Parish Newsletter

Holiday Dates – Syd – Fr Colin

I’m away from Monday 20th August, arriving back Friday evening 7th September. During that period, Syd Jones, our excellent Parish Secretary, is in charge. To help him, can we ask please that no-one comes into Church or House without asking him first? It’s a huge plant to keep secure, and he does need to know who’s in! The alarm will be set each evening, and a notice to that effect on the Front Door. And a huge welcome to our great friend, Fr Colin Wilson, coming once again to say the Sunday Masses. Welcome, Fr Colin!

Funeral Last Tuesday

Thanks to everyone on the team for making this possible, and to Deacon Paul Sutton from Ellesmere Port for taking the Service.

Why Eucharistic Services?

A question I’m often asked: why have ES’s on those occasions when I’m away, when there’s Mass at St Francis at 12.00 noon? The answer is that I strongly believe our church should be open every day for some sort of worship and prayer: most often for Mass, sometimes Holy Hours, Benedictions, Stations, Devotions, and so on. But not a single day that those church doors aren’t open for something! Hope that makes sense?

Parish Council Elections in September

Many, many thanks to John O’Sullivan and Tobias Kaerst, stepping down this summer after a number of years of excellent service. So, there will be two vacancies for the Parish Council, and we will have elections in September. Get your thinking caps on: who would you like to elect?

Eucharistic Minister in your Old Parish?

If you’ve moved into St Werburgh’s, having been an EM in your old parish, we’d love to have your services here in the Werbies! Please let FP know.

Date for Your Diary: Thursday 27th Dec

We have 50 tickets for the Rock ‘n Roll Pantomime at Theatr Clwyd on Thursday, 27th December at 7.00 pm - “Dick Whittington and his Cat”. Booking will open in late September. Be sure to put the date in your diary

New Baptismal Register

Draft lay-out and Quotation – a very reasonable £750 – on Notice Board at back of church. Sadly, we’ve gone Latin to English. O tempora, O mores!

And now a new Mass Intentions Book!

We’ve reached the last page of the old one, starting, I would guess, about 2005. Again, it’s on the Silver Lectern for you to have a look at and see how every Mass Request is logged in, with a unique reference number, and then transferred to the Mass Diary when a date’s fixed. This new book a lot cheaper than the Baptismal Register!

Mike Coriam Picture

Mike has done a beautiful picture in pastel of the north side of the church, momentarily exposed when the wall came down, now obscured again with the hotel going up… Thanks to everyone working to capture this moment of history.

Deacon Owen Gresty

Great to have Owen with us last Sunday Morning, telling us something of his story from Altar Boy here at St Werburgh’s to being ordained Permanent Deacon for the Archdiocese of Birmingham on 1st July this year. Copies of his beautiful Homily at the back of church.

1st Holy Communion Preparation Classes 2018-19

Please contact Fr Paul before 9th September, if you would like your child to prepare for their First Holy Communion and they’re not in a Catholic Primary School. Our Classes and Preparation Books are geared to children in Year Three.

New Catholic Enquiry Course in September

First Class is Wednesday 19th September at 7.30 pm. All non-Catholics warmly welcome!

Next First Friday Recital – 7th September

Friday 7th September, our great friend Graham Eccles will give an Organ Recital.

Photo of the Week: St Augustine’s Nottingham

Another of Gabriel’s “Church Snaps”: he does gad and gallivant, doesn’t he! Keep it up, Gabriel! This looks a very interesting 1920’s church.

Heritage Open Days – September

As usual St Werburgh’s opens doors to wizziters 10.00 am - 4.00 pm, Thursday 6th –Sunday 9th September. We’ll need two Welcomers/Stewards available for each hour that the Church is open. Sign-up sheet at back of Church.

Off to Sicily: 20th August – 7th September

This year it’s Sicily: a cheap £40 Ryanair flight from Manchester to Palermo, a cheap B&B near the station, and out each day, Guide Book in hand, exploring as much of that fascinating island as I can in my two-and-a-half weeks.

Dickens Update – Well, You Did Ask!

Five years ago, I went to have a chat with one of our leading Dickensians, a Professor at Manchester University, and he was very encouraging. “The great advantage of studying a major author,” he told me, “is that there is always something new to be said. So, go away and ‘master the corpus’.” By which he meant read everything CD ever wrote. Five years later, here we are. So, what does the Dickens Corpus consist of? Last week, I covered the major novels, all 14½ of them, which total 9,756 pages in one popular edition. What else did he write? Today, let’s look at his Journalism. He was Journalist first and last – how he started out, and his two Periodicals that he owned and edited were a huge part of his subsequent life: Household Words (1850-59) and All the Year Round (1859-70). He compiled three selections of his articles for the Collected Edition of his Works: Sketches by Boz (the earliest pieces), Reprinted Pieces and The Uncommercial Traveller. A scholarly edition of all his journalism was produced by the doyen of Dickensians today, Michael Slater (Birkbeck) in four magnificent volumes (1994-2000), totalling 2,006 pages. Running total so far, 11,762. Next – the Letters!