Reopening the Church & Resumption of Mass
Things are changing very rapidly, so please check this section regularly
(updated 5th July 2020)
Stage One: Reopening the Church for a few hours each day COMPLETE
Stage Two: Resumption of Mass (part 1) COMPLETE
Stage Three: Resumption of Mass (part 2)
Stage Four: Reopening the Church all day
Stage Two: The Resumption of Mass (part 1)
from Saturday 4th July
From Saturday 4th July
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Church Opening Times
(each is two hours around the Mass, confessions or Holy Hour)
Monday - Friday 6.30am - 8.30am & 4.30pm - 6pm
Saturday 10.30am - 12noon & 6.30pm - 8pm
Sunday 7.30am - 9am & 10.00am - 12.30pm & 3.30pm - 5.30pm
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Mass Times
usual timetable
Sunday: 8am, 11am (Sung), 4.45pm (Latin)
4pm Vespers & Benediction
Monday - Friday: 7am, 5.30pm
Saturday: 11am
7pm - 8pm Holy Hour & Benediction
If the number of people in church is under 67 (with 2m / 6'6" distance) then no face mask need be worn.
If the number of people in church is over 67 (with 1m / 3'3" distance) then face masks must be worn by everyone.
So, please bring a face mask just in case the number is over 67.
There is no obligation to hear Mass on Sunday.
There is no congregational singing at Mass.
The church will be closed for cleaning after each Mass.
Group meetings cannot take place just yet.
Do not come to the Sacristy - there will be someone at the back of church after Mass if you need a priest.
The toilets will not be available.
These are very early days, so we'll see how this works for a few weeks and alter anything if necessary.
There will be frustrations with small things, impatience with the process, and resentments with people up the chain of command, but please try to resist pushing the limits or mouthing off. A good method for this is to say a Hail Mary everytime you feel an annoyance, frustration or resentment. Fr C says he gets very many rosaries said in a day with this method. People are just people, so try and be kind.
Thank you for your patience, prayers and goodwill with all this.
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Confessions
Sunday: before the 8am & 11am Mass
during the 4.45pm Mass
Monday to Friday: 4.45pm - 5.15pm
Saturday: 11.30am - 12.30pm & 7 - 8pm
The confessional will be cleaned between each penitent.
You may make your confession outside (umbrellas and wellies provided) or elsewhere in the church, or by appointment.
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To read the statement of the Archbishops
Mass and the Divine Office are broadcast on Twitter
(when it works) we have sent for a spare part or a man or both
Please note:
We have had a lot of trouble with our Twitter feed recently, so that some broadcasts have only lasted a few minutes or not at all. We are currently investigating this problem, and so some broadcasts may not take place. We are sorry for any disruption to your Mass schedule at home.
Sunday
11am Sung Mass
4pm Vespers and Benediction
4.45pm Low Mass (Old Latin Mass)
Monday - Friday
5.30pm Low Mass (followed by Vespers on Feasts)
Saturday
11am Low Mass
There are talks and thoughts on YouTube
For Mass intentions please post, email or telephone
There is a PayPal Donate button for donations
Please remember to pray for us
Pippo
We are sorry to announce that our ancient dog Pippo has died. He was Fr Ray's Silver Jubilee present from the community, some 13 and a bit years ago. You will remember him on the church steps to meet the congreation after Mass, in the local parks and the local pubs. We all miss him to bits.
God has created all that is, and that is returns to him. All creatures great and small praise Him, and we can see in and through them the hand of the Creator. All creatures, the elements, and even death, are our brothers and sisters, sings St Francis, and so we look forward to being with Pippo again in the Kingdom of light and joy.
Vale canis cane
Vale canis amabilis
Vale canis laete
Vale canis fidelis
Vale canis sodalis
Te videbimus postmodo
Deo volente in mundo novo
For the Time after Pentecost
St Philip was greatly devoted to the Holy Spirit. He had received direct experience of the Spirit when praying in the catacombs at night just before the feast of Pentecost. In the darkness a great ball of fire appeared before him. It went into his mouth and chest, causing the terrible physical and emotional heat of the presence of divine love. Philip rolled in the dust to quell the heat, and screamed for even this limited experience to end. When it did cease from the heights of its physical and emotional manifestation, some of the heat of love remained - for God and neighbour most in need. He would draw penitents and the sorrowful to breast, and they were permitted through him to experience the consolation of the Holy Spirit of love, so much as we can bear it in this life.
