Parish Christmas Bazaar - Sunday 24th November, 8.45am - 1.00pm
We are pleased to announce that our Annual Parish Bazaar is back once again and we need your help and generosity. If you have any unwanted gifts, toiletries, bottles, raffle prizes or bric-a-brac that you would like to donate, please leave them in the Old Baptistry.
If you would like to help on the Saturday to help set up, or on the Sunday, please contact us.
Sue Lawford—07816 141492
Angela Clements—07940 183452—email angelaclements47@gmail.com.
Repository
The Repository is open after Masses at the weekend and Parishioners are welcome to come and browse. We have a large selection of cards for various occasions, plus some beautiful statues and Rosaries.
We will shortly have a small stock of the new CTS Sunday Missal and you are welcome to place your order in advance to avoid disappointment.
JOURNEY OF FAITH—RCIA
This continues on Monday, 21st October 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.
Catholic and aged between 18—30?
Join a group for faithful young adults for faith based discussions. Presentations on relevant theological or ethical issues, evening prayer, exposition and benediction.
If you are interested then contact Max on 07783506474 for more information or to confirm your place. Food and drink will be provided.
The first session: Monday 28th October at 18:30pm in Sacred Heart Church Hall (SS1 2QB) featuring a presentation by Fr. Graham Smith titled: Gender Ideology: A Catholic Perspective.
The Third Order Secular of the Leigh-on-Sea Carmelite Order
Are you interested in finding out more about us? If so, why not come along to an informal gathering, have a talk to one of our group, pick up a leaflet and have a cup of tea.
One lady has joined after contacting Aylesford Priory. She had no idea there was a group meeting once a month at Our Lady of Lourdes.
We are meeting on Saturday, 26th October from 3pm to 4pm in the Parish Centre. All welcome—or contact Julie on 01702 330096.
The Brentwood Catholic Children's Society (BCCS) Christmas Craft and Gift Fair
This will be held at The Mill Hall Arts & Events Centre, Bellingham Lane, Rayleigh SS6 7ED on Sunday 3rd November from 10.30am - 4pm. There is free parking at the venue and admission is only £1.50 for adults and free for children under 14. There will be over 40 stalls selling many unique crafts, gifts and handmade fare so come along and pick up some early Christmas presents. BCCS will have its own stall selling donated gifts and crafts and there will be a fundraising raffle during the event. If you have any crafts, unopened gifts or homemade jams and chutneys you would like to donate to us and are able to drop off to our premises in Billericay, we would be delighted to receive them
Vacancy at St Bernard's High School
SCHOOL CHAPLAIN
Part-time, three days a week, term time only, 8.30am – 4.30pm
Salary Scale 9 to 19 - £25,119 - £29,777 (actual salary £13,095 - £15,523)
Are you a practising Catholic with a passion for working with children?
We are looking to appoint a School Chaplain to support the Catholic Life and Collective Worship of our school community. You will need to be proactive and be able to work independently, with excellent time management and organisational skills, arranging events such as whole school masses, form masses, charity fundraisers, retreats. Experience in education or youth ministry would be an advantage.
The Chaplain must be a practising Roman Catholic and should have relevant experience or qualification (e.g.Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies). You will be someone who is skilled in dealing with a wide range of people, and be compassionate, personable and discreet.
Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Primary School
Learning Support Assistant - Early Years/Key Stage 1
31.25hrs per week term time only 8:30am - 3:15pm with an unpaid 30 min lunch break
Scale 3 Point 5 £23,500 f.t.e. - Actual salary £16,749
We are looking for a dedicated, talented and experienced practitioner to work as a Learning Support Assistant in our school and with our fabulous team.
Are you motivated to bring out the best in every child?
Is building strong and nurturing relationships central to your practice?
Are you motivated to bring out the best in every child?
Can you work within our distinctly Catholic ethos?
You must be flexible, with an ability to think on your feet and use your initiative.
You must have patience, empathy and a positive, can-do attitude. Holistic development is embraced across the school, therefore we are looking for an individual who is able to promote the physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual and social development of every child.
