Kevin Hale
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of the world's best known and loved stories.

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Kevin Hale
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

Dear friends in Christ

The words of Our Lord in the Gospel of this Sunday offer us two considerations: firstly He tells us that there is a vast harvest of souls in the world that need to be brought to God

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Kevin Hale
SS PETER & PAUL, App

Dear friends in Christ

This weekend we celebrate the memory and lives of Saints Peter and Paul—the two foundations stones of Holy Church.

SS PETER & PAUL, App
Kevin Hale
The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ-Corpus ...

Dear friends in Christ

This Sunday we celebrate THE Mystery of Faith—the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist—Corpus Christi. It is a feast that really defines us as a Catholic Community, since the Eucharist contains the very heart and soul of the Church.

The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ-Corpus Christi
Kevin Hale
The Most Holy Trinity

Dear friends in Christ

The central dogma and mystery of the Christian Faith is the Blessed Trinity—God is three Persons, equal in divinity, united as God.

The Most Holy Trinity

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday 12th November

Saturday 5.30pm Vigil Pearl Scaife, RIP (Anniv) (MI)
6.30pm–7.30pm Exposition & Confession

8.00am Mass Natalie Slater, RIP (TC)
9.30am Mass Nobby, Clare & Rebecca Clarke, RIP 
11.30am Mass The Dead of the Wars
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Monday 13 Feria
9.00am Mass Private Intention (H)
10.45am Requiem Mass Kevin Hopley, RIP

Tuesday 14 Feria
9.00am Mass Evelyn Shevket RIP (Anniv)(MC)

Wednesday 15 St Albert the Great, Bp,D
9.00am Mass John Kidney, RIP (K&LW)  

Thursday 16 St Edmund of Abingdon (Rich), Bp
9.00am Mass Ione & Robert Waite, RIP (NB)

Friday 17 St Elizabeth of Hungary, Rel    
12Noon Mass Kevin Power, RIP (Anniv) (MP)

Saturday 18 The Dedication of the Basilicas of ss Peter & Paul, App
10.00am Mass Marcia Clarke,  RIP (SH)    
10.30am-11.30am Exposition & Confession

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Sunday 19th November

Saturday 5.30pm Vigil The People of the Parish
6.30pm–7.30pm Exposition & Confession

8.00am Mass Raymond de Chantilly, RIP (CO’B)
9.30am Mass Deceased Relatives of the Wall Family (K&LW)
11.30am Mass Tim & Betty O’Leary, RIP (WMcH) 
5.30pm Vespers & Benediction

Gaudeamus Christmas Concert, Friday 15th December 2017, 7.30pm

Gaudeamus is a chamber choir of 26 singers based in Leigh-on-Sea. They sing a wide range of music ranging from Renaissance to present day works but are particularly noted for their a capella (unaccompanied) singing.  They will be singing a variety of Christmas carols and also the audience will be invited (and actively encouraged!) to participate in some well-known carols during the concert.
All are welcome.  Tickets will be available at the door for £8. Tea and coffee with mince pies will be served in the hall during the interval.  If you would like more information please contact Nigel Warwick-Brown (member of 9.30 Mass music group) on 07402324626.

Reception Open Afternoon for Prospective Parents

We are holding tours on 15th and 17th November to show parents around our Reception classes and the facilities for children here at Our Lady of Lourdes. This opportunity to visit Reception is open to any parent that has a child who will be starting school in September 2018. 

The visits will begin at 1.30pm on both days, however please make sure you contact the School Office on 01702 475689 to book in, as we would like to spread our visitors over the two days, thank you.  We look forward to welcoming new parents and children to our school.

Christmas Bazaar, Sunday 3rd December, 2017

Thanks to everyone for their donations so far.  Please keep them coming.  We really could use bottles for the bottle stall so the Knights of St Columba are kept busy!  Plus, don't forget your cakes (on the day) for the lovely ladies of the CWL.

This weekend we will be handing out raffle tickets, please take some from the back of the church after Masses and return the slips to the office.  If you wish to help on the day please contact Sue Lawford 07816141492 or Angela Clements 07940183452.

Wines for Celebrations

Wine tasting - Wines for Celebrations - to be hosted by Steve Jones (late of the Pipe of Port) at St Helen's Church Hall, St Helen's Road, Westcliff-on-Sea, SS0 7JP on Friday 17th November at 7.30 p.m. Includes delicious refreshments of paté , cheese, bread and chutney which is served after the Wine Tasting. Tickets cost £15 - all profits go to St Helen's Church Lourdes fund (which gives financial assistance to help people going to Lourdes on the parish pilgrimage) and The Parish Minibus fund (to pay for the annual insurance of over £1,000). To book please ring
Pat 01702 476672 or Elizabeth 01702 347369.

Journey of Faith (RCIA)

A series of informal talks, designed to give an insight into the teachings and traditions of the Catholic church, continues on Monday 13th November at 8pm in the Parish Centre with The Story of Salvation (Creation, Fall & Redemption).  You are welcome to attend some or all of these talks; if you would like more information please speak to Fr Kevin.

Days of Solemn Exposition of The Blessed Sacrament

The Forty Hours’ Prayer   
Thursday 30th November  – Saturday 2nd  December 

Thursday 30th November
Solemn Opening Mass 7.00pm
Exposition continues until midnight

Friday 1st December
Exposition from 7.00am and throughout the day
Holy Mass 12 noon
Benediction for children & families 3.30pm
Preached Holy Hour 8 – 9pm; 
Exposition throughout the night

Saturday 2nd December
Holy Mass 7.00am
Concluding Solemn Benediction 4.00pm

We Pray for our Sick

Renata Butler, Mike Rubbert, Teresa O’Brien, Derek Timothy, Maureen Deekes,  Noel Fagan, Patricia Abram, 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, Janet Woods, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch,Roy Widdecombe, Lynne Hilkene, Johanna Lynch, Thomas Corrigan, Maria Clark,June Moncaster, Sheila McBrearty, Anthony King, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Edward Martin, Johnnie Pool, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Barbara Sheaf, 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, 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 Terence Howes, Fr James Allis, Fr Richard (Dick) Ashton,  Fr Edwin Sheehan, Lucy Tombleson, Joan Lucey, Donald Galvin, Eileen Stanshall, Anne Britt, Joan Read, Albert Rogers, Janet Conway, John Owen, John Cavanagh, Jack O’Riordan, Vincent Kelly, John O’Neill, Kathleen McIlwee, Louisa Hurst, Sydney Pullen, Myriad Hubbard, Mary Capon, John Cousins, Ethel Donnison, Luciana Garuti, Edna Hutchings, Kathleen Macauley, Mrs Alice Kelly, Jack Hosmer, Florae Peck, Charotte Roberts, Bert Russell, John Cheswick, George Livermore, Celia Ashley & Marcia Clarke.

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

31st Sunday: Month of the Holy Souls

31st Sunday: Month of the Holy Souls

Dear Friends in Christ

During this month of November the Church invites us to pray more insistently and offer sacrifices for the souls in Purgatory. Saint Pope John Paul II encourages us: we feel bound by charity to offer those brothers and sisters who have experienced the fragility proper to human existence the help of our vigilant prayer. May whatever residue of human weakness still remaining in them to delay their happy encounter with God be definitively wiped out. (2.xi.’82)  To enter into eternal life it is necessary that we be purified of all sin. In Purgatory the soul experiences very intense suffering due to a kind of flame more painful than anything a person can suffer in this life (St Augustine). There is also joy and hope too though, since Heaven comes afterwards. The soul in Purgatory has already won the last battle and is awaiting a more or less imminent encounter with God. We can help the souls in Purgatory pass over more quickly the great divide that separates them from God by making reparation for sin. So, by being generous in our spirit of penance, having Masses offered for them and by continued prayer, we express the charity which is at the heart of our Faith. Let us use this month of November to remind ourselves of these truths again and do all we can to merit eternal life.