News
Prayer Intentions
During Advent and Christmas Time we are asked to pray for these intentions:
- Openness to the Word of God
- Migrants and Refugees
- Expectant Mothers
St Francis Carol Service: Sunday 23rd December 2018
A Carol Service in our Parish will be held on Sunday the 23rd December at 2 pm in our parish hall, followed by tea, café and cakes. Please come and join us. Everybody is welcome.
Christmas Eve Mass Carol Service: Monday 24th December 2018
Everyone is invited to our Church Carol Service on Christmas Eve at 7.30pm, followed by the Night Mass of Christmas at 8.00pm.
Christmas 2018 Services at St Francis, Chester
Fourth Sunday in Advent - Sunday 23rd December
- 6:30pm (Saturday) - Mass in English
- 8:00am - Mass in English
- 9:45am - Family Mass in English
- 12:00pm - Family Mass in Polish
- 2:00pm - St Francis Carol Service
- 4:30pm - Mass in Polish
- 7:30pm - Carol Service
- 8:00pm - Night Mass of Christmas
- 12 Midnight - Night Mass of Christmas in Polish
- 8:00am - Dawn Mass of Christmas
- 9:45am - Day Mass of Christmas
- 12 Noon - Mass of Christmas in Polish
- 4.30pm - Mass of Christmas in Polish
- 10:30am - Mass in Polish
- 12 Noon - Mass in English
- 6:30pm (Saturday) - Mass in English
- 8:00am - Mass in English
- 9:45am - Family Mass in English
- 12:00pm - Family Mass in Polish
- 4:30pm - Mass in Polish
- 12 Noon - Mass in English
- 4:30pm - Mass in Polish
- 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
Christmas Eve - Monday 24th December
Christmas Day - Tueday 25th December
St Stephen's Day - Wednesday 26th December
Holy Family Sunday - 30th December
Our Lady, Mother of God - Tuesday 1st January 2016
Chester Pastoral Forum
After the initial meeting of the ‘Chester Pastoral Forum’ which took place on 22nd October 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
Holy Days Of Obligation
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 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) |
|---|---|
| Friday 7th December | St. Ambrose (Bishop) c340 – 397 |
| Saturday 8th December | The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Sunday 9th December | St. John Diego Cuahlatoatzin |
| Tuesday 11th December | St. Damasus (Pope) c305 – 384 |
| Wednesday 12th December | Our Lady of Guadalupe |
| Thursday 13th December | St Lucy c283 – 304 |
| Friday 14th December | St John of the Cross c1542 - 1591 |
Mass Intentions
| Date | Time | Intention |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 7th December | 12:00 noon | Elizabeth and Jessica RIP |
| Saturday 8th December | 12:00 noon | Friars and Benefactors |
| Vigil Mass | 6:30pm | Tony and Peggy McHugh |
| Sunday 9th December | 8:00am | Parishioners |
| 9:45am | Peter Jackson RIP | |
| 12:00 noon | Polish Mass - Intention of Donor | |
| 4:30pm | Polish Mass - Intention of Donor | |
| Monday 10th December | 12:00 noon | Andrej Domanski RIP |
| Tuesday 11th December | 12:00 noon | St. Anthony’s Guild |
| Wednesday 12th December | 12:00 noon | C. Withers |
| Thursday 13th December | 12:00 noon | Arthur Wright |
| Friday 14th December | 12:00 noon | Anne’s Mother RIP 6th Anniversary |
| Saturday 15th December | 12:00 noon | C.M.A. |
Anniversaries
Prayers are requested for those whose anniversaries occur this month ✟ Requiescat in Pace ✟
| Date | Names | |
|---|---|---|
| 7.12 | Mary Agnes Cotter (1998) | |
| 8.12 | Joan Ledsham (1998) | |
| 9.12 | James Eaton (2003) | |
| 10.12 | Kathleen Mahony (2009), Adela Taylor (1999) | |
| 12.12 | Catherine Withers (2002), Eileen Catherine Phillips (2001) | |
| 14.12 | Joan Badrock (2000) | |
To view anniversaries for the whole year visit our Prayers Page
Collection
| Type | Amount | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collection: | £ 451.67 | ||||||||
| Gift Aid: | £ 356.10 | ||||||||
| Total: | £ 807.77 | ||||||||
Notice of Second Collections
| Date | Second Collection |
|---|---|
| 1st-2nd December 2018 | We collected £452.27 for Caritas Shrewsbury |
Gift Aid Scheme
Joining the scheme - for those people not taking part in the gift aid scheme, or those regularly completing white envelopes each week, if you would like to participate and obtain a box of weekly envelopes then please see Fr Jarek after Mass. Please note you need to be taxpayers to join. For every £1 donated by a taxpayer the parish can claim 25p from HM Revenue & Customs. Tax status - please note that if you are currently part of the scheme and no longer pay tax would you please let Fr Jarek know, otherwise it will be assumed that you have paid sufficient income tax for the parish to claim the tax on your donations.