We now move out into the year in the gift of the Holy Spirit, so there is no need to be afraid. Allow your minds to be on heavenly things, and have that great peace that is secured by the Holy Spirit dwelling within you and through you. Keep bringing your mind back to the place of still and of peace where God dwells within you. Let Him gaze at you, and you at him, and do no more than that, and then God will act freely to make all things well.
The Coronavirus
This section will be updated as the situation changes
General Guidelines
A Message from Cardinal Nichols HERE
Please contact us if you have any concerns.
Say the Rosary everyday (the Rosary is called Corona in Latin).
The Fathers and Brothers are praying for you everyday.
Church & Sacraments
Mass has NOT been cancelled - this can never happen, because without the Eucharist there is no Church.
The Obligation to hear Mass on Sundays and Holy Days has been suspended.
Easter Duties (i.e. Confession and Holy Communion) have been suspended for this year.
Plenary Indulgences can be gained for assisting at Mass via the TV or online, and the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Stations of the Cross, Reading Sacred Scripture for half and hour. Prayer for the Holy Father's intentions (Pater, Ave and Gloria), and go to Confession and Holy Communion when this time of trial is over.
St Rocco, our patron of times of plague, has a shrine in church where the Community pray each day.
Masses from St Chad's will be live streamed on Twitter (at the top of the page). Others can be found at HERE (including from some of the other Oratories and Manchester churches)
We have a YouTube channel, for videos of sermons and devotions, so we are going to have a go. At least our attempts should make you laugh!
The Hospital
We have stopped general ward visiting and the weekday Mass at the North Manchester General Hospital.
The Last Rites will always be given.
The Fathers also go to the deathbeds of those with the Virus in our hospital (in full protective gear).
Holy Communion
If you cannot receive Holy Communion make a Spiritual Communion (prayers can be found above)
A Spiritual Communion asks the Lord to come to us although we cannot receive Him in the Sacrament. If with fervent hearts we ask this He will always come and abide within us.
There is a leaflet to help you with this part of our Catholic tradition here: SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
Help for those in Need
There is always food available here for anyone in need.
Please make sure that those you know from church and your neighbourhood have everything they need.
The church and Community are going to be significantly down on church collections, etc, which keep the whole place going. We are quite happy to pull in our belts considerably, and thankfully the summer means that the heating bill will be less, but the week by week costs of the church are still significant. Please remember us in this matter - there is a donate button at the top of this page. We feel it is best to honest about this with you. God reward you.
And Remember...
Do not be afraid.
God is God. He has had a lot of practise at it, and he is pretty darn good at it.
He is our loving Father, who turns everything for our good, if we abandon ourselves into His hands.
We share the life of His only-begotten Son, and so: our sufferings are His and His sufferings are ours; our hearts are His and His Heart is ours; our happiness His and His glory is ours. In Him we are given the extraordinary privilege of sanctifying and redeeming the world around us. Offer your sufferings, and your joys too, for the Church, for your family, friends and enemies, work colleagues, neighbours, your contact list... - everyone and everything that is in unique configuration around you. These events and people are there not by accident but by Providence, and it is God's good pleasure that you are the place of meeting between them and Him.
Christ Yesterday and Today + The Beginning and the End
Alpha + Omega
All Time Belongs to Him + And all the Ages
To Him belong Glory and Power + Through every Age and forever
Jesus did not suffer to take away our sufferings, but rather to show us how to suffer and die Through Him and With Him and In Him. Every moment is within the palm of God.
I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God’s counsels, in God’s world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by name.
God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have a mission – I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next… I have a part in a great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness or perplexity or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me – He still knows what He is about. (JHN)
When the first Catholic chapel was built in Manchester after the Reformation in the 18th century it was dedicated to St Chad, the 7th century beloved bishop of this area. In choosing 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 in Manchester stretching back to the time of the Roman garrison nearly 2,000 years ago. They had been brought together by St Chad and flourished in the Middle Ages with a great dvotion to our Lady St Mary. In the winter of persecution they remained steadfast but hidden, bloodied but not beaten, to come out into the open again and blossom in the Second Spring of our holy faith in the 19th century.
St Chad's personal 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.