Ascension : Church News
Submitted by The Islander (Islander Editors) 12.05.2011 (Article Archived on 26.05.2011)

You might all be wondering what is happening with regards to a new priest for St.Mary’s, well the question was raised with Bishop John Salt

St. Mary’s Church

 Ascension Island (Diocese of St.Helena)

ST.MARY’S—ASCENSION

You might all be wondering what is happening with regards to a new priest for St.Mary’s, well the question was raised with Bishop John Salt before he retired and we know that he did a trawl of various contacts that he knew, but unfortunately it would appear that he was unsuccessful in finding a new priest for Ascension. The matter has since been raised on a number of occasions at Diocesan Council meetings but it would appear that we have still been unsuccessful in finding a priest for St. Mary’s. The matter will be raised again when the new Bishop, Bishop Richard Fenwick, takes up  post and hopefully we will have some success this time.

As you are no doubt aware, St. Mary's Parish is within the Diocese of St Helena but is a totally self supporting parish. We receive no financial help from elsewhere and the only income is from church collections, donations and fund raising. We have recently invested in some better quality furniture for the Vicarage, as the existing furniture is now rather tatty and some of it infested with wood worm and termites, we also need additional hymn books (unfortunately a number have disappeared over the years) and new altar frontals (they have shrunk and are falling to pieces). The choir robes are also very old and some of them are beginning to fall apart. We will also need to have sufficient funds to support a new priest when he arrives.

From the above, it can be seen that your support is still very much needed. We know that the number of persons on the Island have dropped over the past years and we also know that people are now very cautious over what they spend their money on, and of course Ascension is a very expensive place to live on, but St.Mary’s will always need your support if it is to remain functioning as a self supporting parish. We would therefore ask you to be generous with your support for this year’s Ascension Day Fair and to give whatever help or support that you can. Please remember, that St.Mary’s Church is there for your benefit and for the benefit of God’s work on Ascension. GOD BLESS  YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUING SUPPORT!

Service for Sunday—15th May 2011

The service for Sunday, the Third Sunday after Easter, will be a celebration of the ‘Eucharist without a Priest’. The service will start at the usual time of 10.30am.

Have a safe and blessed week.