Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus gave St Peter a very memorable explanation of the nature of Christian pardon in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Dear friends in Christ
Jesus gave St Peter a very memorable explanation of the nature of Christian pardon in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, which is the Gospel this Sunday. The lesson is that God’s mercy is immensely greater than our own. True mercy is the mark of those humble souls who understand how much they have been forgiven themselves. Just as the Lord is always ready to forgive us, so we must be ready to forgive one another. And how great is the need for forgiveness in our world today - indeed our communities and families, in our very own hearts! That is why the special sacrament of the Church for forgiveness, the Sacrament of Penance, is such a precious gift from the Lord. In the Sacrament of Penance, God extends His forgiveness to us in a very personal way. Through the ministry of the priest, we come to our loving Saviour with the burden of our sins. We confess that we have sinned against God and our neighbour. We manifest our sorrow and ask pardon from the Lord. Then, through the priest, we hear Christ say to us: ‘Your sins are forgiven…Go and do not sin again’. Can we not also hear Him say to us, as we are filled with His saving grace: ‘Extend to others seventy times seven, this same forgiveness and mercy’? (St Pope John Paul II, Angelus, 16.IX.’84)
Over these coming Saturdays our children, who have been preparing for the Sacraments, will make their first Confession and receive First Holy Communion in October. Please keep them in your prayers, together with those who are going to be Confirmed in October and those who this week have been Received into the Church - Michael Bennett, Michael Jones, Sabine Whittington & Simon Jones. It has been a patient wait for these precious moments, but thank God we can now celebrate these Sacraments which are so grace-filled from above.
God bless you all!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saturday 12 September
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available: Lady Chapel
Sunday 13
8am Mass In reparation to the Sacred Heart (MH)
9.30am Mass David Massalski, RIP (AA)
11.30am Mass Alan Bush, RIP (Anniversary) (CB)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 14
Exaltation (Triumph) of the Holy Cross
9am Mass Frank Maguire, RIP (Anniv) (MM)
Tuesday 15
Our Lady of Sorrows
9am Mass Intentions of Dympna Addecott (JA)
Wednesday 16
St Cornelius, P, and Cyprian, Bp, Mm
9am Mass Marion & Robert Caunce, RIP & Sheila Harrison, RIP (JC)
Thursday 17
St Robert Bellarmine, Bp, D
9am Mass Margaret Canty, RIP (Anniv) (CB)
Friday 18
Feria
12 noon Mass Vivien Clancy, RIP (JA)
Saturday 19
St Januarius, Bp, M
10am Mass Johanna & Samuel Beech, RIP (JC)
10.30-11.30am Exposition
10.30-11.30 Confession - First Holy Communion Reconciliations
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass Intentions of Anita Lupton (K&LW)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available: Lady Chapel
Sunday 20
8am Mass Denise MacDermott, RIP (Anniv) (AC)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Veronica Houghton, RIP
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Reception of Holy Communion
When you come up for Holy Communion, unloop your mask before taking the Host, move to the side, consume it, and replace your mask before returning to your seat.
Letter of Catholic Practice
If you require a Letter of Catholic Practice for School admission for the next academic year, and you are a practising Catholic, please send your child’s full name, address, telephone number and date of birth to the Parish Office. Please enclose a stamped addressed envelope.
Michael Edwards, RIP
Please pray for the repose of the soul of Michael Edwards, late of Fillebrook Avenue, who died on 8th August at his home in South Wales after a short illness. Funeral has taken place.
Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Theophilus Borer, Abp George Andrew Beck, Canon James Hemming, Deacon Arthur Woods, Fr Louis Heston, Fr John Bergin, Fr Anthony Mayston, Canon Frederick Gahagan, Eliza Moore, Mary Wright, Wilfred Sawyer, Kathleen McGowan, Anne McCarthy, Veronica Maguire, Joyce Wager, Alan Bush, Patricia Lawrence, Kathleen Horning, Bill Jarrett, Anna Dodd, Marie Norah Browne, Jack Abbott, Dario Peretti, Philomena Conley, Frank Maguire, Bernard Wiltshire, Eileen McCarthy, Percival De’Ath, Bridget Finnegan, Mary Jones, Dot Tooley, Anne Gibson, Frances Spriggs, Joseph Hayes, Queenie Kay, Christopher Hickey, Stella Smith, Bernard Ratcliff, Hing San Lan, Mary Collins, Elizabeth Parsons, James Hale, John Watters, Anna Marie Tynan, John Fazio, Lilian John, Dora Loker, Margaret White, Ann Maureen Walker & Mark Wilson.
We Pray for our Sick
Russell Short, Paul Bloomberg, Marie Karaf, Christine Reid, Gilberte Cook, Garry Pearman, Anne Owen, Adrian Barclay, Patricia Ann Darroch, Peggy Larman, Sylvia Langley, 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, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith, Keith Maliff & children, Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
Organ Voluntaries at 11.30am Mass on Sunday
Organ Prelude: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier - J S Bach (1685-1750)
Organ Postlude: Fantasia in G minor - J S Bach (1685-1750)
Serving the Homeless
A very sincere thank you to everyone who supported our Summer Raffle, which raised £1,045. The Committee is also very grateful to the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation that donated £2,500 towards our work.
Since January we have been able to give the following:
£2,000 to HARP towards the purchase of fresh food; this equates to £250 per month
£3,500 has just been donated to HARP for meaningful activities for their clients
£1,500 to the YMCA for the music studio
£1,500 to the YMCA for the Wellbeing courses for residents
£2,500 to the Winter Night Shelters, care of the SVP at St Helen’s Church who have worked with homeless people throughout the pandemic
£200 to Marylisa and Tim Browne of our Committee, who have cooked meals for rough sleepers and worked with Westcliff SVP
We are unable to hold fundraising events at the moment, but if anyone would like to contribute to our work please can you pay directly into our account which is: Lloyds Bank PLC, Threadneedle Street, Sort Code 30-00-09, Account No 00226011, Account Name – Serving the Homeless or donations can be left in the parish office, marked “Serving the Homeless”.
Thank you all for your continuing support. Linda Wall, Secretary
Contactless Giving
Many of us no longer carry cash. Contactless paying is becoming increasingly popular and is more hygienic. It is now possible to make contactless offerings to the Church. This can be done in the usual manner and there will be a device at the back of church with a Steward to assist. Simply touch an amount shown on the screen, (£2, £5, £10, £15, £20, £25 or enter another figure if you wish to give a particular amount) then tap your card or ‘phone to register payment. (The device will be sanitised by the Steward.) You should also Gift Aid amounts if you are a taxpayer (which gives an additional 25%). You need to enter your name and address on the first occasion and after that your details are remembered for future giving. The best way of making your weekly offering is by using the envelopes or by standing order but the contactless facility will enable us to donate at anytime if we don’t have cash.
St Thomas More Open Day
St. Thomas More High school - open day for Year 6 boys and parents, Saturday 19th September.
9am to 11.30am - Headteacher talk 10am
OR
1pm to 3.30pm - Headteacher talk 2pm
For families who have a son due to transfer to secondary school in September 2021 - come and see the school.
Parents of boys who wish to apply to St. Thomas More School for a place in September 2021 should complete the local education authority single application form (SAF) and fill in the supplementary information form (SIF) that can be collected on the open day.
