De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

A blessed Easter to you all! We had a truly beautiful Easter vigil Mass here in my parish of Leigh-on-Sea.  This is the high-point of the Church's year and it is marked by the longest liturgy (public prayer) we celebrate. It is divided into numerous parts. My wife & I absolutely love this liturgy and always attend it. It feels like coming out of the long trek through the desert of our Lenten observances. As we sit in the darkened church, we are awaiting our master's return with our lamps full and burning, so that He will find us awake and seat us at His table (cf. Luke 12:35ff). The atmosphere in the church is special and exciting: the holy water fonts are drained, all the lights are out and the tabernacle is empty. The children whisper excitedly about the darkened church. There is a tangible sense of anticipation. The liturgy begins outside the church in darkness; darkness, which represents all darkness, and all the meanings of darkness - devoid of light; evil thoughts, mo...

A while back we had a really good Parish Mission at Our Lady of Lourdes & St. Joseph. The wonderful Norbertines from Chelmsford came and led a really powerful retreat which drew incredibly positive feedback from across the Parish family. Out of the grace that flowed from that week, Fr. Kevin was determined to capitalise, and asked me to present to the Parish Council on the possibility of running the Apprenticeship in Discipleship programme based on Sherry Weddell's Forming Intentional Disciples put together by the Diocese of Plymouth Evangelisation Team . I met the team when they came to London in October last year and ran a training day on disciple making disciples. The Plymouth team have developed a comprehensive and continuing programme to develop, mobilise support and sustain parish evangelisation teams. Through this programme, they have found that many individuals experience a deepening personal relationship with Jesus. This naturally leads to a hunger to know m...

Last Wednesday marked the culmination of many weeks work for me as Bishop Alan Williams sm ( read more about him here ),  visited my Parish for the first time and Confirmed 34 in a beautiful liturgy. We have prepared the Confirmandi with a series of monthly sessions based around the Ascension Press programme Chosen , which mixes vibrant short video presentations with discussion and challenging questions. We tried to ground the teaching we did in solid Catholic principles which expose how living a Catholic life has practical and real implications for each of us every day. We built up the underpinning principles and then showed how these truths effect the decisions we face every day. We also included liturgy in every session, exposing the blessed Sacrament and praying together each week. We asked the candidates to write a short essay on what they had learned and why they wanted to be Confirmed and prepared them for the Sacrament on the final session with the Sacrament of Reconcil...

Wow! What a Mass!! Last night I had the extreme pleasure of experiencing a little bit of heaven on earth, when I attended Mass in thanksgiving for my Parish Priest, Father Kevin Hale's 30 year anniversary of priesthood (yes, you're right, he doesn't look old enough!). Here he is with his dear friend, the recently ordained Titular Bishop of Cuncacestre & auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, the Rt. Revd. Robert Byrne: The Mass was truly sublime; Music was astounding, Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd, the offertory motet was Beati Quorum Via by Charles Villiers Stanford. The voices filled the beautiful Church of Our Lady of Lourdes with such beautiful sound, I just had to close my eyes and soak it up...Every moment a prayer, raising our hearts and minds up to heaven, as if we could hear the angels themselves lifting their voices in praise to The Almighty. We were also joined by a number of Norbertines from the Priory of St. Philip in Chelmsfor...

On Sunday, at long last, we had the official opening of our new Parish Centre. You can read the full press release and details of the building's design here . It was a big day for the Parish, and for our wonderful Parish Priest, Father Kevin Hale, who has really put his heart and soul into this project. The result of his efforts were finally on show, and I couldn't believe how many turned up to see Bishop Thomas McMahon open the centre. Father Kevin asked me to take some pictures of the day which I am happy to share with you all here. Gathering Preparing the Altar for Holy Mass Gathering II Sanctuary The Beautiful Altar My Sons & Mr. Griffin. The boys have reached that age where they are not so keen to be photographed! More avoidance tactics! More and more people are arriving... The Key, Holy Water, Order of Liturgy Local dignataries attending included David Amess MP, and Southend's Mayor. Seated with them ...