General

Contacting your local representative

by

Having learned of the plan to once again suspend public worship in our churches and therefore prevent the faithful from being nourished by being present for the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Devotions and most importantly denying access to the Sacraments and also having taken cognisance of the recent statements issued by the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and the Bishop of Shrewsbury, the Right Rev. Mark Davies, we, your Canons ask you to consider making appropriate contact with your local MP to air your views and to ask for them as your elected representative and Parliamentarian to pose questions around the validity and purpose of the proposal.

The easiest way to make contact is via:

https://www.writetothem.com/

or if you prefer full details including constituency office addresses and email contact details and telephone numbers go to:

https://members.parliament.uk/members/Commons

Second lockdown: A statement from the Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury

by

“We appreciate the difficult choices faced at this time by government and parliament in responding to the public health crisis conscious of the hardships which even necessary measures bring for society and especially the most vulnerable.

“The Prime Minister mentioned in his statement that he judged it necessary to close much that is judged by the Government as being non-essential in society.  We need to be sure that such judgments are based upon clear evidence that, for example, schools, universities and the football premier league will continue as essential elements of our society’s life.

“The Prime Minister made no reference in his statement to public worship so we were astonished to find in national guidance that the Government was seeking the authority of parliament to close all places of worship.

“It is a momentous act for any political authority to seek to ban public worship across a nation.

“No evidence has been offered to justify why the Government seeks to ban public worship that invariably takes place amid some of the most stringent Covid safety measures in the whole of society.

“The vital role which public worship has for the well-being of hundreds of thousands of people in this Shrewsbury Diocese together with faith communities across the nation can never allow public worship to be dismissed as something non-essential.

“Neither can we lightly overlook how from public worship flows support for the most vulnerable and countless charitable activities in the service of the common good.

“We are asking our Government and political representatives to provide the evidence on which they seeking to impose a ban on all public worship in England.  We believe that public worship is not part of the problem we face rather it is part of the solution to this deeply human crisis.”

+ Mark, Bishop of Shrewsbury, 1st November 2020

Restoration work to start

by

In March 2020, Ss Peter & Paul and St Philomena Catholic Church was awarded a much-coveted ‘Heritage Grant’ of £362,900 by National Lottery, to complete the restoration of the roof and dome. As the country begins its recovery from Covid-19, we have been given permission to start this project, our biggest one yet. The contractors will begin to scaffold the Dome and main sanctuary roofs at the end of June and the regeneration will be seen for miles across Wirral.

Project manager, Anne Archer, said, “Some of the planned project activities to engage with the heritage will be slow to start, especially the planned visits by Care Homes, while the church reopens for individual visits. They will happen and we will become much more dementia friendly, but the bulk of this work will be when the building works have been completed.”

“However, we are still hoping to arrange scaffolding tours for the public as part of the Heritage Open Days in September, and a conference for Heritage professionals. Work on New Brighton’s memories for a very special book will start remotely with some of our partners. Our great team is working on keeping this church open for everyone and would welcome more volunteers.”

Thanks to the help of Wirral Borough Council, The Dome of Home has been able to implement social distancing guidelines and reopen to the public for 2 hours daily.  ‘Wirral Together’ Fund awarded £337 for hand sanitisers, notices and PPE for volunteer stewards. At the moment, the church is open for 2 hours every day from 1-3pm. This will change from 24th June to 5-7pm when the building work begins.

Canon Montjean, Rector of the church said, “We are delighted to reopen our church so that local people can pay a visit to our sanctuary, safely. Please check our website for updated times.”

Holy Week at the Dome

by

All Offices will be live streamed from the main church. 
Follow us on Facebook & YouTube

Sunday 5th April: Palm Sunday
9.30am: Sung Mass

Thursday 9th April: Maundy Thursday
9am: Gregorian Matins – ‘Tenebrae’
7pm: Sung Mass 
Adoration until Midnight

Friday 10th April: Good Friday
9am: Gregorian Matins – ‘Tenebrae’
2pm: Stations of the Cross
3pm: Mass of the Presanctified

Saturday 11th April: Holy Saturday
9am: Gregorian Matins – ‘Tenebrae’
7pm: Easter Vigil & Sung Mass

Sunday 12st April: Easter Sunday
9.30am: Sung Mass
5.30pm: Vespers & Benediction