Fourth Sunday of Easter

Dear friends in Christ

In 1964, Saint Pope Paul VI initiated Vocations Sunday, which since then we celebrate on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also called Good Shepherd Sunday.  As Catholics and the People of God, we all know that God is calling us and has a plan for each of us. He called each of us by name through our Baptism to holiness. He continues to call and reach out to us each day to be his disciples, some to the married life, some to the priesthood, some to religious life or to life as faithful single people. Everybody is called to something great and noble. Along with the whole Church, let us pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life today. Let us take time to stir the hearts and minds of the people around us to think about their future vocation. The Church constantly invites us to talk and encourage children, young people, grandchildren, students, family members to respond generously to the calling of the Lord. We need good married couples and robust family life. We also need priests who will minster to us and bring us the grace of God in the Sacraments. What can we practically do as ordinary Catholics? I could suggest that we be more generous in the way we pray and encourage our young people in their path of life. Would you consider offering a Rosary once a week for vocations? Offer your Holy Mass once a month for this intention. Make a Holy Hour specifically imploring the Lord of the Harvest for more dedicated priests and nuns. Encourage a young person you might perceive who has a vocation, to offer themselves generously to His service. Above all, let us live fidelity to the vocation that God has given each one of us, in spite of the crosses, trials and disappointments of life. God needs faithful men and women who will witness to the Gospel and the truths of our Catholic Faith. May Christ the True and Good Shepherd, lead us along the ways of goodness and continue to nourish us at the fountains of eternal life.

God bless you and help us persevere in our individual and unique call to holiness!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Third Sunday of Easter

Dear friends in Christ

On this Third Sunday of Easter we hear the Resurrection appearance of Jesus to two disciples on their way to Emmaus. They are filled with fear and apprehension and their conversation is lacking in hope. These men are returning home from the festival of Passover in Jerusalem and they are speaking of Jesus as belonging to the past. These two did indeed know about Christ’s promise of rising on the third day. They had heard that morning the message of the women who had found the empty tomb and the angels. But instead of being filled with optimism, they are downcast and lacking faith. Jesus—at first not recognised—walks by heir side and interprets for them all that has happened, and their minds are then opened and everything falls into place. When we meet with discouragement and when we lack hope because of our defects or the difficulties of life, we have to allow ourselves to be helped by Jesus and tell Him that we do not want to be parted from Him, whatever life puts on our road. In those times, we can say the words—the prayer—of those two disciples: Stay with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is now far spent. And Jesus, who is never very far away, will walk with us too.

This Sunday I welcome to the Parish Monsignor Ante Vidović who is the Deputy Head of Mission at the Apostolic Nunciature in London; he will concelebrate the 11.30am Mass. The Nunciature is the Embassy of the Vatican in Great Britain and has a twofold function of representing the Pope to the church in our country and also representing the Holy See to the Government. May the visit of Msgr Vidović remind us of our strong bonds with the Holy Father in Rome and also our relationship to the greater Universal Church in our land and beyond. In these days Pope Leo is making his apostolic visit to four African nations. So this is also the opportunity to renew our prayers for the Holy Father especially as he has come under attack this week. Preaching in Cameroon on Thursday he proclaimed: Jesus said: “Blessed are the peacemakers but woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

May God bless our Pope and God bless all of you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Second Sunday of Easter Divine Mercy

Dear friends in Christ 
The Octave weekend of Easter not only renews the joy of the Resurrection but is also a call to faith—these are the two great virtues of this Easter season. The Gospel tells us of the evening of the Resurrection, which paints the touching picture of the Apostles, gathered together in fear, and uncertain of what will happen next. Jesus comes into their midst through the locked doors, showing that after the Resurrection His Body does not obey the normal laws of physics, but can pass to and fro through places. Jesus asks the same faith of us as he did of the Apostles: You believe because you can see me; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. We must be convincing witnesses of the Resurrection as they were, if we are to make any difference. No one is converted by a weak and vacillating Christianity. Every page of the New Testament, especially the Acts of the Apostles, shows us how the Faith needs to be proclaimed. We are witnessing a great thirst in our world for the Truth at this time. However, the important thing about Christianity is not whether it makes me feel better, or whether it is good for society, but that it is true. As I said in my Easter Homily: The only Christianity that is going to satisfy anyone, is a full-fat supernatural Catholicism.

