First Holy Communion

Our prayers and good wishes to the children who made their First Holy Communion this weekend. Please continue to pray for them as they grow in their faith, knowledge and love of God.

Evelyn Alden, Emily Amador-Pena. Oliver Amador-Pena, Sienna Arakliti, Pedro Ayerbe, Cillian Bainbridge, Matilda Baker, Chloe Bedford, Oscar Denison, Maya Doyle, Kayleigh Duggan, Blyth Girling, Kitty Gooch, Liam Lee, Hugo Green, Jude Meek.

Missio Red Box Holders

If you have boxes that have not been opened in the last six to twelve months would you please give them to me personally or leave them in the office for me to collect. As usual when I have dealt with them I will leave them at the back of the Church on the ledge by the Exit door.
Thank you. Joan Caunce, Secretary.

Gift Aid on Mass Intentions/Stipends booked online

In addition to Offertory donations the Parish is able to make a tax reclaim for Stipends whenever a Mass intention is booked, provided that the donor is a UK tax payer and the necessary Gift Aid declaration box is ticked. This can be done online when the Mass booking is scheduled.

Thankyou for your continued support of the Parish Gift Aid scheme which provides a valuable source of income.

BCYS

We have been working hard at the Brentwood Catholic Youth Service to be able to welcome Clergy, Catechists and young people back to events this year as restrictions begin to ease, and with much hope about what is possible in the Autumn.

We have some key dates to save in your diaries, including our Autumn Youth Gather, Catechist Training Day and our upcoming Virtual Youth Masses.

Most excitingly (at least we think so!) is the "Lourdes at your Local" event, which we will be hosting in place of our usual pilgrimage to Lourdes in July. We will be travelling to different parishes around the diocese to celebrate Mass and be able to gather in person in a way that has not been possible for much too long. At the end of this week, we are also welcoming those aged 18+ (School Year 13 and above) to gather together at Walsingham House at Abbotswick, with Mass celebrated by Bishop Alan and followed by a picnic in the beautiful grounds of our retreat centre.

If you would like any more information about any of these events, please click the links to visit the website events page, or please do email gabriellafusi@dioceseofbrentwood.org. 

Marriage and Family Life Update

Retrouvaille successfully ran their 'lifeline for marriages' programme online earlier this month and there are more virtual programmes coming up in July and September.

A Lifeline for Marriages - Has Covid put you under more stress as a couple? Is your marriage stressed, unloving, cold? Do you argue more? Do you want to improve your communication? Have you separated, divorced, are you thinking about it? Do you want to try again?

The Retrouvaille programme may be just what you need! The next programme commences with a weekend 1st-4th July 2021. For more information clink on the link.

School Vacancy

St. Helen’s Catholic Primary School are looking for an Assistant Cook to join our friendly kitchen team. 24 hours per week, term time only. See our school website or contact Mrs Sears for details 01702 343823.

The Most Holy Trinity

Dear friends in Christ

The feast of the Most Blessed Trinity this weekend is simply celebrating our belief in God. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity came upon earth to show us the way to Heaven and also to reveal to us a glimpse of the inner life of God. This life He reveals is a triune life: Father, Son, Spirit. Each of the three Persons have the same essence and yet are unique and separate; together they are God. Art, theology and literature have all combined in an attempt to express this mystery. In the end it is by faith that we can know this, since the mysteries of God, and of our religion, are not shown to us so that we can understand them. They have been revealed so that we can see how much God loves us; how He wants us to share-in His own existence and heighten our sense of desire for that time when we shall see everything more clearly in Heaven.

Next Sunday is the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ—Corpus Christi—which is a feast most beloved by Catholics. It was proposed by Saint Thomas Aquinas, to Pope Urban IV, in order to create a feast focused solely on the Holy Eucharist, emphasising the joy of the Eucharist being the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, and his abiding presence in the Tabernacle. Normally we would make a Eucharistic Procession in public on this Day, but once again this year it is not possible. Wishing to show Our Lord some token of our appreciation and to mark this beautiful feast, we will make a modest Procession of the Blessed Sacrament following the 4pm Mass next Sunday (which is celebrated each month according to the Roman Missal of 1962). At the end of Mass (weather permitting!) we will make a circuit of the Courtyard and conclude with Benediction back in the church. Sadly we cannot involve our First Communion children as usual (nor the brass band) but we can at least mark the feast with a degree of the solemnity and devotion required of us. Please do remember our First Communion children who will be receiving Our Lord for the first time over the first three Saturdays of June.

On this Trinity Sunday, we remind ourselves that everything is directed to faith and love of the One true God—Soli Deo—Who calls us to live in Him on earth and one day in Heaven.

Msgr Kevin Hale

The Most Holy Trinity

5.30pm Vigil Mass Glenda Lawton, RIP (CS)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel

Sunday 30 May
8am Mass Clive Richards, RIP (PL)
9.30am Mass Jim & Teena Rockell, RIP (Anniversary) (LW)
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Monday 31
Dedication of the Cathedral Church of St Mary & St Helen, Brentwood
9am Mass Private Intention (JL)

Tuesday 1 June
St Justin, M
9am Mass Stella Hale, RIP (Anniversary) (CF)

Wednesday 2
Ss Marcellinus & Peter, Mm
9am Mass Intentions of Susan Griffin (PL)

Thursday 3
St Charles Lwanga & Comps, Mm
9am Mass Intentions of Lucrecia Conlu (LC)

Friday 4
Feria—First Friday
12Noon Mass Deceased members of the Siani and Butler families (RB)
7pm-8pm Holy Hour & Benediction

Saturday 5
St Boniface, Bp, M
10.30am First Holy Communion Mass

Sunday 6 June

The Body and Blood of Christ
Corpus Christi

5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel

8am Mass Liza Palma, RIP (JC)
9.30am Mass Arthur Francis Booth, RIP (LM)
11.30am Mass Damian Dixon, RIP (Anniversary) (AMM)
4pm Mass Carl Balcazar, RIP (PEB) - Extraordinary Form Followed by a Eucharistic Procession
NO Vespers & Benediction

We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries

Fr John Timmins, Bp John Petit, Canon Eric Goldingay, Fr Donald Clover, Canon Jerome Deady, Mildred McHattie, Vera Waeland, Margaret Cornell, Sebastian de Souza, Mabel Hooper, Joseph Mullins, Odilia Duhig, Angela Hughes, Stephanie Horwood, Kit Nafziger, Dr Nigel Warburton, Stella Mary Hale, Jonas Acton, Ida D’Eath, Dorothy Winyard, Catherine Barewish, Terry Wilson, Charles Mann, Thomas Donnolly, Elsie Hale, Lee Schiller, Joan Holdstock, Gladys Hanger, Anthony Cummins, Dr Jack Hesketh-Beasley, Alice Quinlan & Margaret Gibson.

We Pray for our Sick

Pat Poulton, Leonora Maguire, Brian Mountier, Renata Butler, Norbert Widera, Margaret Bartle, Tony Downey, Kristy Monferrari, Fred Ring, Ian Irwin, Russell Short, Marie Karaf, Gilberte Cook, Garry Pearman, Anne Owen, 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

COLIN DONNELLY, RIP who died on Tuesday 4th May. His funeral will be held on Friday 4th June at 10.40am.

DOREEN PENNIFOLD RIP who died on Friday 23rd April.

Please pray for Joseph and Francesca Quinn on the sad death of their baby—Luna Quinn.

Music at 11.30 Mass on Sunday

Choral dorien - Jehan Alain (1911-1940)

Prelude in D major "Hallelujah" - Franz Schmidt (1874-1939)

Parish Fundraising

Thank you to everyone who supports the 200 Club. The results of the May draw are as follows:

1st prize £150   70 Mrs I Cranidge

2nd Prize £100   98 Miss S Pollock

3rd Prize   £75     2 Mrs K Prendergast

4th Prize   £25 152 Mr D Binding

During the last 18 months, the number of parishioners supporting the 200 Club has fallen to 162, a shortfall of 38.

We are currently looking for new members. The subscription is £5 per month, either by cash, cheque or direct debit. If you would like to join, please fill in a form which can be found at the back of the church or ring Linda Wall on 01702 558217.

Gift Aid on Mass Intentions/Stipends booked online

In addition to Offertory donations the Parish is able to make a tax reclaim for Stipends whenever a Mass intention is booked, provided that the donor is a UK tax payer and the necessary Gift Aid declaration box is ticked. This can be done online when the Mass booking is scheduled.

Thankyou for your continued support of the Parish Gift Aid scheme which provides a valuable source of income.

BCYS

We have been working hard at the Brentwood Catholic Youth Service to be able to welcome Clergy, Catechists and young people back to events this year as restrictions begin to ease, and with much hope about what is possible in the Autumn.

We have some key dates to save in your diaries, including our Autumn Youth Gather, Catechist Training Day and our upcoming Virtual Youth Masses.

Most excitingly (at least we think so!) is the "Lourdes at your Local" event, which we will be hosting in place of our usual pilgrimage to Lourdes in July. We will be travelling to different parishes around the diocese to celebrate Mass and be able to gather in person in a way that has not been possible for much too long. At the end of this week, we are also welcoming those aged 18+ (School Year 13 and above) to gather together at Walsingham House at Abbotswick, with Mass celebrated by Bishop Alan and followed by a picnic in the beautiful grounds of our retreat centre.

If you would like any more information about any of these events, please click the links to visit the website events page, or please do email gabriellafusi@dioceseofbrentwood.org. 

Marriage and Family Life Update

Retrouvaille successfully ran their 'lifeline for marriages' programme online earlier this month and there are more virtual programmes coming up in July and September.

A Lifeline for Marriages - Has Covid put you under more stress as a couple? Is your marriage stressed, unloving, cold? Do you argue more? Do you want to improve your communication? Have you separated, divorced, are you thinking about it? Do you want to try again?

The Retrouvaille programme may be just what you need! The next programme commences with a weekend 1st-4th July 2021. For more information clink on the link.

School Vacancy

St. Helen’s Catholic Primary School are looking for an Assistant Cook to join our friendly kitchen team. 24 hours per week, term time only. See our school website or contact Mrs Sears for details 01702 343823.

Pentecost Sunday

Dear friends in Christ

This weekend—Pentecost—the prayer goes up from the heart of the Church: Come, Holy Spirit, renew the face of the earth! This prayer gives voice to the deepest sentiments of every soul, that God the Holy Spirit will powerfully create us anew for the work of the Gospel. Last weekend, as we contemplated the Apostles gathered with Mary awaiting the Paraclete, we had an image of the Church in Her infancy. Before the Apostles received the power and grace to go forth into the world, they joined in prayer. This is a template for the life of the Church still: prayer before action; contemplation before the apostolate. Everything we do flows from the desire we should have to worship. The primary mission of the Church is to brings souls to Heaven, and to do this by making saints of us. Before any great undertaking all the saints show us the need for prayer. So, whether it be our concern to improve the social condition of our world, or to permeate politics with Christian Truth or our care for the environment…prayer before action! Nothing good is ever achieved for God without this dimension of surrender to Him in prayer. No authentic renewal of the Church is possible without coming humbly before God on our knees, especially before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

This weekend our Bishops have sent us a joint Pastoral Letter on the subject of creation and the gift of life; we have included it with this Newsletter and I would encourage you to read it.

Let us invoke the Holy Spirit this Pentecost, to make the way ahead sure and safe. As we still experience some uncertainties and fears, we can pray with earnestness the words found in the Sequence of the Pentecost Mass: Come Thou light of all that live…Solace in the midst of woe…With Thy sevenfold gifts descend…Give us joys that never end!

With every blessing this Pentecost!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Pentecost Sunday

Saturday 22 May

5.30pm Vigil Mass Michael Doe, RIP (Anniversary) (JD)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel

Sunday 23 May
8am Mass Studita de Souza, RIP (FDS)
9.30am Mass Intentions of Lucrecia Conlu (JC)
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Monday 24
Mary, Mother of the Church
9am Mass Canon Owen O'Neil, RIP

Tuesday 25
St Bede the Venerable, Pr, D
9am Mass Intentions of Kenny & Keogh Families (MW)
8.30-10am Private Prayer

Wednesday 26
St Philip Neri, Pr
9am Mass Intentions of Brett Mackay (SD)

Thursday 27
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST THE ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST
9am Mass Tony Camelo, RIP (Anniversary) (MH-C)

Friday 28
Feria
12Noon Mass Intentions of John McGowan (RH)

2pm Requiem Mass - Michael O'Brien RIP

Saturday 29
St Paul VI, P

10am Mass Raymond Arthur Butcher, RIP
10.30am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel

12noon Mass Knights of Malta

Sunday 30 May

The Most Holy Trinity

5.30pm Vigil Mass Glenda Lawton, RIP (CS)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions in the Lady Chapel

8am Mass Clive Richards, RIP (PL)
9.30am Mass Jim & Teena Rockell, RIP (Anniversary) (LW)
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Pastoral Letter for Pentecost

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Solemnity of Pentecost reminds us that everything which exists, every person and the whole of creation, is a gift of “God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.” God our loving Father creates and continues to give life to the world through His Word, Jesus Christ, in the power of His Holy Spirit. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church, which we celebrate at Pentecost, is not something separate from Creation. God’s revelation of himself in Creation is inseparable from the revelation of his love for us in Christ and in his desire to live in us through his Holy Spirit.

‘God’s Spirit is always and everywhere “the Lord, the Giver of Life”, and the voice of Pentecost is echoed in the voice of creation being transformed into the glorious liberty of God’s children.’ In this liberty, as God’s children, we call on the Spirit to ‘renew the face of the Earth’, and as his children, we are called, in turn, to use this liberty for the good of creation and for the good of all that brings life. Our world, God’s creation, is a precious gift to us. It is our common home entrusted to each generation. But how have we used that glorious liberty? How do we honour this precious gift? Are we really demonstrating love, care and respect for our common home?

As we celebrate Pentecost this year, we are acutely aware of the damage that continues to be inflicted on the Earth, and the repercussions for the well-being of our brothers and sisters, both here in our own countries and, more especially, in the poorest countries of our world. Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have both taught us that everything is interconnected and interdependent. The way we live our everyday lives has an impact on everyone and on the earth. The urgency of the situation, and the enormity of the challenges we face, have spurred us to speak out together this Pentecost Sunday, as bishops of England, Wales and Scotland, about the role that the Catholic Church and our faith must play in our shared care for God’s gift to us.

For all too long we have either been ignorant of, or ignored, the systematic exploitation of our planet and the unsustainable consumption of its resources. While accepting the crucial need and demand for energy for the benefit of the poorest of our brothers and sisters, the provision of our energy must, nonetheless, be by means which radically reduce the use of carbon-based fuels.

In our political thinking, there must be a new global understanding of our world, where nations recognise our common responsibility for the dignity of all people and their rights to sustainable livelihoods, in authentic freedom. Pope Francis speaks of a global politics that looks beyond our own needs to the needs of all, most especially the poor and the marginalised.

But we cannot leave the healing of our common home and the wellbeing and care of our brothers and sisters merely to a response from industry and governments. Our own local concern and action is necessary and has far-reaching consequences. We all have a part to play, each and every one of us, in the routines, choices and decisions of our everyday lives and our aspirations for the future. The actions of parishes, families, schools, and individuals will have a significant impact on our efforts to restore our common home. There are now many resources, freely available, to advise us on our choice of food, saving of water and electricity, suggestions about travel, waste, and re-use. These are measures that everyone can employ, in some degree, with minimal inconvenience and change. They are effective ways in which we can each reaffirm our personal vocation to be stewards of creation.

This Pentecost comes at a time of remarkable challenge and opportunity. We are gradually emerging from the tragedies and restrictions of the pandemic. We have the ability to make changes. Our countries are also hosting two most important meetings this year, the G7 in June and COP26 in November. These meetings will gather together men and women who have the power to make defining choices and policies which will help us build back better, provide for our brothers and sisters, and take care of our common home.

In all our human endeavours, we need the presence of the Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the Giver of Life”, whose gift to the Church and the world we celebrate again at Pentecost. Let us keep this Feast with that enduring hope that we can begin to repair the damage we have done and provide a healthy home for future generations. Our hope will be strengthened by our prayer. May our constant request be that the Holy Spirit guide us, strengthen our resolve and ‘renew the face of the earth’.