Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave — this is the Good News — and the only important news we need to hear in these days ahead.
Dear friends in Christ,
I wish you all a very blessed Easter in the name of the Risen Lord!
Jesus Christ has risen from the grave — this is the Good News — and the only important news we need to hear in these days ahead. In the midst of such a dark and difficult Lent, let us now forge forward in that hope which the Resurrection of Jesus gives us. All pain, suffering and sorrow only find their meaning in the life and Resurrection of The Lord. We have seen, and will continue to see in the days ahead, a great deal of sorrow. However, it is always the Faith of Christians that gives light to our world; let us not forget the impact we can make. On this most unusual celebration of Easter, we give thanks for all whose lives have helped us through the last weeks: all who have provided Health Care, the key workers in our community and all who continue to keep life on track for the majority of us.
Thank you for the tremendous support you have been giving me: the countless emails, texts and ’phone calls that have kept me in touch with the Parish Family. I have missed seeing you all, but I know you are there and still participating as best you can in the daily rhythm of prayer and worship that continues to go up from this place.
May the Risen Christ impart to you all His peace, joy and hope!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Easter Sunday of the Resurrection of the Lord
11 April Holy Saturday
8pm Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter The People of the Parish
12 April Easter Sunday
11.30am Mass Private Intention
5.30pm Exposition & Benediction
13 April Monday within the Octave of Easter
10am Mass Kathleen Young, RIP (Anniversary) (LY)
14 April Tuesday within the Octave of Easter
9am Mass Intentions of Jim Harforth & Joyce Harforth , RIP (BT)
15 April Wednesday within the Octave of Easter
9am Mass Martin Payne, RIP (Anniversary) (VP)
16 April Thursday within the Octave of Easter
9am Mass Mary Lynch, RIP (SG)
17 April Friday within the Octave of Easter
9am Teresa Lafferty, RIP (AK)
18 April Saturday within the Octave of Easter
10am Mass Eileen Pearson, RIP (SP)
10.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Second Sunday of Easter
Saturday Evening
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30-7.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
19 April Divine Mercy Sunday
11.30am Mass Albert Thomas Cook, RIP (SD)
2.30pm Divine Mercy Devotions: Veneration of the Image, Blessing with the Relic of St Faustina & Benediction
Public worship is suspended
All services are live streamed
Pastoral letter from our Bishop for Easter
The first Holy Week — almost two thousand years ago — saw world-changing events happen with bewildering speed.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The first Holy Week — almost two thousand years ago — saw world-changing events happen with bewildering speed. Jesus received a King’s welcome in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, by Friday he had been crucified to death but on Easter Sunday his disciples were proclaiming his Resurrection.
In any other year I would be encouraging you to take time out of your busy schedule and journey with Jesus in the Holy Week Liturgy and in personal prayer, but this year our churches are closed, many of us are confined to our homes and, as one NHS worker grimly remarked, many of us are now living a three day week — yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Yet our Catholic Christian Faith is very clear that whether in times of suffering or joy, light or darkness:
“Fix your thoughts on Jesus the Apostle and High Priest whom we confess... Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith”
In the annual rich liturgical and devotional life of the Church this is obvious and can become even routine, but now, in this time of the Covid19 virus, our churches are closed, people are suffering and dying and we are all living in a radically different world.
In that first Holy Week, the last week of our Lord’s life on this earth, the first Christians made little sense of what was happening. The apostles fled from Gethsemane, Peter denied Jesus three times and the Lord died almost alone with just his Mother, St John and one or two others.
Easter Sunday changed everything. Mary Magdalen, filled with love for her friend Jesus, went to the tomb to anoint a body; hope and love had triumphed over paralysis and despair. Mary was the first witness to the empty tomb; much more she was, in the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the Apostle of the Apostles (Apostolorum Apostola) and she shared her excitement and joy with the apostles.
Every new generation of Christians discovers and proclaims the crucified and risen Lord:
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever”
In these dark and difficult days of the pandemic Mary Magdalen’s longing for life and healing, even when others were plunged into loss and despair, invites all of us to trust God in Christ absolutely.
At His Last Supper our Lord told His disciples:
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you... Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them”
In these challenging days we need to support each other and, especially, look after and pray for the vulnerable and elderly. Our priests are continuing to celebrate Mass for their parishioners and, whenever possible, the Sacraments and other pastoral support are being offered to the people of God. Each and every act of kindness, in imitation of our Lord, reminds us that we are truly blessed by God.
The Holy Father continues to be a source of strength and inspiration:
“In the midst of isolation when we are suffering from a lack of tenderness and chances to meet up, and we experience the loss of so many things, let us once again listen to the proclamation that saves us: He is risen and is living by our side”
I wish you many blessings this coming Easter and in the future,
Devotedly in Christ and Mary,
+Alan Williams, sm
Bishop of Brentwood
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.