Pilgrimage to Knock Shrine
Escorted Pilgrimage to Knock Shrine, Ireland, 16th October 2023. £699.00 per person sharing. Price includes flight, all transfers, 4 nights’ in Knock House Hotel with full board. All entertainment and excursions included. Day trips to Westport, Ballintubber Abbey, Croagh Patrick, Fr. Peyton Centre & National Museum. Single supplement £150.00.
Contact Patricia or Natali on 01268 762 278 or 07740 175557 or email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com.
Children's Liturgy
Children's Liturgy will resume soon. Can you spare an hour once a month to assist the leaders? Come and see what we do any Sunday at 9.30 Mass. Contact Sam 0787 967 6341 if interested.
Repository Open
After the summer break the Repository is now open. We have a very nice selection of new stock which includes a small selection of Statues. Thinking ahead to “All Souls” in November we have a selection of Graveside lights, Lanterns and some small Remembrance tokens. These will of course be available each week . You are all welcome to come and browse and if you do not see what you are looking for please ask one of the Volunteers.
If you have a short time to spare before and after a weekend Mass, please consider volunteering at the Repository. Please leave your name and contact number at the Parish Office.
Bereavement Support Group
If you are in need of individual or Group Counselling and support, please leave your name and contact details with the Parish Office. All enquiries received in strict confidence.
Missio Red Box Holders
I have received the Autumn 2023 Missio Magazines. If have not received one from me personally, please take one from the back of the Church (in the usual place).
Joan Caunce Secretary 01268 757505.
Primary School Link Adviser Opportunity
The Diocese of Brentwood is seeking to appoint a Primary School Link Adviser who is a practising Catholic, to support the Diocesan Board of Education and its family of schools. This is likely to be a part-time post of either 3 or 4 days a week, however, consideration will also be given to applicants who are seeking a full-time or secondment opportunity. The Primary Link Adviser will report to the Diocesan Director of Education and Deputy Director. It is expected that applicants will have an established and successful track record as a head teacher, a senior leader in a primary school or have recent, relevant advisory/consultancy experience. Applicants must be able to demonstrate school improvement experience and the ability to build and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. Working closely as part of a team, the successful candidate will:
• Support the development of Catholic schools as providers of high quality educational, religious and spiritual standards
• Play a leading role in the effectiveness of organisational services and operations
• Support projects in and across schools on an ad-hoc or commissioned basis
• Deliver training
• Participate in the formulation of local level education policy.
Further details and an application form can be obtained via the following link: Primary Link Adviser – Brentwood Diocesan Education Service or by emailing: victoriabarnes@dioceseofbrentwood.org
BIN A TIN FOR VIN
The St Vincent Centre is doing wonderful work in Southend helping the poorest amongst us.
You can help the food bank there by bringing a tin of something with you when you come to mass and putting it in VINNIE'S BIN, which will be in the OLD BAPTISTERY.
This will be emptied twice weekly.
St. Vincent de Paul Society(SVP), Our Lady of Lourdes & St. Joseph
Contactless Payments/Offerings
The contactless device is now permanently situated at the back of the church and may be used for Offertory and Second Collection offerings, Repository payments, candles, SVP and other stipends.
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear friends in Christ
The month of September is dedicated to the Holy Cross, since the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross occurs on 14th.
Dear friends in Christ
The month of September is dedicated to the Holy Cross, since the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross occurs on 14th.
One of the best-known representations of the Cross as the Tree of Life is the 12th century mosaic in the Basilica of San Clemente, Rome. Where the Cross penetrates the earth a luxuriant tree bursts forth and sends its branches far and wide, covering the entire expanse of the apse of the Basilica. In doing so it reaches and enfolds all categories of people: teachers and preachers, chaplains and farmers, ladies and hunters, nobles and shepherds. All of human life is brought into contact with the life that flows from the Cross (John 12:32). And not only human life, for the Cross’s work has a cosmic dimension and so it includes fish, birds and animals, fills the earth and the heavens. There the Father’s hand can be seen, carrying the laurel wreath with which the victor is to be crowned, Christ, our champion, who has been slain. His body appears squeezed dry, since having loved to the end (John 13:1), there is nothing left for Him to give. The Cross is decorated with white doves, taken to represent the Apostles who will soon fly to all corners of the world carrying the message of Christ’s victory. At the foot of the Cross four rivers flow out and a little deer drinks safely, seemingly unaware of the deadly serpent lying nearby. All of these details are portrayed to give us an insight, a better understanding, of the power of the Cross and the Redemption that it has brought for us.
In the Gospel of last Sunday we heard Jesus tell His disciples that anyone who wishes to come after me must deny himself and take up his Cross and follow me. Notice how active this language is: He doesn’t tell us to accept the Cross as it comes; no, He tells us to take-it-up; to consciously go towards it and embrace it. We must consciously and freely walk the path of suffering-love if we are to be His followers. Our mission is to be the bearers of Divine Love in the midst of the world; this takes a million different forms but that’s our basic purpose. And this will always involve suffering because it means the path of self-denial and it means that the Divine Love will meet resistance. If I prioritise the avoidance of suffering, I might gain the whole work but I will lose necessarily becoming the person God wants me to be. That’s the meaning of the feast of the Holy Cross on Thursday. In the words of the ancient chant: Christus vincit…Christ lives, Christ reigns, Christ conquers! He does this by the power of the Cross working in us.
God bless you!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Liturgy:
Readings of Year A
The Nicene Creed
Preface of Sunday 4
Sunday 10
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass Ian Irwin, RIP (SW)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
8am Mass Eileen McVeigh, RIP (JA)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Master Jetson Maffia-Kerbey, RIP (JS)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 11
Feria
9am Mass Intentions of William & Francheska Conlu (JC)
Tuesday 12
The Most Holy Name of Mary
9am Mass Eileen Gurney, RIP (LY)
Wednesday 13
St John Chrysostom, Bp, D
9am Mass Alan Bush, RIP (Anniv) (CB)
Thursday 14
Exaltation (Triumph) of the Holy Cross
9am Mass Frank Maguire, RIP (Anniv) (MM
Friday 15
Our Lady of Sorrows
12 Noon Mass Intentions of Daniel George (Sick) (TM)
Saturday 16
Ss Cornelius, P, and Cyprian, Bp, Mm
10am Mass Ann McCarthy, RIP (AB)
10.30-11.00am: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
12Noon Nuptial Mass
Sunday 17
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
5.30pm Vigil Mass The People of the Parish
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
8am Mass Eileen Gurney, RIP (J&CO’B)
9.30am Mass Deceased Members of the Conlu Family (JC)
11.30am Mass Mark Miles, RIP (PO’C)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Charles Johnson, Fr Conrad Smith, Fr Louis Heston, Fr John Bergin, Canon Patrick Sammon, Fr Theophius Borer, Canon James Hemming, Mary Cope, Winifred Gansen, Joseph Manton, William Allen, Jim Hayes, Peter Green, Joseph Thurlow, Elsie Ivett, Anne Brooks, Mary Manton, William Wheaton, Kathleen Matthews, Eliza Moore, Mary Wright, Wilfred Sawyer, Kathleen McGowan, Anne McCarthy, Veronica Maguire, Joyce Wager, Alan Bush, Patricia Lawrence, Kathleen Horning, Bill Jarrett, Ann Dodd, Marie Norah Browne, Jack Abbott, Dan Peretti, Philomena Conley, Frank Maguire, Catherine Lane, Bernard Wiltshire, Eileen McCarthy, Percival De’ath, Bridget Finnegan, Sylvia Mary Jones, Dot Trolley, Anne Kathleen Gibson, Frances Spriggs & Joseph Hayes.
