EVENTS UPDATES & INFORMATION

The meeting for the parish, which was postponed for various reasons, will take place next Sunday 1 st November after the 10 am Mass, around 11.30; coffee will be available before hand, but we should like to begin promptly. The agenda will consist of a financial report for the year 2025, the work which our ‘core team’ have undertaken with the ‘Epsom Parish Leadership Team’ (which consists of ‘core team members’ from the existing parishes of the Epsom Deanery) and an explanation about the new Mass schedule.  As the shortage of priests impacts more and more on the life of the Church, we should all pray daily for vocations in the broadest sense of the word, that is, for marriage and family, as well as for religious and priestly vocations, mindful that any and every vocation is nurtured first and foremost in the family home.

As our Bishop is new to the Diocese, at present the schedule for the Confirmation Mass has not yet been decided, so, better to begin the programme earlier rather than later! For the First Holy Communion programme there will be an initial parents meeting (which children DO NOT need to attend) on Monday 2nd November at 7.00 pm in the small hall. We will run through what is expected of parents and children and negotiate the best time and day for the classes. As the parish halls are hired out ‘commercially’ the options for the day and time of meeting are limited, so we will have to be mindful of this. Confirmation: - There will be an initial meeting for those whose have sent in application forms and a parent on Tuesday 3rd November, at 7 pm, again, so that expectations can be explained and an overview of the programme presented.

As we approach a changing Mass schedule, a number of people have asked ‘Where are the priests?’ The answer comes in the corresponding question ‘Have you prayed for priestly vocations?’ If there are to be more churches with more Masses, we have to do the ‘spade work’ that is, pray for priestly vocation, which is the whole object of the Rosary Circle. With the month of November approaching, next weekend there will a new ‘Rosary Circle’ chart for people to ‘sign up’ and commit to praying one decade of the Rosary each day for priestly vocations during the month of November, simply put your initial or a tick in one of the boxes on the ‘Rosary Circle’ chart in the church porch.  The ‘Chart’ lists the 20 decades of the Rosary and a number of columns for people to put their initial or a tick in a box to indicate they will commit to praying the particular decade each day for the month of October, and hopefully, this will create a number of ‘circles’ praying for this intention. This is a very simple spiritual exercise many of us could join in with; at least 20 people praying one decade of the Rosary each day, so the whole of the Rosary is prayed for this particular intention, thus creating a ‘Rosary Circle’. Let it be said, however, that anyone can join the Rosary Circles at any time.

Youth Group: Will meet this Thursday, November 12th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the Church Hall. Dinner will be provided and a contribution of £2.50 helps us to do this. If you or someone you know might be interested, please get in touch at: sj.youth.dorking@gmail.com or register at https://tinyurl.com/sjyouthgp . See you on Thursday!

Please note that there will be no Children’s Liturgy on Sunday, 25th October , with the fortnightly schedule adjusted to accommodate the Headteacher’ s Mass on 8th November. Our next session will take place on Sunday, 1st November . The remaining dates for your diary are 15th and 29th November, and 13th December, which will be our final session of 2026. Please also note that from 29th November, Sunday Mass will begin at the new time of 9.15am. Thank you for your understanding, and we look forward to welcoming the children and families at our next session.