Sunday Bulletin 14 Dec 2025

FSSP Chaplaincy Bulletin,

14-27 Dec 2025

Est. 19th July 2011

Served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter by appointment from the RC Diocese of Northampton

Residence: St Alban House, 18 Brett Drive, Bromham, Bedford MK43 8RF

Landline: 01234 954 316

  Worship across three churches:

Sunday 8:30am: All Saints, Church End, Kempston, Bedford MK43 8RH

Sunday 12noon: Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chesham Bois, 30 Amersham Road, HP6 5PE

Weekdays: Our Lady of Ransom, 307 Bedford Rd, Kempston, Bedford MK42 8QB: see below.

fssp.org.uk/bedford or fssp.org.uk/chesham     

facebook.com/bedfordlatinmass facebook.com/fssp.england

Chaplain: Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP: malleray@fssp.org

Secretary: Mrs Theresa Madden: bedford@fssp.org

Safeguarding: If you have concerns about children or vulnerable adults, please contact the FSSP Northampton Safeguarding officer William Currie: Tel: 07825 089 336. Email: safeguardingfssp@pm.me. Reminder: NO child must be left unsupervised at any time.

Watch daily Mass by the FSSP on www.livemass.net/locations/warrington.html

Daily Holy Mass readings: www.divinumofficium.com/cgi-bin/missa/missa.pl

CONFESSIONS TIMES

With presently only one priest, occasional changes in Mass times and other activities may take place.

Our Lady of Ransom (for anyone): Sat 10:00am-11:15am, and 20mins before every weekday Mass. At All Saints: during Sunday Mass in the room behind the organ. Chesham Bois: after the Sunday 12noon Mass if not before.

Well done all of you who took part in our Immaculate Conception celebrations, with about 50 adults attending our two talks in Chesham Bois and Bedford, and about 70 adults and children attending the two holy Masses on 8^th December.

Thank you to St Nicholas who visited us and gave our children sweets on his feast last 6^th Dec. and to the organisers of our two Christmas dinners on 8^th and 13^th Dec, that went very well.

CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE

Extra confession time on Wed 24^th Dec at Our Lady of Ransom, 307 Bedford Rd, Kempston, Bedford MK42 8QB: 10:00AM-12NOON (there will be no further opportunity for confessions for Christmas in Bedford)

• At Sts Philip and James Church, 2 Severn Way, Bedford MK41 7BX, Wednesday 24^th December: 11:30PM Christmas carols, followed by Sung Midnight Mass (“of the night”) starting at midnight.
• At All Saints Church in Kempston Rural, Church End, Kempston, Bedford MK43 8RH, Thursday 25^th December: 8:30AM Sung Christmas Mass “of Dawn”.
• At Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chesham Bois, 30 Amersham Road, HP6 5PE, Thursday 25th December: at 12noon, Christmas Mass “of the Day”

New Year: holy Masses on Wed 31^st Dec: 7:15pm; Thu 1^st Jan: 9:30am

Epiphany Masses (holy day of obligation): Tuesday 6^th January 2026:

• 7:00am at OLOR, Bedford;
• 7:00pm at Chesham Bois.
• Epiphany water blessing on Monday 5^th Jan, 10:00am.

Finance update: £1,163.00 needed every Sunday.

Dear friends, our Chaplaincy has no other income than what you are able to give. Because we receive no funding from the Diocese, the current arrangement is that we fully retain our Sunday collections. Thus, EVERY penny you give to FSSP Bedford-Chesham Bois remains with us to cover our costs. Those consist chiefly of the rents for four buildings (£2,827.00 for St Alban House plus the three churches where we serve weekly), and the utilities, borough taxes, accounting, secretary, sacristy consumable, clergy allowance, clergy pension and car, food.

Monthly total to pay: £4,650.00. (Since October, Fr Coelho’s monthly allowance is an imposed saving we would readily has been spared.)

Considering that our two congregations are much richer in children than in individual salaries, it is encouraging that so far our Chaplaincy has broken even and could cover the costs. Thank you for your generous support! Share our news with friends and contacts who may wish to give on occasion.  

