News

Deaneries

The Pastoral Plan made provision for the following new Deaneries in the Archdiocese.

Liverpool Central: Father Richard Ebo Metropolitan Cathedral All Saints [Blessed Sacrament Shrine] Our Lady of Mount Carmel & St Patrick St Anne & St Bernard St Francis Xavier St John the Evangelist St Michael & Sacred Heart St Sylvester St Vincent de Paul

Liverpool North: Father John Southworth Blessed Sacrament Holy Name Our Lady & St Philomena Our Lady Queen of Martyrs & St Swithin St Cecilia St Margaret Mary St Matthew St Oswald St Paul St Sebastian St Teresa St Timothy

Liverpool South: Father Joe Kendall Christ the King & Our Lady Our Lady of the Annunciation, Bishop Eton Our Lady of the Assumption St Ambrose St Anthony of Padua St Charles & St Thomas More St Christopher St Clare & St Hugh St John Vianney St Mary St Wilfrid

Isle of Man: Monsignor John Devine Our Lady Star of the Sea & St Maughold St Anthony of Padua St Mary & St Columba St Mary of the Isle & St Joseph St Patrick

Knowsley: Father Andrew Rowlands Our Lady Help of Christians Our Lady Immaculate & St Joseph St Agnes & St Aidan St Albert the Great St Aloysius St Columba & St John Fisher St Dominic St Joseph & St Laurence St Leo St Luke St Mary Mother of God St Michael & All Angels St Peter & St Paul

Lancashire: Father Graeme Dunne Our Lady Help of Christians, Tarleton Sacred Heart, Chorley St Agnes, Eccleston St Bede, Clayton Green St Catherine Labouré, Farington St Chad, Chorley St Gregory, Chorley St Joseph, Anderton St Joseph, Brindle St Joseph, Chorley St Joseph, Withnell St Mary, Chorley St Mary, Euxton St Mary, Leyland St Mary Magdalen & St Teresa, Penwortham St Oswald, Coppull St Oswald, Longton St Peter & St Paul, Mawdesley

St Helens: Father Martin Kershaw Blessed English Martyrs, Haydock Corpus Christi, Rainford Holy Cross & St Helen, St Helens St Anne & Bl Dominic, Sutton & Parr St Austin, Thatto Heath St Bartholomew, Rainhill St Julie, Eccleston St Mary, Birchley St Mary, Lowe House St Mary & St John, Newton-le-Willows St Mary Immaculate, Blackbrook St Teresa of Avila, Devon Street St Theresa of the Child Jesus, Sutton Manor St Thomas of Canterbury, Windleshaw

Sefton Coast North: Monsignor John Walsh Holy Family, Ince Blundell Holy Family, Southport Our Lady of Compassion, Formby Our Lady of Lourdes & St Joseph, Birkdale Our Lady of Victories, Hightown Sacred Heart & St John Stone, Ainsdale St Marie on the Sands, Southport St Patrick, Marshside St Teresa of Avila, Birkdale

Sefton Coast South: Father Ged Callacher St Francis de Sales, Walton St Helen, Crosby St James, Bootle St Joseph, Blundellsands St Mary, Little Crosby St Monica & St Richard, Bootle St Oscar Romero, Seaforth & Waterloo St Peter & St Paul, Crosby St William of York, Thornton Sefton Inland: Father Grant Maddock Holy Rosary Our Lady & the English Martyrs, Litherland Our Lady of Walsingham, Netherton St Benet, Netherton St Catherine of Alexandria, Lydiate St Elizabeth of Hungary, Litherland St George, Maghull St Mary & St Kentigern, Aughton & Melling St Robert Bellarmine, Bootle

Warrington + Widnes: Father Dave Heywood Blessed James Bell, Warrington Holy Family, Cronton Sacred Heart & St Alban, Warrington St Joseph, Penketh [St Mary’s Shrine] St Paul of the Cross, Burtonwood St Peter & St Michael, Woolston St Stephen, Orford St Wilfrid, Widnes

West Lancs: Father Leo Daley Our Lady & All Saints, Parbold OLA & St Bernadette, Standish & Shevington St Anne, Ormskirk St Elizabeth, Scarisbrick St James, Orrell St John the Evangelist, Burscough St Joseph, Wrightington St Richard, Skelmersdale St Teresa, Upholland

