St Simon's Parish Blog

Welcome to the Blog of St Simon Stock Catholic Church, South Ashford, Kent, UK. Our address is: Brookfield Road Ashford Kent TN23 4EU

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Collect for St Simon Stock


Father Timothy Finigan has kindly put up a very informative post about the Collect of St Simon Stock whose feast we celebrated last Saturday.

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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Priest arrested at Notre Dame (aka Notre Shame)

For the benefit of those few parishioners who read this blog, this is the film I referred to in my homily today.

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Saturday, May 16, 2009

Parish Newsletter Sunday 17th May 2009

Parish Newsletter Sunday 17th May 2009 Parish Newsletter Sunday 17th May 2009 jboyle4027

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St Simon Stock - Parish Solemnity - Missa Cantata


Today we had a Sung Latin Mass in honour of our parish patron St Simon Stock. A choir of three led by Mr John Simmonds came to sing the Mass and Mr Andrew Cesana played the organ.


The photos in this post (taken by Cllr David Hurley) are displayed in the order in which they were taken.


We had a good team of servers who did very well. We are not London Oratory by any means but for a small parish in Kent I think we did extremely well.


Parishioners commented on how beautiful the Mass was. One parishioner said how the atmosphere in the church had changed simply in the way the altar had been set up. There was a clear sense of expectancy as people waited for the unfolding drama to commence. They were captivated by the ceremony.


The servers were delighted too and said they would love to serve another sung Mass. So I have decided that next Saturday's Mass in the Day with Mary will also be a sung Mass in the extraordinary form.

UPDATE: The Sisters who organise the Liturgy at the Days with Mary and who love singing the Extraordinary Form Mass have now said they cannot arrange this for next Saturday so Mass will be in the Ordinary Form. Another appropriate opportunity will be found.


















A cheeky wink from one of our servers on the way out:






At the end of the Mass I enrolled a number of parishioners into the Brown Scapular. I can't think what I was pointing my finger about but I can assure everyone that, despite the look of fear on Tim's face, I was not telling him off!



My sincere thanks to all who helped organise the Mass and to all who came.

And a word to those who stayed away: The Mass - in whichever form it is validly and legitimately celebrated - is the Sacrifice of the Cross, the Mystery of our Faith. Don't walk away from it. Don't miss the opportunity to be at Mass. It was nice to see a good number of our parishioners present, but I know there were some who decided not to come because the Mass was in the older form. We would all loved to have had you celebrate our parish patronal feast with us. Clearly many appreciate the beauty of the ancient liturgy. By providing it, I am giving these people access to their spiritual birthright. I am therefore giving them something they have a right to. My own growth into love for the 'old Mass' is something that developed, from not being particularly interested to really appreciating its beauty, and this is not to denigrate in any way the 'new Mass'. I would encourage you to allow yourself some time to appreciate the extraordinary form of the Mass and to live by faith in the great Mystery that is accomplished on the altar.

Our young servers loved it, and their parents and sisters possibly had a sense of pride that their son/brother was involved in something so beautiful.

My homily for the Mass follows:
Homily for the feast of St Simon Stock 2009 Homily for the feast of St Simon Stock 2009 jboyle4027

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Friday, May 15, 2009

Raymond de Souza's visit


As mentioned in previous posts (1, 2) Raymond visited on Tuesday and gave a powerful, entertaining and thought provoking talk on the Real Presence: Symbol or Reality. People came from Ashford, Rye, Faversham, Hythe, Canterbury to hear him speak. He is currently on a UK tour.


Raymond is one of those Americans (actually, he's 'Brazilian by birth, Australian by choice, Catholic by grace' but lives in the USA) who prays for the conversion of England. It's so moving to know that people in the US are praying for this country - they see it as hugely important.



To find out more about Raymond's apostolate, take a look at youtube, Knightingales Formation for Young Ladies, St Gabriel Communications.

See especially this moving movie of Archbishop Cardoso receiving the Von Galen award for his defence of human life.

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Guild of St Stephen Enrolment

Tracking back a bit, on Monday 4th May the annual diocesan Altar Servers' Rally took place at Aylesford.

During the Mass new members of the Guild of St Stephen were enrolled by Bishop Paul Hendricks, seen here before the start of Mass:



Three of our current Guild members waiting in St Joseph's chapel for the start of Mass:


New enrollees waiting in the Relic chapel.


Some our the servers' parents and families:



Our servers after the Mass:


Deacon John Greenwood:



Bishop Paul with the servers from Good Shepherd Church, New Addington, who served teh Mass, with their parish priest (my brother) Fr Stephen Boyle, Guild of St Stephen chaplain:

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Flying over Ashford

Today I went for a test flight with a fellow priest who proposes that he fly us to Merville, France, in a couple of weeks for the gathering of priests from the diocese of Southwark. So he took me on a flight from Rochester to Ashford and back. Here are a few views of our parish church and school from the air:


And the Designer Outlet:

It was my first time in a light aircraft. We flew relatively low and it was a somewhat bumpy ride due to the varying temperature of air rising from the ground. When we fly to France we'll be above the clouds so it will be much smoother. So now I'm ready for the flight to Merville.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Raymond de Souza UK tour details.

Below are details of Raymond de Souza's UK tour. You'll find our parish listed for 12th May. Do come along.


SPEAKING TOUR OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

RAYMOND DE SOUZA

INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC APOLOGIST

FROM AMERICA WITH LOVE...

FOR THE CATHOLIC TRUTH!

From May 9th to 23rd hear Raymond de Souza speaking in any of the TEN different venues in Great Britain.

Proudly brought to you by www.MediaEvangelizationMusic.org

Saturday 9th May 2009

Westminster Cathedral Hall

“De-Christianisation, the Culture War and the Gospel of Life” at the Pro-Life, Pro-Family Conference.

To view Conference Program, Speakers’ bio and topics, please follow this link;

http://www.flionline.org/images/site_graphics/generic/brochure_s.pdf

SUNDAY 10th: LONDON 10:30 am

St Bede’s Catholic Church
58 Thornton Rd., Clapham Park,
London SW12 OLF

MONDAY 11th: CRAWLEY - 7:30 pm

The Friary
Haslett Avenue West, Crawley,
West Sussex, RH10 1HR

TUESDAY 12th: KENT - 7:30 pm

St Simon Stock Catholic Church
Brookfield Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 4EU

WEDNESDAY 13th: WEST GRINSTEAD - 7:30 pm

Horsham Shrine
Park Lane, West Grinstead, Horsham,
West Sussex RH13 8LT

THURSDAY 14th (afternoon talk at 2:30pm) Burgess Hill

St Wilfred’s Parish
Station Road, Burgess Hill,
West Sussex, RH15 9EN

THURSDAY, 14th: Blackfen, Kent 7:30 pm

Our Lady of the Rosary Parish
330a Burnt Oak Lane, SIDCUP,
Kent DA15 8LW

FRIDAY15th: 8:00 pm

Showing of "St. Edmund Campion" film - the latest film release from Mary's Dowry Productions - at the historic Jupps Barn at English Martyrs Church in

Worthing - Goring Way, Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN12 4UH

SATURDAY 16th and SUNDAY, 17th (Weekend Seminar): From 9:am

Worthing - Goring Way, Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex, BN12 4UH

MONDAY 18th May: Glasgow, SCOTLAND 7:30 pm

Sisters of the Gospel of Life
106 Dixon Ave, Glasgow, G42 8EL

TUESDAY 19th: LANCASTER DIOCESE 7:30 pm

St. Annes on the Sea
2 St. Annes Road East,
Lytham St. Annes, FY8 1UL

WEDNESDAY, 20th:

Birmingham oratory
VISIT TO RELICS OF CARDINAL NEWMAN

THURSDAY, 21st:

Installation of the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols as the next Archbishop of Westminster.

FRIDAY, 22nd: LONDON - 7:30 pm

WILLESDEN GREEN
Clergy House. Peter Ave., Willesden Green, London NW10 2DD

SATURDAY, 23rd: Brentwood,

Diocesan House of Prayer, Abbotswick, Navestock Side, Brentwood CM14 5SH

If you are unable to attend any of these events, you may order Raymond's talks on CDs or DVDs from his website.

Please visit www.SaintGabriel-International.com/store for more information.

HENRY VIII:

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The Millennium Edition of the book is available, with an inspiring 2-CD set. A Forgotten Classic Re-launched!

In his masterpiece, Henry VIII expounds on the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff and the Seven Sacraments that Jesus Christ gave to His Church for the salvation of mankind. This book is a MUST for the authentic re-unification of the baptized.

The Royal Book of Catholic apologetics

New Millennium Edition

Authored by a king – Henry VIII – Assisted by a Saint – Sir Thomas More – Acclaimed by a Pope – Leo X – Dedicated to a Queen – Elizabeth IIin memoriam of the Crusader of the 20th century – Plinio Correa de Oliveira.

To read more, click here.

www.RaymonddeSouza.com

E-mail: Raymond@SaintGabriel.com.au * Tel (1) 570-788 5400

Raymond is the founder and director of Saint Gabriel Communications, Australia’s first international outreach set in motion to promote Catholic Apologetics; Programme Director for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International (HLI); Director of the Sacred Heart Legion in the United States and program host on EWTN Global Catholic Network.

He is married to Theresa and their marriage has been blessed with eight children.

Daughters: Catherine Sienna, Theresa Christina, and Claire Jeanne d’Arc.

Sons: Dominic, Francis, Pier-Giorgio, John, and Stephan.

Meet Raymond See His Recommendations

Copyright © 2007 Saint Gabriel Communications International. All rights reserved. Contact webmaster : Dominic@SaintGabriel.com.au