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Goodbye Fr Sean
I am sad to announce my departure from Kensal Rise. I have been Parish Priest here for 18 years and I can honestly say that they have been very happy years, the happiest in my priesthood. I came to the Parish at the age of 38, still somewhat naïve, but you soon knocked me into shape. Over half my priesthood has been spent here and I leave with a heavy heart. I will never forget all the support, love and friendship I have received from you all, especially when my mother died. You will always be in my heart and I will pray for you. Please pray for me. On September 1st, I take up my new position as Parish Priest of both Corpus Christi Tring, and The Sacred Heart Berkhamsted. I hope to live in the Presbytery in Tring, which is a beautiful market town in Hertfordshire. As you can imagine it is going to be a very different appointment, so please continue to pray for me. My head is all over the place at the moment as I contemplate trying to pack and clear the clutter of 18 years. I have not been informed who will be replacing me at Kensal Rise but who ever he is, he is a very lucky man, for I know you will support him as you supported me. One thing I do ask, and that is you remember “he is not me.” He will come with new ideas, new ways of doing things, and please God will bring fresh life and enthusiasm into the life of the Parish. On arriving in a new Parish it is always difficult, so please have patience and be open and responsive to his guidance, ideas and a fresh beginning. As soon as I have news on who he is I will let you know. It will be sad not to have seen so many of you who have not returned to Mass since the outbreak of the pandemic. I only have another 9 Sundays left in Kensal Rise and it would be lovely to see you before I go. There are so many individuals I wish to thank but this is not the time to do so. I hope that we will have the opportunity to come together at a later date for a drink and an opportunity to say goodbye.
I am sad to announce my departure from Kensal Rise. I have been Parish Priest here for 18 years and I can honestly say that they have been very happy years, the happiest in my priesthood. I came to the Parish at the age of 38, still somewhat naïve, but you soon knocked me into shape. Over half my priesthood has been spent here and I leave with a heavy heart. I will never forget all the support, love and friendship I have received from you all, especially when my mother died. You will always be in my heart and I will pray for you. Please pray for me. On September 1st, I take up my new position as Parish Priest of both Corpus Christi Tring, and The Sacred Heart Berkhamsted. I hope to live in the Presbytery in Tring, which is a beautiful market town in Hertfordshire. As you can imagine it is going to be a very different appointment, so please continue to pray for me. My head is all over the place at the moment as I contemplate trying to pack and clear the clutter of 18 years. I have not been informed who will be replacing me at Kensal Rise but who ever he is, he is a very lucky man, for I know you will support him as you supported me. One thing I do ask, and that is you remember “he is not me.” He will come with new ideas, new ways of doing things, and please God will bring fresh life and enthusiasm into the life of the Parish. On arriving in a new Parish it is always difficult, so please have patience and be open and responsive to his guidance, ideas and a fresh beginning. As soon as I have news on who he is I will let you know. It will be sad not to have seen so many of you who have not returned to Mass since the outbreak of the pandemic. I only have another 9 Sundays left in Kensal Rise and it would be lovely to see you before I go. There are so many individuals I wish to thank but this is not the time to do so. I hope that we will have the opportunity to come together at a later date for a drink and an opportunity to say goodbye.
Our Church at Easter.
MASSES WILL BE RESUMING ON SUNDAY 23rd JANUARY 2021
Dear Parishioners,
Thank you for being so patient with us recently, I am pleased to announce that Masses will be returning tomorrow. Please see the updated Mass times below.
Sundays 9am & 11am
Mondays 12noon
Tuesdays 10am
Wednesdays 10am
Thursdays 10am
Fridays 12noon
Saturdays 10am & 6pm
The Parish office is now open between the usual office hours of 9:30am-2:30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
To comply with government guidelines, I shall be working from home as much as possible. There will be no printed newsletters until after this Lockdown. Mass intentions will be displayed at the back of the Church and the ones from 6th January have been rescheduled to a later date. A list of Mass intentions is also available here.
The office landline is currently not working as when we switched providers, they didn't allocate our telephone number to our new account. This should be resolved in a few days.
Should you wish to contact me, please call the Parish mobile number 07378654381.
Thank you very much for the get well emails and messages, I am very glad to be back.
Thank you.
Chelsea Bottomley
Parish Administrator
Kensal Rise
URGENT UPDATE 4th January 2021
Dear Parishioners,
I am writing to inform you that today we found out that Fr Sean Thornton has tested positive for coronavirus. Therefore, we must close the church with immediate effect.
Fr Sean Thornton will continue to live stream daily mass at the usual times on the Facebook page www.facebook.com/cottkr by himself for as long as he is well enough to do so.
Fr Sean is living alone so if anyone wishes to drop off any cooked meals for him, he would greatly appreciate this as he cannot get to the shops himself and should really be conserving his energy.
Please do not contact the Church until you receive another email from myself to give you an update. The Parish mobile number is still working and you can reach me on this during office hours for anything I can help with. The office hours are 9:30am - 2:30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The number for this is 07378654381. There is no engaged tone so if I do not answer, I am more than likely on another call, so please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Please be aware that I will be working from home for the foreseeable, and therefore apologise that I cannot book any Masses or arrange Mass cards until I am back in the office.
Please keep Fr Sean in your prayers and stay safe!
Best wishes,
Chelsea Bottomley
Parish Administrator
Kensal Rise
Mass will be live streamed to our Facebook page when possible, we do not have set Masses that are streamed, they change each week, please click here to check the Mass times you can come to in the Church. Or go to www.facebook.com/cottkr for our live streaming and past Masses.
From now on there will be no live stream Mass on a Thursday, this is because Fr Sean tends to have funeral services on this day, and there are no supply priests able to use a live stream camera for a service.
Messages from the Parish office 13th May 2020
Messages from the Parish office 13th May 2020
Click here for the rules when returning to Church for Mass
A Message from Fr Sean on Tuesday 31st March 2020.
My dear friends,
I can't tell you how surreal this whole thing is. I never thought that in my lifetime I would live through such a both terrifying and bizarre event. Each day I am praying for you and your families, and I hope that you are all well and safe. Sadly, some families have been affected with one death I have heard of, very sick and others mildly. For anyone else who lives alone, this is an incredibly isolating experience, and thank God we have our faith to guide us through this awful period.
We are now able to live stream Mass from the Church, and this will be done every day. (Please God.)
Tomorrow, Wednesday 1st April, you can watch Mass live from our Church at 12noon, on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/CotTKR and hopefully on our website, however we are in the process of figuring this out, and if it is available for tomorrow's Mass, it will be the first link on the home page at www.transfigparishkensalrise.org.uk .
I hope as many of you as possible will be able to link into this, and that I will know that you are there in spirit.
I often celebrate Mass alone on my day off, but doing so every day is a lonely experience. And I will find it hugely comforting to know that you are there and responding to the Mass at home.
We will try to live stream the Mass each day so please do check the website and Facebook page for details on this. Certainly I can say that on Sunday, which is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week, I will bless the palms and celebrate the Mass at 12noon. The blessed palms I will leave just inside the railings of the Church for anyone who wishes to take them home.
I pray that we will all soon gather once again in our beautiful Church, to celebrate the Holy Mass and to thank God for the gift of our lives and the love that we share.
Please pass this information on to any parishioners or anyone you might know who you think would want to tune in.
Wishing you and your loved ones God's blessing and the assurance of my prayers,
Fr Sean
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Full Closure of Catholic Churches
Following the Prime Minister’s historic announcement last night (23 March) strengthening restrictions in an attempt to combat the spread of COVID-19, Catholic Churches are closed to the public at this time.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols stresses that we must all play our part to safeguard the NHS and to save ‘precious lives’.
“We’re going to play our full part in it. That was the call of St. Paul that we ought to be good citizens and today we ought to be good citizens playing our part in the protection of the vulnerable, in our support for the NHS and in the preserving of human life, which is so precious to God in the face of this virus.”
Pray from Home
- Act of Spiritual Communion:
My Jesus,
I believe that you are present in this Holy Sacrament of the altar.
I love you above all things
and I passionately desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally,
come spiritually into my soul
so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever.
Amen
- Act of Spiritual Communion:
- Prayer for mercy:
Almighty God, who in thy wrath did send a plague upon thine own people in the wilderness, for their obstinate rebellion against Moses and Aaron; and also, in the time of king David, didst slay with the plague of Pestilence threescore and ten thousand, and yet remembering thy mercy didst save the rest; Have pity upon us miserable sinners, who now are visited with great sickness and mortality; that like as thou didst then accept of an atonement, and didst command the destroying Angel to cease from punishing, so it may now please thee to withdraw from us this plague and grievous sickness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. -
- Prayer for mercy:
- Prayer to Mary:
O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.
At the foot of the Cross you participated in Jesus’ pain, with steadfast faith.
You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need.
We are certain that you will provide, so that,
as you did at Cana of Galilee,
joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform ourselves to the Father’s will
and to do what Jesus tells us:
He who took our sufferings upon Himself,
and bore our sorrows to bring us, through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen.
We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.
Do not despise our pleas – we who are put to the test –
and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin
