Silent Weekend Retreat 'My Lord and my God' Friday 4th-Sunday 6th November
Led by Fr Martin Boland, Dean of Brentwood Cathedral. Venue: Sion Community, Brentwood. Our theme focuses on how closeness to Christ enables us to develop a deeper level of intimacy with Him. It enables us to recognise Jesus more readily in our lives and acknowledge Him both in private and in public. This silent weekend retreat offers us the opportunity to spend time with the Lord in quiet prayer and reflection. 40-HOURS of CONTINUOUS Adoration, guidance & ministry included. For more information or to book, visithttps://sioncommunity.org.uk/adults/ or email allegra.mutanda@gmail.com
Cemetery Director role - St Mary's and St Patrick's
The Administrators of the Secular Clergy Common Fund are looking to appoint a Cemetery Director to be responsible for the direct management and strategic oversight of St Mary’s Cemetery NW10 5NU and St Patrick’s Cemetery E11 4HL.
The Secular Clergy Common Fund is a charity originally formed back in 1701, the Cemeteries were established as Charitable Trusts to provide a place of rest and comfort for Roman Catholics and remain the only active Catholic cemeteries in London. We aim to provide a supportive working environment in line with our values of being inclusive, open, respectful, and responsible.
For an informal discussion regarding the role please contact Angela Rowe, Secretary to the Administrators atsecretary@secularclergy.org.uk (Tel 07537 185800).
Missio-Red Box Holders
I have received the Autumn Missio Magazines. If you have not received one from me personally please take one from the back of the Church in the usual place.
If you have a box which needs emptying please let me have it personally or leave it in the Parish Office for me to collect. Thank you Joan Caunce Secretary. 01268 757505.
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
One of the hallmarks of a Christian is, or should be, the virtue of gratitude. Not only do we have much to be grateful for: life, our Faith, our gifts and talents, our relationships and so forth, but also we have the obligation born of Christian charity, to express gratitude to others. The Readings of the Mass this Sunday are expressions of thanksgiving: the cure of Syrian Naaman, and the healing of the lepers in the Gospel. Jesus was amazed at the lack of gratitude of those who had been cured but failed to return to give thanks to God.
Dear friends in Christ
One of the hallmarks of a Christian is, or should be, the virtue of gratitude. Not only do we have much to be grateful for: life, our Faith, our gifts and talents, our relationships and so forth, but also we have the obligation born of Christian charity, to express gratitude to others. The Readings of the Mass this Sunday are expressions of thanksgiving: the cure of Syrian Naaman, and the healing of the lepers in the Gospel. Jesus was amazed at the lack of gratitude of those who had been cured but failed to return to give thanks to God. Gratitude should be in the DNA of the Christian. The very centre of our Faith expressed each week in Holy Mass is thanksgiving which is the form of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. We are living in a world today which is characterised by a sense of entitlement. Everyone is very aware of their rights and privileges. Very often, however, there is not a corresponding sense of gratitude for what we received. Perhaps we somehow think that we are entitled to a pleasant existence. We cannot forget the message St Augustine drew from this Gospel of the ten lepers: What is ours but the sins which we have committed? What do you have that you did not receive? Our lives should be a continuous act of thanksgiving. Let us thank God for everything. St Bernard teaches us that he who humbly acknowledges his indebtedness will naturally be promised even more. Whoever is faithful in a few things will justly be entrusted with many things. Conversely, he who is ungrateful for present favours has probably been ungrateful for past ones. Let not a day pass us by, without expressing our gratitude to God for His goodness to us. Let not a day go by without us showing our gratitude, in words and deeds, to those who show us kindness.
Let us continue in this Month of the Holy Rosary, to take up this great weapon of prayer for peace on our continent and in the world at this precarious time. May the Queen of the Holy Rosary be our safeguard and security in the face of all evil, war and destruction.
God bless you all and keep you safe under the protecting mantle of His Mother!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday 9th October
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Month of the Holy Rosary
Liturgy:
Readings Year C
The Nicene Creed
Preface of Sunday 7
5.30pm Mass John Austin McGuire, RIP (AC)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
8am Mass Mike Rubbert, RIP (CB)
9.30am Mass Jose Conlu, RIP
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 10
St Paulinus of York, Bp
9am Mass Intentions of Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Tuesday 11
St John XXIII, P
9am Mass Intentions of Daniel Shpella and Ena (TS)
Wednesday 12
Ss Ethelburga, Hildelithe & Cuthberga, Rel
9am Mass Paddy McCarren, RIP (A-MC)
Thursday 13
St Edward the Confessor, King
9am Mass Sir David Amess, RIP (Anniv) (IS)
Friday 14
St Callistus, I, P, M
10.00am Requiem Mass Peter Wilkinson, RIP
Saturday 15 October
St Teresa of Jesus (Avila) V, Rel, D
10am Mass John & Anne Young, RIP (Anniv) (LY)
10.30-11.30am: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
Sunday 16
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Mass Nick Ryan, RIP (JH)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
8am Mass Stephen Mark, RIP (GM)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Thomas Patrick Costello, RIP (Anniv)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Pope Pius XII, Fr John Dempsey, Fr Patrick Malin, Mgr Matthias Kearney, Mgr Canon Michael McKenna, Canon Roderick Grant, Joyce Mary Pycroft, Henry Hart, Thomas Gunsell, Ronald Ballard, Mary Sawyer, Julia Shields, Amelia Eaglesfield, Mary J. Clark, Moira O’Riordan, Francis Gurney, Charles Cutter, Arthur Hooper, Chloe Watts, Valerie Martin, Thomas Patrick Costello, Joan Lucey, Eric Phillips, Irene Earl, Stanley Greaves, Teresa Morton, Winifred Archer, Adele Cumbo, Caroline Cussen, Annie Dunne, George Masi, Kathleen Linnet, Eva Riley, Christopher Adams, Francis Jones, Martha Tanner, Phyllis Koch, John Young, John Murray & Anne Young.
We Pray for our Sick
Muriel Matthews, Charles D’Souza, David Lesley, Kenneth Biebuyck, Zach Stokes, Andrew Stokes, Noel Conroy, Marjorie Jay, Paul Sutton, John Murphy, Mary Monaghan, 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, Garry Pearman, Patricia Ann Darroch, 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, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Pat Lynch, Maureen Gooding, Ben Wilson, Christian Ryan, Tina Doveaston, Addi Brady, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Rose Craft, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, 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, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Johnny 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, Sharon Levill, Annie Holland, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Bernadette Lane, Irena Solecki, Ianto Bellis, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith, Keith Maliff, German Morfin, Bradley & children: Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price, Frazer Gregory & baby Forest Gallagher.
We Pray for the Repose of the Souls of
CATHERINE LANE RIP who died on Wednesday, 14th September. Her body will be received into the church at 4.30pm on Tuesday, 25th October and her Requiem Mass take place at 10am on Wednesday, 26th October, followed by burial at Chingford Mount Cemetery.
PETER WILKINSON RIP who died on Friday, 23rd September. His body will be received into the church at 5pm on Thursday, 13th October and his Requiem Mass take place at 10am on Friday, 14th October, followed by committal at Southend Crematorium.
Requiescant in pace
Pastoral Letter regarding the Visit of the Relics of St Bernadette of Lourdes
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
We have a special visitor in our diocese next week: St Bernadette of Lourdes. Having travelled through the Channel Tunnel, and after some weeks of visiting various parts of England and Wales, the relics of St Bernadette will come to us. She will be at Brentwood Cathedral next Sunday and Monday morning, and then, at Our Lady of Lourdes, Wanstead, in East London, from Tuesday to Wednesday. This has never happened before.
St Bernadette was only fourteen years old when a beautiful lady, dressed in white, with a blue girdle and carrying a rosary, appeared to her in a grotto by the bank of the River Gave. During eighteen apparitions, the lady said three things to her. She asked Bernadette to pray for sinners. She told her to go to the parish priests and tell them that ‘people should come in procession to the grotto and build a chapel here.’ And, finally, the beautiful lady revealed who she was: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception.’
To begin with, no one believed Bernadette but, over time, both the priests and the townspeople became convinced. Why? Because of the clear sincerity and goodness of St Bernadette. She asked nothing for herself, continued to live simply, and chose to disappear into a convent. Throughout she was an example of prayer and humility. At the same time, Lourdes was becoming a place of pilgrimage where many were experiencing conversion and the sick great care. Lourdes remains a shrine of great love and service.
St Bernadette can be an example to us. She shows us the beauty of faith and trust in the Lord. We can ask her to pray for us. We do not need to be close to her relics to learn from her and seek her prayers. But her relics are a powerful reminder of the truth of this woman’s life and God, in his kindness, has often particularly blessed us when we come close to the shrines of the saints. Having come to us, it would be beautiful for us to go to Bernadette, whether at Brentwood or Wanstead.
There is another particular reason why we may want to venerate the relics of St Bernadette. The patroness of our diocese is Our Lady of Lourdes. For us, Lourdes is not a faraway place but our spiritual home from which we can draw much inspiration in East London and Essex. Every year, I lead a diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes at the end of July. It is my hope that the visit of the relics of St Bernadette will inspire many of us to join this pilgrimage and go to Lourdes as Our Lady hoped.
A wonderful website has been created for this national tour of the relics. Simply go to St Bernadette.org.uk. There you will find much more information. After the difficulties of the pandemic and with much to concern us both nationally and internationally, let us seek the prayers of St Bernadette and place our trust in the loving concern of that beautiful lady, the Immaculate Conception.
Yours in Christ and Mary.
+Alan, sm
Bishop of Brentwood
Relics of St Bernadette
The Relics of St Bernadette will be in our diocese this month. This is a wonderful opportunity to pray with the Saint to whom Our Lady chose to appear at Lourdes. Here are the details:
BRENTWOOD CATHEDRAL
Sunday 16 October
11 am: Relics of St Bernadette arrive.
11.30 am: Holy Mass, celebrated by Bishop Alan Williams
6.30 pm: Holy Mass, with the Youth Service.
9 pm: Cathedral closes.
Monday 17 October
6 am: Cathedral opens.
9.15 am: Holy Mass
12 noon: Relics of St Bernadette depart.
OUR LADY OF LOURDES, WANSTEAD
Tuesday 18 October
10 am: Relics of St Bernadette arrive.
11 am - 3 pm: Time reserved for pre-booked school groups.
7.30 pm: Holy Mass, celebrated by Bishop Alan Williams
12 midnight: Church closes.
Wednesday 19 October
6 am: Church opens.
9 am: Relics of St Bernadette depart.
You are welcome to come to pray before the Relics outside the reserved times for Schools. If possible, book your visit through the national website: stbernadette.org.uk Whether you book or not, you may have to queue.
Music at 11.30am Mass on Sunday
Prelude: Prelude in B Minor BWV544 - J S Bach (1685-1750)
Postlude: Fugue in B minor BWV544 - J S Bach
Response to Psalm
Dates for your Diary
Monday 10th October—Journey in Faith-RCIA continues.
Thursday 24th—Saturday 26th November
Annual Solemn Days of Eucharistic Exposition
CAFOD Family Fast Day
As we are all seeing in our daily lives, climate change, coronavirus and the conflict in Ukraine mean that food prices are skyrocketing - creating a global food crisis for many people - including here in the UK.
In East Africa, CAFOD's local experts have been working with families to help them survive food shortages and severe drought. For example, in Kenya families' livestock have died due to the drought, leaving them unable to earn income, and the drought has also meant that growing food is very difficult. Families have also been unable to send their children to school, as education is not free, and families cannot afford it with limited or no income. Any donations you can make this CAFOD Fast Day will assist CAFOD's local experts help those families, including with the delivery of emergency food and water. You can donate online - www.cafod.org.uk - or via envelope at the back of the church.
Thank you for your support and continued prayers.
St Bernard's High School - Year 12 Open Evening on Wednesday 9 November
St Bernard’s High School
A Catholic Academy for Arts and Science
Open Evening for Prospective Year 12
Wednesday 9 November 2022
7.00pm to 9.00pm
We would be delighted to welcome to our Open Evening
prospective students who are interested in joining
St Bernard’s High School’s Sixth Form in September 2023.
www.stbernardswestcliff.org.uk
We welcome applications to our mixed Sixth Form
from students of all faiths and none,
who meet our entrance requirements and are seeking a school with a Christian ethos.
‘The school is welcoming and inclusive. In 2015, many pupils made significantly better progress than other pupils nationally’ Ofsted 2016
'The gifted, able and talented programme provides challenging enrichment across all year groups and is acknowledged by the NACE Award' Ofsted 2016
‘St Bernard’s High School is an outstanding Catholic school…Attainment and
progress of students is outstanding’ (Diocesan Inspection, 2017)
www.stbernardswestcliff.org.uk
Milton Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex SS0 7JS
Journey in Faith-RCIA
The Monday evening sessions of our Journey in Faith—RCIA—continue. Week-by-week we shall explore the Catholic Faith as set-out by the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These evenings are suitable especially for those thinking of becoming a Catholic or for anyone who wants to know more about their Catholic Faith. 8-9.15pm in the Newman Room of the Parish Centre (entrance beside the Memorial Garden).
Prisoners Sunday 9th October 2022
Prisoners’ Sunday is the national day of prayer and action for prisoners and their dependants as marked by the Catholic Church and across the Christian denominations. It is a day to direct our thoughts and prayers to prisoners, their families and children. Prisoners’ Sunday is the time to reflect on how we as individuals, as a Church and as a community are serving those affected by imprisonment. Further information can be found on the website.
Days at the Haven
Days at the Haven is a specialist day centre caring for those living with a neurological disorder. We are situated in the Haven Community Hub which is down Hamlet Court Road in the old Havens department store. We are hoping to expand our services so we can be open daily Monday through to Saturday.
We are having an open week which will run every day from Monday 10th October to Saturday 15th October from 11am to 3pm each day. The purpose of the event is to show case what we do and answer any questions anyone may have about our services.
There is no need to book, just turn up when its convenient for you and we will have a staff member or volunteer available to show you around and give you any information you may need. We will also have representatives from Carers first available at some times throughout the week and Gill Clarke, dementia navigator will be available for advice and support on Thursday 13th October between 11am and 2pm.
Silent Weekend Retreat 'My Lord and my God' Friday 4th-Sunday 6th November
Led by Fr Martin Boland, Dean of Brentwood Cathedral. Venue: Sion Community, Brentwood. Our theme focuses on how closeness to Christ enables us to develop a deeper level of intimacy with Him. It enables us to recognise Jesus more readily in our lives and acknowledge Him both in private and in public. This silent weekend retreat offers us the opportunity to spend time with the Lord in quiet prayer and reflection. 40-HOURS of CONTINUOUS Adoration, guidance & ministry included. For more information or to book, visithttps://sioncommunity.org.uk/adults/ or email allegra.mutanda@gmail.com
Cemetery Director role - St Mary's and St Patrick's
The Administrators of the Secular Clergy Common Fund are looking to appoint a Cemetery Director to be responsible for the direct management and strategic oversight of St Mary’s Cemetery NW10 5NU and St Patrick’s Cemetery E11 4HL.
The Secular Clergy Common Fund is a charity originally formed back in 1701, the Cemeteries were established as Charitable Trusts to provide a place of rest and comfort for Roman Catholics and remain the only active Catholic cemeteries in London. We aim to provide a supportive working environment in line with our values of being inclusive, open, respectful, and responsible.
For an informal discussion regarding the role please contact Angela Rowe, Secretary to the Administrators atsecretary@secularclergy.org.uk (Tel 07537 185800).
St Thomas More High School Open Days
Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th October 2022 by appointment. Telephone 01702 344933- for parents who have a son due to transfer to secondary school in September 2023 - come and see the school during a normal school day, meet the staff and pupils.
Parents of boys who wish to apply to St. Thomas More School for a place in September 2023 should complete the Local Education Authority single application form (SAF) and fill in the supplementary information form (SIF) that can be collected from the school or downloaded from the website:- www.st-thomasmore.southend.sch.uk