St Mary's Parish Groups

 

 

 

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The Legion of Mary, Our Lady of Mercy Praesidium

The Legion of Mary work is carried out through the intercessions of our Lady and consists of attendance on a weekly basis and the performance of a weekly task. The visits are carried out in pairs and consist mainly of visits to the sick, housebound or the elderly. The meetings are held in a relaxed prayerful atmosphere and last about an hour. 

 

Spiritual leader: Fr David Featherstone

President Sr: Maureen Bradley (Tel: 01282 456152)

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St Mary’s Car Park Match-Day Marshalls - Pendleside Hospice 

Thanks to the services of 17 volunteers this last football season, a grand total of £10,167 has been raised for parish funds from football supporters using our car park for matches at Turf Moor. This is an amazing amount of money!!

Desiring to share our good fortune, on Thursday evening, the marshalling team gathered in the parish rooms and presented a cheque for £1000 to a representative from Pendleside Hospice in Burnley. The hospice is very touched and very grateful for this donation. Sincere thanks to all who are involved in offering this fine service to the wider community. We are very blessed. 

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Bethany Group

The Bethany Group is a support to those who have been bereaved. In a moment of deep emotional turmoil, the parishioners seek to show the request of the Lord, 'to love our neighbour' by being supportive where they can.

Before the family meets with the priest, a pack is taken to the family to help them in preparing the Liturgy for their loved one. The pack contains a breakdown of the liturgy, whether a Requiem Mass, Funeral Service, hymn book, Readings booklet and prayers for the bereaved. Also, a Sympathy card is posted from the Parish family expressing real concern and love. A month later, the team send out a Mass card.

On the day of the funeral, there will be a team from the Bethany Group who welcome those attending the service, direct them to their places, pointing out the toilet facilities in the Parish Rooms and help those who need easier access to the Church to use the ramp.

The liturgy group are part of the Bethany ministry and support the Bereaved by helping to lead the singing at the funeral.

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St Mary's Music for the Liturgy Group

 

The parish has had a long history of choirs as far back as 1817 in our first chapel at the Handbridge on Todmorden Road. When our new church was opened in 1849 the choir performed at the grand opening and the tradition has continued in various forms to this present day.

Conductor:  Mrs Barbara McNamara

The music group will also lead the hymns at Weddings and Funerals.

Readers perform a vital ministry for the benefit of the church and the congregation, reading from scriptures, specifically old and new testament readings and psalms along with bidding prayers during mass and other religious services (e.g. christenings, funeral services). The main time for their activity is at the Masses throughout the week, but especially on Sundays.

A rota is currently created of all volunteer readers, for the standard weekend and holy-day masses (vigil and daytime), indicating whether they read either the First reading and responsorial psalm or the Second reading and bidding prayers. Any rostered reader who is unable to meet their allocated times or dates is requested to arrange a stand-in. If they cannot, they should contact the coordinator (John Edmondson) for that gap to be covered.

In addition, readers are asked to make themselves available at any midweek services or any service where a reader is required and not otherwise available.
Volunteers are welcomed and regularly requested via the church Newsletter, and interested persons should contact either the parish priest or rota coordinator John Edmondson (01282 451517) to discuss any interest or even concerns regarding this role.

 

Readers at St Mary’s: A new readers' Rota is available in the sacristy. 

Have you collected a copy of the 'new' rota from the sacristy? If not, please do so!

 

With recent changes, there have been a couple of occasions when two or more readers have stood to read, causing confusion. Please obtain a copy of the new rota, including a list of new readers and ensure you read at your allotted time only - unless agreed with the original reader, i.e. on holiday or sick etc.                                                                                                                 

 If you wish to join the next rota, please contact John Edmondson (01282 451527 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). 

 

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Children's Liturgy

There is a team of 5 people who lead the Children in a simple liturgy of the word in the Parish Rooms, after leaving the Church during the beginning of the 10:00 am mass. After hearing God 's Word, the children are invited to complete a simple worksheet, which is then brought up in the offertory and presented by the children.

The coordinator is Christine.

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Ministers of Holy Communion at St Mary’s

New rotas are being prepared for the 6.30pm Vigil and 10.00am Sunday Masses.

Any Ministers of Holy Communion from the other churches in the new Parish of the Good Samaritan who would like to join the rotas at these Masses, please contact either:

Marie Evans: 07427770970 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Patricia Robinson: 01282428794

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Baptismal Programme at St Mary’s 

 

Please get in touch with Fr David Featherstone

 

 

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                                                                                                 Flower Arranging

It is a great enhancement for our Masses and services to be conducted in an environment of dignity and beauty. Our flower arrangers achieve this with great skill, enthusiasm and commitment.

We enjoy making the flower arrangements, as it gives deep satisfaction to give the service of enhancing the already beautiful church for the benefit of the people who come to worship and praise the Lord. Our work includes all aspects – from going to choosing the flowers to cleaning and tidying up - with the creative and enjoyable bits in the middle!

The team is happy to arrange flowers for those planning to marry here at St. Mary's. It helps greatly when those wishing to do this can do so meet the team. Joan Ashworth and Catherine McKie are available after the 10:00 am Mass on most Sunday mornings. They will discuss your wishes and agree on the cost of flowers.

They order the flowers and collect them from the retailers, bring them to church and create delightful displays, in keeping with the season of the church year.

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Grounds Maintenance

The grounds around the church are beautifully maintained, and this is the result of the hard work by a team of volunteer parishioners. The team takes care of all aspects of the grounds – flowers, shrubs, lawns, trees, as well as keeping the pathways tidy and clear.

Their aims are:

• To maintain and improve the grounds of the church and periphery, year on year;
• General tidying-up, litter picking, etc., and all gardening duties including lawn maintenance, weeding, pruning, planting and tree lopping.

Many of the plants are donated by the people of the parish and are lovingly cared for. 

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Coffee Morning  

After the 10:00 am Mass, there is usually a weekly parish get-together. This is a great source of building our fellowship and friendship in Christ. It’s a lively, chatty and informal gathering where friends are made, and friendships consolidated. Most importantly, it’s the opportunity for getting to know each other and to share our joys and difficulties. It’s a great coming together for everyone!

 

The Ladies Guild organises the catering – tea, coffee, biscuits etc. They would welcome any time you could give to help run the Coffee Morning. They will show you the ropes and help and support you in the routines.

BUT the ladies need help!

Please see Maureen Scaife and offer your services brewing and serving.

YOU are needed to keep this super social event going.

Without your help, the ladies will struggle, so please come forward!

PS: It’s also a good source of income for the parish, bringing in £100’s each year which will be lost, along with the £1,500 or so per year that will be lost from the Home Produce stall—which is another source of great enjoyment. 

Please Volunteer! 

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If you are not able to be there on your allocated date, please see if you can swop with one of the other stall-holders. Catherine Sutcliffe is available as “first” reserve.

  

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Social Group

As part of our spiritual growth and community development, our social interaction can play a hugely positive role. It helps us to know and understand each other better, and so grow in God’s love.

Our social group is there to help arrange entertainment for all parishioners. We hope to bring together all age groups in a way that everyone enjoys. We also hope to raise much-needed funds for our church.

Over the last ten years we have arranged many events, from major fundraising Car Boot Sales, concerts in The KSC Club, and in Church, small scale activities like our weekly Home Produce Stall.

More recently we have arranged Afternoon Teas, Dinner Dances, Photographic competitions from which we created and Christmas cards for sale in the parish.

We would love to see new faces who would bring new ideas. There are no regular meeting times/days, upcoming meetings being advertised in the parish bulletin. Once an event has been agreed, the members make themselves available to do the things needed to bring the event to fulfilment.

Volunteers are welcome anytime, and those interested in taking part in the Social Group can attend meetings as advertised in the Newsletter or contact the social group coordinator Venita Edmondson (01282 451517) to discuss any involvement or enquire further.

 

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Ladies Guild

Our Guild is primarily a social gathering strengthening the community through their prayer and friendship.

They also manage our Sunday Coffee Morning, which follows the 10:00 am Mass.

The Ladies are also at the forefront if any event needs catering – from hot and cold drinks to producing and/or serving sandwiches, or other pre-prepared food.

The Ladies usually meet on the last Wednesday of every month in St Mary’s Parish Rooms where the main agenda is a chat with tea and sandwiches. 

 

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Sacristan 

The altar and the surrounding area, the Sanctuary are the focal point of all of our prayer life in church, particularly for our celebrations of Mass. Having this area prepared and looking beautiful adds greatly to the dignity of the services conducted there.

Our Sacristan has the responsibility for this work, setting everything up for the well-ordered celebrations of the services. It includes preparing the sacred vessels, vestments and other artefacts for the priests and celebrants.
Our sacristan also opens and locks up the church for services.
It is a busy and demanding role. If you would like to help with the work, please contact Fr David, the Parish Priest.

 

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Counting Team

The team meet every week to count the collection and other monies.

They complete the appropriate financial breakdown sheets and prepare the monies for banking. They then make payment of the monies into the bank. One member of the team attends the parish finance committee meetings which are held every four months.

 

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Vocation Prayer Group St Mary's Church

 

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Cancer Help Group—You Are Not Alone 

Have you, or anyone you know had cancer and the following treatments? 

You might feel it would help to talk to others about the side-effects you/they are living with, but don’t want to bother the doctor with. You might find the answer you are looking for! All adults are welcome. 

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Clip-art Attributions:

Virgin Mary: Image by PublicDomainPictures

Tea Lights: Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter

Church Organ: Image by Tobias Albers-Heinemann

Rings and Flowers: Image by marla66

Bible: Image by mmi9  

Children Silhouette: Image by Gerd Altmann

Eucharist: Image by aalmeidah 

Dove: Image by 13smok

Pink Roses: Image by Beverly Buckley

Wheelbarrow: Image by DarkWorkX 

Cup Mug Coffee: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images

Volunteering: Image by truthseeker08 

Carrots: Image by OpenClipart-Vectors

Bread: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images

Cupcake: Image by Marta Simon

Group: Image by Gerd Altmann

Sandwich: Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images 

Teacups: Image by Annalise Batista 

Money Bag: Image by Bill Bowler 

Praying Hands: Image by congerdesign 

all at Pixabay