Parish Christmas Bazaar - Sunday 3rd December, 8.45am - 1.00pm

Thank you for so many lovely donations towards our Annual Parish Bazaar, which is this weekend. It’s not too late to donate any unwanted gifts, toiletries, bottles, raffle prizes or bric-a-brac, please leave them in the Old Baptistry.

Please bring cake donations to the Parish Centre during the day on Saturday or Sunday morning.

If you would like to help on the day, please contact us.

Sue Lawford—07816 141492
Angela Clements—07940 183452—email angelaclements47@gmail.com.

Raffle tickets are still available at the back of church after all masses.

PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CAN ONLY TAKE CASH!

SVP Christmas Party

A Christmas Party! Your parish SVP (Society of St Vincent de Paul) Conference is delighted to announce the date and place of its annual '"Christmas Party" to which all senior members of the parish are most warmly invited!

Our "Christmas Party" is being held in the Parish Centre on Saturday, 9th December, commencing at 2pm and concluding at 4pm! Carols, good company and Christmas fare will pleasantly ease you into the seasonal spirit!

If you—or someone you know—would like to join us on this happy parish occasion please call/text Francis O'Brien on 07845 874331. You will be most welcome!

Sea of Voices Community Choir Concert

Thanks to everyone who attended our fundraising Christmas concert last Sunday afternoon as well as donations of raffle prizes. We raised a fantastic £700 for Havens Hospices in memory of Alice Hood, RIP.

The choir next sings at the ‘Serve the Homeless’ Carol concert in the Church on Friday 15th December, starting at 7pm.

Repository Throughout Advent

Please take a few minutes to visit us and browse our selection of Christmas cards and Calendars, plus a nice selection of Advent Calendars for the children. We also have a selection of Christmas candles and small religious items for children and adults. If you don’t see what you are looking for, please ask one of the volunteers for help, and we also look forward to seeing many of you at the Parish Christmas Bazaar.

Journey of Faith—RCIA

RCIA will meet on Monday, 4th December 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 Church. 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.

Cathedral Events 2023

Serving the Homeless—200 Club

Dear member of Serving the Homeless 200 Club

Please note that the final draw will take place on Monday 18th December 2023. On that date the balance of all monies received into the 200 Club Account will be divided in half, with 50% to be distributed as prize money and 50% transferred to the Current Account of Serving the Homeless.

Please remember to cancel your Standing order by the end of December. Any monies received into the 200 Club Account after the 18th of December will be transferred to the Current Account of Serving the Homeless to form part of the final distribution.

Thank you all for your magnificent support over the last 30 years.

Brentwood Diocesan Yearbook 2024

The 2024 Diocesan Directory now available from the back of the Church—£2.95

Office Clerk - Cathedral House

To provide effective and efficient support in relation to administration requirements at Cathedral House.

Hours: 21 hours per week 09.00 until 17.00 (Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays).

Start Date: December/January 2024

Salary- £13 per hour

Apply by sending a CV and covering letter (no longer than A4) hr@brcdt.org

Closing date for applications is 5th December 2023

Our Lady of Lourdes PTA

Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School and Nursery are very excited to announce that we have joined up with ‘Leigh Trees’ in their school fundraising scheme. If you are going to buy a Christmas tree this year buying one from Leigh Trees will raise funds for our school. 

Simply buy a real Christmas tree, online or in person, and YOU get £10 OFF, and the school PTA will also receive £10 commission for each tree sold. 

You can buy online at LeighTrees.co.uk using our personalised Code: olol10 or visit LeighTrees at the A127 Christmas Tree Farm, 579 Prince Avenue, Westcliff on Sea SS0 0JJ, simply mention you are supporting Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School. Trees are available from mid-November with deliveries FREE to all SS postcodes from the end of November.

Many thanks for you support, OLOL School PTA

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

Pilgrimage to Knock

Escorted Pilgrimage to Knock & Co Mayo, 7th April 2024. £899.00 pps. Price includes flight, 10kg hold luggage, 5 nights in 4* Castlecourt Hotel, Westport with Dinner, Bed & Breakfast. Lunch on three days. All entertainment, excursions and transport included.

Visit Knock, Galway City, Kylemore Abbey, Croagh Patrick & Ashford Castle. Single supplement on Enquiry. Contact Patricia or Natali on 01268 762 278 or 07740 175557 or email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com.

Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Dear friends in Christ

The Church brings to conclusion her liturgical year with the great feast celebrating the universal sovereignty of Jesus Christ. There could be no more appropriate way to end the year before we begin another year with Advent. Living as we do, in a time of great uncertainty and turmoil in our world, the image of Christ the King reigning serenely over the universe, is comforting and reassuring. Through all of the uncertainties of life, we have the assurance that Jesus is Lord of the world and of our lives. He has come, in the words of the Preface of the Mass this weekend to establish an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.

The feast of Christ the King each year is also National Youth Sunday, and so a moment for us to express our hope in our young and the value they give to the Church and the hope for the future. Our Primary School children will participate in the Vigil Mass this Saturday evening as an expression of their desire to be a vibrant part of the Church in our uncertain times.

As we have done for the last twenty years, the final thee days of the liturgical year—Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week—are given-over to our solemn Eucharistic adoration or Forty Hours’ Prayer. These days imitate the Church from the beginning, waiting upon The Lord and His return. It is a time of deep prayer and intercession for the needs of our Parish and wider Church. I encourage you to come and spend silent time in prayer with Jesus present in the Gift of Gifts, which is the Blessed Sacrament. I want to suggest that we would all sign-up to spend either fifteen or thirty minutes of silent prayer sometime between Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon in this most vital exercise of praise and adoration to Christ our King!

May God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Liturgy:
Readings of Year A
The Nicene Creed
Preface of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Saturday 25
St Catherine of Alexandria, V, M

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

Sunday 26 November
Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

8am Mass The People of the Parish
9.30am Mass Meg Cheeseman RIP (AE)
11.30am Mass Nora Thompson, RIP (DT)
5pm Body in Church Patricia Bower, RIP
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Monday 27
Feria
10am Requiem Mass Patricia Bower, RIP

Tuesday 28
Feria
9am Mass Pietro Tisi, RIP (Anniv) (TT)

Wednesday 29
Feria
9am Mass Holy Souls

Thursday 30
St Andrew, Ap, Patron of Scotland
NO MORNING MASS
7pm Opening Mass of Forty Hours’—Intentions of Rose D’Souza (MF)
Exposition continues until 11pm

Friday 1 December
Blessed John Beche, Ab, M
Exposition resumes from 7am
12Noon Mass Dec'd Members of the Moon Family & Valerie Griggs, RIP
3.45pm Benediction for Children & Families
7pm-8pm Preached Holy Hour
Exposition until 11pm

Saturday 2
Saturday Memorial of BVM
Exposition resumes from 7am
10am Mass Clare Chadwick, RIP (MI)
10.30-11.30am: Confessions
4.00pm Closing Benediction of the Forty Hours’

5.30pm Vigil Mass Pamela Conway, RIP (JC)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions

Sunday 3 December
First Sunday of Advent
8am Mass Fr Kevin's Intentions (MW)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Bill & Moya Campbell, RIP (LL)
4pm Mass Ints of Relatives of Andrew Philip Moore (FM)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries

Fr John Ayden, Fr Patrick Bennett, Deacon Anthony Collins, Fr Francis Branney, Fr Bartholomew (Bart) Lynch, Fr James (Pat) Hannon, Clifford Pollard, Matthew Browning, John Sidney Clements, Peggy Jeffries, Jack Vessey, Thomas Slattery, Patricia Manvell, Ronald Slater, Ann McGinty, Eileen Vaughan, Elinor Watters, Vera Spelling, Angela Lingard, Peter Haigh, Marie Sanctuary, Dilwyn Morgan, David Aldridge, Ethel Knight, Kathleen Dawson, Pat Baillard, William Kerry, Leonard Coventry, Derek Timothy, Terence Slattery, Val Brown, Delia Fleming & Liliana Petrini.

We Pray for our Sick

Kitty Lydon, Isabel Coombs, Lucy Moreno, Jose Luis Lira, Richard Poole, Pamela Uglietti, Michael Mapson, Deana Ince, Susan Griffin, Gy Rampersaud, Mary O’Sullivan, Ian Spacie, Bobby Newman, Paul Watts, Christine Reid, Rose D’Souza, Jimmy & Pauline Martin, James Fegan, David Lesley, 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.

Sanctuary Lamp

This week the Sanctuary Lamp burns for the intentions of the Emmerson Family.

Please pray for the repose of the souls of

Mrs PATRICIA BOWER who died on Tuesday 31st October. Her body will be received into the church on Sunday, 26th November at 5pm and her Requiem Mass will take place on Monday, 27th November at 10am, followed by committal at Basildon Crematorium.

Mr KENNETH BIEBUYCK who died on 20th October. His body will be received into the church on Tuesday, 5th December at 4.30pm and his Requiem Mass will take place on Wednesday, 6th December at 11am, followed by committal at Upminster Cemetery.

Mrs SUZANNE (SUE) REYNOLDS who died on 7th November. Her body will be received into the church on Wednesday, 20th December at 5pm and her Requiem Mass will take place on Thursday, 21st December at 2pm, followed by committal at Southend Crematorium.

Mr NICK FLACH who died on Thursday, 9th November.

Requiescant in pace

Days of Solemn Eucharistic Adoration—Forty Hours’ Prayer

Thursday 30 November
7pm Opening Mass of Forty Hours’
Exposition continues until 11pm

Friday 1 December
Exposition resumes from 7am
12Noon Mass
3.45pm Benediction for Children & Families
7pm-8pm Preached Holy Hour
Exposition until 11pm

Saturday 2 December
Exposition resumes from 7am
10am Mass
4.00pm Closing Benediction of the Forty Hours’

Candles can be had in the Sacristy (£5) and will burn before the Blessed Sacrament with your intention written on the base. The remaining lamps will be used as the Sanctuary Lamp throughout the coming year.

Responsorial Psalm at 11.30am Mass

Prelude: Sonata per Organo—Giovanni Bassani  (1657-1716)

Postlude:  Praeludium—Johann Kuhnau  (1660-1722)

Responsorial Psalm