The month of August is dedicated to The Immaculate Heart of Mary
TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
31 AUGUST 2025
| Sat 30 Aug | |||
| St. Theresa’s | 5.00pm | Parishioners’ Intentions | |
| St. Columba’s | 6.30pm | Mary Ible RIP | |
| Sun 31 Aug | |||
| St. Theresa’s | 9.30am | John Albert Hodkinson RIP | |
| St. Columba’s | 11.00am | Caroline Okolie | |
| 2.00pm | Kerala Catholic Community Mass in Syro-Malabar Rite | ||
| Mon 1 Sep | Day of Special Prayer for the Care of Creation | ||
| St. Theresa’s | Peter Lane RIP | ||
| St. Columba’s | 10.30am | Mary Ible | |
| Tue 2 Sep | |||
| St. Theresa’s | Priests’ Intentions | ||
| St. Columba’s | Private Intention (CT) | ||
| Wed 3 Sep | St Gregory the Great, Pp, D. Feast | ||
| St. Theresa’s | Private Intentions | ||
| St. Columba’s | 9.30am | Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament | |
| 10.15am | Novena Prayers | ||
| 10.30am | Joseph Francis | ||
| Thu 4 Sep | |||
| St. Theresa’s | Special Intentions | ||
| St. Columba’s | Priests’ Intentions | ||
| Fri 5 Sep | |||
| St. Theresa’s | 10.00am | Karen Reid RIP | |
| St. Columba’s | The Parish | ||
| Sat 6 Sep | |||
| St. Theresa’s | 5.00pm | Kathleen Baxter RIP | |
| St. Columba’s | 6.30pm | Mary Ible RIP (MGC) | |
| Sun 7 Sep | |||
| St. Theresa’s | 9.30am | Parishioners’ Intentions | |
| St. Columba’s | 11.00am | Tony Walsh RIP | |
| 2.00pm | Kerala Catholic Community Mass in Syro-Malabar Rite |
LIVE STREAMING OF MASS
Mass will be streamed at St Theresa’s on Sunday 31 August at 9.30 a.m.
Cover is needed at St Columba’s for occasions when Tim is unavailable. (St Theresa’s have a volunteer) The only requirement is you need to have an iPhone. If you would be willing to help with this, please contact one of the church offices. Thank you.
www.facebook.com/thecatholicparishofstcolumbaandsttheresa
RECENTLY DECEASED
Please remember in your prayers: Mary Ible and Anthony Walsh. Mary Ible’s Requiem Mass is on Monday 8 September at 12 noon at St Columba’s. May the Lord console their families and friends.
ANNIVERSARIES
John Albert Hodkinson, Winifred McGlown, James Donnelly, Peter Lane, Julia Sheila Ring
POPE’S AUGUST PRAYER INTENTIONS
For mutual coexistence. Let us pray that societies where coexistence seems more difficult might not succumb to the temptation of confrontation for ethnic, political, religious or ideological reasons.
CONFESSIONS
There will be Confessions after each weekday Mass until 11.30a.m.
St Columba’s: From 6p.m. before the 6.30p.m. Saturday evening Mass.
St Theresa’s: From 4.30p.m. before 5p.m. Saturday evening Mass.
WEDDINGS, BAPTISMS AND FUNERALS
Please contact one of the Parish Offices to make your arrangements.
PARISH OFFERTORY
Loose Plate: £442.12; Planned Giving:£356.60; Average weekly SO £718.15; Candles £42.60
PRAYING TOGETHER
- Pray for the residents of Lumley Road, Demage Lane, Willow Close, Hillside Road, Belvedere Drive, Furne, Road, and Morton Road.
- For our senior schools: Upton High School, The Catholic High School and Bishops High School. For all teachers especially those working in RE departments.
- For all young people attending these schools, especially those from our congregations.
ST COLUMBA’S OFFICE
Office hours at St Columba’s are: 8.00am to 2.15pm, Monday to Thursday.
