Liturgy Group

The Liturgy group was formed in the Parish over twenty years ago. Its main function is to make our worship more meaningful, and to bring the community closer to each other and to our God.

The celebration of the Eucharist - the Mass - is the central focus of its work. Highlighting the word of God, the sharing of bread at the Lord's table, the use of appropriate music the decorating of the church and the creation of a welcoming environment: these are the types of issue considered by the group.

How do I get involved?
Meetings, at which all are welcome, take place in the Parish Centre. At these meetings in the parish whose activities contribute to the liturgy, including the Eucharistic Ministers, Readers, Children's groups. Music and Art groups. They all come together to share their experiences and try to make our liturgies more interesting and fulfilling to all.

Altar servers

This ministry is provided by a team of young people between the ages of 8 and 25. The team has a proud history - an old Bishop's visitation report once noted that throughout the whole of the second world war, not one Mass was left without a server, and that subsequently no fewer than 15 servers had become priests!

The serving team exists to enhance the liturgy by providing the Parish with a high quality of ministry on the sanctuary during the liturgy.

Young people are invited to join at any time after they have made their first holy communion. An initial training session is held about once a year, after which the new servers join the team and slowly master the various tasks that are to be performed. Servers are expected to be punctual, reliable and take care over their appearance. They commit themselves to serving at any Sunday Mass on a rota basis and occasionally on Holy days and at weddings, funerals etc. After about six years of this sort of "apprenticeship" servers may become Senior Servers, from whom are drawn the MC for each Sunday Mass and the main servers for the year's more important services. We are currenty developing training for Senior Servers and MCs. The Serving Team is led by the Parish MC and supervised by a co-ordinator.

Welcomers

We have had a long tradition of this practical ministry, sometimes called "ushers" - in recent years we have put an emphasis on their role in the ministry of welcome.

It is important that no one should visit our church and leave feeling that nobody even said 'hello' to them. Welcomers are often able to spot, and therefore to welcome appropriately, both visitors and new parishioners.This is why a small but dedicated group of people stands in the Narthex week after week and greets everybody with a smile and a word of welcome. In addition to this, these people take on many 'front of house' duties such as giving out bulletins, providing drinks of water and acting as a first point of contact for enquiries.

Music Groups

The Parish always had a traditional choir, which sang at the 10.30am Sunday Mass. In 1978 a "folk group" was started at the 12.00pm Mass. Over subsequent years, these two groups worked closely together to form a common repertoire, and came together for major feasts. They have evolved into the music groups we have to day.

We place great value on the importance of music in our liturgies. The action of singing together can be both enjoyable and spiritually rewarding, as it is an activity that joins together the prayer of all worshippers to make a communal song of praise to our God. All the music groups in the parish have as their central aim the strengthening and sustaining of the congregation's prayer in song, which plays such a significant part in the life of our community.

We have singing every week at the 09h30 and 11h30 Sunday Masses.The two groups combine to provide music at the celebrations for the major feasts of the Church. The singing groups practice together every Wednesday from 20h00 to 21h00 in the Church.

Readers

Since the reforms of the Liturgy, the Parish has needed a steady supply of readers. to proclaim the Word of God effectively to the Parish community.

Readers are needed to proclaim the Word of God during Sunday and weekday Mass, as well as at the Church's major feasts. The Parish has a list of those who are willing to read on a regular basis on Sundays and other major celebrations, and they serve on a rota basis. Some training is provided and readers also take part in general events for all Parish ministries.

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

The first extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion were created in 1973 but it was not until our Archbishop gave general permission for Communion under both kinds in 1986 that the need for a much larger number of ministers arose. They assist with distribution of Holy Communion at Mass and to the sick and housebound.

Vivienne Lake co-ordinates the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Currently there are 51 ministers. A significant number of the group has been ministering for many years, while in recent months, new ministers have been Commissioned. New ministers are recruited by Fr Patrick's invitation and formally Commissioned by the Archbishop of Southwark.

At the present time, thirteen sick or housebound members of the community are visited weekly and nineteen monthly, but these numbers can fluctuate. Twenty ministers are required each weekend, of whom ten take out holy Communion. When unable to fulfil a duty, ministers are expected to find a replacement. Attempts are made to ensure that ministers visit different people, although some do have "regulars". While the primary purpose of the visiting is to bring the Eucharist to those who are sick or housebound, the caring element is also present. Ministers note signs that all might not be well (no answer at the door, curtains drawn etc) and report these to Fr Patrick, or if necessary, to the competent authority. Ascertaining the condition and needs of those visited is also something that ministers are encouraged to do.

Family Mass

The first Family Mass in the Parish was in 1980, and a group was formed to plan and facilitate these liturgies. After a short period of inactivity, we have revived our tradition of the Family Mass being the 09h30 Mass on the first Sunday of the month.

The Family Mass is intended to enrich our worship by providing a liturgy which is more accessible for families, particularly those with young children.

The Family Mass group meets before each Family Mass to plan all aspects of the service, including readings, prayers, music and artwork, co-ordinating with the Liturgy Group, Music groups and others.

Children's Liturgy of the Word

This group was first formed in the early 1990s and was recently re-launched, having been inactive for some time.

Its aim is to extend the understanding of children aged from 4 to 11 by inviting them to participate in an alternative Liturgy of the Word at the 09h30 Sunday Mass.

The children leave the main part of the church from the beginning of the Mass up to the Procession of Gifts and are divided into two age groups: 4-6 and 7-11. Each group uses resource material designed to make the week's readings useful and intelligible to children of that age. On a Sunday morning each group is led by at least two catechists from the larger pool of people who meet to plan the work of the group.

Art Group

The Art Group started in the Parish over twenty years ago when a small group was formed to enhance our liturgy by using visual media.

The Art Group works under the co-ordination of the Liturgy Group to enhance our Parish liturgical celebrations, especially during major feasts and seasons.

The role of the Art Group is to imagine and create beautiful and thought provoking decorations for the church which illuminate and deepen our liturgies. Our main activity comes in preparation for Advent and Christmas, and for Lent and the Easter season, at which times we try to co-ordinate with the other liturgical groups to present the themes of the season in a unified way.

. . The Group meets in advance of these times to plan and design, and then holds workshop sessions at which the actual hangings, banners and other items are made.
View some of our creations on one of our members' personal website.

Church Cleaners

There have always been volunteers who regularly make sure our Church is kept clean. Early visitation reports often remark on how successfully this has been done.

The Church Cleaners enhance our liturgy by keeping the Church clean and tidy.

A dedicated group of volunteers get together once a week to keep our Church clean and tidy. They also make a special effort at major feasts, especially Easter. The tasks range from vacuum cleaning to brass-polishing. Some of them have been doing this for many years! They meet after Mass on Monday morning.