Latest

Brian Smith

Tuesday, 19 August

Requiem Mass

10.30am, Holy Family

* Parish Update *

Notes from Meeting Between St John Vianney Pastoral Council and St Mary’s Leadership Team

Monday 21^st July 2025 – St Mark’s Annexe

Please note that, given the fluid and open nature of the discussion at this meeting, we have decided to record the discussions of the meeting with these notes as opposed to formal minutes.

Handover of Parish Responsibilities

Both new priests are already taking part in meetings and various preparations for beginning their appointments: they are extremely grateful to Fr. Tim and Fr. Matthew for facilitating their early engagement with the parishes. Officially, Fr McGrail will become Parish Priest of both St John Vianney and St Mary’s on Monday, 8^th September, and Fr Murphy will begin his appointment as Assistant Priest on Wednesday, 1^st October. At a later date, there will be a formal installation of the two new priests.

The three clergy (Fr McGrail, Fr Murphy, and Deacon Peter Renwick) will work equally across both parishes.

 ‘Merging’ Parishes.

There are no immediate plans to form a single new parish from St John Vianney and St Mary’s. We need to focus on the longer-term challenges facing the Catholic community in England and Wales. Over the coming years, it will become increasingly difficult to sustain the current pattern of parishes across the Archdiocese. This is for three key reasons:

1.     the decline in the number of people attending Mass,

2.     the ever-reducing number of active priests, and

3.     the sheer financial burden of maintaining increasingly costly buildings.

Country-wide, new and larger pastoral units are being created from existing parishes. The future shape of Catholic life on the ground, therefore, will necessarily spread out beyond the current parish structures.

In that light, focusing our energies and time now on merging the parishes of St. John Vianney and St. Mary could prove a costly diversion. Perhaps in the future, the Archdiocese will consider such a merger. However, that would likely only serve as a stepping stone towards even broader developments. Therefore, it would be far more fruitful at this stage to hold the bigger picture in view and to prepare to be active participants and shapers of whatever the future holds. We are invited, therefore, to focus on the following:

·        Spending sustained time together to ground our way forward in the Archdiocese’s Pastoral Plan, making use of the resources that the Archdiocese has developed for local planning.

·        Developing a clear sense of what our mission is to the local community. Why does the Catholic community exist in Woolton, Halewood and Hunts Cross?

·        Building on the vision of the Second Vatican Council, that ‘the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men and women of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts.’ (Gaudium et Spes, 1)

·        Acknowledging without judgment that the broader community contains very many Catholics who have lost touch with the Church, we take seriously how we can reach out to them and others with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

This is made clear when looking at Archdiocesan pastoral statistics. We note that for the 10 years 2013 – 2023, the average Mass attendance in parishes in the Archdiocese reduced by 42%, whereas in our two parishes this reduction is by 66% and 51%.

·        Cherishing our schools. We will continue with the rhythm of school Masses already established within our four Catholic primary schools, as well as furthering connections with the Catholic secondary schools in the local area.

·        Reinforcing the care we give to the young and old, the weak and marginalised within our parish communities. Two groups that were identified as often being missing from parish communities and activities in this discussion were working people and men.

·        Participating in the life of the Family of Parishes.

This relatively new initiative, born from the Archdiocesan Synod, offers us all an exciting opportunity to collaborate as clergy and parishioners across parish boundaries. Ongoing engagement and discernment are essential for this endeavour to succeed; however, our commitment to being part of the Family of Parishes is taken as understood.

Work has already started on many of these themes, and good foundations have begun to be laid. Let us move forward together, seizing opportunities to collaborate as much as possible. 

There will be some immediate practicalities that will need to be addressed, for example communication through our websites and newsletters.

A new understanding of the relationship between St Mary’s and Bishop Eton

It would be entirely wrong to sever or diminish the relationships that have developed between the communities of Bishop Eton and St Mary’s. Where links between different groups in the two parishes already exist, it is hoped they will continue – and, indeed, that cooperation will be extended to similar groups in St John Vianney. 

Practicalities: Domestic

Fr McGrail will move into the house currently occupied by Fr Matthew in Halewood.

Arrangements are being made for Fr Murphy to move into St Mary's Presbytery.

Each parish will retain the responsibility for the upkeep of the domestic property within its boundaries (i.e. St John Vianney for Fr McGrail's house, St Mary's for the whole of the St Mary's presbytery).

For the coming two-year period, St John Vianney will be responsible for covering Fr McGrail's costs (e.g. travel, sustenance, allowance). St Mary's will do the same for Fr Murphy.  

After Fr Murphy's departure, we will need to establish a system whereby both parishes share responsibility for covering Fr McGrail's costs, while each parish remains responsible for maintaining its own properties.

Practicalities: Liturgies

In the long-term Mass times will need to be reviewed. This is made necessary given that Sunday Masses, and some weekday Masses are scheduled at the same time at both Holy Family and St Mary’s. However, in the short to medium term, whilst Fr Murphy is assigned to the parish, there is no plan to change any Sunday Mass times. No additional parish Masses will be scheduled on Sundays or weekdays so that the priests have the capacity to support the family of parishes – for example, in celebrating Masses at the High Schools and occasional cover at Carmel. In this light, the ongoing provision of the 9:00 a.m. Mass at St. Mark’s Church on Fridays will need to be reviewed.

