Easter Sunday
Dear friends in Christ
A blessed and happy Easter to you all!
As we arrive at the summit of our Lenten pilgrimage, we give thanks to God for the graces of this holy season that has prepared us to celebrate the Paschal Mystery. Throughout the forty days of Lent we have accompanied Our Lord in His journey towards Jerusalem where the events of our salvation have been accomplished. We can reflect with gratitude on the graces from our Parish Mission last month, and go forward now in the joy and light of the Resurrection as faithful disciples of the Lord.
I thank all those who have helped to make Lent and Holy Week a time of spiritual encounter with Christ, and all of you who, by your prayers and good works, make the experience of our Faith fulfilling. So many of you contribute to the life of the Parish Family in a quiet but consistent way. I thank you all for the collaboration you give for the service of the Church. Together we are working for the building of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Our heartfelt prayers and good wishes go to those who are Received into the Church and Confirmed this Easter: Lia Aquilina, Paul Baker and Thomas Haden; may God give them holy perseverance in His Catholic Church.
May God grant you all the joy and optimism His Resurrection brings!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Easter Sunday
Liturgy:
Readings of Year C
Renewal of Baptismal Promises
Preface of Easter 1
Holy Saturday
9:00am Office of Reading and Lauds
Confessions 11:00am-12noon
8:30pm Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter The People of the Parish
Easter Sunday 20th April
8:00am Mass Thomas Cook, RIP (Anniv) (SD)
9:30am Mass Flora Ignatius, RIP (Anniv) (RP)
11:30am Mass Grace Earles, RIP & Dec’d Relatives & Holy Souls (FM)
5:30pm Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Monday 21
Monday within the Octave of Easter
10:00am Mass Ian Irwin, RIP (MI)
Tuesday 22
Tuesday within the Octave of Easter
9:00am Mass Bobby Newman, RIP (RO’C)
Wednesday 23
Wednesday within the Octave of Easter
9:00am Mass Intentions of Joe Hurley, (K&LW)
Thursday 24
Thursday within the Octave of Easter
9:00am Mass Intentions of the Eagle Family (JS)
Friday 25
Friday within the Octave of Easter
12Noon Mass Intentions of Cynthia Bush (MR)
Saturday 26
Saturday within the Octave of Easter
10:00am Mass Susan Tisi, RIP (MT)
10.30-11.30am Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
5:30pm Mass Rosemary Braggart, RIP (RM)
6.30-7.30pm Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confession
Second Sunday of Easter—Divine Mercy
27th April
8:00am Mass William Denis Hale, RIP (SW)
9:30am Mass Christine Keenan, RIP (Anniv) (FK)
11:30am Mass The People of the Parish
2.30pm Devotions for the Divine Mercy
No Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Arthur Ryan, Fr Michael Enright, Canon Thomas Smith, Fr Derek Powney, Fr Augustine Davidson, Mgr Canon John Howell, Fr John Boyle, Fr Stanley Joynes, Fr James (Jim) McCormack, Fr John William Hayes, Fr Paul Dynan, Fr Simon Sullivan, Fr Myles O’Reilly, Violet Darnell, Louisa Hucks, Harold Horam, Ellaline Stenfalt, Magdalena Schenbel, George Robertson, Capt France Lionnet, Peggy Ayres, Lucy Richardson, Joan Fairchild, George Conridge, Albert Middleton, Clifford Mawer, Gladys Watts, Arnold Kyrke-Smith, Thelma Chambers, Michael Abbott, Dorothy (Dolly) Thorp, Mary Johnson, Mary Bartley, Tony Pycraft, Brigid Alexander, Grahame Addecott, Joseph Heaphy, Minnie Smith, Elizabeth White, Vincent Hurley, Audrey Lewis, Phyllis Eileen Tate, Mary Butt, Eric Pearson & Vera de Souza.
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 Martin Family.
