First Holy Communicants
The following children made their First Holy Communion last Saturday, 31st October:
George Stanes, Charles Stocks, Alice Tait, Daisy Tanner-Smith, Henry Watkins, Bella Watts, Leo Webb, Elliott Weidner, Alexander White, William White & Alice Yorke.
Music at 11.30am Mass on Sunday
Prelude: Nimrod (from Enigma Variations) - Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Postlude: Fantasia in C minor BWV 562 - J S Bach (1685-1750)
Accommodation required
Do you have a two bedroomed flat for rent close to Our Lady of Lourdes Church? If so, please contact the Parish office as one of our elderly parishioners would be very interested. Thank you.
Bishops: on Lockdown
We do this in solidarity with so many others on whom are being imposed restrictions which impact severely on their lives and livelihoods
Catholic Bishops’ Conference Of England And Wales
Statement from the President and the Vice-President of the Conference on the National Lockdown
Wednesday 4 November 2020
Today, Parliament passed into law the Regulations governing many aspects of activity in the whole of England until 2 December. These Regulations prohibit the gathering of people for communal worship in churches and other religious buildings.
Churches remain open and in use for activities other than communal worship, including personal prayer and support for those in need. Funeral Masses and funeral services may be held. Please refer to the Regulations (for places of worship see paragraph 18) and associated Guidance.
Despite profound misgivings it is important that we, as responsible citizens, observe these Regulations, which have the force of law:
“Remind them to be obedient to the officials in authority; to be ready to do good at every opportunity”
We do this in solidarity with so many others on whom are being imposed restrictions which impact severely on their lives and livelihoods.
It is also important to recognise that these Regulations are not an attack on religious belief. However, they do demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of the essential contribution made by faith communities to the well-being, resilience and health of our society.
At this difficult moment, we ask that, as a Catholic community, we make full use of our churches as places of individual prayer and sources of solace and help.
We must sustain each other in our patterns of prayer, joining a national shared moment of prayer each day at 6pm, and observing the Vigil of Christ the King (21 November) as a day of prayer for the ending of this pandemic.
We encourage you all in your practical service and support of each other and those around you in need.
This pathway of prayer and service is the royal road we are to take as a gracious witness in our society today.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
President
Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP
Vice-President
Solemnity of All Saints
Dear friends in Christ
November begins with the two days on which we look into eternity: All Saints this Sunday, All Souls on Monday.
Dear friends in Christ
November begins with the two days on which we look into eternity: All Saints this Sunday, All Souls on Monday. The first celebrates the Saints who live with God in Heaven, the second, those who are on their way and who are undergoing the process called Purgatory. Every person who is created by God has an eternal destiny and everything we do in this life has a bearing on our eternal life. We can never live our lives as though this was the only reality, that my eternal life is a matter of indifference. In the Gospel - the Beatitudes - Jesus gives us the map which, if we follow it, will bring us to eternal happiness. It will also bring joy in this life. The response in the Psalm for All Saints proclaims: Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord. They - the Saints - are the ones who have followed the Lamb of God and lived in the light of the Beatitudes. The Saints are the most diverse set of people, they are from every conceivable form of life, but the one thing they had in common was that they were madly in love with God. God has given us all a free will by which we can accept or reject Him, love or despise Him, live in His Body or remain outside of it. The Church IS His Body and our desire to remain in Him is so that we can have life: life to the full now and in the age to come.
On Monday we can attend Holy Mass and/or pray for the the Holy Souls - the Faithful Departed - which is the help we give them in aiding their final pilgrimage to Heaven. We can try to live in such a manner now, that after death we may be worthy to enter Heaven immediately. As we progress on our pilgrimage of faith, we do so confident of the help of that great army of witnesses - Mary, the Angels and Saints - who are cheering us on homewards.
