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Church Cleaning

We have a stalwart group of parishioners who routinely give of their free time to help keep the church looking clean and tidy. We are very grateful to these people for their contribution, but as with most things, more volunteers are always needed. If you could spare an hour or two, usually on a Friday, once every couple of months, then please contact Sarah King who manages the cleaning rota, or speak to Fr Paul. Sarah can be contacted using the church cleaning email address on the contact form.


Readers

In the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, the term "lector" or "reader" can mean someone who in a particular liturgy is assigned to read a Biblical text other than the Gospel, the reading of which, at Mass, is reserved specifically for an ordained deacon or priest. This lay ministry is held in high esteem by the Church. Before Vatican II only men who had been ordained to this Minor Order were allowed to read at Mass. Since Vatican II the Church has allowed lay men and women to proclaim God’s Word, but the role of the lector at mass is no less important than before.

Readers should remember they are proclaiming the Word of God and as such should always carry out their ministry responsibly, with dignity and respect.

Our readers at Mass are drawn from volunteers across the parish who want to partake in this ministry. Coaching and guidance can be provided if required to help younger or more nervous individuals unaccustomed to speaking in public. The readers, and the scheduling of their duties, are managed by Martin Pakes. If you would like to be considered to join this lay ministry at St Mary Magdalens, please contact Martin using the contact form or speak to Fr Paul.

The current schedule for our readers is posted in the Narthex.

Following the raining day for readers and Eucharistic ministers on November 16th, 2024, revised document describing the norms for readers to follow when ministering at Mass can be found here and should be read and followed by every minister.

Church Flowers

We have a few ladies - no gentlemen but no reason why not! - who look after the purchasing and arranging of flowers in the church to ensure the sanctuary always appears at its best. We are always looking for additional volunteers who can help with this task - if you have a skill in flower arranging, or just an interest and would be keen to practice and learn, then please get in touch with Linis Dolby who looks after the flower team to discuss how you can get involved. Use the contact form to send a message to Linis or speak to Fr Paul.

The rota for the flower arrangers is pinned on the notice board in the narthex or can be downloaded here.

Offertory Procession

The offertory procession is the ceremonial presentation of the gifts of bread and wine by volunteers from the congregation to symbolise the desire of the people that the priest offer the sacrifice of the Mass on their behalf - it is not only the priest who is offering the Mass but everyone present.

The procession with gifts symbolises that we are all participants in the offering of the Mass as the perfect sacrifice to the Almighty Father. In return for our offering, Jesus becomes really present under the signs of bread and wine, just as He promised.

At St Mary Magdalens, we have a rota of volunteers who wish to be involved in this important part of the Mass. If you would like to volunteer to join this team, please speak to Martin Pakes or use the contact form to send a message to the Offertory Procession email address.

The duty rota for offertory processions covering the Sunday Masses is pinned on the notice board in the church porch, or can be read by clicking here.

Altar Serving

In the recent past, we have suffered from a shortage of altar servers at St Mary Magdalens as some of our older servers moved away to attend higher education at universities and sadly younger replacements have not been forthcoming. An attempt is being made to turn this around and Fr Paul is actively engaging with our young people, male and female, to encourage them to participate in the church's liturgies in this important way, and so contribute to the whole community's participation in a more fruitful worship of God.

If you, or your children, would like to become altar servers at St Mary Magdalens, please speak to Fr Paul or use the contact form. Ongoing training will be provided over time to allow our altar servers to take increasingly more responsible roles in our services and provide them with a greater understanding of what they are doing so that they may serve with increasing reverence and prayerfulness and thereby be led to a deepening response to their vocation in life.

Upkeep & Maintenance

We attempt to carry out all necessary maintenance and upkeep of the parish property and grounds using volunteer labour and skills available from within the parish. We have a stalwart core group of people who have proved very effective at getting things done but, as always, these are few in number. We are always wanting more people to get involved. We are always looking out for new skills or trades available within the parish who are willing and able to give of their time and talents to help with the upkeep of the church, the presbytery, the hall and the grounds. Are you a plumber? a carpenter? an electrician? a builder? do you have gardening skills? or are you unskilled but happy to give of your time to help? We would love to hear from you.

Please speak in the first instance to Fr Paul, Jim Poll or use the contact form to get in touch.

Sunday Coffee

Teas and coffees are available in the new Garden Room after 10:00 Mass each Sunday morning. We have a small team of parishioners, male and female, who provide this service in teams of two each week, taking turns approximately once every 5 weeks. More helpers are always needed so if you would like to help in this way, or have any questions or suggestions, please speak to Val Croker or get in touch with the organisers using the contact form.

The rota for this duty is pinned to the notice board in the church porch or you can download and read it here.

Church Choir

The choir at St Mary Magdalen Church is an amateur group which was established with the sole aim of encouraging people to sing. There is no formal membership or audition process and we encourage anyone who likes to sing to come along and join us in a very relaxed and informal way. The choir currently sings at 10 am mass once a month and meets for a practice session on the Wednesday before. The practice session gives the choir the opportunity to try out the hymns for that week so that we can smooth out any highs and lows. If you love to sing and hear St Mary Magdalens full of joyful music then you are most welcome to join us. Please use the contact form to get in touch.

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

An “extraordinary” minister of Holy Communion is a lay person, who has been carefully chosen, prepared and commissioned, within a particular parish or chaplaincy, to assist the “ordinary” minister with the distribution of Holy Communion both during and outside of the Holy Mass. The use of the term ‘extraordinary’ has a technical meaning. It simply means ‘out of the ordinary’, rather than ‘great’ or ‘remarkable’. It is used to distinguish the ‘extraordinary’ minister from the ‘ordinary’ or ‘normal’ minister. The ‘ordinary’ ministers of Holy Communion are ordained ministers - Bishops, priests and deacons.

An Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, often referred to as a Eucharistic Minister, may be required at Mass to assist the celebrating priest with the distribution of Holy Communion - either to allow the faithful to receive Holy Communion under both kinds or where, without assistance, the Communion Rite would be unduly long.

Outside of Mass, an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion may be required to assist the priest to administer Holy Communion to the sick or housebound, to expose and repose the Blessed Sacrament or to assist at a Celebration of Word and Holy Communion in the absence of a priest to celebrate Mass.

At St Mary Magdalen church, the commissioned Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion assist the priest at Sunday Masses on a rota basis. The schedule is issued to individual ministers, is displayed in the narthex and the names are shown against the Sunday Masses in both the parish newsletter and the parish web site. A document describing the norms for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to follow when ministering at Mass can be found here and should be read and followed by every minister.

If anybody would like to volunteer to join the commissioned Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion at St Mary Magdalen church, in the first instance please speak to Fr Luke or use the contact form.

Children's Liturgy Group

He said to them,“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

The recently started Children’s Liturgy group is now well established and is proving to be very popular with our younger parishioners. We have three catechist who are leading these sessions with a number of other people supporting them.

At St Mary Magdalens, we run a Children's Liturgy class during the 10:00 Mass each Sunday. The children go into the Guild Room, after the opening address from the priest, where they take part in a session led by one of our catechists. Each session is based upon a simplified version of the Gospel of the day and includes activities for the children to join in, before returning to the church at the offertory to show the congregation at large what they have been doing.

It would be ideal to have at least one more person who is prepared to lead a session on Sunday mornings during the 10:00 Mass, meaning each catechist would only have one session per month, and giving greater depth of cover for when people are unavailable. If you feel you could help in this ministry, please contact one of the existing catechists, send an email to [email protected] or use the contact form on this web site.