Parish Newsletters
25th Sunday of the Year (A)
23 September 2023
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
Prayer of St Thomas More used regularly by Pope Francis.
Grant me, O Lord, good digestion and also something to digest.
Grant me a healthy body and the necessary good humour to maintain it.
Grant me a simple soul that knows to treasure all that is good and that doesn’t frighten easily at the sight of evil, but rather finds the means to put things back in their place.
Give me a soul that knows not boredom, grumblings, sighs and laments, nor excess of stress because of that obstructing thing called “I”.
Grant me, O Lord, a sense of good humour. Allow me the grace to take a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy and to be able to share it with others.
St Thomas More
24th Sunday of the Year (A)
16 September 2023
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
There is a lesson for us all today in
forgiveness. A parable in the Gospel of the unmerciful servant highlights this - someone who refuses to forgive and his forgiveness is taken away. Clearly, the master represents God and the servant represents us. We are supposed to treat each other the way that God treats us, with forgiveness.
22nd Sunday of the Year (A)
2 September 2023
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
After St Peter’s great profession of faith that we heard last weekend, today we shall learn the cost of being a disciple. It is no easy invitation: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
16th Sunday of the Year (A)
23 July 2023
THOUGHTS FOR THIS WEEKEND
In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, Jesus tells three important, and key, parables to his followers.
He does so, fulfilling the prediction of a prophet, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world”.
We do not know who the prophet was to whom Matthew refers but there are similar words in Psalm 78, “I will open my mouth in a parable and utter hidden lessons of the past”.
The Parish of Haigh, Aspull & Blackrod
Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was founded in the mid 1850's and is part of the R.C. Diocese of Salford. The Church was blessed and opened in 1858, the year of the apparitions of Our Lady at Lourdes. The Church was re-ordered in the 1990's and several new stained-glass windows were installed, some made in Blackrod, and are an interesting feature of the Church.
Holy Family Parish, New Springs, was funded from Our Lady's in 1898 and in 2009 clebrated the Golden Jubilee of its Church. The community of Blackrod, Bolton, had a chapel-of-ease from 1960 to 2009 when St. Andrews Church Hall was closed.
All three areas - Haigh & Aspull, Blackrod and New Springs are now served from Our Lady's.
Rev Kevin Foulkes
48 Haigh Road
Aspull
Wigan WN2 1YA
TEL: 01942 516732
Mass Times
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
6.00pm
9.30am
11.15am
9.15am
9.15am
9.15am
9.15am
9.15am
11.00am
Haigh
Haigh
Holy Family
Haigh
Holy Family
Haigh
Holy Family
Haigh
Haigh
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday
11:30 - 12 noon
As announced
Haigh
Holy Family
A Parish History ~ 1858-2018
Mr Livesey & Mr West have worked with local parishioners to produce a book about the history of our parish and school, they have kindly allowed us to reproduce an electronic version of their book, available on the Parish Page, CLICK HERE to read it.
If you would like to purchase a hard copy of the book CLICK HERE
Forward...
It is a privilege and honour to write the forward to the Parish History of Our Lady’s Parish, on its 160th Anniversary.
It has also been a privilege and honour, and a pleasure, to serve as Our Lady’s Parish Priest since 1997 – following in the footsteps of my twenty-six predecessors.
Saint Peter writes ‘He is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house.’ (Peter 2:3-5)
We are the living stones of this Christian community – commissioned as ‘missionary disciples’ to be Christ’s ‘ambassadors’ (St. Paul Cor. 5:20) in loving witness, worship and service to our community.
There have been many changes over these 160 years – in the Church, Society, Education and the design of Our Lady’s Church. The priests and people of Our Lady’s Parish have experienced many joyful family and Parish celebrations but also wars, peace, poverty and economic depressions, through twelve Pontificates and six Reigns – and we too are facing a challenging time for the Catholic Church. Blessed John Henry, Cardinal Newman wrote that ‘To live is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often’.
And so, building on and celebrating our heritage – the stones of Our Lady’s Church, and the ‘living stones’ of our dedicated, faithful and often courageous priests, parishioners and teachers in our Parish School we can face the future with confidence. We do so knowing that Jesus, Our Risen Lord, has promised to be with his Church forever. (Matthew 28:20)
I commend this publication to be read and enjoyed by everyone.
Many thanks to Phil Livesey and Neil West for their initiative to begin and to bring this book to completion and to all who have collaborated with them, with their own very interesting and often amusing memories! God bless you all.
Fr Kevin C. Foulkes