If you are unable to come to the open day, please contact the school in order to get the supplementary information form. The form can also be downloaded from the school web site:-
WWW.ST-THOMASMORE.SOUTHEND.SCH.UK
Brentwood Catholic Children's Society
Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society has registered for the Fun Walk which normally takes place at the Barleylands Farm site in Billericay. This year, participants and parish groups are invited to walk 2k or 5k anywhere they wish at any time during September and ask for sponsorship from friends and family to help support our work. All details & sponsorship forms are available on www.bccs.org.uk under the Events/Virtual Fun Walk tab or follow us on social media for updates. We would be very happy to hear from parish or family groups who would like to walk for us – please email Libby: lphillips@bccs.org.uk
Site Manager Vacancy
The Diocese is looking for a Site Manager for the Cathedral Site to manage the routine maintenance of the buildings and grounds at the Cathedral Site. A job description is available upon request but the key elements are as follows:
Overall premises management
• Maintain the premises in a safe and healthy condition
• Identify anything requiring repair or maintenance and action as required
• Ensure all matters are logged as appropriate
• Liaise with Contractors as required
The expected closing date is Friday 2 October. For more information and a full job description and person specification contact
recruitment@dioceseofbrentwood.org
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus teaches us very often that we see salvation as something which is a consequence of a union with God, which is ultimately a personal thing and nobody can take our place in this personal encounter with him.
Dear friends in Christ
Jesus teaches us often that salvation is something which is a consequence of a union with God; ultimately a personal reality as nobody can take our place in this encounter with Him. But He also desires that we support each other and that we help each other on the way towards our final goal. The first and greatest expression of this intimate union with God is in prayer, private and communal. According to the Gospel of this Sunday, family prayer is especially pleasing to him. Commenting on this gospel, Saint John Paul II teaches that: this prayer has for its own object family life itself… Joys and sorrows, hopes and disappointments, births and birthday celebrations, wedding anniversaries of parents, departures, separations and homecomings, important and far-reaching decisions, the death of those who are dear to us etc - all of these mark occasions for God's loving intervention in the family's history. They should be seen as suitable moments for thanksgiving, for petition, for trusting abandonment of the family into the hands of their common Father in Heaven. The dignity and responsibility of the Christian family as the domestic Church can be achieved only with God's aid, which will surely be granted if it is humbly and trustingly petitioned for in prayer (Familiaris Consortio n.22).
I am sure that prayer in the family has been the glue that has kept many families together during these months of lockdown. I know from the many testimonies that I have received, it has been daily payer and the weekly Sunday Mass - albeit virtual - that has kept the Faith alive in our homes. I would like to laud all those who have struggled and persevered in doing this, because I understand how hard it has been for everyone. Thank you too, for the example of your faithfulness in prayer and trying, as best we have been able, to keep Faith alive in our hearts and homes.
This Tuesday 8th, is the Birthday of Our Blessed Lady. May she obtain for us all, and for families in particular, the grace of perseverance in our holy vocation. Perhaps I could remind you to offer Mary some little sign of our love on her Birthday: a Rosary said together, a picture or statue placed prominently in our home or simply an affectionate conversation with her in which we confide what is in our heart at this time. She will listen and respond.
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Twenty-Third Sunday in ordinary Time
Saturday 5 September
5.30pm Vigil Mass Fr Stephen Foster, RIP (KH)
6.30pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available: Lady Chapel
Sunday 6
8am Mass The People of the Parish
9.30am Mass Intention of Rita Symonds (AB)
11.30am Mass All the Clergy at this difficult time (JA)
4pm Mass Helen Hiscock, RIP (Anniversary) (MH) - Extraordinary Form (NB No general Communion at this Mass)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 7
Feria
9am Mass Grahame Addecott, RIP (JA)
Tuesday 8
The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
9am Mass William Pearson, RIP (SP)
Wednesday 9
St Peter Claver, Pr
9am Mass Anna Kennette, RIP (LLG)
Thursday 10
Feria
9am Mass John & Elaine Sinclair & family - Golden Wedding Anniversary
3.30pm Requiem Mass Ronald Desmond Hall, RIP
Friday 11
Feria
12 noon Mass Tommy Clancy, RIP (VC)
Saturday 12
The Most Holy Name of Mary
10am Mass Intentions of Peter Loh (KL)
10.30-11.30am Exposition
10.30-11.30 Confession - First Holy Communion Reconciliations
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available: Lady Chapel
Sunday 13
8am Mass In reparation to the Sacred Heart (MH)
9.30am Mass David Massalski, RIP (AA)
11.30am Mass Alan Bush, RIP (Anniversary) (CB)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction