News
Decisions Made At The Provincial Chapter
As an outcome of our Provincial Chapter held on Monday 7th - Friday 11th September 2020 some changes have been made to our community;
- Br Patrick Mulligan moved to Oxford on November 11th 2020.
- Br Michael Welch came to Chester from Pantasaph as Guardian.
- Br Loarne Ferguson came from Oxford on November 11th 2020.
There will be more changes in April 2021 and these will be announced when they are confirmed at a later date.
Prayer Intentions
We welcome to our community and Parish Br Cezary Szczesniak who will stay with us for a year. Please keep him in your prayers.
We are also asked to pray for these intentions: New Members of the Church; Vocations; The Right Use of the Media; The Church, Human Work.
Gift Aid 2020/21
For those people not taking part in the Gift Aid Scheme, or those regularly completing the white individual envelopes each week, if you wish to participate in the scheme and obtain a box of weekly envelopes please complete and date the special form and hand it to the parish priest. For every £1 donated by a taxpayer the Parish can claim 25p from H M Revenue & Customs. Please let us know if your circumstances change and you are no longer a taxpayer.
Chester Pastoral Forum
After the initial meeting of the ‘Chester Pastoral Forum’ which took place on 22nd October 2018 we have decided to improve the communication between the Catholic Parishes in Chester. From this week onward on our parish noticeboard next to our parish newsletter we will put the newsletters from all other parishes, so every our parishioner would be able to see what is going on in Catholic Parishes in Chester. On our website we have added links to the Chester Church websites below.
Links to Chester Catholic Church Websites
- St Clare's Catholic Church, Downsfield Road, Chester, CH4 8HH
- St Werburgh's Catholic Church, Grosvenor Park Road, Chester, CH1 1QJ
- St Columba's Catholic Church, Plas Newton Lane, Chester, CH2 1SA
- St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, 128 Blacon Avenue, Blacon, Chester, CH1 5BU
Holy Days Of Obligation 2021
Click on this link to the Liturgy Office for further information and a list of Liturgical Dates.
| Date | Holy Day (click on the name to find out further information) Weekday Mass Times - 12 Noon in English and 7.00pm in Polish | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 17th February | Ash Wednesday | ||
| Sunday 4th April | Easter Sunday | ||
| Thursday 13th May | Ascension Of The Lord | ||
| Sunday 23rd May | Pentecost | ||
| Sunday 6th June | Corpus Christi - The Body and Blood of the Lord | ||
| Tuesday 29th June | St Peter & St Paul | ||
| Sunday 15th August | Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary | ||
| Sunday 31st October | All Saints | ||
| Friday 25th December | Christmas, the Nativity of Our Lord | ||
Feast Days
The 'Feast Days' page has been added to the main menubar. There is now a direct link to the Wiki page for each feast day. Just click the name to open up the information in a new tab.
See Feast Days
| Date | Feast Day (click on the name to find out further information) |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 19th January | St. Wulstan Bishop, c1008 - 1095 |
| Wednesday 20th January | St. Fabian Pope, 236 - 250 |
| St. Sebastian Martyr, cAD 256 – 288 | |
| Thursday 21st January | St. Agnes Virgin Martyr, c291 – c304 |
| Friday 22nd January | St. Vincent Deacon, Martyr, 3rd century - c304 |
| Sunday 24th January | St. Francis de Sales Bishop, Doctor of the Church, 1567 – 1622 |
| Monday 25th January | The Conversion Of St. Paul Apostle, AD 34–37 |
| Tuesday 26th January | St. Timothy Bishop, Martyr, cAD 17 - cAD 97 |
| St. Titus Bishop, 1st century AD - 96 or 107 | |
| Wednesday 27th January | St. Angela Merici Religious Educator, 1474 – 1540 |
| Thursday 28th January | St. Thomas Aquinas Priest, Doctor of the Church, c1224 – 1274 |
| Date | Names |
|---|---|
| 18.1 | Marion Adelaide Virdi (2010) |
| 19.1 | Alethea Griffith (2005), Phillip Smith (2003) |
| 21.1 | Anthony Comerford (2005) |
| 23.1 | Mary Winifred Pritchard (2010) |
| 24.1 | Kenneth James Barnes (2010), Anna Jensen (2004), Michael O’Leary (2001), Catherine McHugh (1974) |
| 25.1 | Annie McCarthy (2005), Kenneth Vickers (1998) |
| 27.1 | Noel St. John-Williams (2011), Bernadette Eaton (2002) |
| 29.1 | Nancy Banks (2005), Hanna Keller (2001), John Wildig (1997) |
Sick Parishioners
Please let us remember our sick parishioners in our prayers:
Terry Halpin, Kath Heffeman, Barbara Edwards, Kevin Roberts, Margaret Davis, Hilary Linty, Patrick Hannah, Elle Mae Dunne, Elaine Bruce, Colin Williams, Christopher Browne, Gill Wright, Emma Noble, Veronica Comerford, Julia Milan, Eleanor Milan and Colette Lazenby.
Franciscans In Chester: St Francis' Church and Friary Photographs Wanted
They say that a photograph is worth a thousand words. We are currently looking for any photographs of St Francis Church and St Francis Roman Catholic school in Cuppin Street, 'the Sisters' (ie the Faithful Companions of Jesus from Dee House) or other teachers and pupils at the school. Any photographs used will be credited, scanned and made available on-line as part of the history of St Francis School and Church. Please pass any photographs in and envelope with your name, address and a contact number to one of the Brothers. We will simply scan which photographs we wish to use and pass them back to you.
The book can be found by clicking on a new tab on the top menu called 'History'. It was originally published in 2000 to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the consecration of St Francis’s church in Chester and the 125th anniversary of its opening.
A guided tour of the church was published on our website last year and the full book has now been digitally published over the last twelve months setting out the Catholic and Franciscan history which gave rise to the church, friary and parish.
The book has been brought completely up-to-date with new pictures and topics in this digital edition. Be sure to have a look at our 'History' page and discover the origins of our beautiful Church.
Virtual Church Tour
Our virtual Church tour is now live and accessible via the 'TOUR' tab on the far right of the menu bar or by clicking 'Tour' on the Latest News item. Please have a look and let the other people know how interesting and informative it is. We found it fascinating and learnt so much about St Francis Church and it's history. Alan, Peter and Bernard have done a great job with the tour. We are sure that people all over the world would enjoy a virtual tour of our beautiful Church.
Prayers Web Page
We have set up a very special web page on our internet site which records all the anniversaries of family and friends who have died in the Parish. Throughout 2016 we will be updating this page adding dates of death and special epitaphs.
The page says the following; 'Prayers are requested for those whose anniversaries occur this month. May they Rest In Peace.' Due to the size of the list and the work involved in updating the list, names will be added to the web page each month during 2015 as the year progresses. It is also possible to include the date of death and a short personalised epitaph for your loved ones which will be displayed next to their name. To add relatives, dates or a personalised epitaph to the anniversary list please email to information to; stfrancis.chester@gmail.com We will try to update your information as soon as possible but please allow up to 28 days for the website to be updated.
See Prayers Web Page
The Order Of Mass: Printable Leaflets
We have included an on-line link to the printable 'Order Of Mass' leaflets from the Liturgy Office website which we will leave on our website as a 'Useful Link'.
Here is a direct link to the web page The Order of Mass Printable Leaflets