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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am) 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 Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate : pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com Seminarian: Luke Mazurek, FSSP: l.j.mazurek@pm.me Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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.
Soundproofing work is nearing completion in the confessional at Our Lady of Ransom. For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
HOLY MASS TIMES
HELP GAZA CATHOLICS this Advent:
Shared Advent almsgiving by our Chaplaincy (put your offering in the Offertory collection basket in an envelope bearing the purpose “Holy Land FSSP Appeal”). Our priest in Jerusalem Fr Gwilym Evans, FSSP will ensure all money collected reaches the humanitarian office of the Patriarchate to be used in support of Catholic individuals and families.
25th Dec 12:00am Sts Philip and James Church, 2 Severn Way, Bedford MK41 7BX, following Christmas carols (and confessions) at 11:30pm
25th Dec 8:30am, All Saints, Kempston
25th Dec 11:40am, Our Lady’s, Chesham Bois
Frs de Malleray and Coelho, and seminarian Luke wish you and your families a blessed feast of the Nativity of the Lord. They thank you for your cards, gifts and generous support.
[Freepik]
Please note that, unlike in some other churches, in FSSP apostolates the Christmas Offertory collections go to support the ministry rather than being retained by clergy for personal use. Should you wish to donate money to clergy personally, please make sure to clearly label your envelope with the name of the cleric, mentioning “Personal gift”. Thank you.
Next Bucks & Beds Young Adults’ Trek (for any non-married adult 18-35):
Saturday 11 January 2025.
Meet at 10:45am at Ivinghoe Beacon Circular Walk Car Park (National Trust Car Park, Dunstable, LU6 2EG. No road name for this, it’s just a turning off the B489.)
Join our WhatsApp group to get all updates and request/offer lifts.
Includes 2hr walk + lunch at nearby pub with friendly chats.
Back at car park before 4pm.
Thank you all for two lovely Christmas dinners this past week in Chesham Bois and in Bedford. Your clergy also thank you for the kind invitations, and hope you enjoyed the quiz.
The Nativity play took place last Thursday at Regina Caeli Academy. Well done children, and staff, and may you enjoy your Christmas break.
Reminder: if you intend to receive Holy Communion on Sundays at All Saints in Kempston, as you walk into the church before Mass you must take one host from the plastic box and put it in the bowl (not the other way round). Failing to do so deprives fellow-parishioners from their own Holy Communion as not enough hosts are consecrated.
Ask Rita if you would like to buy any of them (please bring cash.)
Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale… – and of potential benefactors. And pray.
SACRAMENTS PREPARATION DATES: Your clergy look forward to seeing you at Our Lady of Ransom Church in Kempston from 1:00pm to 2:00pm on the
following Saturdays: 11th & 25th January; 8th February; 1st, 15th & 29th March; 5th April; 10th & 31st May; 14th June. Please note that all ten sessions are compulsory for admission to the sacraments.
Please book now in your diaries those ten dates for candidates for First Holy Communion (to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025) and/or for Confirmation classes ahead of Saturday 4th October 2025 when Bishop Oakley will confer the sacrament.
You are more than welcome to avail yourselves of the 10am-11:30am Adoration and confessions, and the 11:30am Mass every Saturday. You can have your lunch in the parish hall between 12:15pm and 1:00pm.
ALTAR SERVING, ASK LUKE: thankfully our FSSP seminarian Luke is skilled in teaching how to serve Low Mass, Sung Mass, and Solemn Mass. This will be his chief involvement in the life of our community during his stay with us. Please do book for a practice (l.j.mazurek@pm.me).
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
[Click on the picture above or here to open the magazine]
In this issue:FSSP Wall Calendars 2024-2025We include a complimentary copy in every printed copy of this issue of Dowry. Discover beautiful pictures of our apostolates across England, Scotland and Ireland, with the liturgical year and traditional feasts. Needless to say, all this comes at a cost and we are grateful for donations in excess of £5.00 to FSSP England.
Editorial: Three Saintly AnniversariesThree forthcoming anniversaries of great significance for Catholics are spiritual opportunities to seize. They commemorate God’s Incarnation, the Lord’s revelation of his Sacred Heart, and Our Lady’s mediation, Fr de Malleray observes.
Hope Does Not DisappointExtracts from Pope Francis’ bull of indiction for the 2025 Jubilee of the Incarnation of the Lord. Further to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on the virtue of Hope, Pope Francis reminds all the importance of that virtue, especially in times of trial or gloom.
He Smuggled The Sacred Heart Into EnglandDominica Roberts tells how French priest Father Claude la Colombière S.J. providentially brought the devotion from Paray-le-Monial into the heart of London at the cost of his life, thus securing a direct connection between the Sacred Heart and England.
Statistics, Intercession, And SanctificationThe annual statistics of the FSSP were updated to close to 600 members and over 10,000 sodality members: an occasion to give thanks to God, but also to request more prayers for us to grow and bear lasting fruit by God’s grace.
Garments of Sanctity: Opus AnglicanumThe glorious English tradition of sowing and embroidering liturgical vestments is valued anew, Ola Smalley finds, with immediate use within the traditional movement as generously provided by the busy sewing needles of the Guild of St Clare.
Interior of the Carpenter’s Shop at Forty HillUsing a non-religious painting by John Hill (c.1780–1841) from the Tate Britain Gallery in London, Fr Armand de Malleray walks a few easy steps with beginners in the art of interpretation that can further apply to religious art.
Craft Resources For Catholic HomesCatherine Witkowski and John Grimer introduce the online shop run by them and their siblings to equip families with home-made visual illustrations of the Catholic faith through the depictions of saints, calendars, and books.
Support our ApostolateMore than ever we need your help to keep our ministry going in Bedford, Chesham Bois, Reading, Warrington, Edinburgh, Waterford and Wexford. Please tell your friendsabout us, sharing links from our articles, pictures, publications, and activities, praying God that bequests be made to help us secure or acquire the buildings we need.
Click HERE to subscribe to Dowry for free. We welcome proof-readers with a good command of English, as well as electronic submissions of articles consistent with the scope of this magazine.
This week our monthly meetings of adult groups took place at Our Lady of Ransom in Kempston:
Men’s Group on Wed 11 Dec 8pm: Fr de Malleray spoke about: “Procreation being essential to marriage, what does the Church teach about IVF, NFP, sterilisation, and contraception?”
Ladies’ Group on Sat 14 Dec, 1pm. Fr de Malleray spoke about “How the Immaculate Conception applies in our lives and inspires them.”
Thank you for supporting these important events!
Have you shared this already with young adult men or their parents? Vocation discernment weekend on 28 February – 2 March 2025 for single Catholic men 18-30. At Buckden Towers, High Street, Buckden, St. Neots, Cambs PE19 5TAStarts Fri 5:00pm; ends Sun 2:00pm
COME & SEE If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 30 years of age, come and discern with us near Bedford. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP will lead the weekend. There will be talks, prayers, Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow-guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession. Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions. Holy Mass each of the three days.
COST: £95.00 per person in total (bed + full board). FREE for unwaged and students – give whatever amount you can.
BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only).
ACCESS: Direct train from London St Pancras to St Neots, every half hour, duration 56 minutes. The nearest towns are Huntingdon (5 miles NNE of Buckden) and St Neots (5 miles South of Buckden). Both Huntingdon and St Neots are served by the West Anglian Great Northern Railway line from King’s Cross London to Peterborough. Let us know if you would need a lift from the railway station. There also are bus and coach links to both Huntingdon and St Neots from many parts of the country.
We have currently five young men from the UK & Ireland in formation at our two international seminaries. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington by Archbishop McMahon, OP of Liverpool. Those were the first EF priestly ordinations by a diocesan bishop in England in fifty years. Please pray for them (www.fssp.org/en/help-us/confraternity-of-saint-peter/) and for many more to enter the lists! We give thanks for 14 priests ordained from or to the UK over the past 23 years: Fr Armand de Malleray in 2001; Fr Konrad Loewenstein in 2002; Fr Brendan Gerard in 2006; Frs Matthew Goddard and William Barker in 2009; Fr Simon Harkins in 2010; Fr Matthew McCarthy in 2011; Fr Ian Verrier in 2015; Fr James Mawdsley in 2016; Frs Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra in 2017; Fr Seth Phipps in 2018; Fr Gwilym Evans in 2022; Fr Miklos Homolya in 2024 – plus Fr Patrick O’Donohue from Ireland (incardinated in 2023). On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February 2022, Pope Francis signed a decree confirming the liturgical charism of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. Please pray for us. We assure you of our prayer. O Lord, grant us many holy priests!
——————————— Reminder: if you intend to receive Holy Communion on Sundays at All Saints in Kempston, as you walk into the church before Mass you must take one host from the plastic box and put it in the bowl (not the other way round). Failing to do so deprives fellow-parishioners from their own Holy Communion as not enough hosts are consecrated.
FSSP wall calendars are available after Mass (including lovely pictures of the various FSSP apostolates) with the latest edition of Dowry. Suggested donation £5.00 (payable to FSSP England bank account as “Calendar”) or handed in cash to Rita.
Baronius missals are available for £45. These and other books such as Vermeer’s Angel, Ego Eimi etc make good Christmas presents. Ask Rita if you would like to buy any of them (please bring cash.)
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
FSSP Chaplaincy Bulletin, 8th Dec 2024 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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am) 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 Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate : pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com Seminarian: Luke Mazurek, FSSP: l.j.mazurek@pm.me Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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 TIMESSoundproofing work is nearing completion in the confessional at Our Lady of Ransom. For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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. ———————————
CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES: Tuesday 24 Dec 6:30am Our Lady of Ransom, Kempston Wednesday 25 Dec, MIDNIGHT Mass (00:00am) in Bedford (location soon confirmed) Wednesday 25 Dec, 8:30am at All Saints Church, Kempston Rural, Bedford Wednesday 25 Dec, 11:40am at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chesham Bois (we were requested to start earlier exceptionally for our families to prepare their Christmas roast!, but please do not arrive before 11:30am as the congregation of the previous Mass will be having refreshments.) Thursday 26 Dec: 9:30am Our Lady of Ransom, Kempston
PLEASE NOTE: with a record attendance of over 50 adults and children last week for our two weekday Rorate Masses, again TWO “Rorate Masses” by candlelight this week, an Advent custom symbolising our expectation of the Messiah at Christmas: Christ, the Light to enlighten the nations!
———————————
HELP GAZA CATHOLICS this Advent: Shared Advent almsgiving by our Chaplaincy (put your offering in the Offertory collection basket in an envelope bearing the purpose “Holy Land FSSP Appeal”).
(credit Malleray) Our British priest in Jerusalem Fr Gwilym Evans, FSSP met with Catholic Patriarch who said his parishes have enormous financial struggles at the moment; not only because of the war-torn areas in which most of them are, but also because of the lack of pilgrims to the Holy Sites (first because of Covid, then because of the war), which used to be one of the main sources of income for the Patriarchate. We will ensure all money collected reaches the humanitarian office of the Patriarchate to be used in support of Catholic individuals and families. ———————————
After the successful launch of our Chaplaincy Young Adults’ group with 15 taking part in the trek and pub lunch at Woburn last 30th Nov. the date for the next trek in January will be confirmed shortly: either 11 or 25 January!
In this issue:FSSP Wall Calendars 2024-2025We include a complimentary copy in every printed copy of this issue of Dowry. Discover beautiful pictures of our apostolates across England, Scotland and Ireland, with the liturgical year and traditional feasts. Needless to say, all this comes at a cost and we are grateful for donations in excess of £5.00 to FSSP England.
Editorial: Three Saintly AnniversariesThree forthcoming anniversaries of great significance for Catholics are spiritual opportunities to seize. They commemorate God’s Incarnation, the Lord’s revelation of his Sacred Heart, and Our Lady’s mediation, Fr de Malleray observes.
Hope Does Not DisappointExtracts from Pope Francis’ bull of indiction for the 2025 Jubilee of the Incarnation of the Lord. Further to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on the virtue of Hope, Pope Francis reminds all the importance of that virtue, especially in times of trial or gloom.
He Smuggled The Sacred Heart Into EnglandDominica Roberts tells how French priest Father Claude la Colombière S.J. providentially brought the devotion from Paray-le-Monial into the heart of London at the cost of his life, thus securing a direct connection between the Sacred Heart and England.
Statistics, Intercession, And SanctificationThe annual statistics of the FSSP were updated to close to 600 members and over 10,000 sodality members: an occasion to give thanks to God, but also to request more prayers for us to grow and bear lasting fruit by God’s grace.
Garments of Sanctity: Opus AnglicanumThe glorious English tradition of sowing and embroidering liturgical vestments is valued anew, Ola Smalley finds, with immediate use within the traditional movement as generously provided by the busy sewing needles of the Guild of St Clare.
Interior of the Carpenter’s Shop at Forty HillUsing a non-religious painting by John Hill (c.1780–1841) from the Tate Britain Gallery in London, Fr Armand de Malleray walks a few easy steps with beginners in the art of interpretation that can further apply to religious art.
Craft Resources For Catholic HomesCatherine Witkowski and John Grimer introduce the online shop run by them and their siblings to equip families with home-made visual illustrations of the Catholic faith through the depictions of saints, calendars, and books.
Support our ApostolateMore than ever we need your help to keep our ministry going in Bedford, Chesham Bois, Reading, Warrington, Edinburgh, Waterford and Wexford. Please tell your friendsabout us, sharing links from our articles, pictures, publications, and activities, praying God that bequests be made to help us secure or acquire the buildings we need.
Click HERE to subscribe to Dowry for free. We welcome proof-readers with a good command of English, as well as electronic submissions of articles consistent with the scope of this magazine. CHRISTMAS DINNERS: with quiz designed by chaplaincy clergy. Kindly pay Rita what is owed for your booking at the Knife and Cleaver, Houghton Conquest, for around £25 per head for 2 courses or £30 for 3. ——————————— Three little girls baptised on Sat 7th Dec in Bedford and Chesham Bois: congratulations to the Tubilewicz, Chidell and Grimer families on the happy births and baptisms of their daughters Antonina, Ana Maria, and Elizabeth. Let us keep in our prayers the families expecting a child or who recently had one. ———————————
THIS WEEK: Monthly meetings of adult groups at Our Lady of Ransom in Kempston:Men’s Group on Wed 11 Dec 8pm: Fr de Malleray will speak about: “Procreation being essential to marriage, what does the Church teach about IVF, NFP, sterilisation, and contraception?”
Ladies’ Group on Sat 14 Dec, 1pm. Fr de Malleray will speak about “How the Immaculate Conception applies in our lives and inspires them.” Thank you for supporting these important events! ———————————
Have you shared this already with young adult men or their parents? Vocation discernment weekend on 28 February – 2 March 2025 for single Catholic men 18-30. At Buckden Towers, High Street, Buckden, St. Neots, Cambs PE19 5TAStarts Fri 5:00pm; ends Sun 2:00pm Is God calling ME?
COME & SEE If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 30 years of age, come and discern with us near Bedford. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP will lead the weekend. There will be talks, prayers, Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow-guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession. Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions. Holy Mass each of the three days.
COST: £95.00 per person in total (bed + full board). FREE for unwaged and students – give whatever amount you can.
BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only).
ACCESS: Direct train from London St Pancras to St Neots, every half hour, duration 56 minutes. The nearest towns are Huntingdon (5 miles NNE of Buckden) and St Neots (5 miles South of Buckden). Both Huntingdon and St Neots are served by the West Anglian Great Northern Railway line from King’s Cross London to Peterborough. Let us know if you would need a lift from the railway station. There also are bus and coach links to both Huntingdon and St Neots from many parts of the country.
We have currently five young men from the UK & Ireland in formation at our two international seminaries. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington by Archbishop McMahon, OP of Liverpool. Those were the first EF priestly ordinations by a diocesan bishop in England in fifty years. Please pray for them (www.fssp.org/en/help-us/confraternity-of-saint-peter/) and for many more to enter the lists! We give thanks for 14 priests ordained from or to the UK over the past 23 years: Fr Armand de Malleray in 2001; Fr Konrad Loewenstein in 2002; Fr Brendan Gerard in 2006; Frs Matthew Goddard and William Barker in 2009; Fr Simon Harkins in 2010; Fr Matthew McCarthy in 2011; Fr Ian Verrier in 2015; Fr James Mawdsley in 2016; Frs Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra in 2017; Fr Seth Phipps in 2018; Fr Gwilym Evans in 2022; Fr Miklos Homolya in 2024 – plus Fr Patrick O’Donohue from Ireland (incardinated in 2023). On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February 2022, Pope Francis signed a decree confirming the liturgical charism of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter. Please pray for us. We assure you of our prayer. O Lord, grant us many holy priests! Contact malleray@fssp.org. Facebook page for this event.
——————————— Reminder: if you intend to receive Holy Communion on Sundays at All Saints in Kempston, as you walk into the church before Mass you must take one host from the plastic box and put it in the bowl (not the other way round). Failing to do so deprives fellow-parishioners from their own Holy Communion as not enough hosts are consecrated. Homily on “euthanasia” by Fr de Malleray here: https://fb.watch/w1vNdeIBEo/ Our beautiful FSSP wall calendars are available after Mass (including lovely pictures of the various FSSP apostolates) with the latest edition of Dowry. Suggested donation £5.00 (payable to FSSP England bank account as “Calendar”) or handed in cash to Rita. Baronius missals are available for £45. These and other books such as Vermeer’s Angel, Ego Eimi etc make good Christmas presents. Ask Rita if you would like to buy any of them (please bring cash.) ——————————— The visit of St Nicholas took place on Sunday 1st December. Children were delighted! Thank you to the organisers.