SUPPORT FSSP Bedford/Chesham Bois:
Lloyds Bank; Sort Code: 30-80-27 ; Account number: 44025960; Account name: FSSP Bedford

As usual, our Christmas collections are not for the clergy, but finance the ongoing costs of the Chaplaincy. Should one wish to donate to the priest personally, this should be clearly indicated on the envelope. Thank you.

Thank you for your prayers for Fr Miguel Coelho’s visa to come through. After months, sadly, the government has not yet responded to the Northampton Diocese applying on our behalf. It now seems unlikely that a second priest will help at this Chaplaincy until the summer.

Should you wish to send Fr Coelho a card or a Christmas donation for his ministry with us this past year until early October, here are his details: St Oliver Plunkett House, Ballinaneeshagh, Cork Road, Waterford City, X91 N677, Ireland; or: pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com.

Among about thirty clergy, Fr de Malleray attended the diocesan Advent day of recollection at Buckden Towers last 2^nd December, preached by Birmingham Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Menezes on The Four Last Things, hope and prayer. Eucharistic adoration and confessions also took place.

The latest printed diocesan directory helpfully displays information about our Gregorian Chaplaincy, our clergy, our locations, and services. Feel very welcome to refer anyone to that important document if they wish to find out more about us. Also on the diocesan website here.

Thank you to the benefactors who started donating to the Holy Family Project, the new legal entity formed to raise funds to acquire a place of worship for our Chaplaincy. Contact any of the members of our team: Alex Windo, Jon Moxham or James Paul.

Bank Details: Account Name: Holy Family Ltd; Sort Code: 23-05-80 ; Account Number: 5629 3213

Well done all 22 young adults who defied the mud on our November trek at Ashridge.

Next TREK on Saturday 17 January, 11am, with Fr de Malleray: save the date. For unmarried men and women 18+. Meet at 10:45am at Woburn public car park on Park Street (X9QM+H8 Milton Keynes, or https://maps.app.goo.gl/NVHEd8GR7idH3RbaA). Walk across Woburn Abbey deer park, followed by lunch at nearby pub (e.g. the Woburn Arms) with informal chat, with clergy in attendance. If you live near Chesham Bois or Bedford please email Dominic attendance, lift need, and lift offer (difalcodom@gmail.com). Your friends from outside Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are most welcome!

The Juventutem London group went well last 5^th Dec with a beautiful Rorate sung Mass followed social. For young men and women 18+; one Friday evening every month, 6pm Confessions,7pm Sung Mass, 8pm social with Q&As.

Next dates: 16 Jan, 20 Feb, 20 Mar, 17 Apr, 15 May, 19 Jun, 10 Jul.

Bookings are coming in for our annual Men’s Vocation Weekend 13-15 March 2026, at Buckden Towers PE19 5TA. £99.00 per person in total (bed + full board). FREE for unwaged.

For 18+ single Catholic men. Contact malleray@fssp.org.

Find out more here: https://fssp.org.uk/mens-discernment-weekend-13-15-march-2026/ .

Clergy Retreat in Stonyhurst on 5-9 October 2026, by Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP

Find out more here https://fb.me/e/639xdmhC3 .

Ignatian Spiritual Exercises for Men, 4-11 Feb 2026 by Benedictine monks from Flavigny:

Marriage Preparation weekend course, 9-11 January 2026, by lay Catholic couple: for couples who wish to engage more deeply with the Catholic vision for marriage. Can be attended as a stand-alone or in support of an online or in-person course.

First Holy Communion Classes will be given by the Chaplain at OLOR, 1pm-2pm on the following Saturdays: 24, 31 Jan; 14, 21, 28 Feb; 21 March; 18, 25 April; 9, 16 May; 6 June (Confessions and recollection). Thank you to the parents supporting their little ones in this essential leg of their faith journey. Let us pray for our would-be First Communicants, and let us book Sunday 7^th June 2026, for Corpus Christi solemnity, First Holy Communions, and Eucharistic Procession.

Become a SCOUTS OF EUROPE leader!

Our group in Bedfordshire is recruiting for female leaders to help run our groups: Wolvets (aged 8-12) and Guides (aged 12-17). No prior experience is required; we will provide all the training.

Voluntary position but training & travel expenses covered; opportunity for international travel. Contact Simon Lubbock: simon_lubbock@hotmail.com.

Amersham-based pro-life vigil group that prays outside Amersham hospital as there is a BPAS abortion clinic inside. They pray silently for an hour well outside the buffer zone. Next vigil 13^th Dec. 10am. Contact Alexandra if you wish to join or for more details: 07531182820

Pray for  the sick in our congregations: Jean-Francois Moore, Lottie Newman-Craig, Maria Chidell, Monika Oledzka, Mrs Henn, Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Prima Nevard, Carl Roberts. Please email additions to this list.

Having holy Masses offered:

Dear faithful, having holy Masses offered for the living and for the deceased is a good and pious deed. Our priests gratefully receive your stipends for the holy Masses you request. Here is how to proceed.

To give a holy Mass stipend, please insert cash (in British Pounds) in the pre-printed “FSSP Bedford & Chesham Bois Latin Mass Offering” envelopes available at our Mass centres, and hand it to us face to face, or put the envelope in the collection basket. You may insert your Mass stipend in any blank envelope of yours, provided you clearly write how many Masses you request, to what intentions, and which date and church you prefer. If unclear, we will offer Mass for the benefactors’ intention unspecified (based on the average amount received as stipend) at a time and church of our choosing.

Why we cannot accept holy Mass stipends via bank transfer to our FSSP Bedford & Chesham Bois account:

The admin time spent to trace, verify, and match such transactions is beyond our present capability. Therefore, please be advised that no donation will be acknowledged as holy Mass stipend via direct bank transfer to our FSSP accounts. Nor if sent within some larger donation, part of which you mean to allocate to one or several holy Masses. For accounting purposes, this would oblige us to enter and code separate transactions, which again is beyond our admin capability. Consequently, by donating to any of the FSSP bank accounts listed on this page (including PayPal) you agree on your gift being used by us for our general apostolate, with no commitment on our part to allocate it as holy Mass stipend. Thank you in advance for your understanding.

General guidance on Mass stipends:

While commendable, you do not need to attend in person the Mass offered for the intention you requested.

The value of a single Mass is infinite since Christ is its main offeror through his priest.

The Mass stipend does not “pay for the Mass” but helps meet the cost of living of the celebrant.

People give what they can, but practically no stipend offered nowadays is less than £10.00.

While a priest may be permitted to offer more than one Mass a day, he may retain only one Mass stipend per day, which belongs to him personally as celebrant.

Christmas Day is the only exception when a priest may retain the stipends of all three Masses offered from midnight onward (Can. 951#1).

None of the stipends for a second or third Mass offered the same day can be retained by the priest.

Strictly one single Mass stipend can be accepted per single Mass offered.

Once a priest has accepted a Mass stipend, he is under grave moral obligation to offer within a year the Mass requested for the intention associated with that Mass stipend.

Unlike cloistered religious our priests serve in parishes where Masses for various intentions are requested every week; hence scheduling a Gregorian trentain (or Gregorian Masses), that is, a series of thirty consecutive Masses offered for a single deceased person, is not possible.

Canon Law extracts:

THE OFFERING GIVEN FOR THE CELEBRATION OF MASS

Can. 945 §1. In accord with the approved practice of the Church, any priest celebrating or concelebrating is permitted to receive an offering to apply the Mass for a specific intention.

§2. It is recommended earnestly to priests that they celebrate Mass for the intention of the Christian faithful, especially the needy, even if they have not received an offering.

Can. 946 The Christian faithful who give an offering to apply the Mass for their intention contribute to the good of the Church and by that offering share its concern to support its ministers and works.

Can. 947 Any appearance of tracking or trading is to be excluded entirely from the offering for Masses.

Can. 948 Separate Masses are to be applied for the intentions of those for whom a single offering, although small, has been given and accepted.

by Fr AM