“Strive to enter through the narrow gate,
for many will seek to enter and will not be able.”
Twenty First Sunday of Year C.
Saturday 23rd August
5pm Mass at St Catherine's Church
Confessions following
Sunday 24th August
8.30am Mass at St Mary's Church
10.30am Mass at St Mary's Church
FINAL MASS OF
CELEBRATION AND THANKSGIVING
Offered by Archbishop John Sherrington
ST CATHERINE’S 5th SEPTEMBER AT 7pm.
Marquee Drinks Reception
with light bites to follow.
Tickets to assure the original St Catherine’s parishioners have seats have now all been taken, but there will be room for others to attend, so please just come along.
A reminder that this coming Saturday evening Mass at 5pm (30th August) will be the final “Sunday” Mass at St Catherine’s, so a reflective time for us before the final Mass with Archbishop John on 5th September. The following Sunday 7th September, there will be a special celebration at Masses at St Mary’s to inaugurate a new era with St Mary’s as our one parish church for the people of Euxton & Farington. We will honour St Catherine by welcoming her statue into church.
Please note that it is not envisaged to transfer the Saturday evening Mass to St Mary’s. Our numbers attending each weekend show that there is plenty of space for everyone to fit in to the two Sunday morning Masses.
A little refection from elsewhere on the process of two parishes becoming one:
Church mergers are very much like marriages. For one to be successful, both congregations need to form new traditions together and be able to let go of long-time practices and old ways of ‘doing church.’ Things like worship styles, governance, staff, how the congregation deals with money, stewardship, budgeting, plus the role of the priest, all have to be discussed and compromised on before a merger can be successful.
The biggest mistake merging churches make is in not fully accepting that two churches coming together are truly making something new. A merged church is not a continuation of the old congregations. It is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to start afresh. Whether stated or unstated, the goal of a church merger should never be ‘to help us hang on a little longer and pay some bills.’ That sort of merger is unlikely to be God-inspired. Successful church mergers don’t move a patient from critical to regular care. Instead, they move two congregations back to the birthing wing of the hospital.
The most successful mergers see themselves as a new church; a new work of God with a new mission. A Spirit-led merged congregation has the opportunity to begin anew, free of hindering traditions, programs, and buildings.
MASSES DURING THE WEEK
Monday SC 9.30am Mass
Tuesday SM Mass 9.30am
Wednesday SC 9.30am Mass
Thursday SM 9.30am Mass
Friday SC 7pm NOVENA & BENEDICTION
Twenty Second Sunday of Year C.
Saturday 30th August
5pm Mass at St Catherine's Church
Confessions following
Sunday31st August
8.30am Mass at St Mary's Church
10.30am Mass at St Mary's Church
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