Wigan + Leigh: Father Gordon Abbs Holy Family, Platt Bridge Our Lady Immaculate, Bryn St Aidan, Winstanley St Benedict, Hindley St Catherine of Siena & All Saints, Golborne St Edmund Arrowsmith, Leigh St Edward the Confessor, Wigan St John Rigby, Atherton & Hindsford St Jude, Worsley Mesnes St Lewis, Croft St Margaret Clitherow, Boothstown & Leigh St Mary, Standishgate St Oswald & St Edmund Arrowsmith, Ashton St Wilfrid, Ashton-in-Makerfield St William, Wigan

News diary

If you’ve got any news from your parish that you’d like featured e-mail us with the details at: catholicpictorial@rcaol.co.uk

The Cafod Fun Run is back

After being forced to take this muchloved annual family run online last year due to the pandemic, the Cafod Fun Run is back for the 38th time and at the usual venue of The Mystery, Wavertree Athletics Centre, on Bank Holiday Monday 27 December. Local writer and Cafod supporter, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, is a regular at the family fun run and is keen to get his running shoes back on with his family. He said: ‘the Cafod Fun Run is a great cause but it’s also a great day. Every year I bump into someone (sometimes literally) that I haven’t seen for ages. That’s fun every year but this year in particular - after nearly eighteen months of only seeing people by arrangement - I think it’ll be something really, really special’. Cafod representative, Colette Byrne, said, ‘We are delighted to return to the Athletics Centre for the event. After missing out on coming together last year, people are really excited to get back to normal this year. ‘We will have social distancing measures in place and will be doing our best to keep everyone safe. We really want this to be a fun event for all of the family to enjoy. Please join us at this year’s event on Monday 27 December, all are welcome.’ Registration takes place at 10.00 am for an 11.00 am run. £5 child, £10 adult, £20 family. Contactless devices will be trialled, but maybe bring some back up cash just in case. There is a 3k and a 5k route which is pram friendly and dogs on leads are welcome. Gathering sponsorship from family and friends is strongly encouraged via www.justgiving.com/campaign/cafodchris tmasfunrun and general donations can also be made on this page. The Cafod Fun Run raises vital funds to help Cafod’s work with communities across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East to fight poverty and injustice. They are also used to support local experts who provide practical help in times of crisis and emergency, including helping people to rebuild their lives after natural disasters and the Coronavirus pandemic, and tackling issues associated with the climate crisis. For further information visit the Cafod Fun Run JustGiving page.

Help arrives in Gaza

As Christmas approaches and thoughts turn to the Holy Land the final total of £2,900 raised for the Gaza appeal in the June edition of the ‘Catholic Pic’ has arrived at the Rosary Sisters School in Gaza. The donations were sent to the Friends of the Holy Land and then on to the Latin Patriarchate. Sami El-Yousefi, CEO of the Patriarchate, took them directly to the Sisters last month. A tremendous amount of money which will make a huge difference. Thank you for your generosity.

LGBTQ+ Catholics Liverpool Archdiocese Prayer and Support Group

by Canon Steve Maloney

Inclusivity and diversity at many levels have been very prominent in the discussions and proposals in our Synod journey. In April 2021 Archbishop Malcolm shared with us in the Ad Clerum and then to our parishes the following words in response to the Dubium from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the blessing of same-sex unions: ‘It is important that we reach out to all our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters to show them that they have a place in the heart of our Church and the Archdiocese’. He went on to say, ‘we are a stronger and more powerful witness to Christ because of the presence of our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters and far from denying their experience and the reality of their lives we should learn from them and hear God speaking through that reality’. It is his hope, he says, that we may find new ways of expressing inclusivity to witness to the fundamental Gospel teaching that God’s love has no limits. Over several months I have had the privilege and blessing to have met with many LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families and their friends. Listening to their stories and their commitment to the Church has been very powerful. Sadly, so has their experience of rejection and hurt caused by the pronouncements the Church has made about them and how they identify and by homophobic attitudes within some parts of the Church community. During our conversations it was apparent to me that our LGBTQ+ Catholics do have a place in our Church and we are all the better for their presence and active involvement in our parishes. It also became evident that

