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Parish Priest: Fr Jock Dalrymple
Assistan Priest: Fr Shaiju Joseph SSP
Deacon: Revd Eddie White
Parish Administrator: Enrico Fertini
A warm welcome awaits you at all of our services
Contact us: stjohnsandstmarymagdalenes@gmail.com
tel.: 01316695447
Parish Newsletters: weekly updates from our two parishes
Parish Newsletters: weekly updates from our two parishes
Our newsletters are published every Friday, and can be collected from our Parish House. If you would like to join our mailing list to receive our newsletters by email, please contact us.
You can read / download the past newsletters and the inserts / handouts by clicking HERE
CURRENT NEWSLETTER - Sunday 12 October 2025
Twenty-eighth Sunday of the Year - Newsletter.pdf
Welcome to St John the Evangelist Catholic Church.
Dear Visitor
Welcome to our church.
Feel free to sit and enjoy the silence, to say a prayer, or simply to wander round.
History
The present church occupies the site of an Episcopalian chapel consecrated by Bishop Sandford – hence nearby Sandford Gardens - in 1825 and bought ten years later by the Catholic Church.
The parish boundaries at that time consisted of East Lothian, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Berwickshire and part of Midlothian – fortunately the local livery stable was run by a parishioner!
As the congregation in Portobello grew, the need for a bigger church became more pressing and eventually the old church was demolished and a new one – the present church – was opened in 1906.
The Building
Externally, the most prominent and distinguishing element is the 130-foot tower, a Portobello landmark, and very visible from the East Coast main line.
Internally, the church is in the Gothic style, consisting of the nave, two aisles, two side chapels, the sanctuary, and the baptistery (no longer used as such – the baptismal font has been moved on to the sanctuary). The High Altar is of white alabaster with a painting of the Last Supper, on copper and gold ground, after the school of Fra Angelico. A feature of the nave is the octagonal piers with carved angels carrying scrolls on which is written (in Latin):
“Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The stained-glass windows above the High Altar, featuring the Nativity, Crucifixion and Resurrection, are by Edward Frampton.
The Parish Today
The church building is the centre of our active parish community which seeks to live the message of Jesus Christ and share it with the world. We are closely linked with our sister parish of St Mary Magdalene’s in Bingham, and also part of PACT - Portobello & Area Christians Together.
In recent years, we have installed a new lighting system, repaired the Tower, and refurbished the outside of the church. Costs have been met through the generosity of parishioners and the local community, along with substantial grants from The Wolfson Trust, Heritage Environment Scotland and The National Churches Trust.
We have also been delighted recently to receive the gift of a stone statue of the Sacred Heart, the work of the distinguished 20th century Scottish sculptor, Hew Lorimer.
St John the Evangelist Information Handbook 2023-2024
available for each household in the parish
Please collect your free copy at Masses or at the back of St John's church
Lovely new image of the Pope released by the Vatican today
©Vatican Media – All rights reserved
Newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost appears at the main central loggia balcony of the St. Peter's Basilica for the first time, after the cardinals ended the conclave, in the Vatican, May 9, 2025.
R. I. P. Pope Francis - 21.04.2025
The Church will remain open as usual for private prayer today if anyone would like to come in and say a prayer, and give thanks, for Pope Francis.
We have also made arrangements to have candles available if anyone would like to light one in prayer for Pope Francis or for any private intentions.
13 November 2022
THE SACRED ART OF HEW LORIMER AND PETER HOWSON ADORNING OUR PARISHES
On Monday, the Seated Sacred Heart Statue was placed in its provisional place in the St John’s Sacred Heart Altar……our deep gratitude to Hugh and Hilary Stafford Northcote for their most generous gift, to Katherine Eustace for being the link between the Stafford Northcotes and St John’s, and to Dave Connarty for organising and funding the transportation from Staffordshire to Edinburgh in memory of his aunt, Eileen Brown who died last year.
Update - 5 November 2022
Gena & Tom Gallagher, Alice Codling & Frances McDevitt, who were all presented with diocesan medals by Archbishop Leo last Sunday morning, would like to thank parishioners from both our parishes for their good wishes and prayers. They would also like to thank Fr Jock, Deacon Eddie, the welcomers, the music group, the sacristan and altar servers along with the cleaning, flower, live-streaming and hospitality teams for all they did to make Sunday morning such a very special and memorable occasion.
Update - 30 October 2022
This Sunday we warmly welcome Archbishop Leo Cushley to our parishes. He will celebrate the 9.30am Mass at St John’s and present diocesan medals to Alice Codling, Tom and Gena Gallagher and Frances McDevitt. Then, after continuing the celebration in the Hall, he will travel to St Mary Magdalene’s for what will be the 11.30am Mass (not 11.15).
Below are excerpts from the ‘official’ letter (as required by the statutes) from Fr Jock to Archbishop Cushley proposing them, which was duly accepted and ratified by the Diocesan Council of Priests.
After our recent correspondence on the matter, I now write formally to request that you place before the Priests’ Council, nominations for three diocesan medals for parishioners of St John the Evangelist Church, Portobello.
The first is Frances McDevitt – who in Holy Week celebrated 50 years as our gifted, generous and reliable organist (though she is….very keen to stress that she began playing when she was in short trousers!) Born and brought up in the parish, she is a most faithful parishioner in every way. For instance, she recently co-ordinated the Fundraising Group for our Tower Project, now successfully completed, and is at present the very competent Secretary of the St John’s Pastoral Council.
The second is Alice Codling. She has been Pastoral Assistant at St John’s for the last three decades, during which time, as well as being a wise and faithful counsellor, first to Mgr Rae and then to me, she has co-ordinated our parish Adult Formation (as a LIMEX graduate) and run our very active RCIA group with considerable skill, creativity, and patience. In addition, she worked at the Gillis Centre with (then Sr) Clare Wardhaugh when she was the Pastoral Co-ordinator there, and was also on the team of the Craighead Institute….If one person has ‘held’ the history of the parish since she moved here from Preston in Lancashire in her early married life, it has been her.
Finally, the ‘third candidate’ is/are a married couple, Gena and Tom Gallagher– and I thank you for being open to our presenting them for a single medal. Tom has been our chief welcomer/passkeeper for many years, co-ordinating a faithful team, while together they were responsible for the parish ‘shop’/piety stall for over two decades. Tom has also supported Gena for thirty years in running our very active ‘Thursday Club’ (for elderly folks) – that meets every Thursday afternoon. In addition, Gena has had a wonderful ministry with the sick, taking communion to them, visiting them in hospital and doing their shopping. When, in response to a recommendation, I was running the idea of proposing a medal for her/them past another faithful parishioner, he mentioned a vivid image he retained of meeting her in a supermarket, carrying four bags of shopping for four different housebound parishioners.
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