Parish Newsletter

Holy Week and Easter

A very happy and holy Easter to all our Werbies and Wizziters! We’ve welcomed big numbers to our church for all the Holy Week Services so far and ran out of leaflets for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Maundy Thursday. Packed out for Good Friday too. I’m sure we will be welcoming so many this morning. We all hope they feel very welcome and at home in our beautiful church at this glorious time of year, both liturgically and seasonally.

 

Church Cleaning Last Wednesday Morning

Many thanks to everyone who turned up last Wednesday to give the church a Spring Clean for Easter. After the holidays, we’ll be establishing our regular rota for an hour and a half on a Wednesday morning. We hope that if enough people sign up, each individual would only need to come along every four or five weeks.

 

The End of Communion Stewarding

As announced, we are no longer going to use stewards for communion, except on High Days and Holy Days, but… Fire Marshals are needed: we are required to have 3 Fire Marshals on duty at Sunday Mass, a role that our communion stewards previously fulfilled. The duty is simply about getting people out of the church safely, in the event of a fire alarms sounding. In addition, we would ask the Fire Marshals looking after the exits at the front of church to start the side aisles moving to communion at the appropriate point, to avoid congestion at the back of church. No stewarding is required! If you could volunteer for this role please let FP or Marian (marian.mccarthy@btinternet.com) by Easter Monday, 10^th April. Training sessions will be organised.

 

Gift Aid: Some Important Notices

• If you no longer pay income tax, please let Fr Paul or Denise Jones know by 5^th April, otherwise it will be assumed that you have paid sufficient income tax for the Parish to claim Gift Aid on your donations
• Change of Address: Please let us know if you have changed your home address in the last 2 years.
• Offertory Envelopes 2023/24: If you have not yet collected your box, please take it as soon as possible. Thank you.
• Joining the Gift Aid Scheme: If you pay income tax, joining the Gift Aid scheme increases the value of your donations to the Parish by 25% at no extra cost to you. If you are interested in joining the scheme, please contact Fr Paul or Denise Jones.

 

House-Share in Hoole Available

A room available for rent in Hoole. Lovely 2 bed house only a 10-minute walk away from City centre. £550 pcm. All bills included. See FP if interested.

 

Christian Aid Lent Lunches

Huge thanks to everyone who supported and all those who cooked/served! A magnificent total of £2,303.64 was raised over the six weeks, including gift Aid, so a thousand thanks to everyone who cooked and served, and everyone who consumed!

 

Easter Week Masses

10.00 am each morning except Thursday, which is an ‘early doors’ 7.30 am because…

  

Organ Tuning and Repairs

Thursday morning first thing, the Organ Tuners are coming to work all day. As you probably know, access to the organ loft has been problematical for years, via a little door fifteen feet up in the side of the screen. Health and Safety has rightly vetoed use of ladders, so on Thursday morning, a Scaffolding Towers will be erected to give safe access for the tuners, taken down again on the Friday. Big thanks to Patrick and his team for supervising this, and to Philip and his team for the work on the organ.

 

Parish Renewal

Time now after Easter to pick up this exciting programme that we launched last Autumn.

Watch this space, everyone!  

 

Confirmation Coming Up on Wednesday 10^th May

The Classes have been going great guns for the last seven weeks, youngsters on a Wednesday evening and adults on a Monday. Now we are into our last few weeks, so do please keep everyone in your prayers as the great day approaches. Huge thanks to a very new-look Catechists Team. We hope there’ll be room in St Francis on the day for all parishioners to join us who’d like to come along.

 

Anyone Help One of our CathSoc Students?

An excellent young Mechanical Engineering Masters student writes: “Dear Parishioners. I Am a student currently pursuing my engineering degree at the University of Chester. I am currently in need of a mentor to help guide me in the design or manufacturing domain, since I am new to this field and I am in need for someone to point me in the right direction and better explain the aspects of this field. If anyone could take me on as an apprentice I would greatly appreciate it. Please do contact FP if you feel you could help me out.

Thank you and God bless.”

 

So, when does Lent officially end?

I’ve told you all so many times, I’m beginning to think you only ask in order to be vexatious. For the very last time: Lent ends 7.05 pm Easter Sunday evening. Lent begins and ends, as you know, with beautiful liturgical sounds: it starts with the cry “Remember, man, that thou art dust” and concludes with the equally resonant sound of “clink-clink-clink, glug-glug, fizzzzzzz”. OK? Just one difference this year: the final sound will be “clink-clink-clink, glug-glug-glug-glug-glug, fizzzzzzz”. It’s been one of those years.

 

Photo of the Week: Irish College in Rome

Rome is a forest of individual seminaries, as you can imagine. Dozens are National Colleges and an equal number are training colleges for religious orders. There’s a separate English College, Scots College and Irish College, and the Bishops of England & Wales also have the Beda College for later vocations. Liz and Mike Aiello visited the Irish College last year and snapped this stained-glass window in the chapel. Look carefully, and you will make out the words of Our Lady, “Do whatever he tells you”. Many thanks, Liz and Mike!