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 Clare of Assisi
Commemorated on 11 August (formerly 12 August) 23 September feast of the finding of her body 3 October feast of her first translation, celebrated within the Poor Clares
Daughters of a count and countess.Her father died young.After hearing Saint Francis of Assisi preach in the streets, she confided to him her desire to live for God, the two became close friends.On Palm Sunday 1212 the bishop presented her with a palm, which she apparently took as a sign.Clare and her cousin Pacifica ran away from her mother s palace during the night.She eventually took the veil of religious profession from Francis at the Church of Our Lady of the Angels in Assisi.Founded the Order of Poor Ladies ( Poor Clares) at San Damiano, and led it for 40 years.Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout Europe, there also went the Poor Clares, depending solely on alms, forced to have complete faith on God to provide through people; a lack of land-based revenues was a new idea at the time.Clare s mother and sisters later joined the order, and there are still thousands of members living lives of prayer in silence.Clare loved music and well-composed sermons.She was humble, merciful, charming, optimistic, and chivalrous.She would get up late at night to tuck in her sisters who d kicked off their covers.She daily meditated on the Passion.When she learned of the Franciscan martyrs in Morrocco in 1221, she tried to go there to give her own life for God, but was restrained.Once when her convent was about to be attacked, she displayed the Sacrament in a monstrace at the convent gates, and prayed before it; the attackers left.Toward the end of her life, when the was too ill to attend Mass, an image of the service would display on the wall of her cell; thus her patronage of television.She was ever the close friend and spiritual student of Francis, who apparently led her soul into the light.
Born: 16 July 1194 at Assisi, Italy Died: 11 August 1253 of natural causes Canonised: 26 September 1255 by Pope Alexander IV