News & Views
We are pleased to report that with your help and the help of English Heritage, Wigan Township Forum, Councillors, our story has been told, we have been featured in The Catholic Herald, The Tablet, The Times and our local newspaper, the Leigh Journal who by your and their intervention have recognised our plight and have supported us throughout our campaign so far. We have together managed to forestall the imminent demise of our Church and Presbytery in that the Charity Commission has not accepted the Scheme submitted by Liverpool Archdiocese to wavier the Church Deeds to accommodate its sale and or demolition, in either case the land would have been made available to developers. It is not quite clear where the proceeds would have eventually ended up, although it has been suggested that St. Richard’s, Atherton could well have been a beneficiary.
We will continue to raise our profile as members of the Parish Council and urge you all to support us in our endeavours, much more has to be done in order that we can once more bring our Church back into our lives and into the heart of our community. We seek your support in all aspects of our campaign and we can only go forward with your support and approval, we welcome any constructive criticism, any idea’s, any new ways in which we can together bring life back into our faith community.
We ask your prayers for Sacred Heart through our Blessed Lady, Mother of Our Lord, Jesus Christ that she may intercede for us.
We will continue to raise our profile as members of the Parish Council and urge you all to support us in our endeavours, much more has to be done in order that we can once more bring our Church back into our lives and into the heart of our community. We seek your support in all aspects of our campaign and we can only go forward with your support and approval, we welcome any constructive criticism, any idea’s, any new ways in which we can together bring life back into our faith community.
We ask your prayers for Sacred Heart through our Blessed Lady, Mother of Our Lord, Jesus Christ that she may intercede for us.
The Charity Commission
The Charity Commission have returned the application to vary the Trust Deed of the Church of the Sacred Heart back to the Liverpool Diocesan Trustees without making a scheme as they have not made a strong enough case.
Parishioners may not be aware but the church deeds of 1868 contain two caveats stating the Church cannot be demolished and must only be used exclusively for Roman Catholic worship.
The Charity Commission have returned the application to vary the Trust Deed of the Church of the Sacred Heart back to the Liverpool Diocesan Trustees without making a scheme as they have not made a strong enough case.
Parishioners may not be aware but the church deeds of 1868 contain two caveats stating the Church cannot be demolished and must only be used exclusively for Roman Catholic worship.
Canon 208
We are reminded that each local community of Catholics shares in the
"true equality in dignity and action whereby all cooperate in the building
up of the body of Christ" Canon 208.
Local communities are stable gatherings of Christians in which the Spirit dwells, no parish is more privileged than another, and no parish is second-rate compared to others and may not be treated as such.