Sick Parishioners
Please let us remember our sick parishioners in our prayers:
Angela Crowe, Terry Halpin, Arthur Wright, Anne Daly, Kath Heffeman, Barbara Edwards, Kevin Roberts, Margaret Davis, Hilary Linty, Patrick Hannah, Elle Mae Dunne, Elaine Bruce, George Jones, Colin Williams, Christopher Browne, Gill Wright, Christina North, Emma Noble, Marie Charlesworth, Veronica Comerford, Julia Milan and Eleanor Milan.
Receiving Holy Communion Practical Instruction:
For all of you who decided to receive Holy Communion on the tongue and while kneeling please come forward and take your place on the kneelers straight after the priest have received The Body and Blood of Christ. The priest will come to you with the Body of Christ.
For all of you who decided to receive Holy Communion in the hand please come forward as it was in procession after the priest finished distribution at the kneelers.
Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff: Communion Received on the Tongue and While Kneeling
From the time of the Fathers of the Church, a tendency was born and consolidated whereby distribution of Holy Communion in the hand became more and more restricted in favour of distributing Holy Communion on the tongue. The motivation for this practice is two-fold: a) first, to avoid, as much as possible, the dropping of Eucharistic particles; b) second, to increase among the faithful devotion to the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
There is the leaflet at the back of the church with more information and explanation on this subject. Please take and read it.
A copy of the leaflet is now available by clicking this link;
'Communion received on the tongue and while kneeling'
Redemptionis Sacramentum states: “it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing” (91). Although Mgr. Guido Marini, the Papal MC, has said that the Holy Father’s preference for communicants to receive Holy Communion on the tongue whilst kneeling better sheds light on the truth of the Real Presence in the Eucharist, he did so “without taking anything away from the other”, i.e. from standing to receive Holy Communion on the hand, where this is permitted (see the L’Osservatore Romano, 26 June, 2008).
GIRM 161. Permission for Communion in the hand for England and Wales was given 6 March 1976. Redemptionis Sacramentum reads: “Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice, if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand, in areas where the Bishops’ Conference with the recognitio of the Apostolic See has given permission, the Sacred Host is to be administered to him or her. However, special care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to the faithful”
This Norm together with the General Instruction of the Roman Missal also provide choices which each recipient is at liberty to make: to receive the Sacred Host in the hand or on the tongue, either standing or kneeling.
Practical Instruction: For all of you who decided to receive Holy Communion on the tongue and while kneeling please come forward and take your place on the kneelers straight after the priest have received The Body and Blood of Christ. The priest will come to you with the Body of Christ.
For all of you who decided to receive Holy Communion in the hand please come forward as it was in procession after the priest finished distribution at the knee.
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.
