General

We have a wonderful array of activities going on this December. The first weekend of December begins, of course, with our monthly First Saturday devotions (Adoration, Lectio Divina and Confession from 5pm; Mass at 6pm) including the monthly Rosary procession with blessed candles at 7pm.

During Advent and Christmastide, Fr Peter Harries will be giving a series of 30-minute presentations on Thursday evenings at 6:45pm on Advent & Christmas themes in sacred art. The dates and topics for the talks are shown in the poster here, and the talks will take place in the Parish Hall.

On 12 December, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, there will be a talk in the Hall at 7pm by author and podcaster, Meg Hunter-Kilmer entitled: “Mother of God, Mother of Mine: How Our Lady of Guadalupe Leads Us to Bethlehem”. For more about our speaker, visit: www.piercedhands.com/about-me/

The following day, 13th of December, is St Lucy’s feast which is traditionally kept as a feast of light and song. There will be a Dominican Rite Sung Mass at 9pm. The Mass will be sung at the Rosary Altar, and the church will be illuminated only by candlelight. Following the Mass there will be refreshments in the Parish Hall.

Finally, on 15th December, our annual Simbang Gabi Masses will begin, running until 23 December. Please see the poster below for more details.

October is the month of the Holy Rosary! Join us in Our Lady’s Rosary Shrine in London for our annual celebrations:

• Rosary Sunday: This is the “external solemnity” of Our Lady of the Rosary, celebrated in Dominican churches on the first Sunday of October. This year, it falls very early in the month, so we’re celebrating on the weekend of 1-2 October. The 12 noon Mass on Sun 2 October will be celebrated by Abbot Xavier Perrin OSB of Quarr Abbey. Roses will be blessed and distributed at the end of all Masses this weekend.
• Rosary Processions: There will be a torch-lit Rosary procession, with the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag every Saturday evening at 7pm throughout the month of October: 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th. Candles are provided, and roses will be blessed at each of these processions, but you will need to bring your own roses to the processions.
• 7 October 2022: The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary falls on Friday 7 October. There will be a sung Mass at 6pm, followed by a Rosary procession.
• Music Workshops with Pawel Bebenek, and Eucharistic Rosary Procession: The month culminates, as usual, on the final Saturday with a special Eucharistic Rosary Procession at the slightly later time of 7:15pm. See the poster above or the video below for details and registration for the workshops. If you’re a singer or play an instrument, do join our workshops of beautiful music by Polish composer, Pawel Bebenek. Pawel is coming personally to animate these workshops and will lead the singing at the procession in the Rosary Shrine church that evening.

A series of talks on Sacred Art and the Lenten Journey will take place in the Parish Hall at 6:45pm on Thursdays in Lent. The first talk will be on 10 March. Fr Toby Lees OP will speak on ‘The tree, the vine, and the Cross – Christian Life in the San Clemente apse’. All very welcome. 

Copies of the Christmas schedule of Masses and Confessions and processions are now available at the back of the church to take home, and also posted online and on the notice boards in the porch and outside the church. We hope you will join us in celebrating the Birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Nine of our young parishioners were confirmed on Pentecost Sunday (23 May 2021). Thank you to their catechists and congratulations to them! We value the contribution of our young adults to the life of our parish, and we pray for them. 

We will be enrolling new Confirmation candidates for both 2021 and 2022 at the same time in December this year, and they will be confirmed together in the Summer of 2022. If you would like to be confirmed this year (2021) it may be possible to join the Deanery group at the Cathedral. Please speak to Fr Lawrence after Sunday Mass. 

Candidates for First Holy Communion: Parents should have registered their interest with the parish secretary, or should speak to the parish priest after Sunday Mass. We hope to begin catechesis soon for 2021 Communions, so please register asap at: secretary@haverstockhill.org.uk

Baptismal Preparation: Infant baptisms will ordinarily take place on the 1st Sunday of the month at the 10am Mass. Please speak to Fr Lawrence after Sunday Mass if you wish to have your child baptised. In most cases, you will need to attend two sessions of the Baptismal Course. This usually takes place on the 3rd Sunday of every month after the 10am Mass. A form will be given to you either by Fr Lawrence or the Catechist, and you can book the Baptism after you have attended the second session, if necessary.

We are grateful to all our benefactors and to all the talented craftsmen who have worked hard on repairing and restoring the stonework and stained glass in the apse of the church, which is dedicated to the Fifth Glorious Mystery – The Coronation of Our Lady and the Glory of all the Saints. The High Altar with its beautiful marble, mosaics, alabaster and metalwork has also been completely cleaned, and we are now in the final phase of re-gilding the walls of the apse, the tabernacle, and the High Altar itself.

From the very beginning, the High Altar with its Tabernacle and Exposition Throne has been the central focus of this beautiful church; this is its heart. And since Apostolic times, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been celebrated with the Priest and people standing on the same side, facing the so-called ‘liturgical East’, in anticipation of the Lord who promised to return from the East. Turned together to the Lord, the Priest and ministers and laity express outwardly an important interior turning of our minds and our hearts and our whole lives and beings towards the Lord who comes to us in the Holy Mass, present on the Altar.

Therefore, from Sunday 25 April onwards, the 12 noon Solemn Mass will be offered at the High Altar. This ‘Ordinary Form’ Mass will be in English, as usual, with Gregorian chants and choral motets sung by the choir as usual. The readings will also be read in English, with lay readers as usual. The only difference is that the Offertory and Eucharistic Prayer will be prayed by the Priest at the High Altar.

On the same Sunday 25 April, the Dominican rite Sung Mass, which is an ‘Extraordinary Form’ Mass in Latin, will resume. This Mass (which used to be at 4pm on Sundays) will henceforth be at 6pm, sung at the High Altar; this is the only sung EF Mass on a Sunday in our Archdiocese of Westminster. Where possible, sheets with English translations of the readings and prayers will be provided.

So, from 25th April, the Sunday evening schedule at the Rosary Shrine will be as follows: Adoration from 5pm; Solemn Vespers (sung by the Dominican community) at 5:30pm followed by Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament; Dominican rite Sung Mass at 6pm.

Our Sunday morning schedule remains unchanged: Mass at 8:30am (said) and 10am (Family Mass), with confessions from 9:45am and 11:45am.

All are very welcome indeed, and we hope that this full liturgical life, offering all that the Church’s rich Tradition allows, will be of service to you, and help you to feel at home in Our Lady’s Rosary Shrine, where together as one community but in a legitimate diversity of forms we can, in spirit and in truth, worship the one true and living God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.