Office will be closed on 1 September. Urgent matters will be dealt with through the kind services of Carol Galvin 9.00a.m to 12.00pm.
ST COLUMBA’S COFFEE ROTA
The coffee rota is on the noticeboard in St Columba’s all. Just write your name, charity and phone number on the calendar. But if you can’t access the hall, leave a message on Margaret Curtis’s answerphone on 01244 318424 with your name and date(s) and she will add you to the rota.
31 Aug Sue McCarthy, SVP
07 Sept volunteers please
14 Sept volunteers please
CHURCHES TOGETHER FIFTH SUNDAY SERVICE
The next CTU Service is TODAY, Sunday 31 August at 4.30 at the URC Church on Heath Road. The theme is “A Short History of hymns”. It should be very enjoyable with a short social time afterwards. Please come to represent St Columba’s.
FRIENDSHIP THURSDAY SEPTEMBER
Friendship Thursday begins again on Thursday 4 September from 2- 4pm in the parish hall. Come for an afternoon of friendship, chat and sometimes, a guest to listen to. Bring a friend or two- it’s open to anyone. Refreshments, with suggested donation of £2. For information ring Lyn 07735574397
CHILDREN’S LITURGY
The Children’s Liturgy is normally on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month. This month, that will be 7 Sept and 21 Sept at the 11.a.m. mass at St Columba’s Church. See the parish website for further news.
YEAR OF THE JUBILEE 2025 MASS
Pope Francis gave this year’s Jubilee the theme of ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ and invited Catholics everywhere to renew our hope and discover a vision that can “restore access to the fruits of the earth to everyone”. A special Mass to celebrate our faith and renew our hope for the future is to be held in St Columba’s church on Thursday 18 September at 7pm followed by refreshments in the hall. All parishioners are encouraged to attend.
In the words of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster “May our prayer in this Jubilee Year be robust and heartfelt: that God will guide our poor efforts here, enabling us to contribute to the harmony of the world and all its people”.
FIRST COMMUNION PREPARATION CLASSES
These classes are for children who come to either St Columba’s or St Theresa’s churches but do not attend one of the RC Primary Schools. They are held in the Newman Room at St Columba’s on Wednesday evenings in term time from 5pm to 6pm. The classes will begin on Wednesday 24 Sept. If you have a child in Year 3 or above who would like to enrol to join these classes to prepare for First Forgiveness and First Holy Communion this school year, or if you would like any further information, please contact Pauline Payne by email pauline.payne4@btinternet.com
DIOCESAN JUBILEE EVENTS
Jubilee Evangelisation Event Sharing Hope with a Broken World with guest speaker Mark Saunders on Saturday 13 September 10.30am-2.15pm at St Joseph’s Eucharistic Shrine, Tatton St, Stockport SK1 1EJ. To book email: natalie.orefice@dioceseofshrewsbury.org
Jubilee for Catechists with Bishop Mark Davies, the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph and Natalie Orefice, Diocesan Director of Evangelisation and Catechesis. On Saturday 15 November at St Joseph’s Eucharistic Shrine, Tatton St, Stockport SK1 1EJ. Book a free place here: https://bit.ly/Jubilee-for-Catechists
FAITH EXPLORATION AND SHARING
For any parishioner not yet in full communion with the Church but interested in exploring a way to that, beginning in September the parish will be running the Sycamore course explaining the Catholic faith. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact deacon Lawrence for more details. If you know someone you think might be interested why not offer some words of encouragement.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
Nothing comes from doing nothing. William Shakespeare
FISH AND CHIP BABIES KNITTING PROJECT
If you have any double-knitting wool to spare, we now need more for the babies in NE Africa. Please arrange to hand it to Margaret Curtis, thank you.
PARISH YOUTUBE CHANNEL
The Pastoral Council would like to offer Mass live streamed on our YouTube channel. To do this, at no cost to us, we need a minimum of 50 subscribers. We would be very grateful if parishioners could subscribe to the channel which can be found on YouTube as: St Columba and Theresa RC Church Chester. Even if you are unlikely to use the service, please do subscribe to benefit others.
PARISH WEBSITE
If anyone has an item that they would like to have on the website, please contact Lyn Coyle, who is the parish liaison with the website manager. These items must be about parish-based events or information. marilyn.coyle44@gmail.com
WELCOME TO OUR PARISH
If you are NEW TO THE PARISH, please complete a Parish Registration Form and send (or bring) it to either parish office to let us know that you are here and enable us to welcome you. Forms can be found in the front porches of both churches and on the website https://sscolumbaandtheresa.co.uk/i-am-new/. Thank you.
ST WERBURGH AND ST COLUMBA’S PRIMARY SCHOOL
Our much-loved Headteacher is due to retire in December 2025, and we are looking to appoint a new Headteacher for our happy, vibrant, and successful Primary school. The Governors are looking to appoint a committed and practicing Catholic, an ambitious, dynamic, and inspirational leader who has the vision to continue to drive the school forward. If you are interested in this position, please click on the link for more information and the application pack.
ST. WERBURGH’S 150TH ANNIVERSARY
This will be celebrated in December this year. Details of events in the coming week are on the notice board in both churches.
MASS INTENTIONS (ST THERESA’S)
If you would like a Mass saying, please put the name of the person the Mass is for and the date you would like it in an envelope along with the donation. Please also put your name and a telephone number so that we can contact you if the date you requested is unavailable. Thank You.
FOOD BANK DONATIONS – MORE NEEDED
Donated food is taken to the West Cheshire Foodbank at Ellesmere Port every fortnight. The warehouse is usually fairly full but recently the crates have been half empty. The volunteers confirmed that they have had to buy in supplies out of their limited resources. The donation receipt book shows our parish donation weighing 20.6 kgs but another entry showed that 403kg of food had to be purchased at Costco. If you can, please give as generously as possible, especially UHT milk, Longlife juice, curry sauce, tinned spaghetti and chocolate A look at the Foodbank website (westcheshirefoodbank.org.uk) indicates where there is a need for particular items. Thank you so much. Your generosity makes all the difference.
MARRIAGE HELP
Retrouvaille helps couples find hope and healing for their marriage. Next date: 17-19 Oct. www.retrouvaille.org.uk Tel: 0788 7296983
SUNSET CAFÉ PROJECT
Chester Townhouse, the Hospitality Hero and Soul Kitchen Chester have launched the Sunset Cafe inside the Chester Townhouse Hotel, Lower Bridge Street from 11a.m. to 3p.m. every Friday until the end of September. This is a live training cafe aiming to educate, train and support individuals stepping back into employment. We would be delighted if any parishioners or visitors in town on a Friday were able to visit the cafe to support this project.
ST COLUMBA’S CHURCH & HALL BOOKINGS
To arrange meetings etc. in either the Church, Newman Room, or the Iona Chapel, please book through Magdalena Bukowska, St. Columba’s Church Office, phone: 01244 624019, email: stcolumbaschurch2016@outlook.com. Office hours Monday to Thursday 8a.m. to 2.15p.m.
Hall availability can be checked by looking at St Columba’s Church website – section for Church Hall gives a calendar of events in the Hall. Then contact Magdalena Bukowska on 01244 624019 for enquires within the office hours stated above or email columbashallbookings@gmail.com to arrange booking.
NEXT WEEK’S NEWSLETTER
Sunday 7 September edition will be compiled by Rebecca Vaughan Phone: 01244 318632 or email: rebecca_vghn@yhahoo.co.uk by 9.00 a.m. on WEDNESDAY 3 September 2025. Please include a phone number in case of queries, and please ensure that notices are also emailed to Fr William at st.theresas@btinternet.com.