May God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Solemnity of All Saints
Saturday 31 October
5.30pm Vigil Mass Margaret Owens, RIP
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 1 November
8am Mass The People of the Parish
9.30am Mass Intentions of the Holy Father
11.30am Mass Elizabeth Geraghty, RIP
4pm Mass in Ex Form Michael Barry, RIP
(No general Communion at this Mass)
5.30pm Holy Hour: Vespers & Benediction
Monday 2
All Souls
9am Mass Marie Hale, RIP (Anniversary)
12 noon Holy Souls
8pm Intentions of the Holy Father
Tuesday 3
St Martin de Porres, Religious
9am Mass Brian Meyers, RIP (Anniversary)
Wednesday 4
St Charles Borromeo, Bishop
9am Mass Pat Creegan, RIP
Church is open for Private Prayer only
Mass and Holy Hour are online only
Thursday 5
Feria
9am Mass Mae Pinsent, RIP (Anniversary)
11-12 Private Prayer
2.30pm Requiem Mass Jean Buck, RIP
6pm Holy Hour with Rosary
Friday 6
Feria
11-12 Private Prayer
12 noon Mass Jan Andres Netherton, RIP (Birthday)
6pm Holy Hour with Rosary
Saturday 7
St Willibrord, Bishop
10am Mass Gerald Kelly, RIP (Anniversary)
11-12 Private Prayer
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass Simon Family Thanksgiving
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Sunday 8 November
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Holy Hour: Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Mary Peomore, Eileen Clark, Philip Modica, Mick Burke, Andrew Mitchelmore, Marie Hale, Mary Shanahan, Lilian Rombaut, Paul Evans, Maria Lynch, Sheila McBrearty, Winifred Allen, Elizabeth Spivey, Bob O’Toole, Dorothy Bartby, Lily Kenney, Irene Fanning, May Pinsent, Arthur (Rob) Hood, Margaret Scales, Marie Elliott, Olive Potter, Alice West, James McHugh, Alan Gloyne, Bernard Fulham, Bridget Curtis & Tom Doran.
We Pray for our Sick
Fred Ring, Ian Irwin, 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, 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, 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.
Please Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
Kathleen Chambers, RIP. Her Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Monday 9th November at 12Noon followed by committal at Woodside Cemetery.
Jacques Charles Louis Goubel, RIP. His Funeral Service will take place at 10am on Friday 20th November at Pitsea Crematorium.
Barbara Terry, RIP who died on Friday 23rd October.
Plenary Indulgence for the Holy Souls
A plenary indulgence, applicable only to the souls in purgatory, is granted each and every day from Nov 1 to Nov 8, who devoutly visit a cemetery and there pray, if only mentally, for the departed.
All Souls’ Day – Plenary Indulgence
A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who, on All Souls’ Day, devoutly visit a church or an oratory and recite an Our Father and the Creed
Requirements for obtaining a plenary indulgence:
Do the work while in a state of grace,
Receive Sacramental confession within 20 days of the work (several plenary indulgences may be earned per reception),
Receive Eucharistic communion (one plenary indulgence may be earned per reception),
Pray for the pope’s intentions (Our Father and Hail Mary, or other appropriate prayer, is sufficient),
Have no attachment to sin (even venial) – i.e., it is sufficient that the Christian makes an act of the will to love God and despise sin.
November Dead List
Envelopes for the November dead list are at the back of the church. Please place names and offering in the box provided, also at the back of church. Throughout November there is a weekly Mass for the Holy Souls and those whose names are placed under the Altar are remembered in these Masses and Offices.
Requiem Mass 12th November
The annual Requiem Mass will be celebrated on Thursday 12th November at 8pm. Due to current restrictions regarding numbers allowed to attend, the Mass this year is for those who have had a bereavement during the past year and have received a notification of the Mass.
First Holy Communicants
The following children made their First Holy Communion last Saturday, 24th October:
Ozzie Nicholls, Ciara O’Sullivan, Freya Parnaby, Patrick Rice, Ottilie Roberts-Watkins, Lia Rodbard, Clementine Rodger, Finley Rose, Orlaith Sedgwick, Grace Sheppard & Hayden Spurgeon.
Music at 11.30am Mass on Sunday
William Byrd - Mass for Three Voices Motet - Gloria Tibi, Domine Edward Elgar - O Salutaris Hostia
This Sunday, 1st November - Solemnity of All Saints - choristers from Brentwood Cathedral will sing during 11.30am Mass. As congregational singing is not permitted during the pandemic (small groups of professional are) this will be a welcome and ennobling addition to the Mass. They will sing music of William Byrd (1543-1623 ) who lived and worked as a musician close to us here, at Ingatestone Hall. This music, composed for the Mass during penal times, is a reminder of the continued desire of Catholics to have beautiful music for the worship of God. It also reminds us of the sacrifices of our forebears who risked everything so that the Mass and Sacraments could be celebrated during those of years of persecution.