The current arrangement for priests to be available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation for 20 minutes before each Mass (starting 30 minutes prior) as well as by appointment will continue at St John Vianney for the foreseeable future. Provision at St Mary’s is currently under review.

The arrangement of other Sacramental liturgies (particularly Baptism) will need to be co-ordinated between the clergy to both honour times already in the diary and open up availability moving forward.

Practicalities: Finances

1. Each parish is facing financial challenges - chiefly regarding the imbalance between regular income and expenditure:

·        St. Mary's - the implications of living with a complex of Grade 2 Listed buildings: the processes to be followed and the costs of any alteration/remediation are very high. Any major job has the potential to drain the parish’s current account.

·        St. John Vianney - the costs of maintaining two churches, built in 1965, one of which requires serious remedial work, outweigh the regular income.

2. The financial position of each parish - both in terms of investments and of current accounts - is complex. Therefore, there is neither the reason nor the intention to somehow 'merge' parish finances as an immediate end in itself.

3. St John Vianney needs to have a parish finance advisory committee to mirror that of St Mary's. Although, as noted above, the two parishes will remain independent, we hope that the two finance advisory committees might develop means of interaction and mutual support.

Practicalities: Co-ordinating Cooperation between the Parishes

Currently, each parish has a “coordinating body”.

·        St. John Vianney - Parish Council

·        St. Mary's - Leaders Group.

It would be desirable for the St Mary's Leaders Group to evolve into a formal Parish Council. This would enable each parish to retain autonomy over the particular issues proper to them via the Parish Council structure. The vision for the two parish councils meeting together regularly - the frequency to be determined – in addition to their own meetings, was shared by those present.

Practicalities: Parish Offices

Each parish retains its own parish office, with dedicated administrators.

Practicalities: Sacramental Programmes

There was discussion and questions around whether things were going to be repeated in both parishes, or whether they would be shared. Whilst this question relates to many activities and responsibilities across the parish communities, it is often brought most into focus in Sacramental Programmes.

Baptism:

The current provision of Baptism preparation will continue in both parishes.

First Holy Communion:

There are two very different systems in play for preparation for and reception of First Holy Communion. Nothing will change for the academic year 2025-26 - but during that year we can carry out a process of review which may - or may not - result in some changes. Fr McGrail was keen to stress that there isn’t any absolutely 'right' way of 'doing' First Holy Communion, rather it is a case of weighing relative merits in particular real contexts.

Confirmation:

This is coordinated at various levels. Animate receives applications from across the Archdiocese between January and March. These applications are then shared at the Deanery level. Within this Deanery, catechesis and pastoral experiences are organised within the Families of Parishes. We await a review on how the recent preparation and celebration have gone.

RCIA:

There is a shared RCIA process is under development across the local area. Deacon Peter, amongst others, is particularly involved in this already.

Marriage:

Preparation for couples wishing to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony is being organised by the Archdiocese. The next preparation session will begin in the Autumn. Training for catechists will also run in the coming months. Fr Murphy has a particular interest in support for engaged and married couples and is keen to continue to work in this field.

Lectio For Young Adults

Every Friday at 6pm at St Vincent de Paul Church, Hardy Street, L1 5JN, there is a "lectio" prayer group for young adults.  There will be a Mass at 6pm, followed by a short time of sharing the Sunday readings at 6.30pm.

It's a friendly group and sometimes they also organise trips and retreats.  The link to their WhatsApp community

https://chat.whatsapp.com/FvRR2Q6sIDK83W4KgBIJqU, for more info please contact James:

djmoroney@cantab.net or phone 07394 503 911.

We’ll Care Community Tea Dance

In partnership with Halewood Town Council, We’ll Care will be hosting a Tea Dance for all Halewood residents, in particular, residents who are isolated or lonely and would like to socially engage with others.

The Tea Dance will be held on the last Thursday of every month, 12noon-3pm. Entrance is free and tea, coffee and soft drinks will be provided. Venue: Hollies Hall, Hollies Road, Halewood, L26 0TH. Limited parking is available. For further info or to confirm your attendance please contact Ria on 07707 620 544 (9am-4pm).

Looking for a Late Catholic Gap Year?

Do you know anybody who is Catholic, aged around 18 to 22 and still not got anything lined up for the year ahead? Castlerigg Manor (the Diocese of Lancaster Retreat Centre, located in the Lake District) are still looking for young people to join their youth ministry internship scheme.  The scheme provides comprehensive training and experience as well as accommodation and food for the year, and a stipend each week.  Interested? Please visit: castleriggmanor.com or email Jack Regan – director@castleriggmanor.co.uk

RCIA Meetings

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults is the process given to us by the Church to initiate adults and older children into Christianity as it is lived within the Roman Catholic tradition.  Do you know anyone who wants to become a Catholic?  Whatever your starting point you are very welcome to come along.  All enquiries to Reverend Peter Renwick on 07707 917 554.

Links to Access Livestream Masses

https://www.churchservices.tv/county/merseyside/

https://www.churchservices.tv/county/lancashire/

https://www.mcnmedia.tv/Cameras?Country=England&County=Lancashire