The Journey in Faith Group (RCIA)
The Journey in Faith Group (RCIA) meet each Wednesday at 6:45pm in the Church. This group is meant, not only for those interested in becoming Catholics, but also for practising Catholics who would like to deepen their faith.
Thursday Prayer Group
We are so grateful to God that for over a year now we have been meeting weekly to pray, to reflect and to share. We pray for our parish and our country in the sacramental presence of our Lord. We reflect on inspired readings and most of all on God’s Word. We share our thoughts and life experiences as Christian brothers and sisters. You are more than welcome to join in weekly, or biweekly or just once in a while when you can make it on Thursday evenings from 6:30 p.m. in the choir of the friary. Entrance is through the green friary door.
If you have questions call deacon Peter on 07497 752272. See you there!
The Rosary: 11:30am Monday - Friday
The custom of praying the Rosary as a family is strongly encouraged, even if it is just to say one decade. In our Parish, the rosary is recited at 11:30am, Monday to Thursday, and all are welcome to join in.
Eucharistic Adoration at St Francis Church
Every Friday from 11.00 am – 12 noon and after Mass until 3.00 pm
Also Saturday from 11.00 am – 12 noon
Divine Mercy Prayer Group
Our Divine Mercy Prayer Group is held every Wednesday 3:00pm in the Church.
Youth Group for 10 - 14 Year Olds
Our new St. Columba's and St. Theresa's youth group, began meeting on Monday 9th October 2017, from 7.15 to 9pm. The group will meet on the second Monday of each month in the Iona Chapel, at the back of St. Columba's church, then move over to the church hall. Each session will have a relevant theme, lots of faith based activities, games and fun, ending with prayers. If your child would like to join please email Anthony Hunt on Hunta@christofidelis.org.uk for more information, the consent form and so we can get refreshment numbers.
Shrewsbury Youth Mission Team
Dave Burke from the Shrewsbury Youth Mission Team introduced the work of the team at our Sunday masses on Sunday 8th April 2018. He explained their vision to encourage, empower and equip the young people, and youth leaders of the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
They continually plan an exciting calendar of events, from regional evenings of music and games, to larger national events like Lourdes, Flame and World Youth Day. This is as well as providing on the ground support of Confirmation Retreat Days, Youth Leaders Training Courses, workshops and training within Schools and much much more!
All the information about the team can be found on their website. www.symt.org.uk
Details of their Lifeteen Summer Camp UK #LTCAMPUK have been posted on our news and events pages. Their website has also been included in our useful links.
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
Diocesan Vacancies
Catholic Teachers Meeting: Tuesday 15th January 2019
Are You A Catholic Teacher But Not Teaching In A Catholic School? Your Diocese Needs You!
The Department for Education wants to recruit as many Catholic teachers to its schools as possible, and is aware that across the Diocese there are a number of Catholic teachers who are not currently or have never worked in a Catholic school. Sometimes making the transition back to Catholic education can be perceived as being difficult and therefore we would like to offer support to those teachers who are considering returning to the Catholic sector or would like more information on the appointment process in our schools.
We are holding an informal session on Tuesday 15th January 2019 at Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, Capenhurst Lane, Ellesmere Port, CH65 7AQ from 6 – 7.30 pm. If you would like to attend or want further information about returning to Catholic education, please e-mail Sue Jenkinson on sue.jenkinson@dioceseofshrewsbury.org
Caritas Shrewsbury
Caritas Shrewsbury currently have 2 vacancies: Family Support Social Worker and Refugee Project Worker. Both positions are part-time, and a great opportunity for the right person. For further details and an ApplicationPack, please contact us: www.caritasshrewsbury.org.uk/news/job-vacancies/ / Tel: 0151 652 1281 / Email: info@caritasshrewsbury.org.uk
Adverts for the positions of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Finance Officer for the Holy Family of Nazareth Catholic Academy Trust, are displayed on our notice board.
When available, job vacancies are also advertised on the Diocese of Shrewsbury website here.