On Shrove Tuesday, the Wigan Family of Parishes met at St Aidan’s Church, Winstanley to mark the end of Ordinary Time before the Season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday.

 

The Family of Parishes, which is made up of four parishes (seven churches), organised a joint celebration of Holy Mass, followed by a gathering in the parish centre where many pancakes were devoured!

 

Every one of the church communities and all the clergy came together for this joyful event. The Mass was enhanced by a music group created especially for the occasion, from every parish in the family.

 

At the start of Mass, a representative from each church processed ahead of the priests and carried forward a candle to represent their community.

 

In his homily, Fr John Causey, parish priest of both St Aidan’s and St Jude’s, expressed the joy of our communities coming together to worship and the importance of the Eucharist in our lives. It was fitting, then, that our first joint initiative as a Family, was a Shrove Tuesday Mass.

 

There was a great sense of togetherness – a number of people commenting on how it was lovely to rekindle old friendships and meet new like-minded people. One lady commented, “It feels like meeting up with cousins and extended family!” The pancakes and numerous toppings went down very well, and the bar was open too. It was the first ‘Mardi Gras’ in Wigan, hopefully the first of many. The Family continue their Lenten journey together, as Pilgrims of Hope, with a weekly service based around ‘We Dare to Hope’ produced by the Bishop’s Conference.