News

Our prayers and congratulations to the young people who were Confirmed last Saturday afternoon at St. Joseph’s, Epsom:- Joe, Maks, Nadia, Joshua, Amelia, Sofia, Mark, Adam, Amelia and Karol. We pray they will deepen in their love of God, mature in their faith and be true witnesses of Christ in the world, all the days of their lives.

As we prepare for Pentecost Epsom Deanery will be holding an extended time of prayer - 24hr round the clock at St Joseph's Church, Epsom , commencing with 10am Mass on Friday 22nd May and concluding with Mass at 10am Saturday 23rd May . It is a graced moment for us to gather in prayer around the Eucharistic Lord - to pray, to adore, to be silent, to hold the brokenness of our world before the healing presence of Christ. The day and night will be divided up into 1hr slots which we would invite you to commit to coming to St Joseph's and spending 1hr in prayer. We need two people to commit to each hour so that is 48 people across the Deanery. If you are unable to offer 1hr you can come at any time for as long or short a time as you can manage during that 24hr time - and of course more than two people can sign up for a particular hour.  There will also be opportunities to pray the Rosary, Reconciliation, communal prayer at specific times, these will be Live Streamed). May the Lord bless all our efforts and desires to bring His Peace into the world. Fr Simon Hall, Epsom, on behalf of the Deanery

PUBLIC EXAMS:- are underway! SATS, GCSE, A.s & A levels, as well as the differing university exams. These can therefore be anxious and tense times, both for those undertaking exams and for their families and friends, so, even if you are not directly involved in such matters, please do keep those concerned in your prayers at this time, that there be ‘level heads’ patients, discipline, and understanding. Very many thanks.

GIFT AID ENVELOPES 2026/2027 :- As always, our grateful thanks to all those who are able to make financial contribution to the parish via the ‘Gift Aid’ scheme. For those who do so via the envelope system, we are pleased to tell you the envelopes for this tax year 26/27 are available in the sacristy, please collect your box with your name on a printed label on it at the earliest opportunity. Very many thanks. PARISH GIFT AID: - Our thanks to all those who are able to support our parish financially. It is a legal obligation that those who donate via the Gift Aid scheme receive an annual statement of their donations and the amount of tax that has been reclaimed via this scheme. Those who have a recorded email address will have received a statement via email, for everyone else please collect your paper copy from the parish office as soon as possible to avoid wasting your money on postage. A final plea, please do not use old envelopes as the numberings have been reassigned and these will NOT be added to your donations unless your name and current envelope number are on them. Any old envelopes can be recycled as they contain no useable personal data. Should you have any queries please contact the parish office. Many thanks. Gift Aid and the ‘card machines ’:- Just a reminder that parish and diocesan donations via the card machine can be ‘Gift Aided’ if the card has been registered on one of the machines for Gift Aid, with the proviso that you, the donor, use the same ‘bank card’ each time to make any such donation. We will advise in the next couple of weeks of someone being available to assist and help / show individuals wishing to make ‘Gift Aided’ contributions in this way.  That said, we advise that ‘third party donations’ such as CAFOD where Gift Aid is encouraged, would require individuals to put their details on the envelopes provided by the charity and indicate ‘donation via card payment’, with the amount specified; this will then be forwarded to the particular charity. Very many thanks for your understanding.

Following the fall of the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill, fresh bids to introduce an assisted dying law in England and Wales are anticipated. Any new law would likely pressure NHS staff to be involved in some way and offer even less protection to institutions like hospices. You can help protect healthcare workers and hospices by signing the Bios Centre online petition. It calls on Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to protect conscientious objection rights for religious and personal beliefs. Sign the petition at https://bioscentre.org/petition-on-conscience-protection/ or scan this QR code with your smartphone.

If you haven’t already done so, but would still like to commit to praying a decade of the Rosary each day during February, then please do 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 February, 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.

Continues this Thursday, 21st May for young people from Year 6 to Year 11from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the Church Hall. Additional help would be very welcome, especially from older teenagers or young adults who feel called to share their faith and serve the parish. If you or someone you know might be interested, please get in touch at: sj.youth.dorking@gmail.com . We would also like to ask the whole parish community to join us in prayer, so that this initiative can provide a welcoming space where young people can grow in faith and friendship. A minutes prayer each day would be great. Thank you! Kathia, Lucy, Matthew and Denzyl.

CHILDREN’S LITURGY at the 10.00 am Sunday Mass Our sessions are aimed at all primary school children so they learn about the Gospel in a fun and child friendly way. These are the dates for the rest of this school year when we will have children’s liturgy: May 17th and 31st; June 14th and 28th and July 12th.

There will be Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament this Thursday from 6 to 7 pm , an opportunity to spend some quiet time in the presence of the Lord. Given thee will be Mass at 7.30, you may like to have a time of prayer before our Lord.