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ORATORY CHURCH OF ST CHAD

CHEETHAM HILL ROAD

MANCHESTER, M4 4EX


Telephone 0161 834 4104







WEEKLY TIMETABLE


SUNDAY    (The Church is open from 7am - 6pm)

                8am  Low Mass   (Confessions before Mass)
                11.30am  Solemn Mass   (Confessions before Mass)
                4pm  Solemn Vespers and Benediction
                4.45pm  Low Mass in the Latin Extraordinary Form   (Confessions during and after Mass)



MONDAY - FRIDAY    (The Church is open from 6.30am - 6.30pm)

               7am Mass 
              12 noon Mass on Wednesday in St Raphael's Chapel at North Manchester General Hospital
               4.45pm-5.15pm Confessions
               5pm Rosary
               5.30pm Mass  
 
After evening Mass for 30 minutes  On Mondays - Devotions to St Philip and silent prayer
After evening Mass for 30 minutes On Weekdays - Silent prayer. On Feast Days this is replaced by Sung Vespers

On the First Friday of each month (in term time): 2pm Sung Mass with the schoolchildren in church (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6)
On Bank Holidays: 9.40am Confessions & Mass at 10am (No evening Confessions or Mass)



SATURDAY    (The Church is open from 8am - 8.30pm)

                9.30am Mass at St Joseph's Cemetery Chapel, Moston
                11am Mass
                11.30am-12.30pm Confessions
                4pm Mass in St Luke's Chapel at North Manchester General Hospital (Vigil Mass of Sunday)
                7pm-8pm Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction
                7pm-8pm Confessions
AUTUMN DIARY
(updated weekly)



Sunday 9th October
The Feast of the Blessed John Henry Newman

Newman Preaching at Oscott


Solemn Mass at 11.30am
with veneration of his relic


Saturday 8th October from 7pm - 8pm
Musical Oratory
Hymns and Readings from the writings of Newman
Sermons and Vespers
before the Blessed Sacrament


ST CHAD'S CHURCH AND OUR MINISTRY


When the first Catholic chapel was built in Manchester in the eighteenth century, the first for over 300 years, it was dedicated to St Chad. In having him as its patron the Catholic community in Manchester was keen to show that it was the same living family of faith that has existed here down through the centuries. Whatever the political and religious upheavals of the day, there has always been a group of Roman Catholics here stretching back to the time of the Roman garrison nearly 2,000 years ago. In the 7th century St Chad was the first bishop to preach, teach, govern and sanctify God's people in Manchester.

St Chad's popularity and influence has lived on, not only in the dedication of many ancient churches in the region, but also in the place names of Manchester that were associated with him. "So much did Chad endear himself to those whom he converted, that even to this day we find traces of his missionary labours in the numerous place-names in the Manchester district that have been given in honour of the Mercian Bishop. The valley of the Irk, along which he must have toiled repeatedly, is particularly rich in these name memorials. Chadderton is simply Chad's town, Chadkirk is Chad's church, Cheetham is Chad's dwelling-place, Cheetwood is Chad's wood, Chat Moss is Chad's moss, Cheadle is Chad's hill, Cheadle Hulme is the meadow by Chad's hill, and so forth" (from John O'Dea, 1910, The Story of the Old Faith in Manchester).

His kindly presence and his faithfulness to Christ and His Church won many souls to God in his day. We pray that his personal influence will still be found today as the Catholics of Manchester work to build the Kingdom of God; to hand on what has been given to us from our Fathers and Mothers in the Faith.





If you would like to support the work of the Oratory Community at St Chad's ,
and the restoration programme of this historic church, please donate using the button below.


We are happy to announce that we have been awarded a grant of £250,000 from the English Heritage Lottery Fund to begin work on the church's restoration. This grant will cover most of the basic structural work of the first stage of restoration; the removal and treatment of the extensive dry-rot, rebuilding of the church steeple, and the building of lavatory facilities.  We still have to raise another £60,000 to complete this first stage, so please be as generous as you can, and  also think about ways in which we can raise this money together.  


Below is a video clip explaining the work to restore the turret and
pinnicle on the church tower  which can be seen on the photograph of the church below.


Church Turret Restoration




Fr Ray, with Architects John Pritchard and Rebecca Mills, 
blessing the Golden Cross on the tower that looks over Manchester city centre
at the Topping Out ceremony




If you would like to know more about our aims and objectives click the link.



St Chad's, Cheetham Hill, Manchester


 

BITS AND PIECES



Notes from the Garden 
(from Fr Christopher)

The apple trees in the garden have produced a great crop this year (eating and cooking apples). There are also plenty of runner beans ready to pick. The gooseberries, blackcurrants and raspberries were a little disappointing (actually they were rubbish). However, the blackberry and grape crop have been superb.

Please help yourself to apples and beans in the Narthex after the Sunday Masses. The grapes are going to school. I'm not sure if Year 5 are going to eat them or try their hand at Chateau Manchester, complimenting the proliferation of micro-breweries and gin distilleries springing up in the neighbourhood. We've finished off the blackberries in the house. We'll share next year - promise.

If you are preparing your garden for winter and have any plants looking for a new home, please contact Fr Christopher or one of the under-gardeners. We have very large gardens here and will happily give any new stock a good home. Any seeds you have left over can be given to our 'secret gardeners' at school, who drop them in to spare patches of soil and keep an eye of them, so everyone in the neighbourhood can enjoy the flowers. Again, just hand them to me and we can help the people of Manchester smile when they come across our flowers. Thanks - CH.


The Year of Mercy

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in His justice,
Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in Heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Saviour;
There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands
Of new worlds as great as this;
There is room for fresh creations
In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

’Tis not all we owe to Jesus;
It is something more than all;
Greater good because of evil,
Larger mercy through the fall.

If our love were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts! why will ye wander
From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty,
But is mightier than it seems;
’Tis our Father: and His fondness
Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own;
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Saviour who would have us
Come and gather at His feet?



Fr Frederick William Faber of the Oratory


***   ***   ***


From Quarantore earlier in the Summer

Forty Hours Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
in the early hours of the Feast of Corpus Christi