The Catholic Parish of

THE HOLY FAMILY

S A N D E R S T E A D

Part of the Archdiocese of Southwark

PARISH INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

By Webmaster • August 2, 2025
Forgive me for raising the issue of parish finances, but I need to alert you to how we must finance our parish and manage our financial resources, if we are to continue as a viable parish. We pay a monthly levy to the diocese of £1,110.59. We also pay a monthly Health and Safety levy of £118.43. Monthly charges for electricity are around £200.00 These are just a few basic monthly costs. Our general monthly expenditure is well in excess of these amounts. Our weekly Collection is presently around £450.00. As you will appreciate then, our present weekly income is not covering our normal weekly expenses. Please may I suggest that every adult member of our parish give a minimum of £15, each week, in our Collection. If you are in personal financial hardship, please just disregard this suggestion. If you are in a reasonable or good financial position, please give more than this suggestion. We live in a relatively affluent area, so our finances should be secure. In addition to a Current Account, we also have a Savings/Loan account. I am reluctant to take anything from that account to pay our normal bills. The Savings/Loan account is there in case we face any unforeseen, sudden, emergency call on our finances or for any special projects we might have. That said, we are about to incur a debt of almost £8,000 to replace our very poor church Sound System with a much-needed new system. We will have to take that cost from our Savings/Loan account.  In this weekend’s first Scripture Reading at holy Mass, we were given an inspiring example of generosity prompted by trust in the providential care of God. In this very practical matter of how we manage our parish financial resources, please be generous.

ON-GOING CATHOLIC FAITH FORMATION MEETING FOR ADULTS

By Webmaster • June 30, 2025
Our Faith needs to keep pace with our years! As we grow older, so too our loving relationship with the Lord Jesus and with his Church, needs to deepen. The Lord calls each of us to know him better and better, as the years pass by. Our next meetings designed to help us to understand and deepen our Catholic life of Faith will be FRIDAY, 4th and 11th July at 5.30pm, in our Parish Room. NB Normally we hold these meetings on Saturdays but for the next few Saturdays I will be mostly out of our parish! Please do come on Fridays. Meetings will last for no more than one hour. We talk about anything and everything you wish. I think you will enjoy and find these meetings helpful. We will be joined by Sarah, Shanna and Sian who were recently baptised, as they prepare to receive, for the first time, all the Sacraments of the Lord's saving love.

GARDENING AND PRAISE OF GOD

By Webmaster • June 30, 2025
To keep our church clean and tidy on the inside is a prayer in itself, a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God. Please feel free to offer your time and skills to pray in this way. Cleaning and tidying of the church can be done at almost any time, on almost any day, just let me know if you need access to the sacristy. The same applies to the grounds surrounding our church and buildings. The Lord can work through our gardening efforts, to create a place of beauty, peace and calmness. We need more people to help with the gardening. You need know nothing about gardening. A willingness to help is all that is needed. Please let me know if you can help or simply come along on Tuesday mornings when our Gardening Group will be there and will be delighted to welcome you.

SAFEGUARDING

By Webmasster • June 30, 2025
The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency are seeking feedback from anyone who may have information regarding the safeguarding function in Southwark Archdiocese. Please follow on the below links if you wish to contribute. Thank you  Do you have information to help our safeguarding inspection in Southwark? Survivors’ Work With Us
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Welcome to Holy Family Parish

I wish all our visitors to this website, great peace and joy.
I hope you enjoy exploring our site and discovering the varied life of our vibrant parish.
If you would like to join us for the celebration of holy Mass, you will be welcomed with open arms.
So too, if you would like to join in any of our events and meetings, it will be a pleasure to see you.
If there is anything I can do to help or support you, please let me know.
With assurance of my prayers and warmest best wishes,

Fr Malachy

Holy Family Catholic Church

I wish all our visitors to this website, great peace and joy.
I hope you enjoy exploring our site and discovering the varied life of our vibrant parish.
If you would like to join us for the celebration of holy Mass, you will be welcomed with open arms.
So too, if you would like to join in any of our events and meetings, it will be a pleasure to see you.
If there is anything I can do to help or support you, please let me know.
With assurance of my prayers and warmest best wishes,

Fr Malachy


  • Weekend Mass

    Saturday: 5:00pm (Vigil Holy Mass)

    Sunday: 9am and  11am 

  • Weekday Mass

    Monday: 9:30am

    Tuesday:  9:30am

    Wednesday: 9.30 am

    Thursday: 9.30am

    Friday: 9.30am

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PARISH LIVESTREAM

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'Christ has no body now but yours' St Theresa of Avila

Parish News

Parish News

Our very latest news updates and information about Parish activities.

Who Have You brought With You?

By Webmaster • August 2, 2025
"WHO HAVE YOU BROUGHT WITH YOU?" These are the words of the Lord Jesus to each one of us, every time we come to holy Mass. Please don't be content to come alone or just to come with someone who already comes every week, to holy Mass. Invite and encourage others in your family, those living next door to you, those living down your street, your friends. Do that and the Lord will work through you, probably slowly and bit by bit. Do that, and one day you will hear him say to you, "Well done, good and faithful child of mine. Enter into the joys prepared for you, for all eternity. Thank you to the wonderful people who have the privilege of being Eucharistic Ministers and Lectors and thank you to the wonderful people who act as Hosts and Bakers for our Evangelisation project, 'The Olde Forge Cafe.  We live in a time/space world in which none of us can be in two places at once! We provide rotas to make our commitments as feasible as possible. Often, there are conflicting calls on our time and energy. All we can do in deciding which call to follow, is to listen to the Lord speaking to us and then follow the voice of God in our consciences. Trying to arrange the rotas according to what is convenient for everyone is extremely difficult and results in some people doing a great deal and others doing very little! Instead, we will just publish general rotas and simply ask everyone to please just try to do what the Lord asks of you. So, please, if you don't mind, do not send me or Jim or Kim and Manuel who manage the Cafe, dates and times you are unavailable. If we are unable to bring the Lord in Holy Communion to the Sick and Housebound members of our parish every week, but as often as we can, then that is all we can do. If sometimes we are unable to open our Evangelisation Cafe, but we open it as often as we can, then that is all we can do. We trust in the Lord to send his Holy Spirit into the hearts of us all and we pray that the hearts of us all are open to his call. We go forward doing all we can to build his Kingdom in this world and to bringing his love and truth to others as the Lord's missionary disciples. Thank you to all the very dear friends of the Lord Jesus who so often put his plans before their own - your reward will be great in Heaven.

BEQUEST, IN A WILL

By Webmaster • July 27, 2025
It is wise to write a Will so that the resources you have when the time comes for you to leave this world, goes to the people and organisations you wish. May I suggest that you might consider leaving a Bequest in your will to our parish or to our diocese or to our priest as well as to other causes. A gift in your will can enable us to continue to help people to know the Lord Jesus and his saving love. What a wonderful legacy you would be leaving behind.

Soul Food

By Webmaster • July 13, 2025
Every week, a group of international Catholic young people, aged 20 years and older, gather at a central London Catholic Church, St Charles Borromeo, in Ogle Street, for prayer, reflection and social time. They are called ‘Soul Food’. I have had the pleasure of joining them for prayer and reflection, in the past. Next week I hope to join them again. How inspiring it is to glimpse a growing number of young Catholics deeply and joyfully living their Faith, just like St Carlo Acutis.

FOOD BANK

By Webmaster • June 30, 2025
Each week Sutton Community Garden provides us with fresh fruit and vegetables. Each week, we deliver this food to a school in New Addington. Thank you very much to Bridget for all her help.

