Envelops and dedicated spots for souls departed
On this day, November 2nd, we remember all those who have died. We remember their kind deeds, the things they did for us and for other people; we remember how we loved them and how they loved us, and we pray we will be united with them again on the last day. As a parish, we shall offer prayers from now till the end of the month.
As our practice, the foot of the altar (Wallingford) and the baptismal font (Didcot) are decorated to enable us put down the names of our loved ones to be prayed for during the month of November, daily. Please put as many names as you may desire, but NO CASH. Please make out time daily to say private prayers for souls that are yet to be united with the angels and the saints.
Calls for actions against the bill of assisted suicide
Dear Diocese of Portsmouth,
​
I am asking you to mobilise! Pray earnestly that our legislators will see sense. Correct those who use the double-speak of ‘assisted dying’; call it what it is: ‘assisted suicide.’ Don’t be seduced by the emotionalism of the media. Say a prayer for the terminally ill and for those who care for them. Speak out. Lobbying MPs works, so I attach a letter for you to send to your MP to ask him or her to vote against this sinister proposal. All you need do is to write your name and address on the top and put it in the post. Or you can download it from the diocesan website and send it by email. In today’s Gospel the blind beggar cried “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me”. That is our prayer too. To permit killing is wrong. It is to cross the line. It would be a shift of historic significance. It would be to capitulate to the very ideology Britain fought against in the Second World War. So we need to mobilise. We need to campaign, and I’ve provided you with materials to help. And we need to pray. Please attend Mass; please undertake fasting; please offer every day a Decade of the Rosary for God’s grace and mercy and for the demise of this bill.
​​
In Corde Iesu
+Philip
Bishop of Portsmouth​
​​​​​
A letter template is downloadable for your actions to write to your MP
and ask them to speak and vote in opposition to the bill. ​
Watch Bishop Philip's full
recorded message here.
Websites with more information and suggested actions against assisted suicide: