Latest Parish News
Upcoming events
Please keep an eye on our upcoming events in the right hand column 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉 👉. There are an increasing number of events and reminders of things coming up over the next few weeks / months both in church and in St. Peters school.
Please feel free to email the parish email account if you have something of note which we can share.
Don't forget to keep up to date with Archdiocese events by checking our own Archdiocese page or the Archdiocese website itself. (Link available on our Archdiocese page.)
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Friday Mass Cancellation
A change to the Mass schedule for this week has just been made. It was too late to make changes to the weekly bulletin but Mass on Friday morning at St. Peter and St. Michael has been cancelled. The monthly Deanery Mass is being held on this day and this month it is at St. Stephens. Apologies for the late notice, but it was a simple oversight.
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Cakes on the Lawn - Summer 2024
We are planning to restart the Cakes on the Lawn every week during the summer, starting Sunday May 19th, but we need your help. We already have a number of volunteers willing to help out setting up and serving tea and cakes but we need two or three more - can you help?
- Usually you will be asked to help out once a month during the summer
- As a team you will need to set up the pavilion before mass, serve the tea and cakes and tidy up afterwards
- Tea, coffee and sugar are provided but your team will need to bring milk plus cakes of course.
The more volunteers we have the easier the job is. If you are willing to join us, please hand your name and contact details to Margaret Harrison, Deacon Jim or Selena, or drop us a line to the parish email address.
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Good Shepherd Sunday
Our synodal journey reinforced our commitment to becoming a Church that values the vocation of all the baptised, but on the Fourth Sunday of Eastertide, we are reminded of the importance of praying in a special way for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. This Good Shepherd Sunday we have much to celebrate because this academic year is a significant one for vocations to the priesthood within our Archdiocese. God willing, by the end of July, 5 men will have been ordained to the priesthood for our Archdiocese.
Fr Hugh Donleavy was ordained to the priesthood on 1 December at St Alban’s Church in Warrington and plans are underway for the ordination of Deacons James Finnegan and Martin Fyles (from the Venerable English College, Rome), Peter Ross (from St Mary’s College, Oscott) and Lister Tonge, (a former Anglican Minister). If all goes to plan, they will be ordained together in the Cathedral on 13 July.
There are currently three other men in formation for our Archdiocese in the Beda College, Rome and Allen Hall, London and two candidates currently involved in the process of applying to begin seminary in September. Usually, on the first Saturday of each month a group of men gather together to reflect on the priesthood and to discern whether this is God’s calling for them. The road to the priesthood is long and these men need your continued prayer and the support you give to the Priest Training Fund collection that takes place today.
There is no one type of man that God is calling and our seminarians and discerners come from different backgrounds, have had a wide range of life experiences and cover a range of ages. Perhaps God is calling you!
If you think God might be calling you to serve as a priest within our Archdiocese and are ready to explore this further and perhaps meet other men who are thinking about their vocation, please contact the Vocations’ Director, either by telephoning the Parish of St Charles and St Thomas More in Aigburth on 0151 727 2493 or email vocations@rcaol.org.uk
To see Archbishop Malcolm's Pastoral letter, please visit our Pastoral Letters Page.
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A little slice of history
Sunday 28th April marks the 50th Anniversary of Fr. William Ball. Fr. Ball died on April 28th 1974 and was the last Parish Priest of St. Michael's in Rixton, from where our own parish inherited the second part of its name when the church in Rixton closed in 1975. There is a good account of the history of St. Michael's in Rixton and its suppression leading to our own name change in 1975 on the Our History page
Fr. Ball is buried in Hollins Green cemetery and was in the 48th year of his priesthood when he died.
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Piety Stall
You will have noticed over the past weeks that we have made a concerted effort to bring back and update our Piety Stall in the porch. Margaret Plant, Christine Wilkinson and Christine Wright have been instrumental in bringing the contents up to date and extending the variety of products available.
To this end, there is currently a lovely selection of cards covering First Holy Communion, Confirmation, Baptism, Sympathy and many more. The cards are available for the princely sum of £1 each and are definitely worth every penny of the King's realm spent.
Please pay a visit to the stall. We are sure you will not be disappointed.
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April 100 Club
The draw for the April 100 Club took place after 11.00 Mass on Sunday 14th April. The winning number was No. 29 and the prize money was £120. Congratulations to our winner.
Can we remind everyone who pays annually that you need to renew your subscription BEFORE the May draw takes place!
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SSPAM Parish Council
The April meeting of the Parish Council was held on the evening of Monday 16th April as well as the Annual General Meeting. The sessions were well attended and we saw how our work over the past 12 months has helped the parish and gave us an overview of our income and costs over the same period. The April Monthly meeting followed the AGM and we continued the business as usual discussions on such topics as Children's Liturgy (See alongside), Holy Communion, Confirmation, Families of Parishes and other ideas for getting us stronger and more connected as a parish.
Everyone is invited to the Monthly meetings so why not come along and take part, or add things to our agenda for discussion and action in making our parish more inclusive and inviting.
The details of the meetings are always available on this website and will be 'pushed' as the meetings get closer.
Please try to be involved.
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Bring ‘em Back!
We all know someone who no longer comes to Mass. Each person has their own reasons for absence and our Parish Council would welcome ideas on how we can bring them back to become churchgoers once again.
If you do know of anyone who is missing from Mass, please do let us know so that we can endeavour to encourage them back. We know that the COVID pandemic has been partly responsible for the reduction in attendance and even if it just allows us to distribute Holy Communion to these people, then it will help us, and them, to get back to their faith.
Any suggestions may be dropped into the Newsletter box in the porch, directly to Fr. Mark, Deacon Jim or you can just drop a note to the parish email address.
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The Gift of Easter
For three Wednesday evenings (17,24 April, 1 May), there are a couple of sessions at St Teresa’s, Norris Green, on The Gift of Easter. These sessions take inspiration from Scriptures and Fr Chris Thomas of the Irenaeus Spirituality Centre.
Click on the poster to see more information.
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Fr. Gabriel, PP at Holy Family in Gaza
There is an update on a visit by Fr. Gabriel to the UK on our England and Wales page. Please click on the link in the right hand column of each page to see the short description of his trip.
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Weekly Offering envelopes
The new envelopes have just arrived and are available for you to pick up in church from the front bench. Please feel free to pick up your new set and for anyone you know who is unable to pick them up themselves .... make good use of them ... 😁 😁 😁
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Knock, Knock!
Knock pilgrimages are delighted to announce the launch of their pilgrimage for June 16th for 5 nights. Accommodation has been upgraded to stay in Westport as there isn't a lot to do in Knock in the evening. Please click on the image to see more details
There are still a few places left and, if you are interested, the schedule for the trip is as follows:
Escorted Tour to Westport, Knock & Co Mayo, 16th June 2024. £899.00 (per person sharing). Price includes flight, 10kg hold luggage, 5 nights’ in 4* Castlecourt Hotel, Westport with Dinner, Bed & Breakfast. Lunch on three days. All entertainment, excursions and transport included. Visit Knock, Galway City, Kylemore Abbey, Croagh Patrick & Ashford Castle. Single supplement on Enquiry. Contact Patricia or Natali on 01268 762 278 or 07740 175557 or email knockpilgrimages@gmail.com.
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Archdiocese Synodal Council
The report and detailed responses from the ASC held in November, the fortnightly Pastoral Development document and information regarding Lenten Music at the Cathedral are available to view and download from our Archdiocese page, our Pastoral Plan page and also from the Archdiocese website.
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Oasis of Silence
A variety of courses and retreats are being run by St. Hilda's in Whitby, Yorkshire. Please check out details of the retreats and associated costs on our England and Wales page which you can get to by clicking on the photo above..
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Youth Programme Leader Wanted
Castlerigg Manor (Diocese of Lancaster Retreat Centre) are looking for a Programme Leader to join their youth ministry team. The work involves working on retreats in the heart of the Lake District, and occasionally working on outreach visits around the area. The post is residential and comes with a salary package in the range of £26-28k, made up of paid salary, accommodation, food etc. Would suit somebody with youth ministry experience perhaps recently graduated. Please register your Interest at
jack@castleriggmanor.co.uk
Castlerigg Manor (The Lancaster Diocese Youth Service) are also looking for young Catholics aged 18-25 to join their Youth Ministry Internship Programme. The scheme lasts for one or two years and gives participants wide ranging experience, skills, training, and qualifications as well as the opportunity to work with a fantastic team based in the Lake District. For more information contact:
Tea and Toast
Don't forget to join us after Mass on Sundays for tea and toast in the Millennium Room – an excellent way to bring our fellow parishioners together, get to know people and make new friends.
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First Holy Communion 2024
As everyone will have noticed over the last few weeks, we have seen this years cohort of first communicants attending Mass and being involved in the services. Their First Holy Communion journey is nearing completion.
The children will be presented for FHC at Masses this coming weekend. Please keep them all in your prayers.
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Vacancy filled! - Thank You, Pat!
For many years Pat Howley has carried out ‘sterling‘ work in counting offertory donations, paying bills and banking what’s left. Pat has retired and we have her successor. Ladies and gentlemen, the new Countess of St. Peter and St. Michael, Janet Worley, who has taken over Pat's role.
Welcome aboard Janet!
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St. Peter's Proms
Please put a date in your diary for the evening of Fri 12th July. The staff and Children at St. Peters' school will be presenting St. Peters' Proms.
