Serving the Homeless

The Committee of Serving the Homeless are planning to hold a Wine Tasting evening on Saturday 9th October so please save the date. The local wine shop Vino Vero will be supplying the wines and one of the staff will give a short talk about each of them. The event will be held in St Margaret’s Church Hall in Lime Avenue, which is a large, airy room. There will be tables of 6 to 8 people. Tickets will cost £20 per person, to include a cheese and nibbles supper.

If you would like to register your interest in coming, either as an individual, couple or a group, please ring Linda on 01702 558217. 

BCCS Relay 100

A big thank you to everyone who sponsored me in the BCCS (Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society) relay between Our Lady of Lourdes church and St Helen’s, Westcliff that I completed last Friday (23rd July). I am still collecting sponsorship pledges and the forms - for gift aid - to send to BCCS, with pledges collected to date of £70. BCCS Relays are continuing and are shown on the BCCS Relay100 page on their website. Please return any Lourdes sponsorship forms to the Parish Office as soon as possible.

Donations can still be made online by going to the Relay 100 fundraising page:
or you can transfer directly into BCCS’ bank account: Brentwood Catholic Childrens Society Account Number: 31094130 Sort Code: 40 13 22 (please reference your donations ‘Relay 100’ along with the name D Binding). Many thanks!

Baptism Preparation Sessions

All new parents are required to prepare for their child’s Baptism by attending one of the following sessions, which are held in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Centre.

Tuesday 17th August 2021 from 8pm to 9:30 pm 

Tuesday 12th October 2021 fro 8pm to 9.30pm 

Tuesday 7th December 2021 from 8pm to 9.30pm

Tuesday 8th February 2022 from 8pm to 9.30pm

If you would like to attend one of the above, please contact Catherine Harris on 07733327295 or email: mrscatherineharris@gmail.com  in order to book a place.

Carer Vacancy

A sleep-in Carer is needed over the weekend, predominately Saturday nights, flexible with availability, i.e. not every Saturday. Mrs Page, who lives in Westcliff and is currently bed-bound, has a support package in place whereby she has four visits per day from an outside care company who fully attend to her needs. No moving or personal care required. The actual requirements would be some conversation and maybe tea-making, and then sleeping in a separate bedroom, and making sure she was comfortable.

Any enquires to Linda Sparham on 07813811515.

Flower Festival - 11th September 2021

Thank you to everyone who has already agreed to contribute to the Flower festival this year. The Theme is “I AM” (as in I Am the Good Shepherd; the Light of the World; The Way, Truth, & Life etc.) This was the theme that we had chosen for last year, but due to the pandemic it did not take place. The Festival will again, hopefully, coincide with the Leigh Art Trail.  I am pleased to say that we have already have some Art, Photography and Needlework, as well as flower arrangements promised by parishioners to illustrate the themes. We need more people to take part, particularly to do flower arrangements. 

So we are calling all parishioners to help us to create a beautiful and prayerful event to be shared with our community.

 Any donations collected on the day will go towards ‘Serving the Homeless’ projects.

For those interested a list of all the quotations will be available. You can email me at:  mcronan@btinternet.com 

Please let me know if you are planning to take part.

We are also holding a Summer Raffle to raise funds so that we can continue to contribute to HARP and YMCA projects. Tickets for our ‘Hamper Bonanza’ are now on sale, with the draw taking place at the beginning of September. Tickets can be purchased from any of our Committee members.

Jo Ronan (Chair, Serving the Homeless)

St Bernard's High School

A number of vacancies are available within our Catering Team from September 2021. Please go to our website - School Information - Vacancies -to complete an Application form. Closing date for applications Tuesday 24th August at 9am.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

Following the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, the enthusiastic multitude went again in search of Jesus. St John continues after the miracle of the previous day to let us see how Jesus had awakened the crowds deepest hopes and love. Thousands of people had left the comfort of their homes to come and hear Him. They wanted to make Him their king. But the Lord departed from them. Upon meeting them again, Jesus says to the people: Truly I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Saint Augustine comments: You seek me for worldly motives, not for spiritual ones. How many people there are who seek Jesus for worldly ends… Rarely does someone look for Jesus for the sake of Jesus. We want to be among those few.

The reading of chapter six of St John’s Gospel continues—the Eucharistic Discourse—with our Lord telling the crowds that He is the Bread of Life. Those who heard this teaching in the synagogue could not comprehend what He was teaching them. Only with the passing of the centuries has the Church tried, ever more deeply, to understand this gift and mystery. In the Homily this weekend I continue my reflections on the parts of the Mass in the light of the Gospel. Above all, let us come to Mass with a lively faith and attentive devotion, to receive Him as we should, perhaps praying: Lord, I hope in you, I adore you, I love you, increase my faith. Be the support of my weakness. You, who have remained defenceless in the Eucharist so as to be the remedy for the weakness of your creatures…help me to love you more and more!