We Pray for our Sick
Richard Poole, Pamela Uglietti, Michael Mapson, Deana Ince, Susan Griffin, Eva Paviour, Gy Rampersaud, Mary O’Sullivan, Ian Spacie, Bobby Newman, Paul Watts, Christine Reid, Rose D’Souza, Jimmy & Pauline Martin, James Fegan, Muriel Matthews, David Lesley, Kenneth Biebuyck, Zach Stokes, Andrew Stokes, Noel Conroy, Marjorie Jay, Paul Sutton, John Murphy, Jennifer Biebuyck, Moira Scott, Jill Yates, Leonora Maguire, Brian Mountier, Renata Butler, Margaret Bartle, Tony Downey, Kristy Monferrari, Fred Ring, Russell Short, Marie Kharas, Garry Pearman, Patricia Ann Darroch, Patricia Vanner, Amy Louise Fox, Sarah Savage, Bill O’Connell, Charlotte O’Neil, Ella Williams, David Kislingbury, Mark Shepherd, Breege McCaffrey, Mark Hartley, John Lavery, Paul Keane, Rosemary Bragard, Pat Lynch, 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 Poole, Edward Martin, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Hugh Isaacs, 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, Bradley, Florence Hownam & children: Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Connie Price, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Mary Isherwood, Lucy Price, Frazer Gregory & baby Forest Gallagher.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of
DOROTHY RODGERS who died peacefully on Friday 1st September. Funeral details to follow.
Requiescat in pace
Education Sunday—10th September
Education Sunday, at the start of the new academic year, offers us an opportunity to pray to Almighty God for all people involved in Catholic education, to celebrate the achievements of the past and to ask Our Lord to bless the work of the year ahead. The great desire of Jesus is to be with us and to invite us to enter into a personal relationship with Him, a relationship of love. When a person knows they are truly loved, a new confidence abounds. St John Bosco, the great patron saint of young people and of education, once said: Without confidence and love, there can be no true education. If you want to be loved you must love yourselves, and make your children feel that you love them. The mission of our Catholic schools, colleges and universities is to provide a holistic education which enables the lives of children and young people to flourish and for them to be formed into the men and women that God the Father has created them to be. May our Catholic schools, colleges and universities always be places where children and young people discover that they are known and loved by the Lord in their uniqueness.
At 9.30am Mass this Sunday, the children from our Primary School will assist with the liturgical music and proclamation of the Word of God.
Certificate of Catholic Practice for Schools
If you are applying for a place in a Catholic School for your child you may wish to include a Certificate of Catholic Practice. As our local Schools are currently undersubscribed with Catholics, the need for this Certificate is not as pressing as it has been previously. However, if you wish your application to be endorsed then these Certificates may be obtained from the Parish Office either on a Thursday or Friday morning between 10am—1pm.
First Holy Communion 2024
The first meeting for parents will be on Wednesday 13th September at 8pm in the Parish Centre.
Dates for your Diary
Monday 18th September—Journey in Faith (RCIA) begins—8pm Newman Room
First Holy Communion Parents Meeting—Wednesday 13th September—8pm in Parish Centre
Thursday 30th November—Saturday 2nd December—Forty Hours’ Prayer
JOURNEY OF FAITH—RCIA
This begins on Monday, 18th September and is specifically for those who are not Catholics but who are enquiring with a view to finding out more about the Catholic Faith and Reception into the Chruch. These evenings begin at 8pm, are held in the Newman Room of the Parish Centre (the door is beside the Memorial Garden) and usually last just over an hour. Names may be given in advance to Fr Kevin or the Parish Office.
Knights of Saint Columba - Afternoon Tea on 16th September
AN AFTERNOON TEA - 16th September
at the New Mazenod Hall at St Peter’s, Eastwood
Starting at 3.30pm with a traditional English Afternoon Tea (sandwiches, cakes, scones, etc.) and of course Tea and Coffee with soft drinks available for the children.
There will also be live piano music accompaniment.
Tickets available at St Peter’s Repository priced:
Adult £7.50 Child (under 12) £5
Family of 4 Ticket £20
Contact Ian: 07503 465249 or Bruno: 01702 528766