Second Collection
When there is a second collection, rather than using the envelopes, you are able to donate online via the Parish website.
This can be done by using the 'Donate' area, filling in the relevant information requested, including the amount of the gift, and when you reach the 'Additional Information' section, the name of the charity/recipient will appear in a drop down box. You can then select the relevant one for that collection.
Parish Fundraising
Thank you to everyone who supports the 200 Club. The results of the February draw are as follows:
1st prize £150 27 Mr R Calton
2nd Prize £100 167 Miss J Sullens
3rd Prize £75 16 Mrs S Chantilly
4th Prize £25 127 Mrs M Walsh
Magnificat
The Holy Week issue of Magnificat is now on sale for £2 at the back of church. This edition will be the last time you will be able to purchase the Magnificat from this church.
From the April issue, parishioners who wish to continue receiving Magnificat will need to subscribe annually either online at catholic-herald.myshopify.com or send a cheque for £47.00, made payable to Magnificat, Catholic Herald Ltd, 8A Lower Grosvenor Place, London SW1W 0EN.
Walking for Water - CAFOD
Thank you to those who have sponsored my walk or are keeping me in their prayers.
My challenge this Lent was to walk 400,000 steps in solidarity with Abdella and others like him who must walk miles every day to collect water for their family. To date (18th March) I have achieved 297,618 steps, a little behind daily target due to family emergencies - although I am confident of making them up. This of course highlighted the fact that I can ‘rest’ for a day or two if needs be, he cannot. The money raised will help to build a well for Abdella’s village so he doesn’t have to walk the gruelling miles each day for the essential gift of water.
Thank you again for your support to date. There is still time to donate at the link below. Only 102,382 steps to go!!! Cathy (Sweeney) CAFOD Volunteer.
Donate at - walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/walking-for-water221
Landings for Returning Catholics
If there is a member of your family, a neighbour or a friend who has been away from the church for a while please invite them to the next Landings program. We are running the program via Zoom, which will start on 8th April and run for eight weeks. They can contact the Landings Team on landings@lourdesleigh.org. A member of the team will contact them with further details.
Missio Red Box Holders
I have received the Spring 2021 Missio Magazines. If you have not already received one from me personally, please take one from the back of Church. They are in the usual place on the ledge at the exit door. If anyone has a box ready to be emptied please give it to me personally or leave it with the office. I will leave all boxes that I empty in the same usual place at the back of the Church.
Thank you. Joan Caunce, Secretary - 01268 757505
Fourth Sunday of Lent - Lætare Sunday
Dear friends in Christ
It is precisely one year since we began the lockdowns which have made an indelible impression on all our lives.
Dear friends in Christ
It is precisely one year since we began the lockdowns which have made an indelible impression on all our lives. I recall on the Fourth Sunday of Lent last year offering Holy Mass for the first time behind locked doors. Since then we have struggled to celebrate the Mass and Sacraments in the most appropriate and dignified manner possible, given the circumstances. I thank you all for your continued understanding and collaboration as we try to do our best. It is a truism that all of our certainties have been taken away in this last year, but we have the anchor of our Faith to keep us secure and focused. I commented at the start of last Holy Week, that it was going to be a Holy Week like no other we had experienced. This year Holy Week will be similar but also different; for one thing, you can be present at the liturgical ceremonies. As last year, there will be adaptations so that the liturgies are celebrated in a Covid-safe manner. This means that on Palm Sunday there will not be a procession, though blessed palms will be available to take home. On Maundy Thursday the Solemn Mass of The Lord’s Supper will be celebrated without the usual additions, so no procession to the Altar of Repose or watching before the Blessed Sacrament. On Good Friday the Solemn Liturgy of The Lord’s Passion will happen without the individual veneration of the Cross and with no congregational participation in the Passion Gospel. At the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening, there will be a simple lighting of the Paschal Candle followed by the usual readings but no Baptismal liturgy. Despite the restrictions, we shall celebrate this most important Week as devoutly and reverently as we can. Closer to Holy Week we will publish the times of the Services.
The Gospel at Mass on this Fourth Sunday gives us the image of Jesus raised upon the Cross, as mirrored in that bronze serpent which Moses raised for the people of Israel. As they gazed upon that image, so that they might be saved from death by poisoning, so we look to the Cross, as the sign of our salvation won for us by the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ.
This is also Mothering Sunday, so we give thanks to God for the gift of life we received from our earthly mothers—be they living or with The Lord—and ask our heavenly Mother to watch over and protect us on our earthly pilgrimage.
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Fourth Sunday of Lent - Lætare Sunday
5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 14 March
8am Mass Ben & Edith Dawson, RIP, Anniversary (AE)
9.30am Mass Sybil Swann, RIP ((Anniversary) MD)
11.30am Mass Mervyn Calton, RIP (Anniversary) (RC)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 15
Feria
9am Mass William Brown, RIP (Anniversary) (JS)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Tuesday 16
Feria
9am Mass John & Pat Moon, RIP (SM)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Wednesday 17
St Patrick, Bp, Patron of Ireland
9am Mass Joyce Foy, RIP (AMM)
No Private Prayer
Thursday 18
Feria
9am Mass Rev John O’Neill, RIP (FM)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Friday 19
St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
12Noon Mass with the Consecration to St Joseph
Eric Newman, RIP (Anniversary) (VA)
11.30-1pm Private Prayer
7pm Stations of the Cross with the Consecration to St Joseph & Benediction
Saturday 20
Feria
10am Mass Mrs Kathleen O’Brien, RIP (F&JO’B)
10.30-11.30am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Fifth Sunday of Lent
5.30pm Vigil Mass Pat Archer, RIP (SW)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 21 March
8am Mass The People of the Parish
9.30am Mass Doreen & Fred Wall (K&LW)
11.30am Mass David Barwell, RIP (JS)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Canon Martin Horkan, Fr Donal Donegal, Fr Sidney Williams, Rev John O’Neill, Fr Justin Dawson, Philip Hale, Eleanor Hayes, June Hazel White, David McGowan, George Conway, James Kennedy, Kathleen Hosford, Julian Felix Asselberghs, Catherine Isobel Jago, Anthony Slattery, Mary Russell, Henry McIlwee, Nina Clarke, Alfred Marshall, Dolores Cutter, John Flynn, Gabrielle Haiser, Henry De Souza, John Moon, Guy Bragard, Eric Newman, Doreen Wall, Margaret Foster, Mary Blundell, Dorothy Burke, Lesley Dorey, Edmund Esterby, Francis Spratt, Francis Joseph Foley, Edward Hance, Agnes Edward, Catherine Davis, Ann Whiteley, John Fowler, Denis Reid & Nora McLeod.
We Pray for our Sick
Renata Butler, Norbert Widera, Margaret Bartle, Tony Downey, Kristy Monferrari, Fred Ring, Ian Irwin, Russell Short, Marie Karaf, Gilberte Cook, Garry Pearman, Anne Owen, Adrian Barclay, Patricia Ann Darroch, Peggy Larman, 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, 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, Bradley & children: Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price & Frazer Gregory.
We Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
CLAUDIO CATINO, RIP who died on 28th January.
DAVID JOHNSON, RIP who died on 20th February.
MARY BERNADETTE TYSON, RIP who died on 25th February.
SYLVIA LANGLEY, RIP who died on 28th February.
Magnificat
The Holy Week issue of Magnificat is now on sale for £2 at the back of church. This edition will be the last time you will be able to purchase the Magnificat from this church.
From the April issue, parishioners who wish to continue receiving Magnificat will need to subscribe annually either online at catholic-herald.myshopify.com or send a cheque for £47.00, made payable to Magnificat, Catholic Herald Ltd, 8A Lower Grosvenor Place, London SW1W 0EN.
Landings for Returning Catholics
If there is a member of your family, a neighbour or a friend who has been away from the church for a while please invite them to the next Landings program. We are running the program via Zoom, which will start on 8th April and run for eight weeks. They can contact the Landings Team on landings@lourdesleigh.org. A member of the team will contact them with further details.
St. Helen’s Catholic Primary School Vacancies
St. Helen’s Catholic Primary School, Westcliff have vacancies for a full time Teacher and a Midday Assistant. If you would like to join our friendly team please see the school website www.st-helens.southend.sch.uk for details and application forms or contact Mrs Sears on 01702 343823.
Missio Red Box Holders
I have received the Spring 2021 Missio Magazines. If you have not already received one from me personally, please take one from the back of Church. They are in the usual place on the ledge at the exit door. If anyone has a box ready to be emptied please give it to me personally or leave it with the office. I will leave all boxes that I empty in the same usual place at the back of the Church.
Thank you. Joan Caunce, Secretary - 01268 757505
Third Sunday of Lent
Dear friends in Christ
The Gospel of this Sunday is referred to as The Cleansing of the Temple.
Dear friends in Christ
The Gospel of this Sunday is referred to as The Cleansing of the Temple. We have become used to our churches being cleaned and sanitised after every liturgy, but this is something altogether different! Jesus has an aversion to anything that leads us away from God. So, finding the sacred Temple in Jerusalem so profaned by the merchants, He reacts with righteous anger. But there is a deeper meaning to this occasion: Jesus comes to cleanse the temple that is our body. When He comes to us, He often finds our hearts and souls so cluttered with the things of this world that there is no room for Him. He wants us to purge ourselves of anything that does not belong to God. The four classical temptations are: wealth, pleasure, honour and power. Lent is the favourable time for this purification: the emptying ourselves of those things that keep God out, those things that make our lives like a market place and which Jesus comes to cleanse.
We are over halfway towards the preparation for Consecration to St Joseph on 19th March. We have been reflecting each day at Mass on one of the invocations in the Litany of St Joseph. Some of you have told me that these virtues of St Joseph have not only been a revelation but also a challenge to us in the way we imitate him and live our Christian calling. There is still time to begin a Novena to St Joseph as we prepare to make a dedication to him, so that he may bring us closer to Him for whom he was privileged to be his Guardian on earth.
Congratulations and prayerful good wishes to Fr Basil Pearson who this Saturday—6th—celebrates his Golden Jubilee of Ordination! Fr Basil grew-up in Leigh and was ordained a priest in this Parish; he retired here and has continued to help-out here and in the neighbouring Parishes whenever he can. Fr Basil is a familiar figure to so many of us and his priestly ministry has included working in the Parishes of Wanstead, Romford, Canning Town & Silvertown, missionary work in Kenya, in our sister Diocese of Dundee, South Africa, and more recently as an Army Chaplain where he served at home and overseas including Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Germany, Kosovo Split, Bulford and Colchester. He was also Director of Pontifical Mission Societies and Chaplain to the Across Trust. Although officially retired he has remained very active, especially during my years as Parish priest here. We give thanks to Almighty God for his long, selfless and fruitful ministry. Ad multos annos!
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Third Sunday of Lent
5.30pm Vigil Guy Bragard, RIP (Anniversary) (RB)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 7 March
8am Mass Eileen McQuaid, RIP (RH)
9.30am Mass Fr Enda Keenan, RIP (PM)
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
4pm Mass Intentions of Mr Francis - Ex Form
(No General Communion)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 8
Feria
9am Mass Marian Payne, RIP (Anniversary) (CP)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Tuesday 9
Feria
9am Mass Joyce Harforth, RIP (Anniversary) (JH)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Wednesday 10
Feria
9am Mass Joe Swann, RIP (Anniversary)(MD)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Thursday 11
Feria
9am Mass Intentions of Tom & Anne McCartan (SC)
8.30-10.30am Private Prayer
Friday 12
Feria
12Noon Mass Ida DeSouza, RIP (DS)
11.30-1pm Private Prayer
7pm Stations of the Cross & Benediction
Saturday 13
Feria
10am Mass Michael O’Sullivan, RIP (PO’S)
10.30-11.30am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Fourth Sunday of Lent - Lætare Sunday
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel
Sunday 14 March
8am Mass Ben & Edith Dawson, RIP (Anniversary) (AE)
9.30am Mass Sybil Swan, RIP (Anniversary) (MD)
11.30am Mass Mervyn Calton, RIP (Anniversary) (RC)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Canon Joseph Whitfield, Fr Thomas Lawton, Fr John Gordon, Fr Edmund Meyer, Fr Maurice Roche, Mgr Canon David Michael Corley, Fr William Luby, Granley Rumsey, John Stephen Burke, Miss Sydney Compton, Edward Baigent, Elsie Killman, Janet Harris, Teresa Rumsey, Henry Delaney, John Button, Constance Ryan, Joyce Quinn, Pamela Jones, Peggy Choppin, Vincent Ingham, Christopher Tyler, Joe Swann, Theresa Ketterer, Joseph Collins, Lionel Clarke, Richard Young, Margaret Houston, Benjamin Dawson, Leo King, Edith Smith, Eileen Greaves, George Burnham, Lydia Upton, Maura Hanley, Eric Wilding, Stefan Zyms & Frank Keenan Snr.