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

5.30pm Vigil Mass Fidelis & Mary Pallis, RIP (DL)
6.30pm Holy Hour: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions

Sunday 1 August
8am Mass Pat Hyland, RIP (CM)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Clive Richards, RIP (LL)
4pm Mass Intentions Janie Briddg & Nguyen Duc Doan (TBD) (1962 Missal)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Monday 2
St Peter Julian Eymard, Pr
9am Mass Norbert Widera, RIP (CH)

Tuesday 3
Feria
9am Mass Clare Chadwick, RIP (Anniversary) (MI)

Wednesday 4
St John Mary Vianney, Pr
9am Mass Maureen Mann, RIP (RM)

Thursday 5
Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major
9am Mass Denise MacDermott, RIP (Anniversary) (AC)

Friday 6
Transfiguration of the Lord - First Friday
12noon Charles & Alice Whitefield, RIP (FM)
7pm-8pm Holy Hour & Benediction

Saturday 7
St Cajetan, Pr
10am Mass Richard Wallner, RIP (GW)
10.30-11.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions

Sunday 8 August

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

5.30pm Vigil Mass Diana Underwood, RIP (RM)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions

8am Mass The People of the Parish
9.30am Mass Fred & Doreen Wall, RIP (Anniversary) (LW)
11.30am Mass Vincent Glauda, RIP (Anniversary) (KC)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries

Pope Paul VI, Fr Thomas Jordan, Deacon Frederick Wall, Ethel Warwick, Olive Scott-Hansen, Winifred Bailey, Bernard Martin, Frances Murray, Teresa Fitzgerald, Max Button, Margaret Ring, Noel Auger, Cecelia Newton, Phyllis Fairman, John Higgins, Maureen Mann, Walter Owen, Stella Blackburn, Sister Vincent (St Ediths), Catherine Hayes, Timothy O’Shea, Anthony Poulton, Denise MacDermott, Jim Collins, John Joseph Sandford, Phyllis Mabel Burke, Arthur Holdstock, Michael Christopher Edwards, Phylis Glazebrook, Peter Matthews, Clarice Gannon, Margaret Taylor & Sheila Mazzag.

We Pray for our Sick

Jennifer Biebuyck, Moira Scott, Jill Yates, Leonora Maguire, Brian Mountier, Renata Butler, Margaret Bartle, Tony Downey, Kristy Monferrari, Fred Ring, Ian Irwin, Russell Short, Marie Karaf, Gilberte Cook, Garry Pearman, 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.

Norbert Widera, RIP

There will be a Memorial Mass at 5.30pm on Thursday 12th August followed by the burial of his Ashes in the Memorial Garden. This will be followed by a small celebration in memory of Norbert in the Parish Centre. All friends, Parishioners and especially Altar Servers & their families are very welcome.

Music at 11.30am Mass on Sunday

Prelude: Andantino (from Pièces de Fantaisie) - Louis Vierne (1870-1937)

Postlude: Pastorale - Louis Lefébure-Wély (1817-1869)

Serving the Homeless

The Committee of Serving the Homeless are planning to hold a Wine Tasting evening on Saturday 9th October so please save the date. The local wine shop Vino Vero will be supplying the wines and one of the staff will give a short talk about each of them. The event will be held in St Margaret’s Church Hall in Lime Avenue, which is a large, airy room. There will be tables of 6 to 8 people. Tickets will cost £20 per person, to include a cheese and nibbles supper.

If you would like to register your interest in coming, either as an individual, couple or a group, please ring Linda on 01702 558217. 

BCCS Relay 100

A big thank you to everyone who sponsored me in the BCCS (Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society) relay between Our Lady of Lourdes church and St Helen’s, Westcliff that I completed last Friday (23rd July). I am still collecting sponsorship pledges and the forms - for gift aid - to send to BCCS, with pledges collected to date of £70. BCCS Relays are continuing and are shown on the BCCS Relay100 page on their website. Please return any Lourdes sponsorship forms to the Parish Office by the end of next week.

Donations can still be made online by going to the Relay 100 fundraising page:
or you can transfer directly into BCCS’ bank account: Brentwood Catholic Childrens Society Account Number: 31094130 Sort Code: 40 13 22 (please reference your donations ‘Relay 100’ along with the name D Binding). Many thanks!

Baptism Preparation Sessions

All new parents are required to prepare for their child’s Baptism by attending one of the following sessions, which are held in Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Centre.

Tuesday 17th August 2021 from 8pm to 9:30 pm 

Tuesday 12th October 2021 fro 8pm to 9.30pm 

Tuesday 7th December 2021 from 8pm to 9.30pm

Tuesday 8th February 2022 from 8pm to 9.30pm

If you would like to attend one of the above, please contact Catherine Harris on 07733327295 or email: mrscatherineharris@gmail.com  in order to book a place.

Carer Vacancy

A sleep-in Carer is needed over the weekend, predominately Saturday nights, flexible with availability, i.e. not every Saturday. Mrs Page, who lives in Westcliff and is currently bed-bound, has a support package in place whereby she has four visits per day from an outside care company who fully attend to her needs. No moving or personal care required. The actual requirements would be some conversation and maybe tea-making, and then sleeping in a separate bedroom, and making sure she was comfortable.

Any enquires to Linda Sparham on 07813811515.

Flower Festival - 11th September 2021

Thank you to everyone who has already agreed to contribute to the Flower festival this year. The Theme is “I AM” (as in I Am the Good Shepherd; the Light of the World; The Way, Truth, & Life etc.) This was the theme that we had chosen for last year, but due to the pandemic it did not take place. The Festival will again, hopefully, coincide with the Leigh Art Trail.  I am pleased to say that we have already have some Art, Photography and Needlework, as well as flower arrangements promised by parishioners to illustrate the themes. We need more people to take part, particularly to do flower arrangements. 

So we are calling all parishioners to help us to create a beautiful and prayerful event to be shared with our community.

 Any donations collected on the day will go towards ‘Serving the Homeless’ projects.

For those interested a list of all the quotations will be available. You can email me at:  mcronan@btinternet.com 

Please let me know if you are planning to take part.

We are also holding a Summer Raffle to raise funds so that we can continue to contribute to HARP and YMCA projects. Tickets for our ‘Hamper Bonanza’ are now on sale, with the draw taking place at the beginning of September. Tickets can be purchased from any of our Committee members.

Jo Ronan (Chair, Serving the Homeless)

St Bernard’s High School

A number of vacancies are available within our Catering Team from September 2021. Please go to our website - School Information - Vacancies -to complete an Application form. Closing date for applications Tuesday 24th August at 9am.

Seventeenth Sunday in ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

Over the next Five Sundays we shall read from chapter six of St John’s Gospel: The Eucharistic Discourse. Every three years when these readings recur, we have the opportunity to reflect on the central truth of our Catholic Faith—The Mystery of Faith—which is the Blessed Eucharist. The miracle of the multiplication of the food was a prefiguring of what was to come: Jesus feeds the hungry multitude with bread and fish; at the Last Supper—in the Eucharistic Banquet—Jesus feeds us with His own Body and Blood. I hope that over these weeks I will be able to open, once again, some of the depths of this great gift and mystery, which is Jesus Himself with us.

Once again this year our Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes has been cancelled. By way of compensation, this week—which would have been the days of our Pilgrimage—the Bishop will be celebrating Mass in five churches of the Diocese. The first will be here in Leigh this Monday and you will find the details of the other celebrations throughout the week in this bulletin.

As many of you may be embarking upon holidays and travel over these coming weeks, I wish you every happiness and a safe journey, there and back!

God bless you all!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

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

Sunday 25 July
8am Mass Aidan Tuffy, RIP (CM)
9.30am Mass Intentions Fr Con Joyce - 58 years of Priesthood (SG)
11.30am Mass Erynne Marie Ligeski, RIP (SS)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Monday 26
Ss Joachim & Anne, Parents of the BVM
9am Mass Intentions of Irene Solecki (SH)
11am Lourdes Mass celebrated by the Bishop

Tuesday 27
Feria
9am Mass Pat Poulton, RIP (SVP)

Wednesday 28
Feria
9am Mass Intentions of Maura Irwin (SG) - Special Birthday
5pm Body in Church Brenda Pearson, RIP

Thursday 29
St Martha
9am Mass Intentions Lambert Family (Anniversary of Ruth) (LL)
11am Requiem Mass Brenda Pearson, RIP

Friday 30
St Peter Chrysologus, Bp, D
12noon Meeta Madhani, RIP (MR)

Saturday 31
St Ignatius of Loyola, Pr
10am Mass Lucille Tarrobal, Jose Conlu & Liza Palma, RIP (JC)
10.30-11.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions

Sunday 1 August

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

5.30pm Vigil Mass Fidelis & Mary Pallis, RIP (DL)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions

8am Mass Pat Hyland, RIP (CM)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Clive Richards, RIP (LL)
4pm Mass Intentions Janie Briddg & Nguyen Duc Doan (TBD) (1962 Missal)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction