Ministries
Welcomes’ and Stewards
The way a person is received at the door of the church may affect their whole future relationship with Jesus Christ and the Church – no pressure!
Stewards fulfil a practical function in ensuring people are safely seated and have all the information they need to participate in the service as well as having a health and safety role in the event of illness, injury or emergency.
At a spiritual level, they must welcome each person as if they were welcoming Christ into his church. This means they must be warm and helpful but also knowledgeable about what is going on and who might help this person or family feel truly part of this part of the body of Christ at work on earth. To be fair, we are generally regarded as a welcoming place.
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist
A group of lay people are commissioned, after training to distribute Holy Communion within the Holy Mass and to take the Body of Christ in the Communion Host to the housebound and sick of the parish. This is a profound privilege and is held in high esteem.
It is one of the founding activities of the apostles who after they had broken bread rushed out of their worship to share it and serve those who were sick, or in prison, without shelter or hungry and to proclaim the Word of God, remembering that ‘whatever we do to the least of these, we do to Him’.
Being an Altar Server at St Mary’s or St Anthony’s (The Guild of St Stephen)
Any boy or girl can be an Altar Server: all they need to have done is their First Holy Communion – so from about eight years old.
If your child is interested in Serving on the Altar please speak to Fr John, or the stewards.
A training programme takes place over six evenings at the start of the school year to help young people begin this ministry and we know that having a role enriches their experience of the Mass
Readers (Lectors)
Members of the Community who offer themselves to proclaim the Word of God to the community at Mass or other worship fulfil a precious service. Many already have skills at speaking in public and have little need to be trained although training is offered and support is given. The sharing of the word to the people is different to any other speaking role a person may have and needs careful and prayerful preparation.
If you would like to be a reader please contact the parish office.
Ministry of Music
St Augustine said that ‘when we sing well, we pray twice’.
If you sing or play an instrument, we are always looking to support a vibrant parish music capability, not just for Sunday worship but also for weddings and funerals.
Our worship tis enhanced by good music and singing and if God has given you a talent (or you have one developing), surely you should be using it to praise God as much as take part in the local show!
Techno Disciples
With our technological capabilities, we always need people to competently help us make the very best use of what we have been given. To ably broadcast or stream a service, it is necessary to know. like a server what should be happening where and when. Our ability to live stream has included people who are sick or housebound who were effectively cut off from the community. This was one upside of Covid that we found solutions to problems we already had, by accident of divine gift. If this is something that interest you, please get in touch with the parish office.