming of Mass in the background. This is a perfect way of participating in the rhythm of prayer — focused on Holy Mass — which continues in our churches even without a physical presence. Do continue to be part of the praying Church by reading the Scriptures, using the materials available online and making Spiritual Communions.
Thank you for continuing to support the Parish with your offerings. Those of you with Offertory envelopes could post them through The Presbytery door; you might consider setting-up a Standing Order or Bank transfer or using the online “Donate” facility of the Parish website. Your continued generosity is all the more appreciated given that everyone will be struggling financially.
The schedule of Masses and Services continue much as normal apart from there being only one Sunday morning Mass at 11.30. I wish you assure you that I am praying constantly for the Parish. The upside of this crisis is that it gives us more time for prayer! I am missing seeing you all, but if you need me for anything, then please call me. I am so grateful for the very many emails I am receiving which are so positive and supportive. This crisis will not be brief but it will pass. We can unite our experience with all those who have been, and continue to be, without the benefit of Mass and the Sacraments because of persecution or isolation. When this is all over we can return to Mass with renewed love and enthusiasm, and, we must hope and pray, with even greater numbers.
This Sunday is the moment of the Rededication of England to Our Blessed Lady. This was first done in 1381 by Richard II and is a token of our devotion to her in this land which has long been known as Mary’s Dowry. We so stand in need of the protecting mantle of God’s Mother at this moment. Please look at the special website Behold 2020 for more details of this important and historic act. There you can find the prayers which we can make in our churches, homes families and as individuals. I will be making this act of Rededication during our Sunday Mass and will hold each and every one of you in my heart and prayer at that moment.
May God continue to bless and protect us!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Public worship is suspended
All services are live streamed
Saturday 28 March
5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30-7.30 Exposition with
7 Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary
Sunday 29 March
11.30am Mass Intentions of Hannah Williams — 100th Birthday
5.30-6.30pm Exposition & Benediction
Monday 30 Feria
9am Mass Joan Kiernan, RIP (SVP)
Tuesday 31 Feria
9am Mass Frances Singhe, RIP (MR)
Wednesday 1 April Feria
9am Mass Deceased Members of the Siani Family (RB)
Thursday 2 Feria
9am Mass Christine Mary Fisher, RIP (Anniv) PS
Friday 3 Feria
9am Mass Will & Vi Coveney, RIP (Anniv) (MC)
6-7pm Meditations on the Way of the Cross & Benediction
Saturday 4 Feria
10am Mass Sheena Reeves, RIP (SVP)
10.30-11.30 Exposition
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
5.30pm Vigil Vincent Dennett, RIP (MC)
6.30-7.30 Exposition
Sunday 5 April
11.30am The People of the Parish
5.30pm Exposition & Benediction