Lenten Retreat Day
Looking ahead to next year, some of us are planning a Retreat Day on a Saturday in Lent—at either St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough or Clare Priory.
If you would be interested please let Heather Ward know—tel 07885 737393 (my phone is temperamental, so be ready to leave a voicemail!); heatherward55@gmail.com
Sea of Voices Annual Christmas Concert
Tickets for our Christmas Concert on Sunday 29th November, 3pm at the Parish Centre, are now available from the Parish office at £5 each. All funds raised will go to the choir’s piano organ fund and the new instrument will be used for both choir and Church purpose. Donations for the concert raffle will be gratefully received.
Darrell Binding - contact seaofvoiceschoir@outlook.com or on mobile 07825686249 to enquire about tickets, etc.
Sent from my iPad
Poppy Appeal
Poppies will be available at the back of church before and after all Masses this weekend.
Parish Christmas Bazaar - Sunday 22nd November, 8.30am - 1.00pm
We’re getting ready for our Parish Christmas Bazaar, and we need your help to make it a wonderful success! This year the Bazaar will be on Sunday 22nd November, running all morning from 8.30am until 1pm. Put the date in your diary and come along for breakfast and a little shopping too!
If you are free to offer an hour or two on the day, please call or message Sue on 07816 141492.
Draw tickets are now available at the back of the Church after all Masses, to be completed & returned to the Parish Office with payment as soon as possible please.
Donations Needed for Our Parish Christmas Bazaar
Alll donations are most welcome but we’re especially looking for donations of:
Unwanted bottles of alcohol – perfect for our bottle tombola and raffle prizes.
Unwanted jewellery – costume or fine, to add sparkle to our jewellery stall.
Unwanted toiletries – always popular on our “Smellies” stall!
If you have any of these items tucked away at home, please consider donating them to support the Parish.
Donations can be left in the old Baptistry. If you need us to collect, (locally), just give us a call
Sue 07816 141492 Angela 07940 183452
Every contribution helps – and together, we can make this year’s Bazaar the best yet!
Thank you for your generosity and continued support.
MISSIO RED BOX
Thank you to all who donated to the World Mission Sunday Appeal. If anyone has a box needing to be emptied please give it to me personally or leave in the office for me to collect.
Please let me have any boxes by Sunday 22nd November 2026.
Thank you. Joan Caunce, Secretary, 01268 757505.
Can you help?
One of our elderly parishioners is no longer able to drive to Mass on a Sunday. She lives independently at her home in Treecot Drive in Leigh on Sea.
If you are in a position to give her a lift from her home to Mass and back on a Sunday, please contact the Parish Office.
St Bernard’s High School Sixth Form Open Evening
Thursday 3 December 2026—6.30pm to 8.30pm
We would be delighted to welcome to our Open Evening prospective Year 12 students who are interested in joining St Bernard’s High School’s Sixth Form in September 2027. We welcome applications to our mixed Sixth Form from students of all faiths and none, who meet our entrance requirements and are seeking a school with a Christian ethos.
www.stbernardswestcliff.org.uk - Milton Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
Young Vincentians
Our next meeting is on Monday 9th November from 5.15pm. Young Vincentians Committee.
Seniors Exercise & Balance Class
10am Tuesdays
Parish Centre
£6
You are invited to join the Exercise & Balance Class for Seniors which is held every Tuesday morning in the Parish Centre. The class starts at 10am and lasts one hour. Exercises are done to music and each session costs £6.
Southend YMCA Christmas Lunch
Join us on 4 December, 1pm to 4pm, at the 1935 Rooftop Restaurant & Bar for a festive afternoon of good food, great company and entertainment from The Two Elizabeths. Tickets are £40, including a two-course meal, a drink with your meal and tea or coffee. Every ticket sold helps support the work of Southend YMCA with local young people and our wider community.
Please RSVP by 13 November by emailing fundraising@southendymca.org.uk.
We'd love to see you there and would be grateful if you could share this invitation with friends, family or colleagues who may enjoy a festive afternoon while supporting a local charity.
Southend SVP Afternoon Tea Fundraiser
Venue: Roslin Beach Hotel
📅 Date: Monday, 7th December 2026
🕜 Time: 1:30 pm
💷 Cost: £39.50 per person
To book your place or for further information, please contact:
📧 NesperM@svp.org.uk
📞 07549 128877
Our Lady of Ransom Catholic Primary School Vacancy
Inclusion Lead (SENDCo)—MPR/UPR + TLR2 | Full Time | Permanent | Start ASAP
Our Catholic primary school, part of the Assisi Catholic Trust, is seeking an experienced SENDCo to join our leadership team. You will lead and develop high-quality SEND provision, ensuring ambitious outcomes for all pupils in line with statutory guidance.
Essential:
Successful SENDCo experience
NASENCo (or willingness to complete)
Strong knowledge of inclusive practice
Visits to the school are warmly encouraged. To arrange a visit or an informal conversation with the Headteacher, please contact the school office.
For further details and an application form, please visit the school website: www.olorcps.net or the Essex Jobscene advert
All Saints
Dear friends in Christ
The Solemnity of All Saints invites us to lift our eyes beyond the concerns of this present life to the glory which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Dear friends in Christ
The Solemnity of All Saints invites us to lift our eyes beyond the concerns of this present life to the glory which God has prepared for those who love Him. The Saints are not simply figures from the distant past, nor are they a select few whose holiness is beyond our reach. They are our brothers and sisters in Christ, men and women who, through the grace of God, persevered in faith, overcame their weaknesses, and now share in the joy of heaven. Our Lord calls each one of us to holiness. As the Beatitudes remind us, the path to sanctity is found in humility, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and fidelity to Christ, even when the way is difficult. The Saints encourage us by their example and assist us by their prayers. On this great feast, let us ask for their intercession and renew our desire to follow Christ faithfully, confident that we, too, are called to the happiness of heaven.
The following day, 2 November—the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed—commonly known as All Souls’ Day, turns our thoughts and prayers to those who have died and who are being purified in preparation for the fullness of life with God. Our Catholic Faith teaches us that death does not end our communion in Christ. The Church on earth, the souls being purified, and the Saints in glory remain united in the one Body of Christ. November has traditionally been a month in which we remember the dead with particular devotion. It is an opportunity to pray especially for our deceased relatives and friends, for those who have no one to pray for them, and for all the faithful departed. We commend them to the infinite mercy of God, trusting in the promise of Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has conquered sin and death.
There are several ways in which we can help the Holy Souls in Purgatory during this month. We can have Holy Mass offered for our deceased loved ones, attend Mass and offer our prayers for them, pray the Rosary, and gain indulgences for the Faithful Departed under the conditions established by the Church. We can also visit a cemetery, pray for those buried there, and offer works of charity and sacrifices for their intentions. Above all, we should remember that prayer for the dead is an expression of Christian love: those whom we have loved in this life are not forgotten, and we continue to entrust them to God.
As we approach the altars of our churches throughout November, let us remember that every Mass is an encounter with the saving sacrifice of Christ, through whom the living and the dead are brought into the hope of eternal life. Let us pray with confidence for the souls of the departed, while asking the saints in heaven to pray for us on our earthly pilgrimage. May the saints inspire us, may the Holy Souls be strengthened by our prayers, and may we all one day be reunited in the joy of God's eternal kingdom. With every blessing in Christ.
Msgr Kevin Hale
ALL SAINTS
Saturday 31st October
Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary
5.30pm Vigil Mass Noel Hayter & Tayza Aung, RIP (Anniv)
6.30pm—7.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
Sunday 1st November
ALL SAINTS
8am Mass Intentions of Ann Craig & Mary Poole (AC)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass Susan Griffin, (RIP) (P&MT)
4pm Mass Jim & Lilian Fegan, RIP (JC)
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday 2nd
ALL SOULS
9am Mass Holy Souls
12Noon Mass Intentions of the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV
7pm Mass Marie Hale, RIP (Anniv) (Fr K)
Tuesday 3rd
Feria of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
9am Mass Intentions of Luke McGregor (MC)
Wednesday 4th
St Charles Borromeo, Bp
9am Mass Susan Griffin, RIP (MI)
Thursday 5th
Feria of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
9am Mass Vivian Payne, RIP (Anniv) (VP)
Friday 6th—First Friday
Feria of the Thirty-First Week in Ordinary Time
12Noon Mass Jan Andre Netherton, RIP (Anniv) (IS)
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after Mass until Holy Hour 7—8pm
Saturday 7th November
St Willibrord, Bp
10am Mass Gerry Kelly, RIP (Anniv) (JA)
10.30am—11.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
5.30pm Vigil Mass Jerzy (George) Wislocki, RIP (Anniv) (PW)
6.30pm—7.30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament & Confessions
Sunday 8th November
Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
8am Mass Intentions of the Foyster Family (MF)
9.30am Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am Mass The Dead of the Wars
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction
We Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries
Fr Emile Nkumu, Cardinal John Carmel Heenan, Mary Peomore, Eileen Clark, Philip Modica, Mick Burke, Andrew Mitchelmore, Marie Hale, Mary Shanahan, Lilian Rombaut, Paul Evans, Maria Lynch, Sheila McBrearty, Peter Moore, Winifred Allen, Elizabeth Spivey, Dorothy Bailey, Bob O’Toole, Dorothy Bartley, Lily Kenney, Irene Fanning, May Pinsent, Arthur (Rob) Hood, Margaret Scales, Marie Elliott, Olive Potter, Alice West, James McHugh, Alan Gloyne, Eileen Waskett, Bernard Culham, Bridget Curtis, Tom Doran & Suzanne Reynolds.
We pray for our sick
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.”
Please pray for the repose of the soul of
MARY SAUNDERS, RIP who died on Wednesday, 21st October. Her body will be received into the Church on Sunday, 22nd November at 6.15pm and her Requiem Mass will take place on Monday, 23rd November at 10am, followed by committal at Southend Crematorium.