This Cross was made by a friend of mine, Philip Patterson. The piece contains over 500 units of hand crafted wooden blocks, with the difference in shapes, sizes and colour to represent the diversity of Gods people. The middle section of the cross is a representation of the Progress Pride flag that brings the six coloured Rainbow flag which is recognised as the symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBTQ+) community. The piece includes black and brown chevrons to represent marginalised LGBTQ+ communities of colour along with the pink, light blue and white chevrons which are used on the Transgender Pride flag. The central piece of the cross which supports the flag is made of the same wooden block in bands of the liturgical colours of the Church. It is a very stunning piece of work. they would welcome opportunities to meet together in prayer and in social gatherings to support each other and share their experiences as members of the Catholic faith communities in which they live and worship. On Sunday 26 September in our parish of All Saints, we had Mass followed by a social gathering with Archbishop Malcolm and with those LGBTQ+ Catholics and families and friends with whom I had been meeting. It was a joyous occasion. Following further conversations, we are now looking to have regular gatherings for Mass, prayer and support of each other. This is not intended to be and indeed will not be a kind of an alternative Church. There are many different types of groups within our diocese who meet and find support for each and who focus on particular needs, as such, this group would be no different. Whilst the normal place of belonging is in the parish, a support group responds to a specific need. In time, as the group develops, we would hope to have days of reflection and spiritual and pastoral support, especially for those who feel unwelcome in the Church due to being LGBTQ+. The next Mass will be at All Saints, Anfield on Sunday 5 December at 12.30 pm followed by a social gathering. This is an open invitation to our LGBTQ+ Catholics, their families and friends but also to anyone who would like to come along. It would be helpful to know who might attend for catering purposes. If you are intending to come along you are very welcome but please do let us know Tel: 0151 287 8787 or email frsmaloney@aol.com

Archbishop and Bishop pledge support for Liverpool’s Good Food Plan as Cathedral hosts launch event

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon and his Anglican counterpart, Bishop Paul Bayes, joined forces last month to become the first city leaders to issue public pledges in support of a radical new strategy to tackle the ‘burning injustice’ of food poverty and create ‘a city where everyone can eat good food’. The Archbishop and Bishop of Liverpool each released a video pledge outlining how they would support the city’s Good Food Plan, ahead of a pledge evening at the Metropolitan Cathedral on 10 November. The hope was that they would inspire others to make their own pledges – be it as individuals, workplaces, communities or organisations. In his recorded message, Archbishop Malcolm described it as a ‘tragedy’ that such an initiative was needed, and announced a £5,000 donation from the Archdiocese’s charitable funds to support the work of Feeding Liverpool and the Good Food Plan. The Archdiocese underlined its commitment by hosting the pledge event at the Cathedral and providing temporary office accommodation for the Feeding Liverpool team. Feeding Liverpool is a charitable body set up by Churches Together in the Merseyside Region which today forms part of the city’s Food Insecurity taskforce. It co-hosted the event, which was presented by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Paul Beesley and supported by Liverpool Cathedral and the social justice charity Together Liverpool. Archbishop Malcolm said: ‘I am delighted that our Metropolitan Cathedral is hosting this pledge event for the Good Food Plan for our city as part of our commitment to supporting this important initiative, and that the Archdiocese is also providing temporary office accommodation for the staff of Feeding Liverpool as they work to support this new food alliance. ‘Many of our Catholic parishes and agencies already support food banks, food pantries and other local actions to relieve and prevent food insecurity and many of our Catholic schools regularly provide good food to children who would otherwise be hungry and ensure that all our children learn how to grow and cook healthy food. ‘Through our recent Synod process we have listened carefully to the joys and hopes, griefs and anguishes of the people of our area, and we are more determined than ever to reach out to those on the margins of our society. The Pastoral Plan will set out concrete actions that will change our ways of working to help us understand better the needs of those who go hungry and experience other forms of exclusion and to accompany them on their path to a better life. ‘We are already committed to ensuring all those we employ receive the real living wage and are able to work real living hours. Some of our church properties are already used to support initiatives which benefit the poorest in our communities and we are embarking on a review of all our buildings and land to ensure we are making the best use of them to serve our mission and enable creative partnerships with agencies which share our values. “The Archdiocese, along with our ecumenical partners, has supported Feeding Liverpool since 2014, at its inception, and as a further sign of our commitment, we will contribute an additional sum of £5,000 from our charitable funds to enable Feeding Liverpool’s work of co-ordinating the Good Food Plan. “It is a tragedy that such an initiative is needed in a wealthy country like ours, but as long as our sisters and brothers struggle under the burden of food insecurity and other forms of poverty, we will work with all people of good will to enable them to live with the dignity that is the right of every human being.’ The Good Food Plan is co-ordinated by the food alliance Feeding Liverpool and has backing from Liverpool City Council and a dozen other partners in the city’s Food Insecurity Task Force including the University of Liverpool, Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services (LCVS), St Andrew’s Community Network, Torus Housing and FareShare. Its initial focus is on tackling the immediate problems of acute hunger and the food insecurity which campaigners estimate affects over 30% of adults in the city. In his video Bishop Paul said: ‘As Christians, we believe food is a gift given from God to all human beings, not just to some. That one in every three adults in Liverpool are food-insecure – worrying about where they will get enough food to feed their families, skipping meals and at times going hungry – is a burning injustice. We cannot stand by and let this happen.’ Urging people to join the #goodfoodliverpool movement, he added: ‘Friends, when we stand alone this task of tackling injustice may seem too large, but each of us have gifts and talents to bring; when we work together we can bring about real change.’ Speakers at the Cathedral included Ian Byrne, MP for West Derby and a founder of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks’ Right to Food Campaign. He said: ‘Liverpool’s Good Food Plan is an important step in the right direction towards making this true for our city, but we need everyone in our community to come together in collective solidarity to make this possible.’