The successful candidate will have wide experience of working within Early Years and/or Key Stage 1 and be able to apply their knowledge and expertise to support the class teacher in creating an engaging environment which stimulates pupils' curiosity and interests, progress and development. Early Years qualifications, NVQs and/LSA qualifications or HLTA status is desirable.
A good standard of English and maths is essential. Also desirable is a First Aid qualification.
We are building a Trauma Perceptive Practice approach and place the highest value on inclusion and celebrating diversity.
The Governing Body is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
The appointment is subject to satisfactory references, medical and enhanced DBS checks. Following safer recruitment procedures an appointment will be subject to satisfactory references, medical checks and enhanced DBS clearance.
Visits to the school are welcomed and encouraged. For more details please contact Mr. Parascandolo (Head Teacher) via the school office (01268 785741)
For an application form please visit the school website www.olorcps.net
Closing date: 4pm on Monday 11th November 2024
Interviews: w/c 18th November 2024
We reserve the right to call for interview and appoint prior to the closing date
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear friends in Christ
In the Gospel of the Mass this weekend, Jesus address each of us with the words…come, follow me.
Dear friends in Christ
In the Gospel of the Mass this weekend, Jesus addresses each of us with the words…Come, follow me. The antecedent to this imperative is that we should eschew everything that inhibits our unconditional following of Him. For most of us, who are living normal lives in society, giving up all we possess is not a practical choice. What we must do, however, is to live in such a state of mind that even what we need (our possessions), do not get in the way. It means knowing the proper value of everything, and using everything, not as an end in itself, but for the greater glory of God and His Church.
Beginning this week I would very much like us to begin our spiritual preparation for the forthcoming Holy Year (which begins on Christmas Eve) and our Parish Mission during Lent, which also marks the one hundredth anniversary of the opening of our own church. In fact last Monday—Feast of the Most Holy Rosary—was the centenary of the laying of the foundation stone. This you can view on the outside of the east end of the church, which you find by entering the Presbytery front garden. Do go and have a glimpse of it, situated just behind the tomb of Canon Francis Gilbert, the priest responsible for the building of our fine church. Pray for him, and all those benefactors who, by their vision and generosity, were able to raise up these stones, symbolic of us, the living stones of the Church, founded on the faith of the Apostles. There are some prayer cards available at the back of church which I invite you to take and pray daily; you might also give one to someone who might not otherwise receive it. You may recognise the prayer as the one we used for the Parish Mission in 2017 (centenary of the erection of our Diocese). We could say this prayer together each Sunday during Mass at the conclusion of the Prayers of the Faithful.
You will probably have heard that we shall be using a new translation of the Scripture Readings at Mass from the First Sunday of Advent. The new Lectionary will use both the English Standard Version—Catholic Edition of the Bible and the Abbey Psalter for the psalms. The changes are intended to give us a more faithful translation of the original biblical languages. I am very grateful to those who have made donations to cover these books: four new volumes for the Sundays, weekdays, and Feasts; and an embellished Book of the Gospels for use at Solemn Masses. Many of you will be able to follow the readings at Mass as before, using your hand-held devices, editions of the Magnificat book or the new Sunday Mass Books to be available at the back of church. For those who would like to possess their own copy of the Sunday Missal, the Catholic Truth Society are publishing these and you will able to obtain them directly from the CTS or from our Repository. All of this is being done to allow us a more profound access to the Word of God and its centrality in our lives. As the Second Vatican Council teaches in Dei Verbum, 21: The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, especially in the sacred liturgy.
You will be aware of the ongoing debate on Assisted Dying in Parliament and elsewhere. Please take some time to read the information provided by our Bishops and do take time to pray and write to our Member of Parliament. You will find fuller information here: https://www.cbcew.org.uk/opposing-assisted-suicide/ You can also read in this Newsletter the excellent Pastoral Letter of Cardinal Nichols issued this week.
I wish you all a blessed week ahead in this month of the Holy Rosary!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Liturgy:
Readings of Year B
The Nicene Creed
Preface of Sunday 3
Saturday 12
Ss Ethelburga, Hildelithe and Cuthburga, Rel
5.30pm Vigil Thomas Patrick Costello, RIP (Anniv) (KC)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confession
Sunday 13 October
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
8am Mass Stephen Hymas, RIP (Anniv) (GM)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Intentions of Bridget Scholastica Helen D'Cruz (AJ)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 14
St Callistus 1, P, M
9am Mass Christopher Adams, RIP (HR)
Tuesday 15
St Teresa of Jesus (Avila), V D
9am Mass Anne & John Young, RIP (Anniv) (LY)
Wednesday 16
St Margaret Mary Alacoque, Rel
9am Mass Intentions of Rosaleen Sherwell (RO’C)
Thursday 17
St Ignatius Antioch, Bp, M
9am Mass Intentions of Zena Rokan (KR)
Friday 18
St Luke, Ev
12Noon Mass Intentions of Evelyn Mackay (SD)
Saturday 19
St John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Pp and Comps, M
10am Mass David Thomas, RIP (Anniv) (PT)
10.30-11.30am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confession
5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confession
Sunday 20 October
Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
8am Mass Michael Mapson, RIP (JC)
9.30am Mass Intentions of Anita Lupton (K&LW)
11.30am Mass Intentions of Toolya Such (AJ)
5pm Body in Church Sheila Murphy, RIP
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Mgr Matthias Kearney, Mgr Canon Michael McKenna, Canon Roderick Grant, Mgr Canon Christopher Creede, Winifred Archer, Adele Cumbo, Caroline Cussen, Annie Dunne, George Masi, Kathleen Lionnett, Eva Riley, Christopher Adams, Francis Jones, Martha Tanner, Phyllis Koch, Olga Ballard, Mary Aitken, Mary Smith, Kathleen Chambers, Florence Cody, Ada Redington, Patricia Kendal, Charles Edwards, William Brooks, Johanna Gromnicka Margaret Kenney, Josephine Platt, Annie Barton, Anthony Isaacs, Joan Erwood, George Gatward, David Thomas & Kevin Hopley.
We pray for our sick
The Sick List is available on the website main menu, under Worship.
We pray for the sick of our parish
“Father,
by the power of your Spirit
you have filled the hearts of your faithful people
with gifts of love for one another.
Hear the prayers we offer for our relatives and friends.
Give them health of mind and body
that they may do your will with perfect love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.”
Sanctuary Lamp
This week the Sanctuary Lamp burns for the deceased members of the Hippard Family.
Please pray for the repose of the souls of
PAUL WATTS, RIP who died on Friday, 11th October. Funeral details to follow.
SHEILA MURPHY, RIP who died on Tuesday, 1st October. Her body will be received into the church at 5pm on Sunday, 20th October and her Requiem Mass will take place at 9.30am on Monday, 20th October.
MICHAEL MAPSON, RIP who died on Tuesday, 10th September. His Memorial Mass will take place on Friday 15th November 9.30am.
Requiescant in pace
Pastoral Letter on Assisted Dying
My brothers and sisters,
This Wednesday, 16 October 2024, a bill will be introduced to Parliament proposing a change in the law to permit assisted suicide. The debate will continue for a number of months, in society and in Parliament, before a definitive vote is held there. This puts in the spotlight crucial questions about the dignity of human life and the care and protection afforded by our society to every human being.
As this debate unfolds there are three points I would like to put before you. I hope that you will take part in the debate, whenever and wherever you can, and that you will write to your Member of Parliament.
The first point is this: Be careful what you wish for.
No doubt the bill put before Parliament will be carefully framed, providing clear and very limited circumstances in which it would become lawful to assist, directly and deliberately, in the ending of a person’s life. But please remember, the evidence from every single country in which such a law has been passed is clear: that the circumstances in which the taking of a life is permitted are widened and widened, making assisted suicide and medical killing, or euthanasia, more and more available and accepted. In this country, assurances will be given that the proposed safeguards are firm and reliable. Rarely has this been the case. This proposed change in the law may be a source of relief to some. But it will bring great fear and trepidation to many, especially those who have vulnerabilities and those living with disabilities. What is now proposed will not be the end of the story. It is a story better not begun.
The second point is this: a right to die can become a duty to die.
A law which prohibits an action is a clear deterrent. A law which permits an action changes attitudes: that which is permitted is often and easily encouraged. Once assisted suicide is approved by the law, a key protection of human life falls away. Pressure mounts on those who are nearing death, from others or even from themselves, to end their life in order to take away a perceived burden of care from their family, for the avoidance of pain, or for the sake of an inheritance.
I know that, for many people, there is profound fear at the prospect of prolonged suffering and loss of dignity. Yet such suffering itself can be eased. Part of this debate, then, must be the need and duty to enhance palliative care and hospice provision, so that there can genuinely be, for all of us, the prospect of living our last days in the company of loved ones and caring medical professionals. This is truly dying with dignity. Indeed, the radical change in the law now being proposed risks bringing about for all medical professionals a slow change from a duty to care to a duty to kill.
The third point is this: being forgetful of God belittles our humanity.
The questions raised by this bill go to the very heart of how we understand ourselves, our lives, our humanity. For people of faith in God - the vast majority of the population of the world - the first truth is that life, ultimately, is a gift of the Creator. Our life flows from God and will find its fulfilment in God. ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’ (Job 1:21) To ignore or deny this truth is to separate our humanity from its origins and purpose. We are left, floating free, detached, in a sphere that lacks firm anchors or destiny, thinking that we can create these for ourselves according to the mood of the age, or even of the day.
The clearest expression of this faith is that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God. That is the source of our dignity and it is unique to the human person. The suffering of a human being is not meaningless. It does not destroy that dignity. It is an intrinsic part of our human journey, a journey embraced by the Eternal Word of God, Christ Jesus himself. He brings our humanity to its full glory precisely through the gateway of suffering and death.
We know, only too well, that suffering can bring people to a most dreadful state of mind, even driving them to take their own lives, in circumstances most often when they lack true freedom of mind and will, and so bear no culpability. But this proposed legislation is quite different. It seeks to give a person of sound will and mind the right to act in a way that is clearly contrary to a fundamental truth: our life is not our own possession, to dispose of as we feel fit. This is not a freedom of choice we can take for ourselves without undermining the foundations of trust and shared dignity on which a stable society rests.
As this debate unfolds, then, I ask you to play your part in it. Write to your MP. Have discussions with family, friends and colleagues. And pray. Please remember: be careful what you wish for; the right to die can become a duty to die; being forgetful of God belittles our humanity.
May God bless us all at this critical time.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster
Music at 11.30am Mass
Prelude: Concertado No. 3 sobre Ave maris stella—Gaspar Dos Reis (d. 1674)
Postlude: Farborão e versos do 1 tom—Fr. Martinho García de Olague (17th century)
Responsorial Psalm
Dates for your Diary
Monday, 14th October—Journey in Faith (RCIA) 8pm Parish Centre
Thursday 14th November—Annual Requiem Mass 7pm
Friday 22nd November—Sung Latin Requiem Mass 7pm
Thursday 28th-Saturday 30th November—Forty Hours’ Prayer
Friday 20th December—Sea of Voices Carol Service 7pm
Saturday 15th—Friday 21st March 2025—Parish Mission led by the Redemptorists
Saturdays 10th & 17th May 10.30am—First Holy Communion Masses
Sunday 1st June 2025—Visitation & Confirmation
Sunday 22nd June—Corpus Christi Procession 4pm
Monday 21st—Friday 25th July—Lourdes Pilgrimage
Certificates of Catholic Practice
These Certificates can be collected from the Parish Office 09.00-13.00 Thursday and Friday; this will be the final opportunity this week.
JOURNEY OF FAITH—RCIA
This continues on Monday, 14th October 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.