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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A New Lectionary for the church
A Lectionary is the liturgical book of the Roman Rite containing biblical readings which are used at Mass and on certain other occasions (Weddings, funerals, baptisms etc.). The first Latin edition appeared in 1969 and the second, also in Latin, in 1981. Our "new" Lectionary recently announced is not based on a new Latin original, it is rather a new English version of the original i.e. a fresh iteration of something we already know. The Lectionary is one of three liturgical books from which we take the readings, rites and prayers, and the chants which are used in the Mass.
What does this mean for us? A new Lectionary means a change to the Mass books that are used through each of the three different years of the catholic mass calendar. The mass book itself includes texts for Sunday Mass, Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Saints and Ordinary time. These books are due to be replaced after the one currently in use finishes and the first change should therefore be in Advent this year.
We are busy pulling together a description of the changes, why they are happening, how they will be implemented and what we will be using in future. Please bear with us over the coming weeks whilst we prepare an introduction to these changes, information which will be held on this website but will also be included (although shorter form) in our weekly newsletter.
👀 Watch this space 👀
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Lourdes
Please keep our parish pilgrims in your thoughts and prayers this week. They have carried our prayers and petitions to be placed before the grotto and we have received a couple of photos (above) from Christine Wilkinson which show that they are keeping up their end of the bargain. The photos show us the St Peter and St Michael candle on the left and that very candle being lit in front of a happy set of our very own pilgrims.
We wish them a very fruitful and rewarding experience and a safe journey home.
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Creation Time 2024 This year’s theme is To Hope and Act with Creation and starts in September. We are asking if parishioners can take or have any photos of the natural world to be included in our liturgies. The preferred format is jpg, images should be in landscape orientation and should be sent via the parish email address.
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PD Bulletin
The updated Pastoral Development Bulletin for Weeks 16 & 17 in Ordinary Time can be found via the links to the right.
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School News
Pop over to our St. Peter's school page to see a couple of recent news items and news of an award from CAFOD.
There have been a few items of note on school achievements recently and we will be looking to celebrate in church, with parents and children towards the end of September. Watch out 👀 for more information on this over the next few weeks.
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Garden Gala
You may have noticed in the upcoming events, an entry for Sunday 7th July for a summer fayre in conjunction with 'With Love, Steph'. We will be having the event on that day and there will be a great selection of activities incorporated into the day including games for the kids, face painting, food, drinks etc. We have also taken the decision to bring forward our celebration for Elderly and Grandparents so instead of it being towards the end of July it will be this Sunday. Schoolchildren will be asked to attend Mass and submit their prayers, stories and pictures for Mass about how important their grandparents are to them. The Garden Gala event starts at 12 noon after 11.00 Mass and profits from the event will go to local children’s charities. Please support this great cause.
Please click to enlarge the poster image above for more information and details about the event, but save the date in your diary now so we can make it a wonderful event. Entry is free.
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Monthly Parish Council Meeting
The next meeting of the Ss. Peter and Michael parish council will be on Monday 9th September in the millennium room. All are invited to attend.
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Church donations
Tony Wright, member of our parish council, made a plea to our congregation so that, as far as is possible, we move towards planned giving in terms of standing orders for our donations to the church. It's easier and less time consuming to make our weekly offerings in this manner and reduces the amount of overhead required to manage large amounts of cash. If you could help by moving to this method of giving, it would be greatly appreciated.
At the same time, for those who pay tax, there is an added incentive for us all to sign a Gift Aid form so that the parish can recover the tax on every pound given as an offering to the church. This costs us, as congregation, nothing but increases your donation to the church by 20%.
Please help us to move towards a more streamlined way of making our offerings and increasing our donations if you are able.
You can find more information on our Donation page to help with the details.
Many thanks in advance.
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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.
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.
Please pay a visit to the stall. We are sure you will not be disappointed.
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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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Parish Away-day
Our annual visit to Thicket Priory Monastery will take place on Saturday 14 September. A list is posted in the porch if you wish to attend. The coach will leave St Peter’s at 9 am and should return around 3.30 pm. This is a popular event and places are limited so please apply as soon as you can.
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July 100 Club
The July draw winner was No. 9. The prize money this month was £95.
Again, can we remind everyone who pays annually to renew your subscription as soon as possible.
Thank you.
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Website changes
For those of you who regularly use the website for links to external publications, the relevant pages have been moved under "Read and Write". You can still use the links on the right hand panel of every page.
Please let us know of any change you might want us to make to the website to improve its 'usability'.
Many thanks in advance.
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Calling all crafters!
As mentioned at the top of this page, our Mass books are to become obsolete shortly. Father Mark wanted to find some ways of repurposing them, rather than just being thrown away.
Apart from parishioners being able to take a collection of the six volumes home if they so wish, one of the ideas that came up was the idea of recycling them into useful objects for Christmas and other occasions by using page folding techniques as shown in the photos below. There would be a lot more variety in Angel designs for example.
If this is something parishioners are interested in, bearing in mind they can be time consuming, then there'll be an opportunity to join a regular session where we can create these charming items and help to raise a little extra cash for the parish at the same time.
Please let us know your interest and watch out for more information over the coming weeks.
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The Return of the Working Party - No, not the Tories!
On Tuesday 25th June we again held our monthly working party. We normally ask for volunteers around 10.00 for a couple of hours to help us tidy the church garden and surrounding areas.
This month we spent time tidying up the Lourdes grotto, taking unwanted furniture to the recycling centre, reorganise the vestry / sacristy and reorganised and tidied up the garage by packing up all the old parish missals (the current ones in use will be our last for a while - See above!), creating an area to hold all the things we use for the & Toast / cakes and a general tidy up.
We all benefit from the work undertaken as we enjoy our walk into church, so why not join us in maintaining our church and grounds for all to enjoy.
Normally held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month 👍🪴🥀👨🌾. We'd love to see you there.
Our next working party will take place on Tuesday 16th July.
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CAFOD Crisis Appeal for Sudan
CAFOD has launched an emergency appeal to support families in Sudan, as Sudan is in the grip of the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis. Check out our CAFOD page to find out more.
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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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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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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.