news diary A Kiss under the Mistletoe

by Neil Sayer Archdiocesan Archivist

Cards, crackers, decorated trees – the Victorians invented (or at least popularised) many of the Christmas traditions that we now take for granted. Though kissing under the mistletoe is a pagan tradition of much older date, this image seems to suggest the Victorians even invented the school Christmas disco.

Well before social media, the 19th century was an age of mass communication. The first Christmas card was sent in the 1840s, and improvements in printing technology and cheap postage courtesy of the Royal Mail meant that millions of cards were sent offering festive greetings to friends near and far by the end of the 19th century. The e-card is, in the minds of many people, a poor substitute today.

Bringing a fir tree indoors and decorating it with ornaments and candles was a German tradition imported by Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband. When the royal family’s Christmas was pictured in the new illustrated magazines of the time, the idea of a decorated tree really caught on. Many families will now have a favourite artificial tree brought down from the loft every year, but those baubles and fairy lights are in a long tradition.

And it’s the family aspect of Christmas that really appealed to the Victorians. Long-established as a public holiday, Christmas Day allowed families to be together. The Dickensian presentation of Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family in A Christmas Carol shows the sentimental side to Victorian notions of Christmas. Twee representations of children are certainly evident in this picture, dating from about 1880, which appears in a scrapbook, held in the Archdiocesan Archives, created by one of our Victorian priests.

Father Patrick Murphy was born in Wexford in 1845. He came to Liverpool following ordination and served as an assistant priest at St Alban’s before being appointed Rector of St Anthony’s on Scotland Road, where many of his congregation were themselves emigrants from the Emerald Isle. It seems to have been during his time at St Anthony’s that he indulged in another Victorian tradition, that of scrapbooking.

Essentially this provided a filing system for mementos and magazine cuttings, and you could share it with friends or review it in moments of solitary reflection. Pasting onto cheap paper things that took your fancy may have offered a means of ordering your life. Father Murphy collected cards, humorous anecdotes and illustrations relating to Irish country life, took an interest in newspaper accounts and engravings of the Paris Commune, and ensured the survival of some rare photographs of churches and priests of the Liverpool Diocese. He was also fortunate in being able to travel quite widely. He visited Germany for the Passion Play at Oberammergau, and he went to north America twice, the first time in 1879 in the company of Father Nugent, later well-known for his efforts at child protection in Liverpool; they spent Christmas Day at sea on the return journey. Photographs and souvenirs of these trips may be found in Father Murphy’s scrapbooks. He was very fond of poetry, especially of sentimental or political verse relating to Ireland. Not averse to a bit of rhyming himself, he published ‘Christmas Memories’ in 1870, including the lines:

‘This blessed, happy, Christmas night, My young heart homeward veers. For, circled round our Irish hearth, Are friends of boyhood’s years!’

Still relatively young, he returned to his mother’s house in Wexford after some years of illness and died there in April 1892.

Quarant’ore at St Patrick’s, Wigan

Obituary of Canon Michael O’Connor

St Patrick’s Church, Wigan, held a successful Quarant’ore to celebrate the Feast of Christ the King last month. It was the first time since 2016 that the devotion had taken place at St Patrick’s and the first occasion in decades where the hours of Eucharistic Adoration were unbroken and completed in full. The Forty Hours began at 6.00 am on Saturday Morning and continued until 10.00 pm on Sunday. Mass was offered on both days for deceased loved ones and there were opportunities for parishioners and visitors to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The full programme of events also included a Guided Holy Hour, led by Parish Priest, Father Ian O’Shea, on the Saturday evening. Additionally, a large number gathered to pray the Rosary together and the celebrations concluded with Night Prayer and Benediction. A steady stream of people visited the church over the weekend, including many young families. Those who spent the whole night and into the morning watching commented on the great blessings they felt they had received guarding Our Lord in church. Sadly, a number of parishioners who would have liked to have been there had to isolate due to the ongoing pandemic. To enable them to share the experience, all the main events were streamed over the Zoom platform and regular updates were shared to the church’s social media account. At the end of the celebrations, Father O’Shea thanked the army of volunteers who helped to clean, prepare and decorate the church and all those who came to worship in watching, private prayer and silent adoration. Pictures can be seen at the church’s Facebook page - search: ‘St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Wigan’.

Cannon Michael O’Connor, former Administrator of the Metropolitan Cathedral and Parish Priest of St Monica’s, Bootle for 22 years died on Saturday 30 October aged 95 and in the 71st year of his priesthood. Michael O’Connor was born on 2 September 1926 at Rathmore, Co Kerry, the son of Thomas and Nora O’Connor. He attended the National School in Shrone, then with the Christian Brothers at Tralee and began his studies for the priesthood at St Brendan’s Junior Seminary, Killarney. From Killarney he moved to Dublin to complete his major seminary formation at All Hallows’ College, where he was ordained priest on 17 June 1951. Following ordination, he was appointed as assistant priest at St Christopher’s, Speke, where he was to remain for nearly eight years. He then served for more than seven years at Christ the King, Liverpool. In November 1966 he transferred to the Isle of Man and spent a further seven years in the parish of St Mary of the Isle in Douglas. Whilst there he was heavily involved in the pastoral initiative ‘Call to the North’ and in youth work. From February 1973 he was also given pastoral responsibility for St Mary’s, Castletown. He gained the respect not only of his parishioners, but also of the clergy of other Christian denominations with whom he worked on Call to the North. Many on the island were moved to write to Archbishop Beck regretting Father O’Connor’s transfer to Kirkby in January 1974. He was appointed to English Martyrs in Kirkby, but his main responsibility was to oversee the foundation of a new parish, St Paul’s. He set about his task with great zeal, overseeing the construction of a new primary school, a 100-seat prefab church building and a presbytery. His tenure in Kirkby was all too brief. Taken aside by Bishop Harris after a service at the Cathedral in June 1975, he was informed that he was to succeed Monsignor Thomas McKenna as Administrator of the Cathedral. His parishioners at St Paul’s were dismayed at the news, writing to Archbishop Beck that ‘He is particularly gifted as a Pastor…He has endeared himself to us by his own friendly attitude and willingness to share in our life.’ Speaking to the Catholic Pictorial, Father O’Connor expressed mixed feelings about his new appointment. ‘I’m sorry to be leaving Kirkby and the new friends I have made. The place grows on you, like the warm-hearted people who live out here…they’re a great bunch. But I am looking forward to my new territory.’ In July 1975 he took up his appointment as Cathedral Administrator and the following April he was appointed as a Canon of the Metropolitan Cathedral Chapter. Among the major events that he had to oversee during his relatively brief administration were the visit of Her Majesty the Queen, during the Silver Jubilee year of 1977, and the funeral of Archbishop Beck in 1978. Following the latter, Archbishop Worlock was moved to write to him, ‘What was achieved was worthy of a great man and will have given new heart to many others.’ He took up his final appointment in September 1979, when he left the Cathedral for the parish of St Monica in Bootle. During his 22 years as parish priest, his longest appointment in the archdiocese, he was engaged in what he loved best, attending to the pastoral needs of his parishioners. In September 2001 he retired to his native Rathmore, where he lived for the remainder of his life. In June this year he reached a significant landmark in his priestly life, as he celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of his ordination. He died peacefully on Saturday 30 October 2021. His Funeral Mass was celebrated on Friday 5 November at the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Shrone, Rathmore, Co. Kerry, followed by burial in the churchyard. Canon Steve Maloney, Episcopal Vicar for sick and retired clergy, represented the archdiocese at the Mass.