May I renew my gratitude for all that has happened in Lent in Holy Week. I am deeply conscious of the time parishioners devote to the Parish at these times: especially those involved with the Sacred Liturgy—the most important element of Parish life; I hope you will understand by now that this is what motivates all my pastoral planning. Everything else we do is subordinate to the worship that takes place daily. I am genuinely inspired by the example of so many families and individuals who make their Catholic Faith central to what they are and do. I am grateful for those examples that inspire me in my life.

God bless you this week!
Msgr Kevin Hale

Easter Sunday

Dear friends in Christ 
A blessed and happy Easter to you all!

We have ended our Lenten pilgrimage ready 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. Let us now celebrate the next fifty days rejoicing in the faith that the Risen Christ brings.

I thank all those who have helped to make our celebrations in church a time of real meeting with Jesus, and all of you who, by your prayers and good works, had made this time spiritually fulfilling. Many of you contribute to the life of the Parish Family in a quiet consistent way. I thank you all for the help you give in the service of the Church. God reward you all for your generosity.

Our heartfelt prayers and good wishes go to those who are Baptised and Received into the Church this Easter by Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist. Please pray especially for: Robyn Brown, Rosa Frankis, Briady-Rose Keeble, Jacqueline Cosgree, Deborah Luff, Samuel Meredith, Kate Strover, Joseph Smith, Corinne Smith, Jason Bell, Cheryl Hill, Mark Hill, & Carla Dobkin, may God give them perseverance in their vocation in belonging to His Holy Catholic Church.

God grant us all a joyful Eastertide!
Msgr Kevin Hale

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Dear friends in Christ 
We have arrived at the start of holy week—the culmination of the Christian calendar—the goal of our Lenten pilgrimage. We are going to proceed through these days not simply following some historical narrative, but by actually making present those final days and hours in the life of our Divine Saviour which brought about our salvation. We do this by the power of the Holy Spirit working in the Church, the Body of Christ. Please allow me to highlight some of the important moments in the Week ahead so that we may accompany Our Lord well and benefit from what He is doing for us.

At Mass this Palm Sunday we commemorate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem recalling that only days later the crowds are calling for His Death. We listen to the reading of the Passion according to Saint Matthew and take a blessed palm home which is traditionally placed behind a crucifix to remind us of this Week.

On Wednesday at 11am in Brentwood Cathedral the Bishop will celebrate the Mass of Chrism during which he consecrates the Holy Oils that will be used in the Sacraments throughout the coming year. All of the priests present with him will renew their priestly commitment; please pray for us!

Maundy Thursday, during the Mass in the evening, we commemorate the very first Mass, the Last Supper, during which Jesus consecrated His first priests, the priests of the New Testament. This is symbolised by the Mandatum, the washing of the feet of the Apostles, reminding us that at the heart of Priestley consecration is service. At the end of the Mass the Blessed Sacrament is solemnly transferred to an Altar of Repose, imitating the journey of Jesus after the Last Supper into the Garden of Olives where He begins His Passion. We keep watch and pray with Our Lord until midnight.

Good Friday is a day of deep reflection on the suffering and Death of Our Saviour. It should be a day devoid of any frivolity and characterised by our being recollected, as far as is possible. The Solemn Liturgy of Good Friday is at three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour at which Jesus died. During the Liturgy we listen again to the Passion, this time according to Saint John; we process slowly to the Cross which we venerate with deep devotion and we may receive Holy Communion.

Holy Saturday is also a day marked by sobriety. The Mass and Sacraments are not celebrated on Holy Saturday but the Vigil of Easter begins at 8.00pm, after sunset. This includes the blessing of the new fire and Paschal Candle, the Easter proclamation (Exsultet) the Vigil of Readings, Baptismal liturgy and Reception of new converts and the first Mass of Easter. The joy of the Resurrection overflows into the following fifty days of Eastertide.

May we all gain graces from this Holy Week to support our Christian pilgrimage to eternal life. May the Blessed Mother be with us, as she was with Jesus, at every step of this Week, as we experience her own sorrow and offer her our compassion.

