Liverpool Shrine

October Weekend on the Eucharist

Posted by on Sep 15, 2014 in Liverpool Shrine | 0 comments

We will be hosting a team of Lay Eucharistic Evangelisers from Glasgow and Dublin who will present our programme Life  In The Eucharist (L.I.T.E). Life in the Eucharist Programme is specifically designed to introduce a faith community to Eucharistic spirituality and practice. It is presented by a team of trained lay people under the direction of a Blessed Sacrament Religious and Priest. This will be an opportunity to experience the programme and the hope is that from this encounter a team might be formed here in the shrine. Friday 17, early evening session, Saturday 18, day session, Sunday 19 afternoon session; participation  in all the sessions is recommended to get the full benefit form experience. Look out for poster and how to register for the programme towards the end of...

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Retiring Collection for Haiti

Posted by on Jan 27, 2010 in Liverpool Shrine, NEWS | 0 comments

The Blessed Sacrament Shrine wishes to thank its churchgoers who have generously responded to the retiring collection for Haiti at all the masses last weekend, January 23-24, 2010. The total amount collected was £2,330.00. Thank you very...

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Mass to conclude Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Posted by on Jan 22, 2010 in Liverpool Shrine, NEWS | 0 comments

The Blessed Sacrament Shrine in 4 Dawson Street Liverpool invites all to the 12.10 Mass on Monday, 25th January 2010, as a concluding Mass of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Canon Christopher Cook, Vicar of St. Agnes, Liverpool is the preacher. All are...

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Anniversary of the Dedication of The Shrine

Posted by on Nov 27, 2009 in Community, Liverpool Shrine, NEWS | 0 comments

Today the S.S.S. Community at Liverpool celebrates the Solemnity of the Anniversary of the Dedication of The Shrine.  (In some modern liturgical commentaries this celebration is often referred to as the “Forgotten Solemnity”; overtones, perhaps, of when the Holy Spirit used to be referred to [in pre- Conciliar days!!] as the “Forgotten Paraclete!!” The Rite of Dedication of a Church and an Altar (Ordo dedicationis ecclesiae et altaris) was celebrated at The Shrine [canonically “oratory”] of the Blessed Sacrament, Dawson Street, Liverpool, by the Most Reverend Derek Worlock, C.H., Archbishop and Metropolitan of Liverpool, on Wednesday, 27th November, 1985.    “The rite for the dedication of a church and an altar is rightly considered to be among the most solemn of all liturgical services.  A church is the place where the Christian community is gathered to hear the Word of God, to offer intercession and praise him, and above all to celebrate the holy mysteries, and it is the place where the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is kept.  Thus it stands as a special kind of image of the Church herself, which is God’s temple built from living stones.  And the altar of a church, around which the holy people gather to take part in the Lord’s sacrifice and to be refreshed at the heavenly meal, stands as a sign of Christ himself, who is the priest, the victim, and the altar of his own sacrifice”. “Since sacred edifices, that is, churches, are permanently set aside for the celebration of the divine mysteries, it is right for them to receive a dedication to God.  This is done according to the rite for dedicating a church, a rite impressive for its striking ceremonies and symbols.” Dedicationis ecclesiae   “There is much even in an ‘empty’ church that can help people to pray, and pray well.  In our busy world of today the mere opportunity to be in an ‘empty’ place, a place of refuge, of peace and silence, provides a chance to relax and seek to make sense of our daily lives in a building redolent of the eternity of God.” Consecrated for Worship Bishops’ Conference of England and...

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Theresian Day

Posted by on Aug 19, 2009 in Liverpool Shrine, NEWS | 0 comments

On Wednesday, 23rd September, 2009, a special Mass will be celebrated in the Shrine of the Blessed Sacrament, Dawson Street, Liverpool, in honour of St. Therese of Lisieux, at 12.10 pm, by Fr. Frank Gallagher, O.C.D.  At 2.00 pm Father will give a Talk on St. Therese followed by a Question and Answer Session in St. Joseph’s Hall, below the...

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In my Liverpool Home

Posted by on Mar 5, 2009 in Liverpool Shrine, NEWS | 0 comments

In the late 1950s the Archbishop of Liverpool, Most Reverend John Carmel Heenan, invited the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament into his Diocese. Fr. Emile Berthiaume, S.S.S., local Superior of the Leicester Foundation went to meet His Grace at St. Augustine’s Oratory, Great Howard Street, in Liverpool’s dockland, the church the Archbishop had offered. It was always envisioned that this church would be a stepping stone to having a city centre church. When Fr. Berthiaume arrived at Great Howard Street the Archbishop was already awaiting him in the Presbytery who, on meeting Fr. Berthiaume, was somewhat embarrassed and apologised to him for having offered the Congregation this property. Until this moment the Archbishop hadn’t seen the place and was himself appalled at the poor condition of the house! In the late 1960s the then incumbent Rector of St. Augustine’s Oratory, Fr. Francis J. Ripley, later a Canon of the Liverpool Cathedral Chapter, felt himself sufficiently recovered from a bout of ill-health to return to full pastoral responsibilities, and had requested the Archbishop, Most Reverend George Andrew Beck, A.A., to do so. Fr. Ripley was acquainted with out Institute’s desire to have a Foundation in Liverpool’s City Centre, and himself felt that St. Augustine’s would give us a foothold in the Diocese and in City of Liverpool for us to be able to negotiate better our future. Moreover, by having a desirable option to present his own case to the Archbishop would help his leverage to return to full pastoral ministry! Subsequently the Archbishop wrote to us and, Father Thomas Arthur McNevin, S.S.S., a solicitor by profession, who successfully had made foundations in the Archdiocese of Westminster and the Archdiocese of Dublin, took up the cudgels to pursue the prospect of a Liverpool Foundation. Fr. McNevin was keen to embrace the opportunity of a Foundation in Liverpool because it was (and remains) numerically the largest diocese in England & Wales. He felt for our ministry to be effective a large practising Catholic population was required. Moreover, he hoped it would be a source of many vocations to our Institute. Besides, the London project had been put “on hold” due to various circumstances. The recently opened (1967) Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King more or less made the Pro-Cathedral of St. Nicholas a redundant church next to the main rail line station near Lime Street. Liverpool Corporation was anxious to build on the site where the Pro-Cathedral was located a Royal Mail Sorting Office. In negotiations the Archbishop surrendered his Pro-Cathedral to the Corporation with a proviso that “the Blessed Sacrament Fathers, if they so wish, would be accommodated with a church building in the proposed redevelopment of Clayton Square shopping sector in the City Centre”. This information Fr. McNevin always spoke of and it was printed annually in the free pocket Diaries which were given to patrons of St. Augustine’s each New Year during our tenure there. It is astonishing that when the time arrived for the development of the shopping area in Clayton Square no legal document could be found either by our Institute or by Liverpool Corporation or by the Archdiocese! By then Fr. McNevin had returned to his native Australia where he died on 3rd November 1980. Yes, despite many obstacles – not least from within St. Ann’s Province -the Congregation made a Foundation of St. Augustine’s Oratory, Great Howard Street, Liverpool, the first community members arriving late December 1970 and early 1971. By this time the property of 44 Great Howard Street had been condemned by civil authorities as “unfit for human habitation”! One of the...

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