Latin Vigil Mass is offered on Saturdays at 6pm, all welcome. This is a chance to worship together in the language of the Church for over 1700 years and an important, powerful reminder of our link with past worship and the whole Church throughout the world. It also restores a long-standing Christ Church custom.
UPDATE ON THE HEATING SITUATION
Currently, one of our boilers has broken down and the other is struggling under the strain to heat the church properly. Our plumbing firm have deemed repair impossible, due to the boilers age.
Replacing them with new gas boilers is not permitted, due to Net Zero 2030 commitments made by the General Synod & Diocese of Chichester. Churches which have ignored this have been ordered by the Diocesan Chancellor to remove the new gas boilers at their own expense, and install carbon neutral heating.
The most recent estimates for a Net Zero compliant systems are a minimum of £250,000. This is a huge sum, especially in the context of Christ Church continuing to lose c.£35,000 every year due to a lack of enough income to cover expenditure.
We are exploring alternative firms and options for repair, and also investigating the possibility of an exemption to the binding Net Zero commitment. However, even if this is possible the costs will run into £10,000s. We will update as soon as we have any progress, but in the meantime we will all need to keep dressing warmly for church!
Pruning the Vine – At the last PCC meeting, trustees reviewed all aspects of the life of Christ Church to assess what was bearing fruit and where we want to focus our energies over the coming year.
This is part of the longer process to set an ambitious but well-resourced and sustainable Mission Plan to take us to 2030. One of the things we identified was that some of our small groups haven’t worked as we hoped, and so we will be pausing the Fishers of Men & the Magdalenas this year, as well as Sunday Scripture Seekers & rethinking the Damascus Runners, as we continue to explore other ways of deepening our faith and common life together.
Many thanks indeed to all those who have put so much time and effort into these ministries over the past 18 months.
News
Annual Parochial Church Meeting Sunday 15th February after 10:30am Mass c.12noon - PCC & Churchwarden Nominations - Do speak to Fr Thomas if you would like to stand for nomination to the PCC or as a Churchwarden.
Andre Martin RIP - Andre's funeral Mass will be offered at 12:30pm on Wednesday 11th February
Palm Crosses – Please can you bring any palm crosses from home to be burned to make the ash for Ash Wednesday. Thank you.
Morning Prayer & Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament begins at 10am before the Sunday Sung Mass, to encourage more people to properly prepare for the Mass in prayer. Everyone is welcome to come into the Sanctuary to join in the prayers, or join from their seats: there are sheets at the entrance to follow the service.
Monthly Prayer List: This is renewed each month. Names can only be submitted using the forms at the back of church or by emailing the parish office, and will remain for one month.
Help with Welcome and HospitalityIf you’re interested in helping to welcome people to Christ Church at Sung Masses and major events events please sign up at the back of church and speak to Jane Hart, who is now coordinating our Ministry of Welcome.
Parish Saturday Sale Meeting - We will be holding a meeting at c.12:30pm after Parish Mass on Sunday 8th February, this is to discuss the Sale the day before and talk about proposed changes.
These sales are an important part of Church life raising between £400 - £800 a month for Church funds. Run with a community feel. We aways welcome new helpers on the Friday before the sale helping setup and on the Saturday itself helping at a stall. If you'd like to enquire about helping please email the Parish Office enquiries@christchurchstleonards.co.uk . Thank you.
Palm Crosses – Please can you bring any palm crosses from home to be burned to make the ash for Ash Wednesday. Thank you.
Morning Prayer & Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament begins at 10am before the Sunday Sung Mass, to encourage more people to properly prepare for the Mass in prayer. Everyone is welcome to come into the Sanctuary to join in the prayers, or join from their seats: there are sheets at the entrance to follow the service.
Monthly Prayer List: This is renewed each month. Names can only be submitted using the forms at the back of church or by emailing the parish office, and will remain for one month.
Help with Welcome and HospitalityIf you’re interested in helping to welcome people to Christ Church at Sung Masses and major events events please sign up at the back of church and speak to Jane Hart, who is now coordinating our Ministry of Welcome.