Holy Door of Mercy at the National Shrine of Saint Jude

We are very proud to be one of the four 'Doors of Mercy' in Southwark Archdiocese (alongside our sister shrine at Aylesford) during this Year of Mercy, and we encourage the friends of Saint Jude to make a Pilgrimage during this special Jubilee. All welcome.

There will be a procession through the door at our Summer Celebration on 28 May 2016.

If you would like to read more about our door, please read our blog update from our chaplain, and to read about the biblical origins of the Door of Mercy, please read our blog update from renowned biblical scholar, Fr. Craig Morrison, O.Carm.

For details on how to visit the Shrine and our opening times, please see below.

How to get to us
The address of the National Shrine of Saint Jude and Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is:
Whitefriars, 35 Tanners Street,  Faversham,  Kent,  ME13 7JW

By train
Faversham is served by four trains an hour running from London Victoria to either Dover Priory or Ramsgate. There is also a high-speed train link to Faversham from London Kings Cross - St. Pancras. For train times please visit the website of National Rail.

To reach the Shrine by foot (about a 10 minute walk), leave Faversham Railway Station and turn right into Preston Street. When you get to Stone Street turn left and follow along to the end, then follow the directions given below.

By car
The simplest way to travel to Faversham by road is via the M2 (Dover to London motorway). Leave the motorway at Junction 6 on the A251 and follow the signs for Faversham. This will bring you to a T-junction with the A2 London Road. Turn left and continue until you go down the hill into Ospringe. Turn right at the Ship Inn. Follow the road and take the 3rd turning on the left into Napleton Road. Take the first left at the 3 Tuns Public House into Tanners Street. You will pass the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on your right. After the Church and Friary turn right into the large gateway and follow round to the carpark behind the Church. There are steps up from the car park to street level.

Thoughts from the Chaplain - The Good Shepherd

One of the images of Christ which has always been popular is that of Jesus as the Shepherd of the Flock and this Sunday it is the subject of the reading of the Gospel according to John.  The theme of shepherd is addressed in all three Sunday cycles; A, B, and C; maybe underlining the importance of this concept of Jesus as Good Shepherd.  In this reflection I would like to ponder this image and its significance for our faith and as Christian Church.

The definition of the word noun shepherd is a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another: a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another: a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another: a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another: a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another: a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another:. It can also be used as a verb a ​person whose ​job is to take ​care of ​sheep and ​move them from one ​place to another:  meaning to tend, guide, escort and accompany. All of these terms can be applied to Jesus in his ministry.  One of the things which is essential to being a shepherd is that you have a flock to tend and in the case of Jesus that Flock is those people given to Him by his Father; the ones who cannot be stolen from Him (cf. Jn 10:29).  Jesus also describes himself as the good shepherd, in other words He is not just a shepherd but is the shepherd, He is the only, the ultimate, the unique shepherd.  He also uses the adjective good; taken from the Greek word kalos which describes that which is noble, wholesome, good. It is an innate goodness. Therefore, in using the phrase “the good shepherd,” Jesus is referencing His inherent goodness, His righteousness, and His beauty. He is the one who nurtures, protects and guides His Sheep.

At the beginning of Chapter 10 Jesus describes the sheepfold and it place in guarding and protecting the sheep.  There is a gate through which only the shepherd can enter; anyone entering by alternative way must break in and is therefore a thief; a brigand.  When Jesus realises that His listeners do not understand this parable He goes on to explain it to them.  Using this image of the sheepfold He describes himself not just as the Shepherd but also as the as the Gate to the Sheepfold.  It is only through him that the sheep will find safety and protection and he will do this both inside and outside the fold. “Anyone who enters through me (the gate) will be safe: they will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture” (Jn 10:9).  But is also, as with all parables, speaking about a deeper meaning than this; He is contrasting Himself (the Good Shepherd) and the other religious leaders of his time; the Pharisees and temple authorities comparing them to the “hired man” who looks after the sheep just for money. 

Reading through verses 1-30 of chapter 10 of the Gospel according to John we can see this very definite image of Jesus as Shepherd; guide; protector; nurturer but also as obedient Son of the Father looking after those who have been given to him: us!

Fr Michael Manning, O.Carm, Chaplain of the National Shrine of Saint Jude. You can read more about Fr Michael, here.

Mothers' Mass 2016

For only the second time, a shared Mass will be celebrated at the National Shrine of Saint Jude in honour of Our Lady of Carmel and all mothers and grandmothers.

You can add the name(s) of a mother, or grandmother on our on-line donation site, here.

Those listed can be your mother, someone else’s mother, a grandmother, someone who is soon to be a mother, someone who is hoping for a child, or a maternal figure in your life.

Our Mothers' Mass will be celebrated at 11.00am on 15 July 2016 at the National Shrine of Saint Jude. All welcome.

Novena to Saint Jude

The following novena recently published in Carmelite News and from the National Shrine of Saint Jude is for nine days.

Our novena to Saint Jude is below and can be prayed over the next nine days until 15 April 2016. You can pray the novena in private, with your friends or family, or in a group:

Jesus, I praise you and bless you

And give you thanks for

all the graces and privileges

you have bestowed upon

your chosen apostle Saint Jude...

 (Make your special request now)

Loving God,

who revealed to Saint Jude

your desire to come to us,

and share your life with us,

open our hearts

so that your Spirit may teach us your truth,

and that keeping your commandments

we may know your abiding presence. 

Our new statue of Saint Jude was recently handed to Pope Francis in Rome, see here for more details.

Thoughts from the Chaplain - Easter 2016

Last Friday, we celebrated the Good Friday Liturgy; hearing the Passion Narrative, praying for our world in the Solemn Intercessions.  We venerated the Cross and received Holy Communion.  In Faversham we marked Good Friday with a walk of witness through the town to the market place for prayer and reflection.  Good Friday is a part of the Sacred Triduum which we can easily relate to, it is the day of the Crucifixion of Jesus.  On the other hand, today, Holy Saturday is more difficult; it has no structure, it is a day of waiting, of quiet reflection; all things that many people have difficulty with.   It is the day that Christ is in the tomb and a day that we too must spend in a spiritual tomb awaiting the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, marked for us by the celebration of the Easter Vigil during this “night of grace” as the Exzultet says.

The night service or Easter Vigil as it is known although the highpoint of the Sacred Triduum is not separate from the rest of the three day celebration. Together the Sacred Triduum relates the Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord. It begins with the lighting of a fire which is blessed and from which the Paschal Candle is lit with a prayer explaining the significance of the lettering, numbers and five incense grains that are inscribed into the wax. This Candle will burn in the church during the whole of Eastertide being lit for each service.  It is the light of Christ and is also lit for Baptisms and Funerals.  The readings for this night service tell of the history of salvation according to the Old and New Testaments. It has long been a tradition that adults who are to be baptised or received into full communion with the church are received during this Mass being blessed with the oil of Catechumens, Holy Water and Chrism.  The final part of the service is the celebration of the Eucharist.

The overall significance of the Easter Vigil underlines our relationship with Christ climaxing in the taking part in the mystery of the Body and Blood of our Lord.  It also emphasizes our bonds as community, brothers and sisters in Christ and united by our common ties of Baptism and all the sacraments.  As we sing out the Alleluia this night let us remind ourselves of these bonds and pledge to live accordingly.

May I wish you all a very happy Easter!

Fr Michael Manning, O.Carm

Thoughts from the Chaplain - the Lord's Supper

On Thursday, we celebrated the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and with this celebration Lent ends and we enter into the Sacred Triduum, the climax of the time we have spent since Ash Wednesday preparing ourselves through prayer, fasting and charity or almsgiving.  Last Sunday we joined Jesus as he entered into Jerusalem, the city of David amid the cries of Hosanna, welcome is he who comes in the name of the Lord and processing over a carpet of clothes and palms strew in his path.  By the end of the evening of the Last Supper the cries of joy and adulation will have changed to those of derision.  Judas will have left his fellow disciples and returned to the high priest to earn his thirty pieces of silver; he will show a band of temple guards where Jesus is to be found and he will point out the Son of God by a kiss.  So quickly, can public opinion change.

The Sacred Triduum or three days is often thought of as three separate events: the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday and the crucifixion and the Mass of the Resurrection in the Easter vigil.  But to separate them like this is to miss a major point.  All three days are the Sacred Triduum and belong together.  They are a story which takes it’s beginning from Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem or to go even further they begin with the reception of the cross of ashes on our foreheads six weeks previously.  But, let’s stay with the Sacred Triduum;   these three days are of course sequential but they are more than that.  They are three events which follow on one from the other and are also so intimately related that they are dependent upon each other.  The Last Supper is the setting for the institution of the Eucharist and is also the point in time when He reveals that one of His disciples is to be the person who will betray Him and hand Him over to the temple authorities; the one to whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in this bowl – he dips the bread and gives it to Judas Iscariot; Judas leaves and night falls.  The night is the time of his arrest and ends with interrogation by the temple authorities as Simon Peter, having denied Jesus three times, leaves the temple courtyard into the new morning of the day of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Novena to Saint Joseph

The Catholic Church keeps the 19 March as the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the Husband of Mary and Foster Father of Jesus Christ each year. The scriptures refers to St Joseph being upright and honourable. Certainly his sensitivity towards Mary and his care for both Mary and Jesus shows him as a person of action and care.

The Carmelite Order has had a particular devotion to St. Joseph for many centuries, venerating him with the title "Principal Protector of the Carmelite Order". Since Joseph cared for Mary and Christ in a particular way, we believe that he also cares for the Carmelite Order which is devoted to Mary and Christ. St Teresa of Avila had great devotion to St Joseph and saw him as a protector of her new foundations. 

Our novena to Saint Joseph is below and can be prayed over the next nine days from 11 March 2016. You can pray the novena in private, with your friends or family, or in a group:

God our Father,
creator and ruler of the universe,
in every age you call humanity
to develop and use our gifts
for the good of others.

With Saint Joseph as our example and guide,
help us to do the work you have asked
and come to the life you have promised.

We ask this through
our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Our Fathers' Mass takes place at the Shrine on Friday 18 March 2016 at 11.30am. All welcome. See our special page for more information.