Welcome to the website of St Mary's Parish Horwich.
The parish church of St. Mary's is situated on Chorley New Road, Horwich. The Parish Priest is Father Henry Jones who was ordained 43 years ago and has been with us for more than twenty years.
The presbytery is 86, Chorley New Road, Horwich
We are a FREE TRADE PARISH
 
PARISH GROUPS AND ORGANISATIONS

         Liturgical Ministries
Altar Servers
Apparitors
Sacristans
Children's Liturgy of the Word
Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion
Musicians
Readers
Welcomers
 
Parish Groups
CaFE Team
CAFOD
Children's Sacramental Programme Team
Knights of Saint Columba
Ramblers
REVIVE
Rosary Group
Social Committee
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul
 
Other Volunteers
Altar Flower Arrangers - ladies who decorate both
churches with special emphases on Christmas, Easter and Harvest time.
APF Red Box Collectors
Catholic Family Care Link
Child Protection Representative
Church Cleaners - men and women who keep both churches
in pristine condition
Deanery Representatives
Garden Maintenance
Financial Team - Accounts, Records and Gift Aid
Piety Stalls - at both churches
Pro-Life Link
School Foundation Governors
Free Trade Representative
 
A Message to the People of St Mary's Horwich, Our Lady's Haigh and Holy Family, New Springs.
Each parish whether in Horwich, Haigh or New Springs remembers a story which stretches back many generations, to times of building new churches and schools, to the arrival of new priests to the struggles and hardships of distant years. And beyond these memories we remember the faith and generosity of the Catholic people of this area which in times of new industries and growing population helped to build the churches, parishes and schools we can almost take for granted. We can only remember their sacrifices with gratitude, but all they once did for us reminds us we have, in our own time, challenges to meet.
The Bishop has asked the three Catholic communities centred on Horwich, Haigh and New Springs to work together in a way that can build up and sustain the life of the Catholic Church today and for generations to come. We're conscious that these parishes served at present by three active priests, will soon be served by two priests and with the number of priests falling year on year, will eventually be served by one priest. This invites us to renewed prayer and openness of heart to vocations to the Priesthood in our parishes and families; the priests needed for tomorrow. But this changing situation also invites each of us to a new generosity in contributing what we can of ourselves to the mission of our parishes and to making the changes necessary to ensure the life of the Church not only continues but will grow stronger.
In a similar way, to those who built up the life of our parishes in the past when there were sometimes few priests and many practical problems, we need, above all, to know where our faith and hope is placed. We need to grow closer to Jesus Christ Our Lord realising, "without Him," as St. Paul wrote, "we can do nothing." This will surely be the most important challenge of the changing times we face, the need to renew our faith, to be a people more truly Catholic, at one with the faith of all the Church. In this way whatever changes we make will be well-founded.
 
And just as our parishes first helped each other in their founding years so we need again to work together today and draw strength from working together towards meeting the practical challenges of our time. As your Parish Priests we cannot set-out a blue-print anticipating every detail of the changing times ahead, but we can promise today to work together and invite all of you, the Catholic community of this area, to work together with us.
One of the first things we propose is from time to time to change places on Sundays so we can get to know each other across the three parishes. So don't be surprised to occasionally see a different priest on Sunday! We also wish to make the links between our three communities a practical one by organising a joint newsletter every month so news and events from across our Catholic community can be shared. We also want to express very visibly the relationship between our parishes by literally walking together on Saturday 28th March undertaking a walk from New Springs via Haigh to Horwich, praying for the future life and mission of the Church in our area, raising funds for the poorest and hopefully enjoying the experience!
May these first efforts bring us more closely together to meet not only our neighbouring priests and each other but to draw closer to Him who has called us to serve Him in this time, with all its problems and possibilities. May we leave for generations to come the witness of our faith in "Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever."
Father Jones, Father Foulkes & Monsignor Davies.
 

 

 

At present, the website has up to date information on:
 
Mass times and services
News Items
Forthcoming Events
Churches Together in Horwich with forthcoming events
 
The website is in need of information for the following pages:
 
Sport
Social Groups
Prayers
Also photgraphs would be welcome (digital or other)
 
If you have any information that you would like to contribute, please go to the Contact Us page and send an e-mail with the details.