Kevin Hale
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

The message of the liturgy of this Sunday is stark: our life on earth is brief!

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Kevin Hale
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear friends in Christ

We have just completed, and returned from, our Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Kevin Hale
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s Gospel recounts the arrival of Jesus to visit his friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus at Bethany. Jesus would often stop at their house to rest and eat with them. He felt at home there, surrounded by their warmth and affection.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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

We pray for our sick

Anne Currid, David Gurney, Maureen Gooding, Paul Keane, Mabel Addecott, Christian Ryan, Arthur Mills, Mike Rubbert, Teresa O’Brien, 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, Mary Boyce, Kristin Hallenga, Anne O’Neill, Cheryl Shallis, Anthony McEvoy, Justin Stark, Sheila Netherton, David Blyth, Dympna Addecott, Janet Woods, Lynne Hilkene, June Moncaster, Laura & Anne Breen, Breda Lynch, Roy Widdecombe, Johanna Lynch,  Maria Clark, Sheila McBrearty, Anthony King, Norma McCleverty, Belinda Balazsi, Edward Martin, Johnnie Pool, Joanna Luciani, Pauline Wilsher, Simon Marshall, Kriston Barnes, Josephine Griggs, Noel Kolb, Colleen Worley, Antonella McConalogue, Fr Jean Laurent Marie, Dawn Deleigh, Eddie McConalogue, Georgina Cornwell, Lorraine Hart, 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 Donal Donegan, Fr Sidney Williams, Canon Arthur Holmes, Fr Justin Dawson, Fr Henry Peace, John Moon, Guy Bragard, Doreen Wall, Margaret Foster, Mary Blundell, Dorothy Burke, Lesley Dorey, Edmund Esterby, Francis Spratt, Francis Foley, Edward Hance, Agnes Edward, Catherine Davis, Ann Whiteley, John Fowler, Denis Reid, Nora McLeod, Imelda Maguire, Bernard Cody,
Fred Hopkins, Ted Wheeler, Katerina Deyanovitch, John Archer, Paul Reid, Maud King, Marie Nichols, Peter Gough, John Rombaut, Coleslaw Bendkowski, Mary Hardy, Nancy Mallif, Ethel Bull, Sarah Armstrong, Marian Treston, Kathleen Robinson, John Head, Edmund Thompson, Maura Keenan & Jessie Carlyon
May their Souls & the Souls of all the Faithful Departed rest in peace.

Nazareth House Lenten Talks - Revised

Final talk Thursday 22 March Brian Holt -President of the Comitium for the Legion of Mary in our Diocese - ‘Devotion to Mary means Apostleship’.

Both talks begin at 7.30pm and the evenings conclude with devotions with priests available to hear confessions.

The Deanery Sacrament of Reconciliation at St Peter’s is therefore moved to Friday, 23rd March at 8.00 pm (as opposed to Thursday, 22nd March at 7.30 pm as previously advised). 

 

A Day with Mary - Saturday 7 April - Our Lady of Canvey & English Martyrs, Long Road, Canvey Island

A DAY WITH MARY is an open day of prayer held in a Catholic church or shrine. It emphasises worship of the Blessed Sacrament and devotion to Our Lady. You are welcome to join the event for a little while or for the whole day.

It includes the Mass, Scripture, Rosary, Meditations on the Passion, Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction, Processions of the Blessed Sacrament and of Our Lady, Act of Consecration, Theological Instructions, Hymns, a programme on the story of Fatima and periods of rest with refreshments. The Sacrament of Penance is readily available. There is a bookstall and the opportunity to enrol in the Brown Scapular (consecration to Our Lady) and Miraculous Medal if so wished. 

 

Vacancy

Person required for paid position of Admin Manager in the offices of Holy Family Parish, Benfleet. 20 hours p.w. timing of work can be negotiated.  If you – or any of your family/friends – are interested, please first contact Fr. Eduard Fartan on 01268 792082 or the office on 01268 799649 – or send an email to priest@holyfamily-church.org  for a job description and person specification.  You should then send in your CV, with a covering letter demonstrating how your experience and skills match the essential requirements and attributes of the role. Closing date for CVs/applications is Tuesday 3rd April.

 

Gift Aid Envelopes

New boxes of envelopes for those in the Gift Aid Scheme will be available for collection on 17th/18th March.  If you wish to gift aid your weekly offering by using envelopes, please complete a Gift Aid Form, available at the back of Church, and either hand it in to the Parish office or place it in the offertory collection.  You will then receive a box of envelopes for your weekly collection.

 

Spring Walk

Why not sign up for HARP’s Prittle Brook Spring Walk?  Taking place on Sunday 22rd April 2018 at 2pm, it’s a 3½ mile Sunday afternoon stroll along the Prittle Brook Greenway from Priory Park to Belfairs Park – raising vital funds for HARP.
Every step you take will show you’re supporting local homeless people.  What’s more, with each entry you will receive a FREE HARP Spring Walk T-shirt and also enjoy a well-earned cup of tea and slice of cake afterwards at the Woodlands Centre at Belfairs Park.  This is a great afternoon out and knowing you are helping Southend’s homeless community rebuild their lives and live independently makes it even better! https://www.harpsouthend.org.uk/spring-walk-2018 

 

Coast to Coast Rosary

After similar events in Poland and Ireland, we plan to pray the rosary around the coast on Great Britain in April this year.

The event, which is scheduled for Sunday, April 29, will pray specifically for our country, for peace and for the upholding of the dignity of human life. This mass-rosary prayer will help combat the present threats to faith, the dignity of the human person and to peace, and encourage a re-flourishing of our Faith.   Our Parish will pray the Rosary on the waters-edge at The Crowstone  bottom of Imperial Avenue at 3pm that Sunday.  Visit the website for more details: www.rosaryonthecoast.co.uk

 

Flower Festival 16th June 2018

As part of our Evangelisation and Discipleship project, we are organising a festival of flowers to be held on Saturday 16th June. The aim is to involve as many parishioners as possible in decorating all the windowsills in the church. The theme will be, The Saints. Each display to be inspired by the saints portrayed in the stained glass windows. We hope that this event will encourage the people of Leigh to visit our beautiful Church.

We hope that organisations, groups, families or individuals will volunteer to take responsibility for one window display. A list will be available to choose from.

This is not a competition. Please do not feel that you have to be a professional flower arranger to take part! Garden flowers and greenery, together with any symbols or items representing the Saints in the window that you have chosen, would be ideal.

If you are interested in taking part, or would like to know more, please contact:

Theresa 335122 or Jo 474062

 

EVANGELISATION & DISCIPLESHIP PROJECT

Thank you so much for your support for this initiative which we hope will produce confidence and growth in our Parish community. If you couldn't make the first meeting, DON'T LET THAT STOP YOU! You will still be welcome at our next meeting on Tuesday 20th March at 7:30pm in the Gilbert Room when we will begin studying Sherry Weddell's book Forming Intentional Disciples together. This programme has transformed and deepened the faith of many people. For those who already intend to come to the next meeting, why not start your evangelisation training now by inviting two other people from the parish to join you at the next meeting? Please remember to pray for this ongoing initiative.

 

Fourth Sunday of Lent - Lætare Sunday 11th March 2018

Fourth Sunday of Lent - Lætare Sunday 11th March 2018

We have passed the mid-way stage of Lent, and the Church allows us a little respite, a glimpse of the joy that will come to us at Easter, in the prayers of the liturgy and in the lighter tone of the vesture used on this Lætare Sunday. The words of the Introit of the Mass bid Jerusalem rejoice, and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult...  Jerusalem is the place where the events of our salvation are going to unfold and so it is the City that, in a very true sense, is blessed. It is there that our Saviour will be lifted up upon the Cross  just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert. Everything in the Old Testament is a preparation for, or a prefigurement of, the coming of the Messiah. As we approach the part of Lent traditionally termed Passiontide  we can begin to think in more detail about the particulars of the Passion of Our Lord. We reflect on these mysteries so that we can apply them to our own lives and understand something of the love God shows us by going to this extreme. During Lent we try with every greater determination to unite all of the crosses and contradictions of this life with the Passion of Jesus and His Cross.  I would like to share with you some lovely lines of Pope Emeritus Benedict, from his Encyclical Letter on Hope - Spe Salvi -written to the Ch