Kevin Jones

Message of the Bishop for the Mass of Sacred Chrism

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My dear brothers and sisters,

I picture you gathered at Saint Michael and All Angels on the eve of this Paschal Triduum. Sadly, Covid prevents me from being with you and so I want my first word to be one of welcome and thanks to Bishop Stephen Wright who has generously travelled from Birmingham to stand in my place this evening.

It seems especially appropriate that we gather at Woodchurch, which was the scene of the last diocesan celebration before the lockdown of March 2020. The Chrism Mass is celebrated as Lent draws to its close and in anticipation of the Easter Triduum. It is a moment of rejoicing in the gift and grace of God as we echo the words of the Psalmist: “I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.” This thanksgiving has special poignancy after two years of a pandemic, and I want us to reflect this evening on ‘the great return’ witnessed in our parishes; and how this must lead us to joyfully recognise the presence of Christ anew.

The Gospel recounts the failure to make this joyful discovery. The people of Nazareth looked intently at Jesus, “All eyes in the synagogue were fixed on Him”.[i] They looked and yet failed to see the Christ, the Anointed One. Impressed by His gracious words they would reject the One who spoke, rising-up with homicidal intent to throw Him down the cliffside on which Nazareth is built. This scene foreshadows His Passion. And we now face the same, unavoidable challenge to accept or reject the claims and the person of the same Jesus Christ.

We glimpse something of this drama in the happy return witnessed in our parishes since the end of the first lockdown. This has not been a mere return of habit rather an invitation ‘to return to the Eucharist with joy.’ The joy of recognising Jesus Christ anew. In the words of Pope Francis and Pope Benedict, this is an invitation to an encounter with “An event, a person which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”– the encounter we come to in the Holy Eucharist.[ii] This is a rediscovery of the heart of the Church’s life, and we want to encourage many more to share our joy.

My brother priests experienced this invitation during the months of lockdown standing alone at the Altar in the strange emptiness of our churches. In both solitude and by utilizing every creative means to ‘virtually’ connect people with the Mystery of the Eucharist, we were able to glimpse anew the Sacrifice and Sacrament which is the unfailing source of the Church’s life. We glimpsed with a renewed joy the vital place of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation as we heard confessions in carparks and makeshift situations. The extreme efforts made to bring the Sacraments to the sick and the dying also recalled the vital place of the Church’s ministry in those supreme moments of human and spiritual crisis. Tonight, we also cannot fail to recall with some emotion, the remarkable response of clergy and people to the challenging and ever-changing circumstances of the pandemic. We did not forget the poor, nor neglect the isolated in our communities. It was your own generous efforts which enabled the re-opening of our churches and allowed them to remain open as among the safest of places. And I have no doubt it was your steadfast witness that led the government to recognise public worship as an ‘essential service’ for the well-being of society. Truly, a witness of faith that will be long remembered.

Tonight, I want us to see ‘the return’ being witnessed in our parishes and the celebration of this Easter Triduum as a personal invitation to re-discover all that has been given us in the life of the Church. For we are being invited to recognise Christ’s Sacrifice when we obey His command “Do this in memory of me”; His Ministerial Priesthood instituted in the same moment as the Eucharist; His call of perfect love in every Christian vocation and the invitation to lift up our hearts in daily prayer; the strength of His anointing received in Baptism and Confirmation and offered in the hour of sickness including our last; His grace and mercy awaiting us in the Sacrament of Confession; His Cross and Passion in which we are invited to take our small share; the Scriptures which speak of Him and unfold the story of salvation; and His risen, living presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. In recognising His grace and presence anew, we can never hesitate to say: “I will sing forever of your love, O Lord.”

May Our Lady, Help of Christians accompany us; and assist many souls this Easter to return to the Eucharist and the Sacraments, with a joy that will never end!

+Mark
Bishop of Shrewsbury

 

[i] Lk. 4:20

[ii] Deus Caritas Est & Evangelii Gaudium no. 7

Easter House Blessings

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It is a pious custom to bless Christian homes during the Paschal season. The Roman Ritual contains a special blessing for this purpose in honour of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you would like one of the Canons to bless your home during Eastertide, please contact them to schedule a visit to your home. Contact information can be found here.

Lenten Pastoral Letter of the Bishop

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My dear brothers and sisters,

Christ’s victory over the temptations in the wilderness is recounted at the beginning of every Lent. In each temptation, the Devil proposes to Our Lord a seemingly easier path to accomplish His mission than the Sacrifice of the Cross and His total self-giving in the Eucharist. Turning the desert’s stones into free food, seizing political power or becoming a spectacle to entertain the crowds might momentarily win applause, but will not save humanity. These temptations are recounted because we can be tempted to seek deceptively easier paths in our Christian lives and in the mission of the Church. It is why we need this Lenten time of conversion so we may truly “worship the Lord our God and serve Him alone”.

This year, in our parishes we are re-starting in adverse conditions and with diminished resources. We are deeply concerned for the Ukrainian people and the peace of the world as the shadow of war has fallen over Europe. At such a moment, I want us to be sure of the inexhaustible resources of faith and grace given us. As Saint Paul reminded the beleaguered faithful in Rome, by relying on the Name of the Lord we will never lack all we need.ii Diminished we might be, as we emerge from a pandemic, yet we can never doubt from our Baptism, that we have been sustained by every grace, above all, the supreme gift of the Holy Eucharist.