———————————
Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale… – and of potential benefactors. And pray.
——————————— SACRAMENTS PREPARATION DATES: Your clergy look forward to seeing you at Our Lady of Ransom Church in Kempston from 1:00pm to 2:00pm on the following Saturdays: 11th & 25th January; 8th February; 1st, 15th & 29th March; 5th April; 10th & 31st May; 14th June. Please note that all ten sessions are compulsory for admission to the sacraments.
Please book now in your diaries those ten dates for candidates for First Holy Communion (to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025) and/or for Confirmation classes ahead of Saturday 4th October 2025 when Bishop Oakley will confer the sacrament.
You are more than welcome to avail yourselves of the 10am-11:30am Adoration and confessions, and the 11:30am Mass every Saturday. You can have your lunch in the parish hall between 12:15pm and 1:00pm.
——————————— ALTAR SERVING, ASK LUKE: thankfully our FSSP seminarian Luke is skilled in teaching how to serve Low Mass, Sung Mass, and Solemn Mass. This will be his chief involvement in the life of our community during his stay with us. Therefore, please do book for a practice (l.j.mazurek@pm.me) for a one-to-one, or one-to-a-group, either at St Alban House, or at Our Lady of Ransom, or in Chesham Bois, or at your house if transport for Luke can be arranged. There is scope and skills for such practices to take place every week tailored to your circumstances. (The usual safeguarding rules apply if minors take part in the practice.) Contact Luke now. ——————————— Can you help your clergy with ongoing small sewing jobs mending vestments for holy Mass and clergy cassocks? The problem is that the longer we wait to mend those, the worse it gets and the bigger the work. We warmly welcome the offering of your time and skills. Thank you! ——————————— Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
THIS SATURDAY: Young adults’ first excursion (for unmarried men and women 18+) on 30th November. Meet by 11:00amat 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 attendance and lift need and lift offer (malleray@fssp.org).
Your friends from outside Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are most welcome!
O COME, O COME EMMANUEL!
ADVENT BEGINS THIS SATURDAY EVENING.
HAPPY NEW (liturgical) YEAR TO ALL.
FSSP Chaplaincy Bulletin, 1st Dec 2024
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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am)
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
Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate :
pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com
Seminarian: Luke Mazurek, FSSP: l.j.mazurek@pm.me
Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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
Soundproofing work is nearing completion in the confessional at Our Lady of Ransom.
For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
PLEASE NOTE: TWO “Rorate Masses” by candlelight this week, an Advent custom symbolising our expectation of the Messiah at Christmas: Christ, the Light to enlighten the nations!
HELP GAZA CATHOLICS this Advent: Shared Advent almsgiving by our Chaplaincy
(put your offering in the Offertory collection basket in an envelope bearing the purpose “Holy Land FSSP Appeal”).
(credit Malleray)
Our British priest in Jerusalem Fr Gwilym Evans, FSSP met with Catholic Patriarch who said his parishes have enormous financial struggles at the moment; not only because of the war-torn areas in which most of them are, but also because of the lack of pilgrims to the Holy Sites (first because of Covid, then because of the war), which used to be one of the main sources of income for the Patriarchate. We will ensure all money collected reaches the humanitarian office of the Patriarchate to be used in support of Catholic individuals and families.
Chesham Bois: Update your Gift Aid: it appears that outdated forms might have been used over the past 13 months, not providing the “new” FSSP Bedford-Chesham Bois bank account details, but the old FSSP England one. Ask Jean-Francois, or Rita, if you are not sure to which account your Gift Aid should go. Thank you. Here are the correct details:
[Click on the picture above or here to open the magazine]
In this issue:
FSSP Wall Calendars 2024-2025
We include a complimentary copy in every printed copy of this issue of Dowry. Discover beautiful pictures of our apostolates across England, Scotland and Ireland, with the liturgical year and traditional feasts. Needless to say, all this comes at a cost and we are grateful for donations in excess of £5.00 to FSSP England.
Editorial: Three Saintly Anniversaries
Three forthcoming anniversaries of great significance for Catholics are spiritual opportunities to seize. They commemorate God’s Incarnation, the Lord’s revelation of his Sacred Heart, and Our Lady’s mediation, Fr de Malleray observes.
Hope Does Not Disappoint
Extracts from Pope Francis’ bull of indiction for the 2025 Jubilee of the Incarnation of the Lord. Further to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on the virtue of Hope, Pope Francis reminds all the importance of that virtue, especially in times of trial or gloom.
He Smuggled The Sacred Heart Into England
Dominica Roberts tells how French priest Father Claude la Colombière S.J. providentially brought the devotion from Paray-le-Monial into the heart of London at the cost of his life, thus securing a direct connection between the Sacred Heart and England.
Statistics, Intercession, And Sanctification
The annual statistics of the FSSP were updated to close to 600 members and over 10,000 sodality members: an occasion to give thanks to God, but also to request more prayers for us to grow and bear lasting fruit by God’s grace.
Garments of Sanctity: Opus Anglicanum
The glorious English tradition of sowing and embroidering liturgical vestments is valued anew, Ola Smalley finds, with immediate use within the traditional movement as generously provided by the busy sewing needles of the Guild of St Clare.
Interior of the Carpenter’s Shop at Forty Hill
Using a non-religious painting by John Hill (c.1780–1841) from the Tate Britain Gallery in London, Fr Armand de Malleray walks a few easy steps with beginners in the art of interpretation that can further apply to religious art.
Craft Resources For Catholic Homes
Catherine Witkowski and John Grimer introduce the online shop run by them and their siblings to equip families with home-made visual illustrations of the Catholic faith through the depictions of saints, calendars, and books.
Support our Apostolate
More than ever we need your help to keep our ministry going in Bedford, Chesham Bois, Reading, Warrington, Edinburgh, Waterford and Wexford. Please tell your friendsabout us, sharing links from our articles, pictures, publications, and activities, praying God that bequests be made to help us secure or acquire the buildings we need.
We welcome proof-readers with a good command of English, as well as electronic submissions of articles consistent with the scope of this magazine.
CHRISTMAS DINNERS: with quiz designed by chaplaincy clergy.
Last chance to book for Chesham Bois Sat 7th December, 7:00pm;
and for Bedford on 10th December at 7:00pm:
please send Rita Carroll your selected MENU
and kindly hand £5.00 per person to Rita this Sunday to secure your booking at the Knife and Cleaver, Houghton Conquest, for around £25 per head for 2 courses or £30 for 3.
Two holy Baptisms on Sat 7th Dec:
Congratulations to Tim and Chiara Tubilewicz on the happy birth of their daughter Antonina and on her holy Baptism planned in Kempston at 1:00pm by Fr de Malleray.
At 3pm that same afternoon in Chesham Bois, Fr Coelho will baptise Elizabeth Grimer.
Let us keep in our prayers the families expecting a child or who recently had one.
Monthly meetings of adult groups at Our Lady of Ransom in Kempston:
Men’s Group on Wed 11 Dec 8pm: Fr de Malleray will speak about:
“Procreation being essential to marriage, what does the Church teach about IVF, NFP, sterilisation, and contraception?”
Ladies’ Group on Sat 14 Dec, 1pm. Fr de Malleray will speak about
“How the Immaculate Conception applies in our lives and inspires them.”
Have you shared this already with young adult men or their parents?
Vocation discernment weekend
on 28 February – 2 March 2025
for single Catholic men 18-30.
At Buckden Towers, High Street, Buckden, St. Neots, Cambs PE19 5TA
Starts Fri 5:00pm; ends Sun 2:00pm
Is God calling ME? Matrimony, celibacy, monastery, seminary, Fraternity?
COME & SEE If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 30 years of age, come and discern with us near Bedford. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP will lead the weekend. There will be talks, prayers, Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow-guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession. Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions. Holy Mass each of the three days.
COST: £95.00 per person in total (bed + full board). FREE for unwaged and students – give whatever amount you can.
BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only).
ACCESS: Direct train from London St Pancras to St Neots, every half hour, duration 56 minutes.
The nearest towns are Huntingdon (5 miles NNE of Buckden) and St Neots (5 miles South of Buckden). Both Huntingdon and St Neots are served by the West Anglian Great Northern Railway line from King’s Cross London to Peterborough. Let us know if you would need a lift from the railway station. There also are bus and coach links to both Huntingdon and St Neots from many parts of the country.
