School Admission Forms for Primary Schools

Parents wishing to apply to Catholic Primary Schools for the next academic year are required to obtain a Letter of Catholic Practise from their Parish Priest.  This must be requested from your Parish Priest in person and only one per child will be issued.  Please come to the Parish Centre for these on Saturday, 28th October between 2pm and 4pm. 

These are issued only to practising Catholics (i.e. those who attend weekly Mass). Furthermore, this practise of the Faith will be viewed over a period of time and not just the weeks prior to an application. Parish Priests may also look at the date of Baptism, noting those children who have been Baptised soon after birth as compared to those Baptised with proximity to school age. This is a matter of justice to all involved in applying for places in our Schools. Our schools are often oversubscribed and in order to be fair, preference will justly be given to those who live and practise the Faith as well as who contribute to the life of the Church through the various ways in which that support is given. If you are not a practising Catholic this Certificate will not be given; you may still apply to a Catholic School but your application will considered under another category for Admissions.

We pray for our Sick

Renata Butler, Mike Rubbert, Teresa O’Brien, Derek Timothy, Maureen Deekes, Carol Halldenby, Noel Fagan, Leanor Fairbanks, Patricia Abram, Christine Noden, Tina Doveaston, Pat Lynch, Rose Craft, Addi Brady,  Ben Wilson, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Brita Irons, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nan Carrit, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Lyn Gopee, Margaret Harrington, Mary Boyce,Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Dympna Addecott, Monica Neate, Janet Woods,Laura & Anne Breen, Roy Widdecombe, Lynne Hilkene, Johanna Lynch, Thomas Corrigan, June Moncaster, Breda Lynch, Sheila McBrearty, Anthony King, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Edward Martin, Johnnie Pool, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Barbara Sheaf, Maria Clark, Josephine Griggs, Colleen Worley, Antonella McConalogue, Fr Jean Laurent Marie, Noel Kolb, Eddie McConalogue, Georgina Cornwell, Lorraine Hart, Dawn Deleigh, Wyn McCafferty, Linda Dean, Annie Holland, Fr Martin Buckley, Chas Taylor, Martha Braun, John Lavery, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, David Clark, David Askew, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Sharon Levill, Bernadette Lane, David Kislingury, Maureen Ward, Jane Jowers, Irena Solecki, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Rosemary Arscott, Lanto Bellis, Richard Collins, Niqui Denkmayer, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith and children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Lucy Price, Connie Price, Mary Isherwood, Frazer Gregory, baby Talia Emery and Hattie Seymour.

Please pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries

Fr Michael Hopkins, Fr Henry Healy, Fr David Logue, Canon Edward Heery, Fr Harold Cahill, Canon William O’Neill, John Martin, Percy Sentinella, William Spedding, Ronnie Olliffe, Margaret Price,  Rudolph Banocy, Sarah Duffy, Sophie Shapiro, Eileen Pearson, Ursula Turner, John Butler, Kathleen Wetton, Tom Atkinson, Jean-Marie Mahieu, Doris Kelly, Derick Wheeler, James Wood, Sheelagh Sheridan, Adele Petronis, Ethel Shepherd, Alan Adamson, Kathleen Lionet, Walter Wood & Daphne Sounes.

May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Friends in Christ

We are hearing a succession of Parables or the teaching stories of Jesus, over these current Sundays of the Year. This week - the Parable of the workers in the vineyard - gives us a lesson in God’s sense of justice. His justice often turns our notions of justice on their head! Some peoples idea of justice is focused intensively on the self and so will always ask:  Why did that person get more than I did? Why have I not been sufficiently rewarded? And in our relationship with God an awful lot of religious energy goes into perceived injustice. This theme is everywhere in the Bible and the literature of the world: Why do wicked people seem to prosper?  And why do good people suffer?  Why aren’t sinners properly punished for their crimes? Lots of bad sinners seem to live a rather successful life.  Why are the Saints so often ignored and reviled. Why don’t hardworking people get what they deserve? Or if you press it further: why are some people more beautiful, more intelligent, more popular than others? These questions run through everyones mind at some point. Things seem to be unfair, which makes us seem like little children vis-a-vis God: crying out to him when we have this sense of offended justice. And that is the attitude of the workers in the Parable that Jesus tells. Before God, we can never presume we are owed anything. Rather we are in a stance of complete dependency upon God.  Every moment of every day we receive, being, life, breath, movement, everything is from God; all of us are beggars before Him.  That’s why we have to shift our focus from ourselves to the Great Giver who presides over the whole of the cosmos, who knows everything we do and everything we need. He therefore knows how to properly apportion His gifts in a way that perhaps will never make complete sense to us.

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday 24th September 

Saturday 5.30pm    Vigil Deceased members of the Young & Hall Families, (LY)
6.30pm–7.30pm    Exposition & Confession

8.00am        Mass Joan Gooding, RIP (TO’B)
9.30am        Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am        Mass Bernadette Dellar, RIP (M&RJ)
5.30pm         Vespers & Benediction

Monday 25         Feria
9.00am               Mass Intentions of Sister Mary Jude, (M&II)

Tuesday 26         Ss Cosmas & Damian, M
9.00am               Mass Rebecca Clarke, RIP (Anniv) (BH)
5.00pm               Body in Church:  Marian Payne, RIP

Wednesday 27    St Vincent de Paul, Pr
10.00am              Requiem Mass Marian Helena Payne, RIP        

Thursday 28        St Wenceslaus, M
9.00am                Mass Jim Monaghan, RIP (JA)

Friday 29             SS MICHAEL, GABRIEL & RAFAEL Archangels
12Noon                Mass Forgotten Souls in Purgatory (JA)

Saturday 30    St Jerome, Pr, D
9.00am            Mass Patricia & John Moon & Valerie Griggs, RIP (SM)
NO CONFESSIONS THIS MORNING

The Holy Rosary is prayed after morning Mass during the week

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday 1st October

Saturday 5.30pm    Vigil Raymond de Chantilly, RIP (RO’C)
6.30pm–7.30pm    Exposition & Confession

8.00am        Mass Intentions of Bernadette & Derek Timothy
9.30am        Mass The People of the Parish
11.30am        Mass Elpedio Bonggot, RIP (ER)
4.00pm        Mass Latin EF - Private Intention
5.30pm         Vespers & Benediction

The Sacrament of Penance is available on request

We pray for our sick

Renata Butler, Mike Rubbert, Teresa O’Brien, Derek Timothy, Maureen Deekes, Carol Halldenby, Noel Fagan, Leanor Fairbanks, Patricia Abram, Christine Noden, Tina Doveaston, Pat Lynch, Rose Craft, Addi Brady,  Ben Wilson, Patricia Fleming, Nicky Wigmore, Brita Irons, Eileen Wilson, Patricia Spikin, Sandra Fagan, Edna Wallace, Beryl Dixon, Nan Carrit, Nick Evans, Vicky Jack, Lyn Gopee, Margaret Harrington, Mary Boyce,Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Dympna Addecott, Monica Neate, Janet Woods,Laura & Anne Breen, Roy Widdecombe, Lynne Hilkene, Johanna Lynch, Thomas Corrigan, June Moncaster, Breda Lynch, Sheila McBrearty, Anthony King, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Edward Martin, Johnnie Pool, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Barbara Sheaf, Maria Clark, Josephine Griggs, Colleen Worley, Antonella McConalogue, Fr Jean Laurent Marie, Noel Kolb, Eddie McConalogue, Georgina Cornwell, Lorraine Hart, Dawn Deleigh, Wyn McCafferty, Linda Dean, Annie Holland, Fr Martin Buckley, Chas Taylor, Martha Braun, John Lavery, Ivor & Joanne Knight, Brian Beresford, Rebecca Peake, David Clark, David Askew, Connor Bourke, Mattia Mollica, Sharon Levill, Bernadette Lane, David Kislingury, Maureen Ward, Jane Jowers, Irena Solecki, Doreen Troughton, Marguerite Harris, Andrew Exley, Rosemary Arscott, Lanto Bellis, Richard Collins, Niqui Denkmayer, Elizabeth McConalogue, Kean Smith and children Thomas Ball, Liam Davis, Albert Chambers, Fergus Grant, Lucy Price, Connie Price, Mary Isherwood, Frazer Gregory, baby Talia Emery and Hattie Seymour.

 

Please Pray for the Dead on their Anniversaries

Fr Gordon Godfrey, Pope John Paul 1, Fr Bernard Wakeling, Robert Swainson, Douglas Hair, Fred Cornwell, Catherine Major, Alfred Gardener, Jane Catherine Lacey, John Houlihan, Emily Bailey, Pat MacHaughtan, Moira Stuart, Violet Shrimpton, Stephen McGough, Doreen Reynolds, Eileen Scott, Christopher James, Elizabeth Butler, Elizabeth Fresh, Patrick Quinlan, Rebecca Clarke, Marion McNamara, Theresa O’Riordan, Elizabeth Barker, Arthur Sanctuary, Mary Fletcher, Charles Bartley, Madeleine Beckett, Edith Riley, Vera Osborne, Mark Hillson, Peter Vella, Ethel Bartley, Annie Thompson, Annie LeVay, Lily Bentley & Patrick Michael Quinn.
May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace.

 

Christmas Shoebox Appeal

Leaflets are available at the back of the Church giving instructions how to fill a shoebox with gifts for a child this Christmas, who otherwise would receive nothing.  Filled and ready to collect shoeboxes should be taken to the nearest drop off point, Leigh Road Baptist Church (opposite the Church in Marguerite Drive) tel no: 478698, by the closing date, Friday 17th November 2017.

Please do not leave filled shoeboxes at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

 

Serving The Homeless

Many thanks to everyone who has supported our recent events: the Grand Summer Raffle that raised approx £800 and the meal at the Shagor, which raised £596.70. During the summer we continued to provide fresh meat and dairy produce to HARP each week and have just given £500 towards the installation of a shower at Leigh Road Baptist Church for the use of vulnerable clientele when the winter night shelter opens shortly.

Our next event is a Jazz Evening with DBQB with a fish and chip supper to be held in the Parish Centre on Saturday 7th October at 7.30 pm. Tickets cost £10 and are available from any committee member or ring Linda on 01702 558217. Please bring your own drinks.

Parish Fundraising

 Thank you to everyone who supports the 200 Club. The results of the August draw are as follows:

1st prize    £150        142        Mrs U O’Keefe     

2nd Prize    £100         5        Mr J Harley

3rd Prize      £75      130        Mrs M Jay

4th Prize      £50      155        Mrs I Ryan

5th Prize      £25        97        Mr C Lawrence-Clarke

The 200 Club continues to provide funds to support the running of the Parish Centre. Subscription is £5.00 per month, either by cash, cheque or standing order. 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.

 

HCPT 60

Rayleigh Parish has its own HCPT group which travels to Lourdes at Easter with disabled and disadvantaged children.   Around 1,000 children from the UK travel to Lourdes, as well as groups from Ireland, Belgium, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, USA and the West Indies. Including helpers, nurses, doctors and chaplains there are around 5,000 taking part in the pilgrimage. We are looking to expand our group and need more adult helpers to travel with us next Easter as well as a nurse for the group. If you are interested or would like some more information, please contact Sandra Spooner (group Deputy) by email at spoonersandra@hotmail.com.

Parish Mission - 7th-15th October 2017

Theme: The Catholic Faith – Ever Ancient, Ever New
Rediscovering and Renewing our Faith to fit us for the Mission of the New Evangelisation. 

Come and learn more about our Faith! Come and deepen your relationship with God! Come and experience the joy and confidence of the Gospel! 
Discover - Reflect - Pray - Worship 

Sunday 8th October    Solemn Mass at 11:30am to open the Mission. Vespers and Benediction at
                                      5:30pm. 
Monday-Friday             6:30am Mass, Breakfast in the Parish Centre, with a short meditation, 9am
                                      Mass, 9:30am Talk, 8pm Talk, with devotions until 9pm. 
Friday 13th October     All Night Vigil in the Church
Saturday 14th October 10am Mass (with Confessions), 10:30-12 Special Talk for children/young
                                       people, with activities and devotions ending at midday by latest. 
Sunday 15th October     Solemn Pontifical Mass at 11:30am to close the mission,  with Solemn
                                       Blessing to gain the Plenary Indulgence. 
Preached by:                 Abbot Hugh Allan and Fr Stephen Morrison, Priests from  the Norbertine   
                                      Canonry of Chelmsford