Today the Church honours St Augustine Zhao Rong and 119 other Chinese martyrs, who lost their lives for the Catholic faith between the 18th century and 1930. They were all canonised by St John Paul II twenty years ago. The eyes of the world are on China, partly because of
Continue readingThere have been further changes to our public worship. From this Saturday there will be, for the first time since March, Confessions in the Lady chapel from 5pm – 545pm. Please observe social distancing and follow the directions of stewards into the chapel. The public Masses on Saturday evening and
Continue readingWith effect from Saturday 12th July the Church will be open for Confessions and for evening Mass on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Mass and Confession times and revised opening times Sunday Mass: 6:00 pm (Saturday); 9:30 am; 5:30 pm. As well as Mass in the church, there will be over-spill
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Thomas the Apostle, ‘doubting Thomas’, as he is sometimes called, because of the incident in John’s gospel after the resurrection of Jesus (John 20) when he says he won’t believe that the Lord has risen until he can see and touch his wounds. A
Continue readingToday is the feast day of St Oliver Plunkett. This is a photo of the best known image of the saint in this diocese, on the outside wall of St Francis Xavier College in Balham. He was the last priest to be martyred in penal times in this country, in
Continue readingToday the Church keeps the feast day of the first martyrs of the Church to lose their lives after St Peter and St Paul. A picture can be found at https://www.bing.com/images/search…. We continue today to pray for the Holy Father and for those who administer the diocese of Rome at this
Continue readingIn our Old Testament readings at weekday Mass we have been hearing about the decline of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, together with the prophetic ministry of Elijah: this reached its climax in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC. We now explore more
Continue readingToday, transferred from tomorrow (in this country) we keep the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. They are venerated on the same day because they are thought to have been martyred in the persecution of Christians under the Emperor Nero, sparked by a big fire in Rome, in the late
Continue readingToday is the feast of St Cyril of Alexandria. When we say the ‘Hail Mary’ we conclude with the words ‘Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death’. St Cyril is part of the reason why we call Our Lady ‘Mother
Continue readingThis picture (and I don’t know its origin) is labelled ‘The fear of Zedekiah’. Presumably the king, not long installed as a puppet by the Babylonian potentate Nebuchadnezzar, is frightened because he’s about to have his eyes gouged out, in today’s first reading at Mass (2 Kings 25:1-12), the second
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