We have currently five young men from the UK & Ireland in formation at our two international seminaries. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington by Archbishop McMahon, OP of Liverpool. Those were the first EF priestly ordinations by a diocesan bishop in England in fifty years. Please pray for them (www.fssp.org/en/help-us/confraternity-of-saint-peter/) and for many more to enter the lists!
We give thanks for 14 priests ordained from or to the UK over the past 23 years: Fr Armand de Malleray in 2001; Fr Konrad Loewenstein in 2002; Fr Brendan Gerard in 2006; Frs Matthew Goddard and William Barker in 2009; Fr Simon Harkins in 2010; Fr Matthew McCarthy in 2011; Fr Ian Verrier in 2015; Fr James Mawdsley in 2016; Frs Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra in 2017; Fr Seth Phipps in 2018; Fr Gwilym Evans in 2022; Fr Miklos Homolya in 2024 – plus Fr Patrick O’Donohue from Ireland (incardinated in 2023).
On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February 2022, Pope Francis signed a decree confirming the liturgical charism of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter.
Reminder: if you intend to receive Holy Communion on Sundays at All Saints in Kempston, as you walk into the church before Mass you must take one host from the plastic box and put it in the bowl (not the other way round). Failing to do so deprives fellow-parishioners from their own Holy Communion as not enough hosts are consecrated.
Beautifying the church ahead of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady: cleaning of All Saints Church on Saturday 7th December at 2pm. All volunteers welcome.
Our beautiful FSSP wall calendars are being printed (including lovely pictures of the various FSSP apostolates) and will reach you in early December.
Baronius missals are available for £45. These and other books such as Vermeer’s Angel, Ego Eimi etc make good Christmas presents. Ask Rita if you would like to buy any of them (please bring cash.)
The visit of St Nicholas will now take place on Sunday 1st December, not the 8th, to avoid clashing with the scouts.
Juventutem gathering in London on Friday 6th Dec at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Wandsworth: 6pm Confessions, 7pm Sung Mass, 8pm Social. Any 18+ young adult welcome!
Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale… – and of potential benefactors. And pray.
SACRAMENTS PREPARATION DATES: Your clergy look forward to seeing you at Our Lady of Ransom Church in Kempston from 1:00pm to 2:00pm on the following Saturdays: 11th & 25th January; 8th February; 1st, 15th & 29th March; 5th April; 10th & 31st May; 14th June. Please note that all ten sessions are compulsory for admission to the sacraments.
Please book now in your diaries those ten dates for candidates for First Holy Communion (to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025) and/or for Confirmation classes ahead of Saturday 4th October 2025 when Bishop Oakley will confer the sacrament.
You are more than welcome to avail yourselves of the 10am-11:30am Adoration and confessions, and the 11:30am Mass every Saturday. You can have your lunch in the parish hall between 12:15pm and 1:00pm.
ALTAR SERVING, ASK LUKE: thankfully our FSSP seminarian Luke is skilled in teaching how to serve Low Mass, Sung Mass, and Solemn Mass. This will be his chief involvement in the life of our community during his stay with us. Therefore, please do book for a practice (l.j.mazurek@pm.me) for a one-to-one, or one-to-a-group, either at St Alban House, or at Our Lady of Ransom, or in Chesham Bois, or at your house if transport for Luke can be arranged. There is scope and skills for such practices to take place every week tailored to your circumstances. (The usual safeguarding rules apply if minors take part in the practice.) Contact Luke now.
Can you help your clergy with ongoing small sewing jobs mending vestments for holy Mass and clergy cassocks? The problem is that the longer we wait to mend those, the worse it gets and the bigger the work. We warmly welcome the offering of your time and skills. Thank you!
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
[Click on the picture above or here to open the magazine]
In this issue:
FSSP Wall Calendars 2024-2025
We include a complimentary copy in every printed copy of this issue of Dowry. Discover beautiful pictures of our apostolates across England, Scotland and Ireland, with the liturgical year and traditional feasts. Needless to say, all this comes at a cost and we are grateful for donations in excess of £5.00 to FSSP England.
Editorial: Three Saintly Anniversaries
Three forthcoming anniversaries of great significance for Catholics are spiritual opportunities to seize. They commemorate God’s Incarnation, the Lord’s revelation of his Sacred Heart, and Our Lady’s mediation, Fr de Malleray observes.
Hope Does Not Disappoint
Extracts from Pope Francis’ bull of indiction for the 2025 Jubilee of the Incarnation of the Lord. Further to Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical on the virtue of Hope, Pope Francis reminds all the importance of that virtue, especially in times of trial or gloom.
He Smuggled The Sacred Heart Into England
Dominica Roberts tells how French priest Father Claude la Colombière S.J. providentially brought the devotion from Paray-le-Monial into the heart of London at the cost of his life, thus securing a direct connection between the Sacred Heart and England.
Statistics, Intercession, And Sanctification
The annual statistics of the FSSP were updated to close to 600 members and over 10,000 sodality members: an occasion to give thanks to God, but also to request more prayers for us to grow and bear lasting fruit by God’s grace.
Garments of Sanctity: Opus Anglicanum
The glorious English tradition of sowing and embroidering liturgical vestments is valued anew, Ola Smalley finds, with immediate use within the traditional movement as generously provided by the busy sewing needles of the Guild of St Clare.
Interior of the Carpenter’s Shop at Forty Hill
Using a non-religious painting by John Hill (c.1780–1841) from the Tate Britain Gallery in London, Fr Armand de Malleray walks a few easy steps with beginners in the art of interpretation that can further apply to religious art.
Craft Resources For Catholic Homes
Catherine Witkowski and John Grimer introduce the online shop run by them and their siblings to equip families with home-made visual illustrations of the Catholic faith through the depictions of saints, calendars, and books.
Support our Apostolate
More than ever we need your help to keep our ministry going in Bedford, Chesham Bois, Reading, Warrington, Edinburgh, Waterford and Wexford. Please tell your friendsabout us, sharing links from our articles, pictures, publications, and activities, praying God that bequests be made to help us secure or acquire the buildings we need.
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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am)
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
Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate :
pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com
Seminarian: Luke Mazurek, FSSP: L.J.Mazurek@pm.me
Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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
HOLY MASS TIMES:
CONFESSIONS TIMES
Soundproofing work is nearing completion in the confessional at Our Lady of Ransom.
For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
THIS SATURDAY: Young adults’ first excursion (for unmarried men and women 18+) on 30th November. Meet by 11:00am 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 attendance and lift need and lift offer (malleray@fssp.org).
Your friends from outside Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are most welcome!
CHRISTMAS DINNERS with quiz designed by chaplaincy clergy: last chance to book
for Chesham Bois Sat 7th December, 7:00pm;
and for Bedford on 10th December at 7:00pm: please hand £5.00 per person to Rita Carroll this Sunday to secure your booking at the Knife and Cleaver, Houghton Conquest, for around £25 per head for 2 courses or £30 for 3.
Congratulations to Louis and Francesca Grimer on the happy birth of their daughter Elizabeth last 8th October, and on her holy Baptism planned in Chesham Bois on Sat 7th Dec at 3pm. Let us keep in our prayers the families expecting a child or who recently had one.
Monthly meetings of adult groups at Our Lady of Ransom in Kempston next month: Men’s 11 Dec 8pm; Ladies’ 14 Dec 1pm.
Vocation discernment weekend
on 28 February – 2 March 2025
for single Catholic men 18-30.
At Buckden Towers, High Street, Buckden, St. Neots, Cambs PE19 5TA
Starts Fri 5:00pm; ends Sun 2:00pm
Is God calling ME? Matrimony, celibacy, monastery, seminary, Fraternity?
COME & SEE If you are a single Catholic man between 18 and 30 years of age, come and discern with us near Bedford. Fr Armand de Malleray, FSSP will lead the weekend. There will be talks, prayers, Holy Mass and informal chatting with fellow-guests. Possibility of private meetings with a priest, and of confession. Feel welcome confidentially to call, email or write for any questions. Holy Mass each of the three days.
COST: £95.00 per person in total (bed + full board). FREE for unwaged and students – give whatever amount you can.
BOOKINGS & CONTACT: [not via Facebook] malleray@fssp.org (read by Fr de Malleray only).
ACCESS: Direct train from London St Pancras to St Neots, every half hour, duration 56 minutes.
The nearest towns are Huntingdon (5 miles NNE of Buckden) and St Neots (5 miles South of Buckden). Both Huntingdon and St Neots are served by the West Anglian Great Northern Railway line from King’s Cross London to Peterborough. Let us know if you would need a lift from the railway station. There also are bus and coach links to both Huntingdon and St Neots from many parts of the country.
