Last weekend members of the Guild of Servants of the Sanctuary in the North West of England descended on St Peter's Church in Stockport for a meeting which began with Mass in honour of Our Lady, their statue of whom you can see above.

After lunch, your scribe led the Sung Guild Office and Benediction before the procession onto a recently restored St Peter's Square. 

Which ended with a blessing from Bishop John Goddard, Bishop of Burnley.

 

It seems a long time ago now, but St George's Day was kept with the usual splendour in St George's Friargate with this Mass at the beginning of the Octave.

Our Mayor, Councillor Bobby Cartwright, comes to the end of her year in office and on Sunday held the outgoing service in the Minster. In a few weeks we celebrate the incoming Mayor's office with another service in the Minster.

Workers Memorial Day was kept in Preston with a rally on the Flagmarket before the laying of wreaths on this memorial near St George's straight afterwards.

The Paschal Triduum in Preston City Parish.

On Easter Monday, it was raining, persistently, for all of the day. However, some 6000 people still turned up for the egg rolling in Avenham Park, well down on last year but still a presentable number. Above you can see the 1pm egg roll.

Holy Saturday was dark and still as we gathered outside St George's for the lighting of the Paschal fire.

St George comes to remind you that Monday is his feast day, but we will be keeping it at 10.30am on Sunday in St George's Church with a Solemn Sung Mass.

On Good Friday, Preston was televised across the nation as the 'Preston Passion' took place at the Bus Station to National acclaim. We also had the annual Good Friday walk of witness to the Flagmarket.

Here we are going down Fishergate.

St George's on Maundy Thursday, just before the Mass.

...and Blogger pictures takes us back to the end of the palm Sunday Mass in St George's, before which we processed from St John's Church, through the Flagmarket and down Friargate.

On Good Friday we had a good turnout for Stations of the Cross at 10am.

Back to Maundy Thursday it would appear with the fraction before Communion.

..and St George's looked lovely on Easter Sunday morning, as the sun was rising.

In St John's on Easter Sunday morning, shortly after, we had a full Church for the Mass of the day. here you see the blessing of the font and the renewal of Baptismal promises.

Briefly back to Good Friday and Fr Timothy leads the procession from St George's.

And finally the Garden on Maundy Thursday night, as we watch with Christ.

HOLY WEEK 2012

HOLY WEEK IN PRESTON CITY PARISH.

April 1^st. Palm Sunday in the Passion of Our Lord.

9.30am Sung Mass with reading of the Passion at St John’s Minster

11.15. Procession from St John’s to St George’s for Sung Mass and reading of the passion.

April 2^nd. Monday in Holy Week.

10am Low Mass in St George’s.

7.30pm. Ecumenical lent Talk in the Minster

April 3^rd. Tuesday in Holy Week.

11am. Chrism Mass in St Anne’s Church, St Anne’s on Sea.

7.30pm Walsingham Cell in St John’s Minster.

April 4^th. Spy Wednesday.

10.30am. BCP Eucharist and Bible Study, St John’s Minster

7.30pm. Mass with laying on of hands in St John’s Minster.

April 5^th. Maundy Thursday.

8pm. THE MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. St George’s,

Followed by procession of the Blessed Sacrament, stripping of the Altars and watch until Midnight.

April 6^th. Good Friday.

10am. Stations of the Cross in St George’s.

11.45 Walk of Witness leaves St George’s for service in the Flagmarket at 12 Noon.

1.15 ‘The Last Words’ at St John’s Minster

2.00 THE SOLEMN LITURGIES OF GOOD FRIDAY in St George’s.

Churches then closed until Holy Saturday evening.

April 7^th. Holy Saturday.

8pm. THE SOLEMN VIGIL OF EASTER with ceremonies, St George’s.

April 8^th. Easter Sunday.

10am. SUNG MASS OF EASTER, St John’s Minster.

April 9^th. Monday of Easter Week.

Churches Closed, then back to normal on Tuesday.

Lent.

And so Lent begins with a picture of 'Iolanthe' by Gilbert and Sullivan as peformed in Preston at the Playhouse Theatre. Our Verger, Rob, was in a starring role as always, he can be seen here dressed as the Lord Chancellor in centre stage. A group from the Parish met for dinner in St George's Community Room last night before walking over the road to the theatre. It was a magnificent show, full of happiness and life.

This has been a very busy month, with many things to get done and with the Guild looming this year is looking to be frenetic. Your scribe is writing the Guild Service for the main bash in the park, trying to give all the National and local faith leaders equal billing which is not easy, At the time of scribing, we hope to have Aled Jones to compere the event. The Guild is a once every Twenty years celebration in Preston, much is being done this year to make sure that it will be one to remember, even though money is tight.

You see above one of our Monday night lent Groups in the Minster. The doors open at 7pm for looking around followed by the actual worshipfrom half past. Each week we have a different Charity presenting an exhibition (and fairtrade and book stalls), a different Church leading Worship, a different Church preaching and a different Church looking after the hot drinks and so on. It will give a broad approach to Lent, and is certainly well worth coming to.