Seven Day Candles & Votive Lights
In order to reduce the amount of cash received from candle donations, if possible, would you please scan the App which is situated just beside the candle boxes. Alternatively you can also make a donation for a candle via the web site: lourdesleigh.org/donate
Thank you.
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.
Missio Red Box
If you have a box that needs to be emptied please either give it to me personally or leave it in the office at church, no later than than the 22nd November. I have received the Autumn Mission Today magazines and l will leave these and the emptied boxes on the ledge by the exit door. Thank you. Joan Caunce Secretary 01268 757505.
Accommodation required
Do you have a two bedroomed flat for rent close to Our Lady of Lourdes Church? If so, please contact the Parish office as one of our elderly parishioners would be very interested. Thank you.
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
As much of the County moved into tighter restrictions again this week, we can be forgiven for feeling that the present crisis is going on far too long
Dear friends in Christ
As much of the County moved into tighter restrictions again this week, we can be forgiven for feeling that the present crisis is going on far too long. As we move into the Winter months, and with continued uncertainty in many of our lives, the need to hold fast to Christ in prayer and faith is ever more vital. Life is far from what we would wish and even expected six months ago. However, we must only live one day, one hour at a time, if we are to have a supernatural perspective on life. The churches remain open and the Mass and Sacraments are being celebrated: this is of ultimate importance to us. During October we have continued with our First Communion and Confirmation Masses; Baptisms continue too. The fact that these sacramental celebrations are much reduced in their non-essential elements, means that we have the possibility of focusing on what is most essential: Jesus Himself. With less to distract us and divert us from the person of Jesus, we can go to His Divine Heart with the certain hope that He is with us, and helping us carry on. One of the lovely, time-tried and tested prayers, is offering to the Heart of Jesus everything that happens to us in the course of the day: the joys, sorrows, works, actions and sufferings that we experience. St Margaret Mary - whose feast we celebrated last week - wrote: In the course of every activity pray as follows: "My God, I am going to do this or endure that, in the Sacred Heart of your Divine Son and according to His holy intentions, which I offer you to make reparation for whatever evil or imperfection there may be in my own deeds.” Continue to do this in every circumstance of life. And every time that some punishment, affliction or injustice comes your way, say to yourself: “Accept this as sent to you by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in order to unite yourself to Him.”
The Gospel reminds us of the absolute and central tenet of our Faith: the love of God and neighbour. As we try to persevere in our individual and family lives throughout this crisis, we can only do so hand-in-hand with our Blessed Lord.
God bless you and keep you secure in His Sacred Heart!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saturday 24 October
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available: Lady Chapel
Sunday 25
8am Mass The Salvation of Souls
9.30am Mass Michael & Margaret Gibbons, RIP (BG)
11.30am Mass Intentions of Michael Toomey (JS)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 26
St Cedd Bp, Secondary Co-Patron of the Diocese
9am Mass Roseleen Armstrong, RIP (Anniversary) (JA)
Tuesday 27
Feria
9am Mass Intentions of Declan McDermott (DMcD)
Wednesday 28
SS Simon & Jude, App
9am Mass Mrs Greiner, Gwen & Grace Greiner, RIP (FM)
10am Requiem Mass Dympna Addecott, RIP
Thursday 29
Feria
9am Mass John Butler, RIP (Anniversary) (RB)
2.45pm Requiem Mass Colleen Worley, RIP
Friday 30
Feria
12Noon Mass Pauline Godfrey, RIP (Anniversary) (MI)
Saturday 31
Saturday Memorial of BVM
10am First Holy Communion Mass - Private Intention 11am - Holy Rosary for the intentions of our nation
Solemnity of All Saints
5.30pm Vigil Mass Margaret Owens, RIP (JA)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confession available: Lady Chapel
Sunday 1 November
8am Mass The People of the Parish
9.30am Mass Intentions of the Holy Father
11.30am Mass Elizabeth Geraghty, RIP (JS)
4pm Mass Michael Barry, RIP (F&JO’B) Ex Form
(NB No general Communion at this Mass)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction