Weekly Email – Lent 4
Documents
Dear friends,
I want to express, once again, my deepest thanks to all those who have contributed to our music sponsorship appeal, and especially to those who have donated funds over the past week. The response we have received over the past few days has been amazing!
Over the past week since last Sunday, we have received an incredible number of further donations totalling a sum approaching £5,000! This includes the contributions of those who on Sunday sought to cover the cost of Sunday 14th April through smaller donations of £50 and £100.
This all forms part of a sponsorship campaign launched two weeks ago to raise the extra £15,000 we need this year for music to balance our parish budget.
After the High Mass on Sunday, Huw Pryce and I manned a stall in the courtyard to garner sponsorship donations to cover the costs for the High Mass and for Evensong on Sunday 14th April. We had divided up the cost of the music on that Sunday into smaller bite-size chunks of £100 and £50. People crowded round to offer contributions! It was such a touching display of generosity. We are hugely grateful.
Huw and I will be there this Sunday again to see if we can fill all the slots for the costs of Sunday 14th April that remain unsponsored. 6 slots of £100 and 8 slots of £50 remain. Do come and speak to us on Sunday if you would like to donate something – cash, electronic transfer, or contactless credit card payments are all possible. If you are not with us in person on Sunday, you can make a donation electronically here.
The generosity people have shown has been quite remarkable and reveals to me just how precious our musical tradition is to so many of our parishioners, friends and supporters.
I have been overwhelmed by the selfless spirit with which people have responded to this appeal, and the way in which so many have made contributing to this effort part of the almsgiving and charity they seek to practice in Lent. I want to say a huge thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart.
With very many thanks,
Fr Peter
Fr Peter and Huw Pryce at the music sponsorship stall after our High Mass last Sunday.
Lent and Holy Week confessions
A member of our parish clergy is available every week in one of the confessionals in church at 6.00 pm on Saturday evenings to hear confessions.
Fr Graeme Rowlands will also be available to hear confessions and/or offer spiritual counsel at the following times over the next few weeks of Lent: Mon 11th March – 5.30 pm; & Mon 18th March – 11.00 am.
In Holy Week, confessions will be heard each day before the evening Mass from 5.00 pm onwards, from Holy Monday to Maundy Thursday: Holy Monday – Fr Peter Anthony & Fr David Houlding; Holy Tuesday – Fr Alan Rimmer and Fr David Houlding; Holy Wednesday – Fr Peter Anthony & Fr David Houlding; Maundy Thursday – Fr Alan Rimmer & Fr David Houlding.
What a splendid parish Lent theatre trip we had on Wednesday – to see a dramatic exploration of the poetry and life of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross take place every Friday in Lent at 7.00 pm directly after the 6.30 pm Mass.
One exception will be Friday 22nd March, when Stations will not happen. On this occasion, they will be offered the night before on Thursday 21st March at 7.00 pm.
Holy Week 2024
Fr David Houlding will be our Holy Week preacher this year. He will preach at all the major liturgies from Palm Sunday to Easter Day.
Palm Sunday: 24th March 2024
11.00 am Procession and High Mass with sermon
N.B. Meet at Oxford Market, where Gt Titchfield Street meets Oxford Street, for the liturgy of palms.
Music: Mass in B-Flat after Rachmaninoff’s Op. 31, arr. by Walter Vale; God so loved the World – John Stainer.
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction with short meditation in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament given by Fr Houlding.
Music: Canticles – Francisco Guerrero & T. L. de Victoria; Solus ad victimam – Kenneth Leighton; Salvator Mundi – Thomas Tallis.
Holy Monday: 25th March 2024
5.00 pm Confessions – Fr Peter Anthony and Fr David Houlding
6.30 pm Low Mass and sermon
Please note that in Holy Week, there will only be one Mass each day in the evening – i.e. there will be no 12 noon Mass.
Holy Tuesday: 26th March 2024
11.00 am Bishop of Fulham’s Chrism Mass at St Andrew’s, Holborn
5.00 pm Confessions – Fr Alan Rimmer and Fr David Houlding
6.30 pm Low Mass and sermon
Holy Wednesday: 27th March 2024
5.00 pm Confessions – Fr Peter Anthony and Fr David Houlding
6.30 pm Low Mass and sermon
7.30 pm Tenebrae
Maundy Thursday: 28th March 2024
5.00 pm Confessions – Fr Alan Rimmer and Fr David Houlding
6.30 pm Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper with watch until midnight at the Altar of Repose
Music: Missa Brevis – Dieterich Buxtehude, Missa XVIII; O sacrum convivium – Thomas Tallis; Ave verum – William Byrd.
Good Friday: 29th March 2024
3.00 pm Solemn Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion
Music: Reproaches – G. P. da Palestrina; Ecce quomodo moritur justus – Jacob Handl.
7.30 pm Stations of the Cross – Maria Desolata
Holy Saturday: 30th March 2024
8.00 pm Easter Vigil
Music: Messe Solennelle – Louis Vierne.
Voluntary: Grand Choeur dialogué – Eugène Gigout.
Please note that the Easter Vigil will take place a little earlier than usual at 8.00 pm because the clocks go forward in the night of 30th/31st March.
Easter Day: 31st March 2024
11.00 am: High Mass
Music: Krönungsmesse K317 – W. A. Mozart; Easter Hymn – Pietro Mascagni.
Voluntary: Toccata in F, BWV 540i – J. S. Bach.
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction with Te Deum
Music: St Paul’s Service – Herbert Howells; Blessed be the God and Father – S. S. Wesley; Te Deum in B-flat major – C. V. Stanford; Tantum Ergo – George Henschel.
Voluntary: Résurrection from Symphonie Passion – Marcel Dupré, 1886-1971
We look forward to having Fr David Houlding with us during the Triduum as our Holy Week preacher.
Lent Appeal 2024
We will be following our usual custom of organising a Lent Appeal to provide a focus for parishioners’ charitable giving during Lent. All funds raised this year will contribute towards the costs of the Mental Health Worker who works at the American Church on the Tottenham Court Road. You can give to our Lent appeal here.
In the sermon at Sunday’s High Mass, Fr Peter reflected on how we experience Christ’s presence through the buildings and liturgies that the Church has entrusted to us. We who are born again of water and the Spirit form God’s Temple in and with Christ as his Body. You can watch the homily here.
Sick List
We will be following our usual custom of revising the parish sick list next week. Periodically we remove all the names which are presently listed in order to allow a fresh list to be formed.
If you would like a loved one to be remembered on the new sick list, please email the parish office. The name will be removed from the list after three weeks, unless you have specifically been in touch with the parish office to ask for the name to be listed for a further three week period.
National Pilgrimage to Walsingham
Be in touch with our parish office to book your place on our bus to the National Pilgrimage at Walsingham. We leave at 7.30 am and the bus costs £20 per person.
Zoom Theology – Holy Murder!
Join us for our next Zoom Theology session on Tuesday, March 19th at 7pm. We’ll be discussing two instances of detective fiction with an ecclesiastical context – P.D. James’ Death in Holy Orders and Murder before Evensong, by the Rev’d Richard Coles.
We’re especially excited to be welcoming the detective fiction writer Kate Charles to speak to us about her own work, and about this genre more broadly.
Kate has published 13 crime novels set against the rich background of the Church of England. She is a former Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Barbara Pym Society, and a member of the prestigious Detection Club. Kate lives in Ludlow, but joins us weekly as part of our online congregation. You can read more about her and her writing here.
Fr Alan will be leading us in teasing out the theological and ethical themes that often emerge in mystery stories and thrillers set in an ecclesiastical context.
The link for the Zoom seminar can be found here. Meeting ID: 883 2739 3693 Passcode: 1234
More information about our online Zoom Theology Seminars (including Zoom links) can be found here.
Walsingham weekend Pilgrimage
We are grateful that many of those intending to come on our weekend pilgrimage to Walsingham in July have signed up over the past week. Of the 20 places we have booked with the Shrine, 14 are now taken. That leaves 6 places free – so be in touch (email office@asms.uk) if you would like to take one up.
We need to send a final list of names to the shrine at Easter, so it would be helpful if pilgrims wanting to attend this pilgrimage could be in touch before then.
The pilgrimage takes place from Friday 19th July to Sunday 21st July 2024. Cost: £190 Friday pm to Sunday evening – including full board plus mini-coach from Kings Lynn. Pilgrims need to book their own train ticket to Kings Lynn.
There is an option for pilgrims who wish to stay on until the Monday and return on 22nd July – this costs £280.
The music at last Sunday’s High Mass included: Mass in the Dorian Mode by Howells; and Meditabor by Josef Rheinberger. You can watch the live stream of the Mass on our parish YouTube channel here.
Attendance last Sunday
Flowers
The flowers for Mothering Sunday have been given by Shawn Welby-Cooke in thankfulness for his mother and for all mothers, especially those parted from their children.
If anyone would like to make a donation for flowers for the Altar of Repose on Maundy Thursday and for Easter, please contact Shawn or the office.
Last year’s weekend pilgrimage to Walsingham: our merry band of pilgrims arrives at Kings Lynn Railway Station. Email the parish office before Easter to book your place on this year’s pilgrimage in July.
Prayer List
The Friends of All Saints’ Margaret Street:
March 10th – Stephen Baldwin, Stephen Barber, Dr William Benefield, Fr Adrian Berry, Charlotte Black, Graeme Bloom, Colin Bodkin
11th – William Bonnell, John Bristow, Eric Broglé, Paul Brough, David Blunden, Fr Michael Bowie, Dr Graham Burns
12th – Derek Bussey, Katherine Butler, Maureen Cambrey, Adrian Carlton-Oatley, Timothy Cassady, Kate Charles, Stuart Chillingworth, Robert Chote, Sandy Christian
13th – Roger Clark, Catharine Clarke, David and Mavis Cleggett, Graham Colville, Alan Cook, Dr Patrick Cook, Eliza Coomber
14th – Karolyn Cooper, William Cooper Bailey, Peter Coulson, Steven Cox, Dr Yvonne Craig, Juliet Cridland
15th – Kirill Dashkovskiy, Christopher Davies, Robert Davies, Peter Dennis, Laura Denton, Joshua Dolphin, Suzanna Eaton
16th – Linda Edwards, Pamela Edwards, John Eldridge, Terrence Ellsworth, Sue Enoch, Carolyn Farrar, Martin Faulkner
The sick:
Javier Barbetta, Martin Berka, David Craig, Roger Dilks, Jason Dunlop, Clara Exton, Gill Hargreaves, Fr. Harry Hodgetts, Lesley Lee, Elizabeth Lyon, Lionel and Lynn Persey, James Roger, Bruce Ross-Smith
The faithful departed:
Anne Entwistle, Marion Duggan, Doreen Harding, Elizabeth Paver, Doris Sanders, Timothy Slater
Those whose anniversaries of death fall at this time:
March 10th – Margaret Booker, Diana Juniper, Caroline Farrer
11th – Phyllis Woodcock, Frank Walker Pr, Winifred Bloomer, Victoria Nettey
12th – Charlotte Druitt, Helen Buck, Sister Barbara of All Saints
13th – Charles Lethbridge, Nellie Chapman
14th – Margaret McWilliam, Mary Dick, John Knight Pr, Charles Forker
15th – Marion Clark, Constance Rivington, Henry Hewetson, John Bartle, Alec Rodger, Margaret Menzies
17th – Frederick Howard, Letty Attlee, Jack Hope
Service times this week
Saturday 9th March – Feria
12.00 pm Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 10th March – Lent IV
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction
Monday 11th March – Feria
12.00 pm Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Tuesday 12th March – Feria
12.00 pm Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Wednesday 13th March – Feria
12.00 pm Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Thursday 14th March – Feria
12.00 pm Mass
6.30 pm Mass
Friday 15th March – Feria
12.00 pm Mass
6.30 pm Mass
7.00 pm Stations of the Cross
Saturday 16th March – Feria
11.30 Rosary
12 noon Mass
6.00 pm Confessions
6.30 pm Vigil Mass of Sunday
Sunday 17th March – Lent V
11.00 am High Mass
5.15 pm Low Mass
6.00 pm Evensong and Benediction