We have currently five young men from the UK & Ireland in formation at our two international seminaries. Three of our deacons from England were ordained priests at St Mary’s Warrington by Archbishop McMahon, OP of Liverpool. Those were the first EF priestly ordinations by a diocesan bishop in England in fifty years. Please pray for them (www.fssp.org/en/help-us/confraternity-of-saint-peter/) and for many more to enter the lists!
We give thanks for 14 priests ordained from or to the UK over the past 23 years: Fr Armand de Malleray in 2001; Fr Konrad Loewenstein in 2002; Fr Brendan Gerard in 2006; Frs Matthew Goddard and William Barker in 2009; Fr Simon Harkins in 2010; Fr Matthew McCarthy in 2011; Fr Ian Verrier in 2015; Fr James Mawdsley in 2016; Frs Alex Stewart and Krzysztof Sanetra in 2017; Fr Seth Phipps in 2018; Fr Gwilym Evans in 2022; Fr Miklos Homolya in 2024 – plus Fr Patrick O’Donohue from Ireland (incardinated in 2023).
On the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February 2022, Pope Francis signed a decree confirming the liturgical charism of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter.
Please pray for us. We assure you of our prayer.
O Lord, grant us many holy priests!
Reminder: if you intend to receive Holy Communion on Sundays at All Saints in Kempston, as you walk into the church before Mass you must take one host from the plastic box and put it in the bowl (not the other way round). Failing to do so deprives fellow-parishioners from their own Holy Communion as not enough hosts are consecrated.
Beautifying the church ahead of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady: cleaning of All Saints Church on Saturday 7th December at 2pm. All volunteers welcome.
Homily on “euthanasia” by Fr de Malleray here: https://fb.watch/w1vNdeIBEo/
Our beautiful FSSP wall calendars are being printed (including lovely pictures of the various FSSP apostolates) and will reach you in early December.
The Muoghalu family will take the statue of Our Lady this Sunday, praying daily the litany of Loreto to the intentions of our congregations.
Baronius missals are available for £45. These and other books such as Vermeer’s Angel, Ego Eimi etc make good Christmas presents. Ask Rita if you would like to buy any of them (please bring cash.)
The visit of St Nicholas will now take place on Sunday 1st December, not the 8th, to avoid clashing with the scouts.
Juventutem gathering in London on Friday 6th Dec at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Wandsworth: 6pm Confessions, 7pm Sung Mass, 8pm Social. Any 18+ young adult welcome!
Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale… – and of potential benefactors. And pray.
SACRAMENTS PREPARATION TO BEGIN: Dates for classes for Holy Communion preparation are being finalised: we will hold classes two Saturdays per month from January onward. Email us as soon as possible the names of candidates for First Holy Communion to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025. The same frequency is planned for Confirmation classes starting in January until June, ahead of Saturday 4th October 2025 when Bishop Oakley will confer the sacrament.
ALTAR SERVING: thankfully our FSSP seminarian Luke is skilled in teaching how to serve Low Mass, Sung Mass, and Solemn Mass. This will be his chief involvement in the life of our community during his stay with us. Therefore, please do book for a practice (l.j.mazurek@pm.me) for a one-to-one, or one-to-a-group, either at St Alban House, or at Our Lady of Ransom, or in Chesham Bois, or at your house if transport for Luke can be arranged. There is scope and skills for such practices to take place every week tailored to your circumstances. (The usual safeguarding rules apply if minors take part in the practice.) Contact Luke now.
Thank you to all who attended the “First” Masses of newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP last weekend and provided refreshments, shared pictures, sang, and served. Pray for more priests! See pics on https://www.flickr.com/photos/138056205@N08/albums.
Can you help your clergy with ongoing small sewing jobs mending vestments for holy Mass and clergy cassocks? The problem is that the longer we wait to mend those, the worse it gets and the bigger the work. We warmly welcome the offering of your time and skills. Thank you!
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
and pray the saints for intercession, especially those associated with the care of the dying: St Joseph, St Camillus of Lellis, St John of God, St Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am)
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
Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate :
pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com
Seminarian: Luke Mazurek, FSSP: L.J.Mazurek@pm.me
Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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
Soundproofing work is nearing completion in the confessional at Our Lady of Ransom.
For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
Holy Masses:
We plan to change the Friday Mass time from 11:30am to 8:30am from the first Friday in Advent, 6th Dec, onward. Let us know if this change would allow you to attend more easily.
A core group of Chaplaincy parishioners met at St Alban House a few days ago to coordinate the search for a suitable property to buy as a church and – since we have very little funds available – to raise money. Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale… – and of potential benefactors. And pray.
CHRISTMAS DINNERS with quiz designed by chaplaincy clergy: last chance to book for Chesham Bois Sat 7th December, 7:00pm;
and for Bedford on 10th December at 7:00pm: please hand £5.00 per person to Rita Carroll this Sunday to secure your booking at the Knife and Cleaver, Houghton Conquest, for around £25 per head for 2 courses or £30 for 3.
Reminder: if you intend to receive Holy Communion on Sundays at All Saints in Kempston, as you walk into the church before Mass you must take one host from the plastic box and put it in the bowl (not the other way round). Failing to do so deprives fellow-parishioners from their own Holy Communion as not enough hosts are consecrated.
Beautifying the church ahead of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady: cleaning of All Saints Church on Saturday 7th December at 2pm. All volunteers welcome.
Our beautiful FSSP wall calendars are being printed (including lovely pictures of the various FSSP apostolates) and will reach you in early December.
Baronius missals are available for £45. These and other books such as Vermeer’s Angel, Ego Eimi etc make good Christmas presents. Ask Rita if you would like to buy any of them (please bring cash.)
Our Chaplaincy’s got talents! Catholic artist Lucy Norfolk attends our Bedford Mass: she specialises in devotional statue restoration and also takes on private commissions in painting and sculpture. Discover her great work on www.lucycrabtree.com.
Meanwhile Chesham Bois parishioners offer superb family art, devotions, and stationery on www.faithfullabours.co.uk.
SACRAMENTS PREPARATION TO BEGIN: Dates for classes for Holy Communion preparation are being finalised: we will hold classes two Saturdays per month from January onward. Email us as soon as possible the names of candidates for First Holy Communion to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025. The same frequency is planned for Confirmation classes starting in January until June, ahead of Saturday 4th October 2025 when Bishop Oakley will confer the sacrament.
ALTAR SERVING: thankfully our FSSP seminarian Luke is skilled in teaching how to serve Low Mass, Sung Mass, and Solemn Mass. This will be his chief involvement in the life of our community during his stay with us. Therefore, please do book for a practice (l.j.mazurek@pm.me) for a one-to-one, or one-to-a-group, either at St Alban House, or at Our Lady of Ransom, or in Chesham Bois, or at your house if transport for Luke can be arranged.
There is scope and skills for such practices to take place every week tailored to your circumstances. (The usual safeguarding rules apply if minors take part in the practice.)
Thank you to all who attend the “First” Masses of newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP this weekend, and provide refreshments on Sunday 17 Nov, 8:30am, at All Saints Church, Kempston, followed by First Blessings and refreshments.
And the day before – Sat 16th Nov – at Our Lady’s Church in Chesham Bois at 11:00am followed by First Blessings and refreshments.
Please tell your friends and attend these two Masses to give thanks to God for another priest now serving in England (Warrington). With so few priests left in the dioceses, and so many aging or dying, we need to realise the grace of having priests come to us to give us the sacraments. By so doing we also foster a culture of vocations and we call upon us God’s mercy for more men to answer the call. Find out more on: fssp.org.uk/about-the-confraternity/.
Can you help your clergy with ongoing small sewing jobs mending vestments for holy Mass and clergy cassocks? The problem is that the longer we wait to mend those, the worse it gets and the bigger the work. We warmly welcome the offering of your time and skills. Thank you!
Juventutem gathering in London on Friday 15th Nov at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Wandsworth: 6pm Confessions, 7pm Sung Mass, 8pm Social – with newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP. Any 18+ young adult welcome!
FSSP statistic annual update: find out more about the largest Catholic traditional priestly community, numbering 583 members spread across 4 continents in 151 dioceses, serving 255 Mass centres and training 197 seminarians in 2 international seminaries (USA & Germany) and a Propaedeutic House (Australia), including 5 from the UK & Ireland. Visit https://www.fssp.org/en/statistics-update/.
Monthly meetings of adult groups at Our Lady of Ransom in Kempston this week:
Last Wednesday evening 13th Nov: 8:00pm:MONTHLY MEN’S GROUP on the topic: Can killing be legal and yet immoral? Scope and discernment in disposing of the lives of others and of one’s own.
MONTHLY LADIES GROUP on:
Saturday 16th Nov at 1pm: shared lunch & talk on
Spiritual growth with the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.
Arrive earlier for:
10:00am: Eucharistic adoration & confessions for all
11:30am: Holy Mass for all
Young adults’ first excursion (for unmarried men and women 18+) on Saturday 30th November. Meet by 11:00amat 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 attendance and lift need and lift offer (malleray@fssp.org). Your friends from outside Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are most welcome!
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am)
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
Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate: pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com
Seminarian: Luke Mazurek, FSSP: L.J.Mazurek@pm.me
Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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
Holy Mass at Regina Caeli Academy last week:
Remembrance Sunday this Sunday 10 Nov: Sung Mass of Requiem at All Saints, 8:30am
CONFESSIONS TIMES
For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
EXPAND: Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale…
Bishop David Oakley will confer the sacrament of Confirmation again to our Chaplaincy candidates on Saturday 4th October 2025. You can start registering interest.
On Remembrance Sunday 10 Nov in Bedford & Chesham Bois, two sung Masses of Requiem with catafalque in intercession for all the dead of the two world wars of the past century. RIP.
Email us as soon as possible the names of candidates for First Holy Communion to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025.
Welcome to FSSP seminarian Luke Mazurek from St Peter’s International Seminary in Wigratzbad. Luke will be part of the clergy chaplaincy, on pastoral placement until Easter. Luke is Polish but has worked for a dozen years in London and is therefore very familiar with our country, speaking fluent English. We look forward to his involvement in the life of the chaplaincy, e.g. servers’ training, youth group. Less visible to parishioners but essential to communal life at St Alban House, Luke takes part in Lauds, Vespers and Compline now more easily prayed in choir by three than by two clerics.
Solemn high “First” Mass by newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP on Sunday 17 Nov, 8:30am, at All Saints Church, Kempston, followed by First Blessings and refreshments.
Fr Homolya will offer another “First” Mass the day before – Sat 16th Nov – at Our Lady’s Church in Chesham Bois at 11:00am followed by First Blessings and refreshments.
Please tell your friends and attend these two Masses to give thanks to God for another priest now serving in England (Warrington). With so few priests left in the dioceses, and so many aging or dying, we need to realise the grace of having priests come to us to give us the sacraments. By so doing we also foster a culture of vocations and we call upon us God’s mercy for more men to answer the call. Find out more on: fssp.org.uk/about-the-confraternity/.
Can you help your clergy with ongoing small sewing jobs mending vestments for holy Mass and clergy cassocks? The problem is that the longer we wait to mend those, the worse it gets and the bigger the work. We warmly welcome the offering of your time and skills. Thank you!
Juventutem gathering in London on Friday 15th Nov at St Mary Magdalene’s Church, Wandsworth: 6pm Confessions, 7pm Sung Mass, 8pm Social – with newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP. Any 18+ young adult welcome!
FSSP statistic annual update: find out more about the largest Catholic traditional priestly community, numbering 583 members spread across 4 continents in 151 dioceses, serving 255 Mass centres and training 197 seminarians in 2 international seminaries (USA & Germany) and a Propaedeutic House (Australia), including 5 from the UK & Ireland. Visit https://www.fssp.org/en/statistics-update/.
Christmas Dinner Chesham Bois: Sat 7 December, 7:00pm, with quiz designed by chaplaincy clergy. Have you booked your place already?
Signup sheet after Mass at All Saints in Bedford for a Bedford Christmas dinner: about our last chance to book.
Monthly meetings of adult groups at Our Lady of Ransom in Kempston this week:
This Wednesday evening 13th Nov:
6:50pm-7:10pm Confessions
7:15pm: Holy Mass
8:00pm:MONTHLY MEN’S GROUP on the topic: Can killing be legal and yet immoral? Scope and discernment in disposing of the lives of others and of one’s own.
MONTHLY LADIES GROUP on:
Saturday 16th Nov at 1pm: shared lunch & talk on Spiritual growth with the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. Arrive earlier for:
10:00am: Eucharistic adoration & confessions for all
11:30am: Holy Mass for all
Young adults’ first excursion (for unmarried men and women 18+) on Saturday 30th November.
Meet by 11:00am at Woburn public car park on Park Street (X9QM+H8 Milton Keynes or https://maps.app.goo.gl/NVHEd8GR7idH3RbaA). Walk together 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 attendance and lift need and lift offer (malleray@fssp.org). Your friends from outside Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are most welcome!
Chaplaincy and CoE Parish representatives met last Monday at All Saints for a friendly chat on our use of their church, hall and car parks. We confirm that the parking space between the parish hall and the school must be left free. Our parishioners must park in the large church car park through the yellow gate unless they are family vans that can park to the side of the hall. Thank you for complying for a smooth running of everybody’s Sunday morning.
Also, hazard at the steps to the parish hall. The railing to the left of the entrance has come adrift and it could be 2 to 3 weeks before the repair is carried out. It is believed to have been caused by children swinging on the railing (out of five groups of children using the hall). Please do NOT USE this railing.
Finally, NO CHILD must be left out of SIGHT of his responsible adult, especially by the RIVER BANK.
Pray for the sick in our congregations: mother of Hal Hamel, four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am)
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
Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate :
pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com
Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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
For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
EXPAND: Please email us if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale…
Bishop David Oakley will confer the sacrament of Confirmation again to our Chaplaincy candidates on Saturday 4th October 2025. You can start registering interest.
Email us as soon as possible the names of candidates for First Holy Communion to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025.
From 1st to 8th Nov inclusive, help one holy soul into heaven each day: aplenary indulgence applicable only to the Poor Souls in Purgatory is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray even if only mentally for the departed, and for the traditional intentions of the Holy Father. There must be one visit for each day one seeks to gain the indulgence; one visit will not apply for several days.One must also have received holy Communion that day, be free from mortal sins and have no attachment to venial sins (sacramental absolution received the week before or after).
Well done the families who organised and attended the splendid All Saints party on Friday 1st Nov at All Saint’s hall, Kempston after the 11:00am Mass at All Saints Church next door: children dressed up as their favourite saints and explained why their lives called for imitation.
Help requested for ongoing small sewing jobs mending vestments for holy Mass and clergy cassocks. Thank you!
On All Souls Day, 2nd Nov, holy Mother Church unleashes all her intercessory power to hasten entrance into blessed eternity for the souls of her children suffering in Purgatory. The Priestly Fraternity of St Peter worldwide was 100% committed to that undertaking of supernatural charity, offering within one day 1,158 holy Masses of Requiem. That amounts to 48.25 Masses per hour, or 1 traditional holy Mass starting every 74 seconds over 24hrs. Furthermore, since all Masses were offered with permission from the local bishops they were fully lawful, thus deriving maximum fruit. Thank you to our choir who sang one of them in Bedford. Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis !
FSSP statistic annual update: find out more about the largest Catholic traditional priestly community, numbering 583 members spread across 4 continents in 151 dioceses, serving 255 Mass centres and training 197 seminarians in 2 international seminaries (USA & Germany) and a Propaedeutic House (Australia), including 5 from the UK & Ireland. Visit https://www.fssp.org/en/statistics-update/.
MONTHLY ADULTS’ GROUPS:
Well done those who made time to attend the two monthly groups this past week. If you have missed them, consider attending next time, as this is a very rare opportunity to improve your Catholic knowledge as taught by a priest, with access to Holy Mass and Confessions, and in a convivial setting. Many Catholics across the country pray they might be granted such an opportunity near them. We prayed, and were granted it. Now let us harvest the fruit together.
Christmas Dinner Chesham Bois: Sat 7 December, 7:00pm, with quiz designed by chaplaincy clergy. Have you booked your place already?
Signup sheet after 3 Nov Mass at All Saints in Bedford for a Bedford Christmas dinner.
A group for young adults in Bedford/Chesham? There is interest for activities for young single men and women age 18+.
We could start in November with a walk and lunch in a country pub, e.g. across Woburn Abbey deer park , followed by lunch at the Woburn Arms with informal chat, with clergy in attendance (chatting, not cooking though). Please email interest (malleray@fssp.org). Your friends from outside Bedfordshire are welcome!
Sunday Bedford practicalities:
NO MORE PARKING in any parking spaces between parish hall, school and cottages. That space is needed by the village inhabitants and by the worshippers coming to the service after our Mass.
Traditional Latin high Mass of Reparation for Abortion, at Holy Child and St Joseph’s Church in Bedford on Sat 9 Nov, 12noon. Refreshments afterwards.
Please note that to facilitate attendance at that Mass, we anticipated ours in Kempston from 11:30am to 9:00am on that Saturday, followed by our usual Confessions and Adoration ending by 11:30am.
Also on Sat 9 Nov, at Our Lady of Kempston during adoration, Altar servers’ practice in preparation for the following event.
