8 Ogle Street, London, W1W 6HS Tel.: 020 7636 2883

Saturday Vigil Mass: 6pm & 8:30pm with the Neocatechumenal communities.

Sunday Mass: 9am, 11am, 6pm.

Weekday Mass: 12:30pm & 6pm.

Saturdays & Bank Holidays: 10am.

Confessions: every day after Mass, On Call, Sat. 10:30-11am & 5:30-6pm.

The annual “Day for Life” is celebrated in this country this weekend.

This year’s theme focuses on the meaning of Christian death and care for those who are terminally ill or dying.

Our parishes should be places of solace for those who have entered the final phase of their life; of support for their families and loved ones; of consolation for those on the sometimes long and painful journey of bereavement.

To help us reflect on these issues, which sooner or later, will affect all of us, there is a leaflet available after Mass.

There will also be a collection today to support the work of the Anscombe Bio-ethics centre, and other life-related work supported by the Church.

Look at the reredos above the high altar in our church and see Mary Magdalen, with her long flowing hair, clinging to the feet of the crucified Christ. Is this the real Mary Magdalen though?

This is certainly the Mary Magdalen of tradition – at least in the Western Church. It is also the Mary Magdalen of the rock musical “Jesus Christ Superstar”, in which he famously sings “I don’t know how to love him”.  But is this the real Saint Mary Magdalen of the Gospels?

Saint Luke in his gospel says that “seven demons had gone out of her...” but “seven demons” was another name for epilepsy.

The sinking of the Titanic on her maiden voyage in April 1912, with the loss of over 1,500 lives, was a major sea tragedy, reported world-wide.

But there are many other tragic events at sea that we never hear about. Yet they are no less tragic for that.

Today is Sea Sunday, when the Church remembers with gratitude, and prays for all who work at sea.

Living as we do on an island, we know that without sea-farers, the U.K. would starve!

But the conditions faced by seafarers themselves are for the most part hidden and unknown.

Madame Tussauds waxworks on the Marylebone Road is one of the great tourist attractions of London.

Marie Tussaud was born in Strasbourg in 1761. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for a Doctor Phillipe Curtius who was skilled in wax modelling.

Dr Curtius taught his skills to Marie. When he died, he left her his large collection of wax death masks.