Holy Mass will be offered at 12 noon in the day chapel and at 6.30pm in the main church. Distribution of ashes upon the forehead will take placebefore both Masses. Let us all begin this holy season of Lent with great humility, remembering that we are dust, and to dust we shall all return.
Kevin Jones
SPUC Event
What? The UK’s largest pro-life youth conference
When? 25th through 27th February 2022
Where? Yarnfield Park Training & Conference Centre, Stone, Staffordshire
Who? Everyone ages 16 to 35.
Why? To stand for what you believe. Stand with life. Stand for life.
Memory Project Update
A big thank you to all who have shared their happy memories of New Brighton!
These memories help set the cultural context of the Dome of Home. The postcards have proven so popular that we are reprinting another 2,500! We hope to read some of them out on radio Merseyside and Dementia radio for others to enjoy, and some will be used to accompany our forthcoming mobile vintage photo exhibition as well as augment the reprint of our guidebook. If you haven’t yet taken the time to write a memory, please do in the narthex!
Look for the Memory post cards and the red, Memories Post Box
Shrine success in gaining key National Churches Trust grant
National Churches Trust (NCT) has awarded a £4868 Foundation Grant to restore 3 corroded steel framed windows at Ss Peter, Paul and St Philomena’s Shrine Church, New Brighton.
This Shrine church, fondly known now as The Dome of Home, is a major landmark overlooking Liverpool Bay for the last 86 years since it was built and is cared for by the Institute of Christ the King. Since 2013, it has undergone five major restoration projects funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund, AllChurches Trust, National Churches Trust and private donations large and small.
While undertaking the redecoration at The Dome earlier this year, three further windows were found to need repairs badly. Scaffolding had been installed to allow access to the high ceiling, but unexpectedly, when the architect examined these high-level windows, the corroded steel frames pushed through. As this was not included in the large National Lottery funded project to restore the dome, drum and main Sanctuary roofs, it was an extra strain on already stretched resources. Thank goodness for this well-timed grant award from National Churches Trust!
The Rector of the Shrine, Canon Amaury Montjean said, “We’re very grateful to NCT for this Providential award. I’m hoping all the work, decorating, lighting scheme and these windows will be completed by Christmas, ready for visitors.”
The Dome of Home has begun a programme of activities to engage a wider audience: from free monthly Heritage Talks in-person or on YouTube entitled ‘Organ music shaped our heritage’; to conferences for conservation professionals; to Liverpool TV films about the Restoration Project; to becoming a Dementia-friendly church with a Postcard Memory Project with schools, the local community and Care Homes to save and archive memories that may be lost.
Canon Montjean added, “The church is open, daily, and welcomes everyone. The Organ Recitals are completely free-of-charge to showcase and explain liturgical organ music. Next Recital is Sunday 12th December at 4pm. All welcome! We’ve even overhauled the heating system so that it’s warm when you pop in!”
Anne Archer, Project Manager commented, “Many people have happy memories of Merseyside’s own traditional English seaside resort – New Brighton. To celebrate the church’s restoration, we will be launching a Memory Project in January 2020 to collect memories about ’New Brighton: 86 years under the shelter of The Dome’, for local exhibitions, submission to our Guidebook and archived with Wallasey Central Library.”
If anyone is interested in submitting memories of New Brighton in general and/or the church, or helping with the collection and sorting, please email .
The National Churches Trust is the national, non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and promoting churches of all Christian denominations in the UK.
It aims to:
* Provide grants for the repair, maintenance and modernisation of church buildings.
* Act as a catalyst to improve and bring resources to the management of church building.
* Promote the value of church buildings to the community at large.