Please pray for the repose of the souls of
PAULINE SHAW, RIP who died on Monday, 10th February. Her funeral will take place on Wednesday, 23rd April at 3.30pm at Southend Crematorium.
JOHN COLIN REYNOLDS who died on Monday, 17th March. His body will be received into the church on Wednesday, 30th April at 5pm and his Requiem Mass will take place on Thursday, 1st May at 3pm.
MARJORIE JAY who died on 10th April. Her funeral will be held at Southend Crematorium on Wednesday, 14th May at 1.30 pm.
Requiescant in pace
Dates for your Diary
Saturdays 10th & 17th May 10.30am—First Holy Communion Masses
Sunday 1st June 2025—Visitation & Confirmation
Sunday 22nd June—Corpus Christi Procession 4pm
Saturday 5th July—Flower Festival
Monday 21st—Friday 25th July—Lourdes Pilgrimage
Monday 8th September Centenary of the Opening of our Church
Assisted Dying
The important vote for all MPs on the assisted suicide legislation, known as the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, is likely to take place on 25th April.
The charity Right to Life UK has a simple online mechanism to allow people to contact their Member of Parliament and it only takes a few moments to submit a message to ask an MP to stop assisted suicide being rushed into law. It can be accessed here:https://righttolife.org.uk/asvote. Right to Life has also distributed postcards for the faithful to send to their MP’s on this subject which can be found at the back of church.
Young Adult Catholic Group
Are you aged between 18-30? Looking for a group of similar aged and likeminded Catholics? Look no further and join us on 01/05/2025 at Sacred Heart church hall from 6.30pm.
We are a group of young adult Catholics from across our Deanery who meet monthly for faith based discussions, prayer, and to socialise with each other. Food is provided.
Please contact Max on 07783506474 to confirm your attendance - and to ensure that quantity and allergies are taken into account when food and drink is organised. We hope to see you there.
OLOL Ladies Group
Our next Meeting will be on Thursday 24th April from 10am in the Parish Centre.
After our break over EASTER we welcome back all the ladies in the Parish who would like to join us for a return of one of Jan's popular Quiz mornings ...so ladies, get your thinking caps on to beat the reigning champions! Plus enjoy our fun raffle and refreshments and a welcome return of CAKE!!! Subs are just £1.00
Centenary Celebration Concert Sunday 14th September at 3pm
As you will now be aware our Church building is 100 years old this year. It opened on 8th September 1925.
We are going to celebrate this with a Centenary Concert in the Church on Sunday 14th September at 3pm.
We envisage an uplifting hour of music with community hymns, and songs from the Sea of Voices Choir and from some of the children from our Catholic Schools.
This will be followed by Coffee & Cake in the Parish Centre.
Please keep this date free if you can. It would be wonderful to have a packed church to celebrate our 100th year in this beautiful building. Jo Ronan
Church Repository
Please note the Church repository will be closed over the Easter weekend.
Missio Red Boxes
I have received the Spring 2025 Missio magazines. If you have not received one from me personally please take one from the back of the Church on the ledge in the usual place. Thank you. Joan Caunce, Secretary.
Recruitment notice
The Secular Clergy Common Fund (‘Big M’) is looking to appoint a new CEO. It makes grants to our sick and retired priests and looks after two Catholic cemeteries in London.
The role is 0.6FTE and offers flexible working and a salary of £50k-£60k pro rata.
For further details contact Angela Rowe secretary@secularclergy.org.uk
Closing date 28th April 2025.
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Holy Week is the most time of the Christian year and the Paschal Triduum—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday—form the very core of the Christian Mystery, as we celebrate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord.
Dear friends in Christ
Holy Week is the most significant time of the Christian year and the Paschal Triduum—Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday—form the very core of the Christian Mystery, as we celebrate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord. The days of Lent have been preparing us for these coming days. Many Catholics make a concerted effort to spend more time in intimate union with Jesus, as we accompany Him through these events of our salvation. In fact, there is nowhere else for us to do this more authentically than in our liturgy. While the ceremonies of Holy Week are full of pathos, they are so much more than mere drama. The ceremonies of Holy Week—and Catholic liturgy in general—are neither liturgical theatre nor the belief that Jesus suffers, dies and rises over and over again. Rather, the liturgy makes present for us again, in signs and symbols perceptible to our senses, these saving events. By the power of the Holy Spirit in the Church we make present again the Last Supper, the Passion and Death of Jesus and His Resurrection. We are there as really and as truly present as were the Apostles and Mary. This Palm Sunday we accompany Jesus on his entry into the City of Jerusalem as He goes up to begin the work of our Redemption. On Maundy Thursday we sit with the Apostles at the Last Supper—the first Mass—as he inaugurates the Priesthood of the New Covenant; this is made present in the liturgical rite of the Mandatum, when Jesus bends down to wash the feet of His first Bishops and Priests. On Good Friday we follow Jesus to Calvary as the Sacrifice of the Lamb is consummated. On Easter Day we rejoice at the new life Jesus manifests: our hope of Heaven!
May we live this Week with devotion and love, conscious that Jesus went through all of it for me!
Msgr Kevin Hale
Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
Liturgy:
Readings of Year C
The Apostles’ Creed
Preface: The Passion of the Lord
Saturday 12
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
5.30pm Vigil Kathleen Young, RIP (Anniv) (LY)
6.30-7.30pm: Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confession
HOLY WEEK
Palm Sunday of the Passion: 13th April
8:00am Mass Michael Mapson, RIP (LM)
9:30am Mass The People of the Parish
11:30am Mass Holy Souls Preceded by Blessing and Procession of Palms
5:30pm Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Confessions after all Masses
Monday of Holy Week
9:00am Mass Anne Martin (LP)
Confessions after Mass
Tuesday of Holy Week
9:00am Mass Martin Payne, RIP (Anniv) (VP)
Confessions after Mass
Wednesday of Holy Week
9:00am Mass Timothy McCarthy, RIP (SH)
Confessions after Mass
11:00am Mass of Chrism in Brentwood Cathedral
Maundy Thursday
9:00am Office of Lauds
7:00pm Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper Johanna & Samuel Beech, RIP (Anniv) (JC)
Watching at the Altar of Repose until Midnight
Confessions after Mass; Compline 11:45pm
Good Friday
9:00am Office of Reading and Lauds
10:00am Children’s Way of the Cross
3:00pm Solemn Liturgy of Our Lord’s Passion
7:00pm Way of the Cross
Confessions after all the Services
Holy Saturday
9:00am Office of Reading and Lauds
Confessions 11:00am-12noon
8:30pm Easter Vigil and First Mass of Easter The People of the Parish
Easter Sunday 20th April
8:00am Mass Thomas Cook, RIP (Anniv) (SD)
9:30am Mass Flora Ignatius, RIP (Anniv) (RP
11:30am Mass Grace Earles, RIP & Dec’d Relatives & Holy Souls (FM)
5:30pm Vespers and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Owen Fitzgerald, Fr John O’Mahoney, Fr William Donelan, Fr George Duckett, Fr Joseph McEntee, Fr Anthony Colebrook, May Provera, Andrew Traynor, Eileen Goodwin-Self, John Clements, Ian Walker, John Adams, Agnes Dorothy (Queenie) Ransom, Martin Payne, Peter Abel, James Kennedy, Sebastiano Marino, Stephen Bendall, Orla Shapiro, Antonio Capone, Mary Ellen O’Driscoll, Kenneth Sigovallan, Doris McEvoy, Cecelia Spindly, Wilfrid Walton, Phyllis Osment, Beryl Rombaut, Mary Kyrke-Smith, Anna Coste, George Andrews, Millicent Howell, Albert Thomas Cook & Thomas Corcoran.
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.”