Ss. Peter & Paul and St Philomena
New Brighton, Wirral
On Sunday 14th April 2024, the annual Good Shepherd Sunday Seminary Collection will take place.
Please help our vocations by supporting the Institute’s seminary in Gricigliano! Your priests of tomorrow!
Thank you very much for helping us in the formation of good and generous shepherds of souls!
Dear friends and benefactors,
‘Canon, we have a problem!’
This is not how I prefer to be greeted by the heating engineer servicing our boilers, but as some of you may know, this is what happened last November (2022) when he was forced to shut down two of the four boilers for the church and presbytery heating system, after their annual service. These boilers were condemned because of their carbon monoxide levels and leaking gas valves. Not good news!
Let me give you some history: in March 2019, we consulted a specialist heating engineer company to consider the viability of our present heating system compared to alternatives. They: concluded that this ducted system was the best for us, but the-ducts and pipes needed a massive overhaul and update to improve efficiency. At that time, the boilers were old, but serviceable. We carried out the expert’s recommendations from their general heating survey, including a complete cleaning of the labyrinth of warm air vents, allowing the church to reach a temperature of 18°C from a 7-8°C start, all helped of course by the other restoration and insulation works. This work has allowed us to save much on energy bills over the last two years. However, the system is still working with the original ‘old’ boilers, which are around 40-50 years old. We knew that sooner or later, complete replacement would be necessary, and that time has arrived sooner than expected!
During recent cold winter months in northern England, with only two out of four boilers limping along, we found a temporary solution and some breathing space, to keep our church open and welcoming, while we researched a viable plan we could present to our faithful. We purchased petrol space heaters in time for Christmas. Since then, every Sunday morning at 4 am, one of our Canons goes into the church to manually start the two machines to ensure a reasonable temperature for the Sunday Masses.
Searching for a permanent solution, several heating engineers have made recommendations with quotes which we have carefully considered. Ideally, we need to replace all four boilers, located in the cellar of the house, both for the church and presbytery. Four existing boilers will need to be stripped out and replaced with four efficient, energy saving boilers, reordering the discharging flue pipes, and improving the gas safety. Thanks to your help in the past, and of course God’s Providence, we have managed to rescue this church, restore it, and redecorate it akin to the original design, following the steps of our dear predecessor Father Mullins (may he rest in peace). If we could raise enough money for new boilers, we will be able to offer a much higher level of comfort for all.
But the difference this time is there is no public fund grant available for boilers!
The total cost of replacement boilers is £80000. We already have £10,000 thanks to generous previous donations. The Diocese of Shrewsbury has promised us a grant of £10,000 to support this project, and offered us a 5-year interest free loan of £40,000 (We will have to pay this back.)
If we can raise £20,000 now, we can get the boilers replaced in March 2023. We will then need help to repay the £40,000 diocesan loan over the next 5 years: however, the sooner we repay this loan, the better!
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE BOILER FUND
The replacement:
What our four new Broag-Remeha boilers will look like:
Remeha was originally a Dutch company formed in the 1920s, and now part of Baxi Heating. They have been in the UK for over 30 years.
Technical data about the Quinta Ace boiler from their website includes:
– Cascade output (3 boilers linked together) up to 345 kW + separate one for the presbytery (65 kW).
– High-efficiency compact wall hung boiler up to 99.6% Gross Calorific Value (GCV) at 50/30 (30% part load) .
– greater than average energy savings.
– Low NOx Annual Emissions levels from 22mg/kWh (0% 021 dry) (Class 6)
– low pollutant emissions meet environmental regulations.
– Quiet operation less than < 52dBA – improved comfort.
– Certified to work with 20% hydrogen.
Cost Breakdown
We rely on your generosity for this important phase to give glory to Our Blessed Lord! Please help us.
Thank you and God bless you all.
Canon A Montjean
Dear faithful,
God willing, I wish to become a priest in the Institute of Christ the King. By His grace and with the help of your prayers and financial support, I have completed my first year of studies at our seminary in Gricigliano, Italy, and I am about to begin my second year of priestly formation. Thank you very much for your prayerful and generous support this past year.
Each year, it costs a seminarian £7,000 to study for the priesthood with the Institute. We are asked to contribute by raising what we can towards this goal. Would you consider helping me with my second year of seminary? To donate, please visit my GoFundMe page:
Thank you all for your generous support. I assure you of my prayers for you each day in grateful return. God bless you!
Abbé Matthew Bird
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.