The "Proms" will be held on school grounds and effectively replaces the Summer Fare. There will be a number of fundraising stalls and each year group will be performing their own speciality whether it be singing or dancing or some other unique act.
It's already in our list of Upcoming Events (See right), and now would be a good time to put it in yours.
When a flyer is available, we will update this notice to include it.
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Children's Liturgy
Several parisihioners have asked about restarting the 'little church'. It was discussed at the SSPAM parish council meeting and the current thinking is that it could be held once a month initially and then reviewed depending on demand.
Our current plan was to start on the 1st Sunday after the Easter celebration however a couple of administrative areas need attention before we can restart.
Can those who indicated their willingness to be involved, please let us have their contact details so that we can get the necessary paperwork initiated.
You can either email the parish email (alongside) or provide your details direct to Deacon Jim. Watch this space!
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Families of Parishes
As part of the Synod resolutions, the creation of families of parishes, which looks to share and enhance our parishes and the communication between them, is bringing together our parishes for joint events focused on sharing knowledge, meeting new faces and reaching out to others outside our own community. The first of these events took place on Saturday 23rd March when we were all invited to St. Stephens at 10.00 for a shared Stations of the Cross. There was light refreshments afterwards and our parish was very well represented.
A second event, slated for Sunday 12th May, will be a walk from St. Oswalds in Padgate, via Bruche Park and along the riverside past the weir and up to to Ss Peter and Michael. On this day, our normal Sunday Tea and Toast will be suspended and instead we will provide refreshments to our walkers later in the afternoon. They are expected to arrive at Ss. Peter and Michael some time after 15.00. A minibus will be provided to transfer people back to St. Oswald's to collect their cars or simply to get back to the church from where they can get back home.
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Synodality 101
A series of online workshops will be provided during April and May. Please check out the SYNOD 2024 Page for more details.
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Volunteer Rota
A new 'Welcome' rota has been created for April - June. Please check on our Volunteer rota page to see when you have to be perky! 😁
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Legion of Mary - Peregrinatio Pro Christo (PPC)
Unfortunately, due to issues outside of any of our control, the visit from the legion of Mary has now been cancelled with no future date currently planned. We are incredibly disappointed that this cannot go ahead as planned, however we will look to reconvene the visit at some point in the future.
Many thanks to those who had already volunteered to host some of the legionnaires.
You can find more information about the PPC on our Legion of Mary Page by clicking on the image above.
Thank you for your support and we will look forward to a new date when we can.
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Piety Stall
We have on order a variety of card designs which include First Communion, Confirmation, new baby etc. If you have any specific requirements for cards or can suggest any other purchases please write your ideas down and place them in the box in the church porch.
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St Joseph's Family Centre
St Joseph’s Family Centre had its most successful Christmas appeal ever in 2023 with over 300 Christmas food parcels sent out to families in December, plus almost 50 more in January, supporting a total of over 800 children. The success of the Christmas appeal was incredible but also highlighted the growing need for welfare support across our community. With this in mind, they have taken the decision to trial an Easter appeal, initially with about 12 primary schools, to provide food, toiletries and Easter chocolate treats to families referred. The intention is to target specific schools who are unable to access the HAF programme (holiday activities and food) due to their location and who, therefore, may have families who struggle to feed their children during the school holidays. We have started to take referrals and early feedback from schools confirms there is a gap in provision in certain areas of Warrington which, hopefully, we can start to bridge.
If you could, please help with their Easter appeal enable their Easter appeal to take their achievements even further this year. Please press the button below to be taken to the donation site.
Thank you in advance.
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Lourdes 2024
Having just recovered from this year's pilgrimage, next year's Archdiocese youth trip is already in planning. The Lourdes Youth pilgrimage is announced for 18th to 27th July 2024. See our Lourdes page for more details and how to apply.
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News to Remember
- If anyone wishes to be visited by a Eucharistic Minister to take Holy Communion please contact Fr Mark or Deacon Jim. Alternatively, send a note to our parish email address shown in the information panel to the right.
- Do you think you could be, or want to be, a Deacon? Please read the information here and see if we can help to make up your mind.
- Want rid of your old technology - read here to see what to do with it.
- Warrington Fairtrade Borough Steering Group aims to provide schools with resources and information to help our children understand the global impacts in the way we trade. Please check out our Fairtrade page and read more about the great work they do with our schools and links to other material which shows how this programme helps to create extra income, power and support to those communities who are directly affected by unfair trading situations.
Please be vigilant - we have received a note from our gardener that someone has dumped bamboo and hedges behind the garage on the far side of the car park. He has cleared it away for us, but it's not part of his job. If you see anyone "fly-tipping" in our grounds, please let us know either directly to Deacon Jim, or via email to the parish address.