NOVENA PRAYER FOR THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT UPON US

By Webmaster • June 1, 2025
As we mentioned during holy Mass, on the great Feast of the Ascension last week, we follow the example of the first Christians by praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us. Between now and Pentecost Sunday, every day, please ask the Lord to send his Holy Spirit upon you and upon our parish that we may all be filled with more wisdom, with more willingness to be actively involved in our parish, with all the gifts we need to continue his work in the world. Here is the ancient prayer used by countless numbers of people, who have gone before us. Please pray this prayer every day until next Sunday, Pentecost Day. Please allow the Holy Spirit to enter your heart and allow the Spirit of God to melt and mould you into the person he wishes you to be. Come, Holy Ghost, Creator, come, From thy bright heav’nly throne, Come take possession of our souls, And make them all thy own. Thou who art called the Paraclete, Best gift of God above, The living spring, the living fire, Sweet unction and true love. Thou who art sevenfold in thy grace, Finger of God’s right hand His promise teaching little ones To speak an understand. O guide our minds with thy blessed light, With love our hearts inflame; And with thy strength, which never decays Confirm our mortal frame. Far from us drive our deadly foe; True peach unto us bring; And through all perils lead us safe Beneath thy sacred wing. Through thee may we the Father know, Through thee the eternal Son, And thee, the Spirit of them both, Thrice-blessed Three in One. All glory to the Father be, With his coequal Son; The same to thee, great Paraclete, While endless ages run.  Amen.
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Golden Jubilee of Priesthood

By Webmaster • September 1, 2022
PARISH CELEBRATION - THANK YOU, WITH ALL MY HEART What an amazing, quite wonderful Celebration we all enjoyed, last Sunday. It was an occasion full of joy and happiness, as we thanked the good Lord for all his loving kindness. It reminded me of the description, in the Acts of the Apostles, of how the first Christians lived - sharing and caring, as they rejoiced in their awareness of the risen Lord alive in their midst, by the power of the Holy Spirit. There isn’t enough space on this Newsletter to thank so many people by name, who in so many ways, made the Parish Celebration a huge success. Thank you, with all my heart, to everyone for everything you did. The memory of my Golden Anniversary of Priesthood will remain with me for ever. Please send me, digitally, your photographs. Unless you instruct me otherwise, I would like to publish some of them on our parish website, as a permanent reminder of a quite wonderful moment in the life our parish. Thank you for all your gifts and cards and best wishes. I am deeply honoured to be your priest. Thank you for your generous Collection for me which raised £1,596.00.

Parish Priest Notices

Important notices and items. These will contain news elements & important requests and parish notices

THE MINISTRY OF LECTOR (READER)

By Webmaster • August 4, 2025
Jim Keating has very kindly agreed to help all our Lectors to develop their public- speaking skills, so that God’s holy Word is proclaimed as well as possible. Please, dear Lectors, work with Jim when he contacts you or when you contact him. If any of our Lectors is not sure of the meaning and/or the historical context of any Reading they are to proclaim, please let me, Fr Malachy, know, a few days before you proclaim God’s holy Word, so that we find a little time, convenient for you, to speak together about your Reading.

WEEK DAY LECTORS

By WEBMASTER • August 2, 2025
August Tue 3rd: Giannina Wed 4th: Mary Thu 5th: Maggie Fri 6th: John

EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS OF HOLY COMMUNION ROTA

By Webmaster • July 27, 2025
AUGUST 2025 2/3: 5pm Mary; 9am Lisa; 11am Carolyn, John, Jim(H) 9/10: 5pm Gabrielle; 9am Lesley; 11am Regina, Patrick, Linda(H) 16/17: 5pm Paul; 9am Lizzie; 11am Lorenza, Patricia, Marian(H) 23/24: 5pm Patricia; 9am Maggie; 11am David, Angela, Ross(H) 30/31: 5pm Phil; 9am Lisa; 11am Simone, Mary, Margaret(H) Thank you to our wonderful Ministers of the Eucharist who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to this awesome, sacred ministry, by their willingness to give up their own plans and convenience in order to do God’s will rather than their own. Let us pray for them because they too fight the same personal weaknesses we all have to fight against and they too have to fight the same temptations we all have to fight. God be with them.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

By Webmaster • August 4, 2025
To everyone who has managed to increase their Sunday Offertory Collection contribution to a minimum of £15 per person, per week. If you haven’t done so already, please do so now, if you possibly can. You can do this in one of three ways - by using the Card Reader, located on your right as you enter the main body of the church, or by revising your instruction to your bank, or by using the basket collection during holy Mass. Please may I ask that any coins, less than £1, are not put into the basket. Please don’t forget to ensure your weekly Offering continues even while you may be away from the parish on holiday. Please don’t forget to Gift-Aid every contribution you generously make, in favour of our parish. As the Archbishop has said: “People are increasingly turning to the Catholic Church because we offer a message of hope, purpose for life and a spiritual and liturgical tradition which opens the soul towards God. Let’s be as equipped as we can be, to lead people to the Lord Jesus so they can all know of God’s love for them.”  To Sophie Golding for generously joining our list of Bakers for our Evangelisation Cafe and for providing delicious cakes. Thank you, Sophie.

THE OLDE FORGE CAFE - OUR WAY OF TRYING TO EVANGELISE

By Webmaster • August 2, 2025
It’s good to remind ourselves, from time to time, that the Cafe is not about making money nor is it about attracting lots of people because our coffee is good! The Cafe exists because if even only one person gets to know us and our Faith a little better, then that is great success. We leave the rest to the Lord! Let’s not view the Cafe with pagan, secular eyes but with eyes of Faith and hearts filled with a desire to make the Lord known and loved.

THANK YOU

By Webmaster • July 14, 2025
To Alex, Rob, Tom, Billy and Tim for providing us with high-speed internet connections.  To the family of Anne Abbott for arranging the clearance and tidying of a large area of land behind the church and for the pruning of a large tree that presented a Health and Safety problem.

Parish / Diocesan
 Events

RETIRING COLLECTION NEXT WEEKEND - ‘PETER’S PENCE’

By Webmaster • June 22, 2025
By reason of the bond of unity and charity, every diocese in the world supports, through this fund, Pope Leo and the Apostolic See in exercising works of charity and mercy throughout the world.

COURSE AT THE LONDON JESUIT CENTRE

By Webmaster • June 8, 2025
The Workshops and Course I deliver at the LJC have proved helpful and popular. This is just an early piece of information about a forthcoming Course and Workshop which I think you might find very helpful in your spiritual and human development. FULLY HUMAN, FULLY ALIVE, PART 2 - A course on how to be genuinely human and to be able to live with real joy and real peace, in a world where the ‘worldly’ solutions on offer, sooner or later, simply don’t work! This course takes place on 5 consecutive Saturdays at the London Jesuit Centre, beginning on the 14th June, from 11.00am until 1.00pm each Saturday.  Please book for this Workshop or this Course, on the London Jesuit Centre website. I suggest book early to avoid disappointment.

DIOCESAN JUBILEE - Saturday 7th June at The Friars, Aylesford, 10am - 5pm

By Webmaster • June 1, 2025
Please pop that date in your diary and come to the Jubilee celebrations on the 7th June . We are celebrating the 60th anniversary of Southwark becoming an Archdiocese, following centuries of being unable to publicly live out our Catholic Faith. The celebrations at The Friars will feature Music, Teaching, Prayer, Fellowship and will conclude with holy Mass. Please sign the list in the porch if you would like to attend this historic and most joyful event. We could try to arrange transport to and from The Friars Carmelite Centre in Aylesford.

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PRAY FOR OUR ARCHBISHOP  - JOHN WILSON

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Global Healing - care for our common home.



A film commissioned by the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (33 minutes long).