Thanksgiving must surely be our starting point, in recognition of all we have received in the life of the Church. Thanksgiving is the characteristic of Christian prayer.iii I was especially struck by the words of the last testament of the saintly Pope Paul VI, who constantly repeated “Lord, I thank you.” Pope Paul asked, how can we ever thank the Lord sufficiently for the gift of life and the still higher gift of faith and grace. So many graces, so many mercies, so many examples given us. Above all, Saint Paul VI insisted we must give thanks that we have been brought into the life of the Catholic Church where all the means of grace and salvation are found.iv

The people of Macclesfield will this year give thanks for 200 years of renewed Catholic mission in their district. As we look back with them to the founding generation of our Diocese, we recall how “few in number”v they were and lacking in material resources; yet they knew the gifts of faith and grace were their true riches. As Saint John Vianney reflected, we might see ourselves as poor when vast riches of grace have been given us in prayer, in the Sacrament of Penance and, above all, in the Eucharist. The Cure of Ars compared us to someone dying of thirst beside an immense river of fresh water. If only we would reach out, he said, yet we fail to see! Lent is an invitation to recognise God’s grace and the very presence of Christ Himself is now within our reach.

This Sunday, we pray for the Ukrainian people and for the peace of the world in response to Pope Francis’s call to draw upon the spiritual resources of Lent to overcome “the madness of war”.vi The Holy Father has echoed the call of Our Lady at Fatima who entrusted this same message to poor children, amid the carnage and destruction of the First World War. The children of Fatima, two of whom have been declared among the Saints by Pope Francis,vii had no human means to end a war, yet recognised the power of prayer, of receiving and adoring the Eucharist, of offering the small sacrifices of each day with great love. This Lent invites us to take up these same means as we intercede for peace and unite our prayer and penance to the practical help we offer to the suffering.

In the great re-start of Lent, let us recognise the gifts and graces which mark our Christian lives; above all the supreme gift of the Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Altar. Let us return to the Altar and the Tabernacle of our parishes in the joyful recognition of faith and prayer, and wherever possible in prolonged Eucharistic Adoration. This is surely the best place for us to start anew.

United with you in this prayer,

+ Mark

Bishop of Shrewsbury

i Cf. Mt. 4: 10; Lk. 4:8
ii Cf. Rom. 10: 13
iii Cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 2637
iv Cf. The Second Vatican Council Unitatis Redintegratio No.3
v Dt. 26:28
vi CF. General Audience, Wednesday 23rd February 2022
vii Cf. Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco Canonised by Pope Francis in May 2017

Invitation to Easter polyphony

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We are holding three polyphonic choir practices in preparation for the Easter Triduum.

We warmly invite anyone interested (men and women, experienced or beginners, parishioners or visitors from other churches) to join us at 7.30pm at the back of church:

Monday, 7th March Monday, 21st March & Monday, 4th April.

May the Lord bless our efforts to praise Him in song this Easter!

Ash Wednesday 2nd March

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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.

SPUC Event

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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

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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

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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.

 

Appeal: New Lighting & Chandeliers for the Shrine

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Our project to restore the main sanctuary roof, dome and drum has been completed successfully. The church has been decorated in a colour similar to the original 1930s scheme to match the beautiful marble on the main altar. This was largely and providentially funded by a single private donor. Deo gratias!  The contractor will begin to remove the scaffolding at the end of September. 

As you know, the Institute relies on Divine Providence in our undertakings, and to date we have not been disappointed. Many good people have responded to His inspiration to help, so thank you, everyone for your time, prayers, patience and financial donations.

However, during these projects, we realised that to make this church fitting for Our Lord, it was imperative to commission several additional work.

Repair the Sacristy

 

The windows were rotten and roof leaking. This work was urgent, so we instructed the architect and contractor to proceed immediately, but we still need extra funds to pay for this.

Lighting replacement

We must now replace the old, orange lights in the nave and Sanctuary for new lights that are unobtrusive, economical, easy to control and compliment the new decor. The contractor discovered many of the existing lights were broken when he inspected from the scaffold. These fittings can’t be reinstalled so, unless we want a dark winter, we don’t have much choice but to press on. We have only a few weeks left with the ‘bird-cage’ internal scaffold, so we can save money on the installation, if we can raise funds quickly. Our Lighting Designer recommended that the failing lighting installation be replaced with 52 LED floodlights that are dimmable and provide better glare control and better colour rendition. This is not cheap and unexpected.  We need your help!

New chandeliers fittings for the Nave

Have you seen the beautiful sample Chandelier hanging from the scaffold? Such lighting fixture would really enhance our very bare nave, more in keeping with its original Italianate design. This bespoke design in the picture opposite, is made of wrought iron, electrified with 15 LED lights on 2 tiers in an Antique gold finish, manufactured by a company in the South of France. The Latin Mass Society of England and Wales have very kindly donated £10,000 towards this exciting enhancement. But we still need more funds to buy three more!

National Lottery Heritage Fund has already funded the restoration of roofs and windows of the church for approximately £1.2 million but they won’t fund any decoration or lights. We will be contacting our previous funders such as AllChurchesTrust and National Churches Trust for help, but these applications take a long time to complete, and success is not guaranteed.

To download this appeal on a PDF format, please click here
To download the Donation / Gift Aid form, please click here

We rely on your generosity for this last but important phase to give glory to Our Blessed Lord!

Thank you and God bless you all.