Msgr Kevin Hale

Fifth Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ 

We are entering the final and  most solemn part of Lent this weekend. The traditional purple drapes on the crosses and images are a reminder of the solemnity of these days that culminate in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord. The images are veiled because during His Passion, Jesus hid his glory. The solemn unveiling of the cross during the Good Friday Liturgy makes vivid the revelation of Jesus, reigning from the tree, King of the Jews and King of the Universe. The final Gospel reading in the trilogy of these weeks—the raising of Lazarus—is presented as an anticipation of the Resurrection of Christ. Just as Jesus raised His friend from the dead, so by His own power too as God, He will rise from the tomb. The Christian life itself is the spiritual process of dying and rising to life in Christ. We began this at Baptism when symbolically we went into the tomb with Jesus, as Saint Paul says. But through the course of our lives, we go through this dying and rising again. Every time we turn our back on God and commit sin, we die a little; but through the grace given in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, are brought back to life. That is why the early Fathers of the Church speak of these two Sacraments as the two planks of salvation that God extends to us. A really good Lent, and a really good preparation for Easter, will be our reception of the Sacrament of Penance, Confession. There will be ample opportunity throughout Holy Week for this, starting next Sunday, Palm Sunday. Wednesday, 25th March, be will be the Solemnity of the Annunciation of The Lord. By Mary’s acceptance of God’s Will, the Incarnation was possible. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane prays that He can fulfil the Will of His Heavenly Father by drinking the chalice of suffering. May we be similarly docile in living the Will of God for us each day. 

God bless you all!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ 

As we are now at the half-way point of Holy Lent, the Church slightly eases the rigours of these days with this Lætare Sunday which anticipates the happiness of Easter, as the opening words of the Mass proclaim, together with lighter coloured vestments and music. Last week the Gospel was the Samaritan Woman at the Well, this Sunday the cure of the Man Born Blind. The whole of our Christian lives is an effort to believe more deeply and see the Person of Jesus more vividly. That man, blind from birth, had his sight restored. Once his eyes are opened, he is able to see Jesus and make a profession of faith in His divinity, His Godhead.  The miracle is a symbol of how God in Christ restores the eyes of our faith so that we can proclaim our faith in the True God. Jesus uses mud to anoint the eyes of the Blind Man, he uses created material to effect the miracle. Similarly in the Sacraments, God uses matter such as water, oil, bread and wine, as the means whereby grace—the life of God—is communicated to us in the Church. God continually uses ordinary and human means to communicate his divine life to us. We are hearing this Gospel, on this Sunday, to remind us of the essence of this season. Lent is a period of enlightenment for those who are preparing to enter the Church this Easter or Pentecost. It is also a period of increased light for all of us as we prepare to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus.

During this week shall celebrate two important Saints for our Parish: Saint Patrick on Tuesday and Saint Joseph on Thursday; both are patrons of the Parish Family. The original church building (the old Parish Hall demolished in 2012) was dedicated to these two Saints. When Canon Francis Gilbert built our present edifice, he wished it to be dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. Saint Patrick was lost from the new dedication but his statue in the church today is a reminder of his original patronage of our Parish. May these two Saints intercede for us in a special way this week, and bring us closer to Christ in his Passion and Death.

Please pray for our Bishop—Alan Williams—who this weekend reaches a significant birthday by which he is required to submit his resignation to Our Holy Father, the Pope. We now begin the important process of discerning and awaiting a new Pastor for our Diocese, perhaps later this year.

We pray also for Father Cornelius Joyce who celebrates his ninetieth birthday next Saturday; may God bless him and reward him for his generous priestly service.

We remember all Mothers this Sunday as Mother’s Day always occurs on Lætare Sunday which neatly reminds us of the joy of Motherhood and the gratitude owed to our earthly mothers who are mirrors and icons of God’s Mother, who is our heavenly Mother too.

God bless you all!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Third Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ

The Readings over the next three Sundays begin to lead us into the mysteries of our salvation in Christ: The Woman at the Well this weekend, the Healing of the Man Born Blind next Sunday and finally the Raising of Lazarus from the Dead. In each of these Gospel narratives, we are being lead from the darkness of sin and death towards the light of the Resurrection. For this reason, these passages from the Scripture are ideal helps in the preparations for those who are to receive the Easter Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Blessed Eucharist. In a beautiful sermon of Saint Augustine on the Samaritan Woman whom Jesus meets at the Well he concludes: What is this water that he will give if not the water spoken of in Scripture: With you is the fountain of life? How can those feel thirst who will drink deeply from the abundance in your house?  He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance. She did not yet understand. In her failure to grasp his meaning, what was her reply? The woman says to him: 'Master, give me this drink, so that I may feel no thirst or come here to draw water.' Her need forced her to this labour, her weakness shrank from it. If only she could hear those words: 'Come to me, all who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.' Jesus was saying this to her, so that her labours might be at an end; but she was not yet able to understand.

We know, with the hindsight and insights of faith and history, that Jesus has come to give us life abundantly, and by our Baptism, we share on earth the life we look forward to possessing in all its fullness in eternity. As we approach the mid-way point of Lent, we renew our faith and hope in the promise of eternal life and ask for grace to daily persevere in fidelity to our place in the Church.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Second Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ

The Gospel of this Sunday—the Transfiguration—shows us a huge contrast between the glorified Jesus on the mountain and the conversation He had with the disciples when He came down the mountain. On the mountain, Peter, James and John saw Him transformed, in His glory. When they came down the mountain, they see simply Jesus their friend. In fact, the conversation was then not about glory but about suffering and death. This moment in the life of Jesus and the disciples reflects in a touching way something of the course of our own lives as human beings and followers of Jesus Christ. We all experience light and darkness in our lives. There will always be moments when we feel close to God and experience His presence; other times we will be struggling as we face challenges. It can often feel like light and dark in contrast. The most important thing we have to remember is that God was present with Jesus His Son on the hill of Calvary as much as He was present to him on the mount of Transfiguration! God is always there, whatever we are going through.

As we continue in Lent, and perhaps some issues in our lives come to light or are seen under the microscope of grace, we can think of this moment in the Gospel, and be reassured that the disciples would have felt much as we do. Sometimes God is very evident to us, at other times He may seem distant. What is vital is that we hold-on to the moments of transfiguration.

God bless you as we continue our Lenten pilgrimage!

Msgr Kevin Hale

First Sunday of Lent

Dear friends in Christ

We have begun the pilgrimage that is Lent, by receiving the imposition of ashes last Wednesday—the outward sign of our desire for inner conversion and purification. The essence of this holy time—a gift from the Church each year—is so that we may become closer to Our Lord, more committed to His Church and more detached from the passing nature of this life. I urge you to use this Lent as a unique opportunity to achieve with more fervour, all that we should be doing throughout the entire year. There are several helps to our spirituality in these days: the liturgical timetable, reading matter available at the back of church, the various series of Talks you will find published in this Newsletter, to name a few. Above all, try to persevere in what you promise Our Lord and arrive at Easter feeling that this Lent has been a true time of renewal for you.

I remind you to pray this weekend for those from across our Diocese and Parish (fourteen from Leigh) who with their Sponsors are presented to the Bishop this Sunday afternoon in our Cathedral. Also, for our young adults who next weekend will begin their preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation at Pentecost. May God increase their love and devotion to His Holy Church in this intense time of preparation for the Sacraments. Pope Leo, in his Lenten Message, gives us a simple programme for this time:

Lent is a call to conversion: a call to hope, to trust in God and his great promise of eternal life. Let us ask ourselves: Am I convinced that the Lord forgives my sins? Or do I act as if I can save myself? Do I long for salvation and call upon God’s help to attain it? Do I concretely experience the hope that enables me to interpret the events of history and inspires in me a commitment to justice and fraternity, to care for our common home and in such a way that no one feels excluded? May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, intercede for us and accompany us on our Lenten journey. 

We can read the full text of the Holy Father’s Lenten Message.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

This is the final Sunday (Quinquagesima in the former Roman Calendar) before we begin Lent. Ash Wednesday is a matter of days away, and we should have a plan in place for our living of the Forty Days that comprise the sacred and penitential season of Lent.

Within the Newsletter you will find various initiatives for Lent this year, together with the liturgical celebrations that characterise this time. Lent is known as the Springtime of the Church since during his time our lives are renewed and we are invigorated with the grace of God, to serve Him better and become more devoted disciples of Jesus.

This is also the time when those discerning a call to become Catholic intensify their preparation for the Sacraments, either at Easter or later in the year. Next Sunday they will make a pilgrimage to Brentwood Cathedral and they are presented to our Bishop in the Rite of Election; there are fourteen from our own Parish. Please pray for them and their Sponsors.

This Saturday is the occasion of the Installation of the new Archbishop of Westminster—The Most Reverend Richard Moth. With our Bishop I shall be attending the ceremony and I remind you to pray for his intentions as he takes-up this huge responsibility of shepherding that great Archdiocese.

May God bless us as we make our own personal pilgrimages through this Lent that lays ahead of us!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

Our Lord tells us in the Gospel that we are the salt of the earth and light of the world. He says this to each and every one of us who wants to follow Him. Salt gives flavour and makes food more pleasant, and light shows the way out of darkness. When we look around us, it is not difficult to see the results of mankind not living as the salt and light of Christ. But when we do live as salt and light in the midst of the world, we can transform the world from the inside. As G K Chesterton said: The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried. Saint John Paul II reminds us of this in a Homily given in 1983: In some way you lend Him your face, your heart, your whole person, when you are convinced, dedicated to the good of others, faithful servants of the Gospel. Then it will be Jesus who attracts people. But if you were to be weak and evil-minded, you would obscure His true identity and would give no honour to Him at all.

It is not too soon to start thinking about Lent which begins in just ten days time; the time of radical penance and renewal. Start to plan how we will live these forty days of Lent so as to be more profoundly the salt and light our world needs right now.

Wednesday is the Solemnity of Our Lady of Lourdes—Patroness of our Parish and Diocese. We celebrate Mass with our Primary School in the morning, asking that Our Blessed Mother continues to watch over us, draw us closer to Jesus and show us how to live as ever more dedicated members of His Church.

May our Lady of Lourdes and Saint Bernadette pray for us!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

The Beatitudes form the Gospel of the Mass this Sunday. Blessed means graced by God and in each one of the Beatitudes Jesus tells us how we can receive grace and happiness from God. Our Lord points to the ways that can lead to limitless happiness in eternal life, and also happiness in this life. Poverty of spirit, a hunger for justice, for mercy, for purity of heart, and bearing rejection for the sake of the Gospel—all these are manifestations of the same attitude of soul: abandonment in God. We can ask for these graces and virtues even when those around us seem to be on a vastly divergent path. Saint Basil says we should not consider the rich man fortunate solely because of his riches, or the powerful man because of his authority and dignity, the strong man because of his bodily health or the learned man because of his eloquence. All these things can be instruments of virtue for those who use them rightly, but in themselves they do not hold the secret of happiness (cf his Homily on Envy). When in our search for happiness we attempt to follow other ways, other than those willed by God, we find that our journey ends in sadness and frustration. The Beatitudes, taken as a whole, point to the same ideal—holiness. This Sunday as we listen to these words in the Gospel, may we be moved to desire holiness, to seek holiness and live holiness in all the facets of life.

This weekend we welcome Edmund Adamus to our Parish. I have invited him to come and speak on behalf of the Charity The Friends of the Holy Land. He will tell us something about the situation there and the plight of our bothers and sisters in the Middle East. There will be an opportunity to show our practical support and charity in a retiring collection.

May God bless you all.

Msgr Kevin Hale

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

Over these past weeks we have heard how Jesus, the Light of the World, has shone upon us. He shone upon Joseph and Mary, on the Shepherds and the Magi. Then He, that bright morning star hides Himself for years in the little town of Nazareth and lives the same life as His fellow countrymen. In fact He still continues to give light to peoples lives, for during the Nazareth years He has shown us through His hidden life, that ordinary life can and should be made holy. Now, after he leaves Nazareth, and has been baptised in the Jordan, He goes to Capharnaum to begin His public life. The Gospel tells us of the calling of the Twelve. Jesus Christ continues to give light and life to the world, and He can do so through our following of Him, by us being apostles to the people of our time. The joy and hope that comes from our Faith gives light to all our activities, and it is the marvel of Jesus who gives meaning to everything that happens to us and everything we do.

Next weekend we shall welcome Edmund Adamus to our Parish who will make an Appeal on behalf of The Friends of The Holy Land. This Charity, so important in these current days, aims to give help and hope to vulnerable Christians in the land of Our Lord’s birth. I look forward to hearing of the situation there and how we might help them from our abundance.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

We have contemplated the early life of Jesus from His Birth to the Epiphany and now we come to the River Jordan where he has been Baptised and Saint John the Baptist points Him out: Behold the Lamb of God. These words had serious overtones to those who knew the meaning of the paschal lamb. The blood of the sacrificed lamb was  smeared on the doorposts of the Jews on the night of their liberation from slavery in Egypt. All of that was a prefiguring of the true Lamb, Jesus Christ, the victim of Calvary on behalf of all mankind. Christian art has represented Jesus Christ—God and man—as the Paschal Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. Each time we attend Holy Mass we hear these words of Saint John the Baptist: they are calling Him out, pointing us to Him, telling us to pay attention: Jesus, the Lamb of God is in our midst. There is nothing sentimental about this imagery as we reflect on the blood of the Lamb, poured-out for the sins of the world, poured-out for our salvation. In the Mass, Jesus the Lamb of God, is both Priest and Victim who pleads our cause before the Father. May we be constant in the attention we give Him and always endeavour to receive Him worthily under roof of our soul.

Our website has had an update. The new format is simple to navigate, shows information clearly, and hopefully will help us access Parish information easily. We are grateful to the expertise of those who have collaborated in making this important channel of communication possible.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale

The Baptism of the Lord

Dear friends in Christ

The Christmas season ends with the Baptism of Jesus. Although He Himself had no need of Baptism by John the Baptist, nevertheless our Saviour and Redeemer chose to join the ranks of those seeking a Baptism of repentance in the River Jordan. In this, as in His Birth, Our Lord shows his solidarity with us sinners. He does not shun those who are considered undesirable by the standards of the world, rather, He stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the outcasts of society, just as he will die nailed to the Cross between two criminals. That is where He desires to be, in order that He can raise-up fallen humanity.

This is a good feast for us to recall our Baptism; this was a day as important as our actual birthday, since by the grace of God, we received enlightenment in Christ, divine filiation, and a pledge of life eternal. As the priest prays right after the moment of Baptism: Receive the light of Christ: this light is entrusted to you to be kept burning brightly, keep the flame of faith alive in your heart, when the Lord comes may you go out to Him with all the Saints in the heavenly kingdom!

By a well-established Roman custom, our Cribs remain in place until the Feast of The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple—and Mary’s Purification—on 2nd February. It is possible to place a crib offering in the wall box in the Lady Chapel or use the QR code there; these offerings help the work of the Brentwood Catholic Children’s Society in their support of our vulnerable and needy young people. Thank you for your continued support of this important Diocesan Charity.

May God give you every grace and blessing!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Second Sunday after the Nativity

Dear friends in Christ

On this Second Sunday of Christmas, as at the Mass of Christmas Day itself, we listen to the Prologue of Saint John’s Gospel. These are the opening verses which, poetic in style, are reminiscent of the opening verses of the Book of Genesis. These words proclaim Jesus Christ’s life on earth, praising His divine and eternal nature. Jesus is the uncreated Word, God the Only-begotten, who takes on our human condition and offers us the opportunity to become sons and daughters of God, that is, to share God’s own life in a real and supernatural way. St John Chrysostom comments on these words of the Gospel in a Homily thus: “In the beginning” what this means is that He always was and that He is eternal…For if He is God, as indeed He is, there is nothing prior to Him; if He is the Creator of all things, then He is the First; if He is Lord of all, then everything comes after Him—created things and time. Until the revision of the Mass following the Second Vatican Council, this Gospel was read at the end of every of Mass. This was so that Catholics would leave church filled with the remembrance that what they had encountered at Mass was the re-presentation of the Word made flesh, who came to dwell amongst us on earth. This belief should still fill us with awe as we go from Holy Mass each time, conscious of the reality that God became flesh, lived on earth, and shows us the way to Heaven.

On this first Sunday of the New Year, I extend my good wishes and assurance of prayers for a happy and holy 2026!

Msgr Kevin Hale

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph

Dear friends in Christ

As we continue the celebration of Christmas throughout this week, our minds turn towards the family life of Jesus, Mary and Jospeh; we celebrate their feast this weekend. There is nothing particularly romantic about the events that surround the Nativity. In fact, it was nothing but hardship for Joseph and Mary as they try to discern what God wanted from them. It is the story of a family on the move, as they travel to Bethlehem for the Census, and then leave for Egypt to escape the persecution of Herod, and then back to Nazareth. Our hearts and prayers go out to all those at this time, who suffer similar hardships as a result of persecution and ejection from their homelands. May this feast remind us of the basic Christian charity we owe to those who suffer homelessness, hunger and poverty in all its forms.

As we approach the start of another year, I thank everyone for the kind greetings received during the Christmas celebrations. In particular for the greetings cards and gifts received and for the kind Christmas Offerings that help us financially and materially. We also extend heartfelt words of thanks to all those who work behind the scenes in the Parish, so that we can have a prayerful, beautiful and fitting celebration of Our Lord’s Birth.

May the peace of Christ and the prayers of Joseph and Mary assist us as we approach 2026 so that we may be filled with every heavenly grace and blessings!

Msgr Kevin Hale

Christmas Message

The Priests of the Parish join in wishing you every grace, peace and blessing this Christmastide.

Christmas Message

The Priests of the Parish join in wishing you every grace, peace and blessing this Christmastide.