A living faith, A warm welcome
It's not just about keeping an old building going in the face of adversity. The Parish of St. Thomas the Apostle is a thriving, living focus of community life within Elson and Hardway. Here, a warm welcome awaits you if you join us and share in God's Holy Sacraments and the Good News that he promises to each and every one of us.
The Parish Church has been a visible witness to the love of Christ since 1846, and as Gosport has grown up around and enveloped the small village of Elson, so the parish and its people have adapted and continued to proclaim the Kingdom of God with vigour and with friendly love.
Come and join us in worship and in fellowship and see what the love of Christ can do for you. Be fed at his Holy Table and enriched by his Holy Word, and discover the difference that the living faith can make to you. Whether you are nine, twenty-nine or ninety, St Thomas the Apostle welcomes you and can find a sacred space for you to encounter God.
Our life is lived through the sacramental worship of God; through the mass celebrated during the week and on Sundays, through the daily work of worship in the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer and through encounters with God in alternative and meditative worship. hatever your preference, St Thomas can offer a worship experience for you.
Your parish priest is Fr. Simon Rundell, and he, along with all the people of this parish welcome you to come and join us, enjoy our fellowship and hospitality and share in our joyous worship.
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Scripture for the Day
Scripture for the Day
“Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:20-21
Saint of the Day
Saint of the Day
Saint Maria Soledad Torres Acosta
(also known as Emanuela Tores-Acosta)
Commemorated on 11 October
Daughters of Francis Torres and Antonia Acosta, who ran a small business.From her youth, Emanuela felt a call to the religious life.When she was old enough to leave home, she applied to the Dominicans, but she was rejected due to poor health.She spent much time and prayer discerning her call to vocation, and in 1848 was asked by a Servite tertiary priest to head a new community of women dedicated to ministering to the sick poor.She took the name Mary Soledad, and dedicated herself to the new community, which in 1851 still numbered only seven.In 1855 the community split into two groups, one founding a new house in Ferdinand Po.The half that remained with Mary Soledad became the foundation of the Handmaids of Mary Serving the Sick.Saint Mary was briefly relieved of her position, and the group nearly fell apart, but she was soon reinstated.The community received diocesan approval in 1861, and Mary Soledad spent 35 years as superior of the order, leading always by example.The group made a name for themselves working with victims of the Madrid cholera epidemic in 1865.By the time of her death, there were forty-six houses across the world.
Born: 2 December 1826 at Madrid, Spain as Emanuela Tores-Acosta Died: 11 October 1887 Beatified: 1950 Canonised: 1970 by Pope Paul VI
Prayer for the Day
Prayer for the Day
O God, who knowest that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but that all our sufficiency is of thee: Assist us with thy grace in all the work which we are to undertake this day. Direct us in it by thy wisdom, support us by thy power; that doing our duty diligently, we may bring it to a good end, so that it may tend to the greater glory of thy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord.