Repository during Advent
We are open as usual after all Masses at weekends only. We still have a small selection of Christmas cards and gifts, plus Advent Calendars. If you do not see what you are looking for please ask one of the volunteers for help.
We apologise that we do not have cards from the Latin Mass Society due to the suppliers re-printing problems.
A very big ‘thank you’ to everyone who visited our stall at the Parish Bazaar, plus the very positive and encouraging comments we received.
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.
Journey of Faith—RCIA
RCIA will meet on Monday, 11th 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.
Interested in a Vocation to the Priesthood?
Evenings for Vocations enquirers
We are planning to continue the Evenings for Vocations enquirers in the new year on Tuesdays 6th February, 5th March, 9th April, 7th May and 4th June. Canon John Harvey has kindly agreed to host the evenings at the Cathedral.
Vocations Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden
This is a day pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden in North London.
Brentwood Diocesan Yearbook 2024
The 2024 Diocesan Directory now available from the back of the Church—£2.95
Missio Red Box Holders
I have received the Missio Calendar 2024. If you have not received one personally from me, please take one from the back of the Church, on the ledge, usual place.
Thank you. Joan Caunce, Secretary.
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.
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
First Sunday of Advent
Dear friends in Christ
We have just ended one liturgical year and begun a new one in our characteristic manner—with the Forty Hours’s Prayer.
Dear friends in Christ
We have just ended one liturgical year and begun a new one in our characteristic manner—with the Forty Hours’ Prayer. These last three days prepared us for the consideration of the coming of God’s Kingdom which is prefigured by the Blessed Eucharist. Advent which begins now, is the hope of our future glory. We await Christ in this life and in the next and during Advent this vigilant hope is heightened. The liturgy of these first days of Advent points us to the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ. As we move through Advent, our thoughts are guided towards the coming of Christ in time—the Incarnation. We need to try to live Advent properly. The world may already be celebrating Christmas with the glitz and the parties. The Christian is meant to use this time as one of sober consideration of what happened when God came into our world; when He will come again; and as He comes to us today in various guises. Allow the Prophets of the Old Testament to guide us, so that our hearts do not become dissipated and distracted by the lure of material things. Allow St John the Baptist to speak to our hearts in tones of repentance and conversion. Allow our Blessed Lady—whose Immaculate Conception we shall celebrate on Friday—to open our hearts as she did, to receive the Word made flesh.
May God bless us, as we move through three short weeks of Advent, to the celebration of the Incarnation!
Msgr Kevin Hale
First Sunday of Advent
Liturgy:
Readings of Year B
The Nicene Creed
Preface of First Sunday of Advent
Saturday 2
Saturday Memorial of BVM
5.30pm Vigil Mass Pamela Conway, RIP (JC)
6.30-7.00.pm Confessions; NO exposition
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
Monday 4
St John Damascene Pr, D
9am Mass Jose Camara, RIP (LS)
Tuesday 5
Feria
9am Mass Michael Rubbert, RIP (Anniv) (MR)
4.30pm Body in Church Kenneth Biebuyck
Wednesday 6
St Nicholas, Bp
9am Mass Intentions of Gavin Allard (JA)
11am Requiem Mass Kenneth Biebuyck
Thursday 7
St Ambrose, Bp, D
9am Mass Basil & Frances Emmerson, RIP (AE)
Friday 8
SOLEMNITY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF OUR BLESSED LADY
12Noon Mass David Thomas, RIP (PT)
7pm Holy Rosary;
Consecration of the Parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary;
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Saturday 9
St Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
10am Mass Clare Clarke, RIP (Anniv) (IR)
10.30-11.30am: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
5.30pm Vigil Mass Joseph & Stella Gallo, RIP (RG-G)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
Sunday 10 December
Second Sunday of Advent
8am Mass Caroline Goeghegan, RIP (GG)
9.30am Mass Lucrecia Conlu, RIP (JC)
11.30am Mass The People of the Parish
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Brian Drea, Fr Michael Healy, Fr Bernard Pownall, Fr John Lane, Canon Anthony McKintey, Terence Slattery, Val Brown, Delia Fleming, Liliana Petrini, Timothy Murphy, Louise De Souza, Maurice Brazier, Agnes Nisbett, Yvonne Lovett, Martha Braun, Irene Rice, Ryszaard Burzynski, Vera Walls, Anne Woods, Hugh Smyth, Anne Reid, Christine Lyons, Barbara Clarke, Brigid Hill, Iris Masters, Ann Dawson, William Johnson, Bruce Pond, John Newton, Thomas O’Hanlon, Mary Alice Ring, Mary Dulcie O’Leary, John Parsons, Sheila de Chantilly, Johanna Sadowski, Walter Scott, Patrick Lyons & Clare Clarke.
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 Isabel Darren and Family.
Please pray for the repose of the soul of
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.
Requiescant in pace
Serving the Homeless Carol Service
Please join Serving the Homeless for our final Carol Service on Friday 15th December at 7pm to help us to celebrate what has been achieved over the last 33 years.
We are hoping that many of you will be able to be a part of our final event before we disband in January.
Parish Fundraising
Thank you to everyone who supports the Parish 200 Club. The results of the October draw are as follows:
1st Prize £150 22 Miss V DeSouza
2nd Prize £100 154 Miss I Solecki
3rd Prize £75 1 Mr J Peoples
4th Prize £25 200 Mrs S Griffin
We are still 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.
HARP
As we approach this festive time of year, particularly after what has been a really challenging year for so many people, our thoughts often turn to people who are less fortunate than ourselves.
The ongoing cost of living crisis has forced many people to make difficult decisions about whether to eat, heat or pay their rent. As a result, more and more people have been forced into homelessness in Southend and Essex. Many of those people are currently sleeping rough or sofa surfing, not knowing where their next meal will come from, without a safe place to call home or family to turn to for support.
This is why we are extremely grateful for the support you’ve provided us with in the past. I wanted to thank you for this and ask if you could support us again this Christmas? A gift of just £10, or whatever you can afford, will help us do more for people who need us.
You can donate online at harpsouthend.org.uk or give your donation to Linda Wall who will pass it on to HARP
Dates for your Diary
Monday 4th December—Journey in Faith (RCIA) continues—8pm Newman Room
Sunday 3rd December—Parish Bazaar
Friday 15th December—Carol Service—Serving the Homeless
Monday 22nd—Saturday 27th July 2024—Parish Pilgrimage to Lourdes