We also have Stations of the Cross on Thursdays at 11am in Saint George's, followed by Low Mass and the same Church is open for a coup,e of hours every Tuesday evening for quiet prayer.

Finally, a picture of Lindisfarne, which explains the absence of posts for a while, I spent the best part of two weeks here and in bamburgh. Now it is Lent, I shall stop enjoying myself immediately.

Ash Wednesday and Other Things.

Hello from a busy Parish on Candlemas. We have just celebrated the feast in St George's with a well attended Mass and a small procession. You catch me above taking a break on Christian Unity Sunday, which saw your scribe dashing from Church to Church across three counties fitting in many different styles of service and denomination. A most enjoyable day and an enjoyable pint of bitter.

We come to a few announcements, to whit,

GUILD OF SERVANTS OF THE SANCTUARY.
I am Chaplain to the Lancashire and Furness Chapter, our annual evants have been finalised and the first one will be the AGM at St George's Church, Preston at 3pm on 18th February, beginning with a Sung Mass.

ASH WEDNESDAY
BCP Eucharist and Rite of Ashing in the Minster at 10.30am
Ashing at Lea School at 2pm
Sung Mass and Ashing in St George's Church at 7.30pm
Both Churches will be open all day for quiet prayer and reflection.

Above you will see the Minster during World Holocaust Day. The theme this year was 'Speak Up, Speak Out' and we heard moving stories from people allied with the Disabled and Lesbian and Gay communities as well as prayer, song and moving words from the Rabbi, who sung a Psalm of desolation in Hebrew. It was well attended and each year the City Council arrange this to remind people of what horrors have been committed in the past and indeed continue to this day.

We also witnessed and hosted a covenant between the Armed Forces stationed here in Preston and the City Council which honours the contribution made by the local Regiments and importantly assures them of proper care and assistance in case of disability, mental health breakdown or other great need. We also attended the Homeless service in Preston City Methodist Church with many other denominations, wherein we looked at more ways to alleviate the stress and hopelessness so often associated with sleeping rough. We already work hard to combat this growing problem in Preston, but it continues to escalate.

Happy New Year!

Well, we are back and so is the 'green season of Ordinary Time, as this picture of the High Altar at St John's Minster shows. As your scribe scribes, it is going dark outside at half four in the afternoon and we are in the dog days of Winter, the frost still making a valiant effort at being out, but it is thwarted by the appearance of daffodils, of all things. Christmas is over, Candlemas is on it's way (which is a tautology, but there you are, this is Lancashire) and we are idly contemplating Lenten disciplines as the hills of ham and the dales of gravy reach their end.

This is a picture of your scribe looking smug taking his shopping home on a speedboat last year. It is yet another attempt to disguise the fact that there are not many Christmas pictures to show you, we were too busy for pictures and even the Lancashire Evening Post recycled last years Carol Service pictures, purporting to be this years. We had a good Christmas, with excellent numbers at the Midnight Mass and a presentable Mass of the day as well. Beyond that, we have so many Carol Services, Christingles, School services and so on and so forth, edited highlights begin immediately.

At Lea School, the Kitchen Crew dish up a very creditable Christmas meal to the children, your scribe and his friend the Vicar of Preston did much of the serving and subsequent wiping of gravy covered childrens hands and mouths. This encouraged them to be less dribbly in an immediate and startling fashion.

We also launched the Society of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda in the Diocese of Blackburn and Carlisle with a very well attended Festival Mass in the Minster, this picture shows The Bishop of Blackburn and the Bishop of Burnley with a small number of people after the Mass.

This shot takes in the Mayor, her Consort and some of the people who came for the main Civic Carol Service in the Minster.

And this shot is the customary annual 'Vicar of Preston in Mozetta at Carol Service' shot, this year, for variety, the mozetta turned on its owner and attacked. I am trying to stop it savagely biting again.

And of course we had a lovely Crib Service and Christingle.....

Complete with Wise Men and Dorothy playing the piano.

Finally, a picture of the DISC disability day in the Minster, showing some of the Carol Singing and general merriment at that happy event. More in a couple of weeks. Happy New Year!

Come and Join Us!

Two of our Parishioners chatting after Mass last Sunday.

CHRISTMAS MASS TIMES.

Wednesday 14th December.
10.30 BCP in St John's Minster
7.30 pm, THE CAROL SERVICE in the Minster.
Please come early if you want a seat.

As usual until Sunday 18th December.
9.30 Sung Mass in the Minster
11.15 Sung Mass in St George's.
3pm THE CHRISTINGLE and NATIVITY PLAY
in St George's.

As usual until Saturday 24th December.
11.30pm, THE MIDNIGHT MASS in St George's.

Sunday 25th December.
10am Parish Mass in the Minster.

Monday 26th.
No Mass.

Tuesday 27th.
No Mass (County Hall shut).

Wednesday 28th.
Return to usual.

A Happy and Holy Christmas from us all at
Preston City Parish.

The 3rd Sunday of Advent in St George's Church, Friargate.