Solemn high “First” Mass by newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP on Sunday 17 Nov, 8:30am, at All Saints Church, Kempston, followed by First Blessings and refreshments.
Fr Homolya will offer another “First” Mass the day before – Sat 16 Nov – at Our Lady’s Church in Chesham Bois at 11:00am followed by First Blessings and refreshments.
Please tell your friends and attend these two Masses to give thanks to God for another priest now serving in England (Warrington). With so few priests left in the dioceses, and so many aging or dying, we need to realise the grace of having priests come to us to give us the sacraments. By so doing we also foster a culture of vocations and we call upon us God’s mercy for more men to answer the call. Find out more on: fssp.org.uk/about-the-confraternity/.
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
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: Mon 9:30am ; Tue 6:30am ; Wed 7:15pm ; Thu 9:30am ; Fri 11:30am ; Sat 11:30am (following Eucharistic Exposition, Confessions from 10:00am & Eucharistic Benediction ending by 11:20am)
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
Assistant: Fr Miguel Coelho, FSSP-Associate :
pe.miguelcoelho@protonmail.com
Secretary: Mrs Rita Carroll: 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
For the sake of confidentiality please whisper rather than speak. 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.
Please remember that All Saints, on Friday 1st November, is a holyday of obligation, so that every able Catholic from First Communion age must attend holy Mass on that day under penalty of grave sin (check in advance with your priest if unsure).
Tonsures: pray for the 33 seminarians receiving First Tonsure and donning the cassock, including our own Rafal from England.
– October 19: Tonsures in Lindau by His Exc. Mgr. Wolfgang Haas, Archbishop of Vaduz.
Please pray for the Tonsurandi: Riccardo, Baptist, Stefano, André, João Paulo, Louis-Marie, Urban, Rodrigo Moritz, Florian, Brieuc, Tugdual, Anselme, Baptiste, Grégoire, Xavier, Mayeul, Jango and Juri.
– October 19: Tonsures in Denton by H. Ex. James Conley, Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.
Please pray for the Tonsurandi: Anthony, Jack, Rafał, Juan, William, Anthony, Benjamin, Rainier, Paul, Petar, Robert, Clint, Danilo and Kolbe.
Make your prayer for Vocations more powerful through our 10,000-strong international prayer network, the Confraternity of St Peter.
Sunday, October 20th, 2024:
Confraternity of St. Peter
annual thanksgiving and blessing
For all members of the Confraternity of St. Peter on the Sunday following October 18 (the anniversary of the establishment of the FSSP as of pontifical right by the Holy See, in 1988). During this short ceremony, right at the end of holy Mass the new members who have joined since the past year will recite the prayer of the Confraternity kneeling at the communion rail; they will receive a blessing from the priest sprinkling them with holy water; and they will receive their certificate from the priest if available. Any other member of the Confraternity (i.e. including those not new) is also welcome to kneel to the Communion rail at the end of Mass to be blessed, or to join in from the pews.
Everyone in the congregation is invited to recite together aloud the Prayer of the Confraternity at the end of Mass:
V. Remember, O Lord, Thy congregation. R. Which Thou hast possessed from the beginning.
Let us pray. O Lord Jesus, born to give testimony to the Truth, Thou who lovest unto the end those whom Thou hast chosen, kindly hear our prayers for our pastors. Thou who knowest all things, knowest that they love Thee and can do all things in Thee who strengthenest them. Sanctify them in Truth. Pour into them, we beseech Thee, the Spirit whom Thou didst give to Thy apostles, who would make them, in all things, like unto Thee. Receive the homage of love which they offer up to Thee, who hast graciously received the threefold confession of Peter. And so that a pure oblation may everywhere be offered without ceasing unto the Most Holy Trinity, graciously enrich their number and keep them in Thy love, who art one with the Father and the Holy Ghost, to whom be glory and honour forever. Amen.
Nihil obstat: Vic. Gen. FSSP, 05.II.2007 Imprimatur: Vic. Gen. Diœc. Laus. Gen. Frib., 28.II.2007
What is the Confraternity of Saint Peter?
It is a society which gathers those who feel close to the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter and who wish to support its charism through prayers and sacrifices. Thus the Confraternity contributes to the service of the Church, through supporting numerous vocations, the sanctification of priests and their pastoral endeavours.
Members commit themselves to
· every day: 1) pray one decade of the holy rosary for the sanctification of our priests and for our priestly vocations, 2) and recite the Prayer of the Confraternity; · every year: 3) have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered once for these intentions.
What spiritual benefit do members receive from the Confraternity?
Their commitments place the members among our most faithful benefactors, and as such, among the particular recipients of our priests’ and seminarians’ daily prayers. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is offered each month for the members of the Confraternity in each area. Recollections and instructions in the faith are also foreseen.
How does one become a member?
1. Fill in the enrolment form (Non European resident | European resident) and send it back to us when filled out. 2. The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter will send to you in return the certificate of membership. The commitments take effect with the reception of the certificate. 3. Members must be Catholics who are at least 14 years of age. 4. Membership is purely spiritual and does not confer any rights or duties other than the spiritual support in prayer and charity in accord with the commitments described above. 5. By themselves the commitments do not bind under penalty of sin. 6. Membership and the commitments which follow it are tacitly renewed each year on the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (February 22), unless expressly determined otherwise.
How does one receive news about the Confraternity?
Our channels of information – bulletins and websites of the districts or of the houses – will provide news about the Confraternity.
Confraternity of St Peter: Frequently Asked Questions
Can I still join the Confraternity of Saint Peter if…
1) If I can’t travel easily and I would not have the time to attend events with the Confraternity? – Yes, you may join. Provided you say the daily decade and Prayer, and have the Mass offered once a year by any priest in good standing, you are not required to do anything more, even on the day of your enrolment.
2) If I do not intend to be part of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter? – Yes, you may join. The Confraternity of St Peter (CSP) is formally distinct from the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP). Any Catholic can join the former; but only priests and future priests can join the latter. Confraternity members retain full liberty and can decide to leave at any time.
3) If I already have spiritual commitments? – Yes, you may join. For instance, if you are already committed to praying one decade of the rosary daily, you can apply it to the Confraternity’s intentions, added to your other intentions. If those were meant to exclude any other, you simply say a further decade.
4) If I normally attend the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, not the Extraordinary Form. – Yes, you may join. Your prayers for priestly vocations and ministry as a committed Catholic are always valued.
5) If I want to pray for vocations not exclusively to the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter? – Yes, you may join. As a member of the Confraternity, you intend your prayer to benefit principally our seminarians and priests, but you may include others at your discretion.
6) If I am a seminarian / deacon / priest / bishop / religious / sister? – Yes, you may join. The Confraternity is not for lay persons only. Any clerics and consecrated persons in good standing are welcome.
7) If I am not able to give any money? – Yes, you may join. Your commitment is purely spiritual, and we do not expect you to contribute financially. Financial support to the formation of our seminarians and to the ministry of our priests is gratefully received, irrespective of Confraternity membership.
8) If I can’t conveniently recite the daily decade and Prayer in Latin, nor have the yearly Mass offered in the Extraordinary Form? – Yes, you may join. You may say the decade in your preferred language and use any approved translation of the Prayer. While it is fitting to have the yearly Mass offered according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman rite, any other rite authorised by the Catholic Church may be used as an alternative.
Our annual vocation discernment weekend for young men will probably take place (like last winter) in February 2025 at Buckden Towers. To be confirmed shortly.
Saturday 26 October, 10am: any men, or boys (with parent’s approval), come for altar servers’ practice at Our Lady of Ransom, Kempston. The practice takes place in the parish hall while Eucharistic Adoration and Confessions take place in the church. Email any question to Francis Ibabu or to bedford@fssp.org.
Last week Fr de Malleray and Fr Coelho attended the quarterly Bedford deanery meeting, taking place this time at Christ the King Church. After a presentation in the Patrick Donegan Room, the priests were treated to a lovely lunch organised at a parishioner’s house across the street. Please pray for the repose of the soul of the late father of Fr Alexander Ibe, SMMM whose parish welcomed us for the Easter Triduum at Sts Philip and James Church. RIP.
Sunday 27th October, feast of Christ the King: first anniversary of the beginning of full-time ministry by the FSSP across the Northampton Diocese. Come and give thanks to God, and plan for increase!
On All Souls’ Day (Saturday Nov. 2nd ) a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor Souls in Purgatory, is granted to those who visit a Catholic church and there recite one Our Father and one Creed.
On all the days from November 1st through November 8th inclusive, a plenary indulgence, applicable only to the Poor Souls in Purgatory, is granted to those who visit a cemetery and pray even if only mentally for the departed, and for the traditional intentions of the Holy Father. There must be one visit for each day one seeks to gain the indulgence; one visit will not apply for several days. Any public cemetery with Christian tombs will do. Kempston Cemetery is located 2 Green End Rd, Kempston, Bedford MK43 8RJ.
Conditions for both indulgences:
1. Only one plenary indulgence can be granted per day.
2. It is necessary to be in the state of grace, at least by completion of the work.
3. Freedom from attachment to sin, even venial sin, is necessary; otherwise the indulgence is only partial. (By this is meant attachment to a particular sin, not sin in general.)
4. Holy Communion must be received each time the indulgence is sought.
5. Prayers must be recited for the traditional intentions of the Holy Father on each day the indulgence is sought. No particular prayers are prescribed. One Our Father and one Hail Mary suffice, or other suitable prayers.
6. One must be absolved in confession the fortnight before or following.
Not available for Halloween? Then join our All Saints Party on Friday 1st Nov, 12noon at All Saint’s Church hall, Kempston Rural, (after the 11:00am Mass at All Saints Church next door): Children’s party dressed up as their favourite saints! Bring shared lunch.
Monthly talk for all on: “How we can help holy souls out of Purgatory”, at Chesham Bois Parish hall, after 12noon shared lunch on Saturday 2nd Nov, All Souls Day.
Well done the 40 adults who attended the October monthly talk in Chesham Bois on “Interpreting ‘No salvation outside the Church'”.
MONTHLY ADULTS GROUPS:
Wednesday Men’s group Bedford 8:00pm, Our Lady of Kempston Church hall, after the 7:15pm holy Mass & 6:55pm Confessions. Bring beers and snacks! Dates: 23 October; 13 November; 11 December
Saturday Ladies’ Group Bedford 1:00pm, Our Lady of Kempston Church hall, after the 11:30am holy Mass. Bring shared lunch by 12:15pm. Arrive from 10:00am for Eucharistic Adoration & Confessions. Dates: 26 October; 16 November; 14 December
Talk for All in Chesham Bois: Sat 2nd November 12:30pm
Christmas Dinner Chesham Bois: Sat 7 December, 7:00pm
HELP US EXPAND: Please email bedford@fssp.org if you become aware of a redundant church building, a school, a warehouse, a garage, or other with parking for sale…
Bishop David Oakley will confer the sacrament of Confirmation again to our Chaplaincy candidates on
Saturday 4th October 2025.
You can start registering interest.
Email us as soon as possible the names of candidates for First Holy Communion to take place on Corpus Christi Sunday, 22 June 2025.
Join the chaplaincy children (scouts and guides) and Fr de Malleray at the ROSARY CRUSADE in LONDON on Sat 12th Oct (starts 1:45pm, outside Westminster Cathedral.) This is the largest Marian event in London every year. Come and pray the holy Rosary in public, walking leisurely from Westminster Cathedral to the Brompton Oratory for the reparation of sins committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The roads are shut to allow the procession through and we walk behind a beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima whilst praying the rosary and singing hymns. It is a great opportunity for public witness to the faith and is a joyful event.
The evening before, if you are 18-35, come on Friday 11th Oct to the monthly Juventutem 7pm sung holy Mass with homily by chaplain Fr de Malleray, FSSP (6pm confessions; 8pm social) at St Mary Magdalene, 96 North Side Wandsworth Common SW18 2QU London (12 mins walk from Clapham Junction). Meet the about 70 young adults coming from far and wide for that event.
Starting a group for young adults in Bedford? There is interest for activities for young single men and women age 18+. We could start in November with a walk and lunch in a country pub, e.g. across Woburn Abbey deer park , followed by lunch at the Woburn Arms with informal chat, with clergy in attendance (chatting, not cooking though). Please email interest (malleray@fssp.org)! Your friends from outside Bedfordshire are welcome.
[Click on the picture above or here to open the magazine]
In this issue:
Editorial: Woodcarving As Worship
Reflecting on the importance of sacred architecture as a medium of evangelisation that touches even non-believers (as the fire of Notre-Dame showed), Fr de Malleray rejoices at the new altarpiece commissioned by a traditional Dominican community in France.
A Queen For All Seasons
Aidan Harvey-Craig praises Queen Catherine of Aragon’s courageous witness to the inviolability of marriage and to the Catholic faith as a timely example for our times of matrimonial breakdown and religious relativism. Could she be declared a heavenly intercessor?
Coercion and Belief: Compelle Intrare
Fr Brendan Gerard, FSSP (who holds a licence in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome) examines whether the use of coercion to bring people into the Church is authorised by Christ’s mandate to “make disciples of all nations.”
Tintin and the Secret of the Elusive Priests
Despite being a cradle Catholic, world-famous author Hergé included almost no priest characters in his numerous comic strips; and yet, multiple priestly influences have inspired or guided the creator of Tintin―finds Fr de Malleray (Head of Tintinology at St Alban House in Bedford).
Why the Film Nefarious Is Atheists’ Nightmare
Avoiding any gory or horrible display, the supernatural thriller Nefarious cleverly depicts an atheistic doctor trying to persuade a possessed inmate that God and Satan are not real. Fr de Malleray praises this battle of wits that can prompt non-believers to ask salutary questions.
Spoiler Alert: Life Wins In The End
Young adult Sophia Rumpus took part in the joyful and peaceful March for Life, the largest event in the UK every year to celebrate the sacredness of human life, particularly in its unborn stage: an initiative worthy of support as the “legal” termination of the elderly and sick looms ahead.
We welcome proof-readers with a good command of English, as well as electronic submissions of articles consistent with the scope of this magazine.
Share with friends the beautiful pictures of our sung Mass on the feast of St Michael: flickr.com/photos/138056205@N08/albums/. Thank you to our choir who envisages singing the Mass every Sunday.
Finance Update: £1,401.00/week (based on £5,604.00/month). Such is the ongoing cost to be met by the Bedford & Chesham Bois FSSP Chaplaincy, consisting chiefly of the rents for four buildings (St Alban House and the three churches where we serve weekly). Since Sunday 28th July 2024 when we started in the new Bedford location at All Saints, absolutely every penny you put in the Offertory collection basket goes to us, the FSSP Chaplaincy.
Thank you in advance for your generosity. Sort code: 30-80-27 Account number: 44025960.
The Harvey-Craig family will host the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham this Sunday. We thank them for praying the litany of Loreto in front of the statue to the intentions of their household and of our two congregations.
DO YOU HAVE A SPARE ROOM to give him a start? Young English Catholic man seeks room in Bedford, moving back from FSSP Vancouver 1st December-1st January. Best with local Catholic family or fellow Catholic men in a faith-filled environment, including attending daily Mass: Paul Capon ; paulcapon11@gmail.com ;+1 416 645 8018 (WhatsApp/Telegram).
Sunday Bedford practicalities:
NO PARKING anywhere between parish hall, school and cottages. That entire space is needed by the village inhabitants and by the worshippers coming to the service after our Mass. Please park in the church car park on the road before the church (go through yellow gate on your left), or on the smaller car park to the right side of the parish hall if you have a van too high to pass under the yellow barrier of the main car park. Thank you.
Use every space in all pews along the central aisle to allow best sight of the sanctuary during Sunday Mass at All Saints Church. You will see even better on weekday Masses at Our Lady’s Church.
Host count at All Saints: BEFORE MASS please could each communicant put one host in the container by the church entrance door when walking into the church. Thank you.
Thank you to volunteers for setting up chairs in church by 8:15am before Sunday Mass, and for setting up and cleaning the hall after Mass.
Children safety: Because of no fence along the steep riverbank, children are strictly forbidden from being in the churchyard or hall yard unsupervised. The same applies of course for access during holy Mass to the lavatories situated in the parish hall.
Collection of food items for the Bedford Food Bank on Sunday 13th Oct. You may bring dried food or tinned items if you wish to donate.
Please pray for the priests on retreat in Stonyhurst, Lancashire, with Fr de Malleray.
Father de Malleray will later be in France for a fortnight to attend the annual FSSP clergy gathering, and on annual private retreat.
Solemn high Mass in Bedford of newly ordained Fr Miklos Homolya, FSSP on Sunday 17 November, 8:30am, followed by First Blessings and refreshments in church hall. Please come to give thanks to God for the gift of the priesthood. Fr Homolya is Hungarian by origin, but was living in London (doing his PhD in IT) when he heard the call, and later spent his diaconal stage in Warrington. He also served several years on our summer camps in the Peak District. He started his ministry in Warrington in August.
Pray for the sick in our congregations: four-year-old Eliah Isaac, Baby Vincent Jones, Tom and Inma Jones, Patsy Crocker, Baby Joseph Osborn. R.I.P. Carl Roberts. Please email to sick list.
