'Teach us to Pray' - Living the Year of Prayer in Preparation for Jubilee 2025,
Pope Francis invites us all to intensify
prayer as a personal dialogue with God.
Please download and use this guide.
Keep informed about upcoming events and ensure that your children don't miss out on any invitations, I ask for your permission to include them in our communications. Your support will enable us to better cater to the needs of our young community members.
Please reply to this email using the button below this invitation.
You may use this button more than once if you use more than one email address.
My dear friends,
This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, where we reflect upon and cele-brate the gift of the Holy Spirit. It would be a mistake to see this event and its extraordinary effect on people, as a ‘one-off’. While those early Christians did indeed experience a collective clarity in terms of the divine mystery and what it was calling them to do, we must remember that the gift of the Holy Spirit is forever an abiding and connecting presence in all reality and is therefore very much part and parcel of our lives and the life of the church community.
As it flowed from God into the lives of those early disciples, so it does with us, if we allow it! We might say, “well, I don’t feel it”, and most of the time its presence is not an obvious one, and sometimes the Spirit is most active in ‘darkness’.
It says in the scriptures that the Holy Spirit is the revealer of things that are true and right. From my own experience this is when the Spirit has been most obvious to me, and it has always been a ‘penny dropping’ moment where I have said to myself “now I get it”. Quite often these moments have changed my understanding and vision of myself, life, and God. It is this kind of process that characterises the Christian’s journey of growing in understanding and truth; such insights lead to a greater understanding of love as well!
The revealing Spirit is also our helper and guide. In the gospel Jesus refers to the Spirit as another “Advocate”. The word “advocate” is derived from the Latin word vocatus (“call”) and primarily refers to a lawyer who is called to help a person conduct a case or prepare a defence before a court. This legal terminology has been borrowed to articulate that other dimension of the Holy Spirit’s mission, which is to teach and guide us in the truth. It is one thing knowing what is true in the head, but we need to know it in the heart too; the job of the Holy Spirit is to help us with that. Through knowing something in the heart, we are more likely to be inspired into action; to know something in the head is information, to know something in the heart is transformation.
It is for these reasons that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of new beginnings and opportunity; a blessing not of the privileged few who lived 2000 years ago, but for all people of every age.
God bless and have a good week,
In his recent letter to us, the Bishop has asked us to examine more closely the recommendations and implications, in the 'Shaping Our Future' document.
'Shaping Our Future' The Brentwood Diocese Vision Document (2019)
The Southend Partnership Response Comprising of the Parishes of: St. Peters, Eastwood; Our Lady of Lourdes & St. Joseph, Leigh-on-sea; Our Lady Help of Christians & St. Helen, Westcliff; Sacred Heart of Jesus, Southend with St. John Fisher, Prittlewell; St. George & The English Martyrs, Shoeburyness with St. Gregoryʼs, Thorpe Bay; St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Rochford with St. Pius X, Hockley.
'Believing, not belonging ..'''Why Catholics no longer come to Church' Brentwood Diocese Research Report Summer 2023
'We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realising that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.'
The Rosary Group meets every Tuesday 3.30pm at St George’s Church.
You are all welcome to join us in fellowship.
With worship, music, prayer & The Rosary
Use the Front Entrance please!
As part of its involvement in the wider Justice and Peace community, our Parish Justice & Peace Group participates in local, national and international events. The members of the Parish are invited to participate. Our work is not only about raising money; issues such as food poverty, trafficking, genocide, climate change, recycling, energy conservation, pollution, are all of great concern. Check the newsletter for the date and time of the next meeting. All welcome to come along and hear about the projects we are involved in or planning.
New members for each group would be very welcome.
If you would like to find out more about our work please contact/speak to Brian Fitzgerald (bfitzg6306@sky.com or 07817842604)
Pope Francis is asking all of us to listen more to each other, to be more open and prayerful, to have a mutual respect for one another, supporting each other in our community.
With this in mind we have moved to a more ‘’open approach’ to all that goes on in the parish.
We propose an ‘open invitation’ to all parishioners to attend all pastoral parish council meetings and greater representation on the council.
Permanent PPC members will include: Our Parish Priest, Parish Secretary, The MC, The Steward of the Gospel, Our Parish school Headteacher, A Youth Representative, The Chairs of; Finance, 669, Justice & Peace, plus others co-opted by the Parish priest who are actively involved in running parish activities. There will also be 3 elected members, voted on by you the parishioners.
We hope that this ’Open Forum’ style Council will encourage greater involvement by all of you in our parish community and cover all aspects of parish life. Our aim will be to unify and support our community and its future needs.
Mary’s Meals serves nutritious school meals to children living in some of the world’s poorest communities. The promise of a good meal attracts these hungry children into the classroom, giving them the energy to learn and hope for a better future.
We are already feeding more than two million children every school day and together, we can reach the next hungry child waiting for Mary’s Meals. It costs just £15.90 to feed a child in a place of education for a whole school year.
Watch Believe's Story Believe is just one of the 1,035,637 children we're feeding across the globe with your support. Out of every £1 donated, at least 93p is spent on their charitable activities.
Please give what you can today.
All your daily Mass Readings here online, including the Psalms, Morning, Evening and Night Prayers.
We invite you to make a 'Sacred Space' in your day, praying here and now, as you visit our website, with the help of scripture chosen every day and on-screen guidance. 'Sacred Space'
Pope Francis asks us not to forget the hungry and marginalised.
So please don’t forget the SVP helping the vulnerable in the Southend area.
Bring an item to Mass next week please!
With the colder nights coming we want to ensure we can support the community that are sleeping on the streets of Southend. We need of Sleeping bags, Hoodies, Jogging bottoms all sizes, Gloves, Hats, Coats and Socks. Please drop donations into the Church office or bring to Mass and we will deliver.
Our Foodbank is running very low of the below items at present. We are constantly providing food for Homeless, vulnerable guests and families who are experiencing food and fuel poverty.
The full list is on their Facebook page, but includes: Tinned Veg Meals; UHT Milk; Squash; Coffee; Tinned Fruit; Tinned Custard/Rice pudding; Pasta Sauces;
Roll-On Deodorant; Sunscreen; Shampoo; Shower Gel; Toilet Rolls; Bottled Water; Sanitary Products; Tinned Meat/Fish.
Please drop anything that you can spare into the Presbytery or give it to one of the Ushers.
Visit their SVP Facebook Page
Fr Brett
Please pray for all those who are sick or housebound in our parish, as well as our friends and family.
Father of goodness and love, hear our prayers for the sick members of our community and for all who are in need.
Amid mental and physical suffering may they find consolation in your healing presence.
Show your mercy as you close wounds, cure illness, make broken bodies whole and free downcast spirits.
May these special people find lasting health and deliverance, and so join us in thanking you for all your gifts. We ask this through the Lord Jesus who healed those who believed.
ANNIVERSARIES IN MAY
Please remember the following :
† Len Saad, James Rant, Madeleine Myall, Ellen Wicker, Charlotte Rooney, Joseph Gibbons, Albert Perkins, James Studdert, Anthony O’Hara, Joseph and Simon MacKereth, Keith Fletcher, Patrick O’Hara, Andrew Sharman, Reginald Hutchinson, Alfie Cantor, Sheila Baker, Dolly Bright, Marcus Redding, Millie Medcalf, Maurus and Mona Lawton, Gwen Schneiderhan, Sean Corr, Stephen West, Brian Blyth-Cook, James Devereux, Helen Carmichael, Nora Carey, Frances O’Sullivan, George Collis, Alfred Marshall, Peggy Gillies, Malcolm Andrews, Dorothy and Jim Eost, Richard Copley, Roger Grain, Treasa Parker, Paul O’Sullivan, Joanne Wicker, Kathleen Fallon, Audrey McAuliffe, Dorothy Locker, Anna Cohen, Ronald Silk, Barbara Porter, Eileen Glyde, Ernest Quinn, Marion Hayden, Helen Hughes, Major Philip Statham. †
Fr Brett
You would be very welcome! Register for an emailed weekly newsletter and keep in touch with, mass times, community news and much more ...
This weekend Marco will be hosting the Coffee Morning after the 10.45am Mass to raise money for going to Lourdes with the BCYS. Please come and support him in his endeavours (and you know his mum makes lovely cakes :)!
Next weekend there will not be a 'Freebie Coffee Morning', come along and just enjoy the company and chat, no charge.
Don’t forget, if you want to run a Coffee Morning for your charity or good cause, please contact the office.
Fr Brett
ROSARY AND PRAYERS
in St. George’s
every Tuesday at 3.30pm
(throughout the winter months)
Come and join us at 3.30pm from this coming Tuesday for a spiritual cleanse, with uplifting worship music, intercessory prayer and the Rosary.
Call Kazza on 07786 000391, or just turn up!
Fr Brett
FAN THE FLAME OF HOPE - Saturday 15th March 2025
11am-6pm Ovo Arena, Wembley
We are now taking names of anyone wishing to attend Flame NEXT year, as the Diocese want to get a bulk booking in early.
If you think you would like to join us for this terrific event, with the content aimed at Year 10 to 13, please contact Sharon.
Last year over 1,000 young people from across the Diocese attended the Flame, along with thousands from all around the country.
As we did last year, we would hope to get a coach to and from the venue.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Fr Brett
If you are interested in participating in this fundraiser for the church, please return your form to the church office as soon as possible.
If your form went out with the Christmas recycling, please contact Sharon, who will be able to arrange a new one!
Fr Brett
Remember, if you 'Gift aid' it then every for every donation we receive from you we can claim back 25% from the Govermment!
Click to submit your booking intentions and check hall availablity
Full hall hire terms and conditions
Brief guide to its constitution, membership and meeting records
Pope Francis - 'Rejoice and be Glad'
Pope Francis - Encyclical
The full Catholic catechism
Care for our common home and each other
Pope Francis - a reflection on family life
'The Joy of the Gospel'
A brief guide when making mass intentions
A brief helpful guide for parents with young children
Supporting the faith development of young people - Pope Francis