THE
P RTAL
April 2013
Page 4
Growth in Heywood
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane visit Manchester
Heywood is an old Lancashire mill town nestling between Bury and Rochdale in Greater Manchester.
The area had its problems during the final years of the twentieth century. A large estate built in the 1950s
and 1960s as part of a slum clearance project throughout inner-city Manchester increased the population
when thousands of people were moved out of Manchester’s slums and into what was then the Heywood
countryside of Darnhill.
Saint Joseph’s,
Heywood
The Ordinariate Mission
celebrates Mass at Saint
Joseph’s, Heywood, every
Sunday at 1100. Fr Andrew
Starkie, his wife Rosalind
and their five lovely children
The Starkie family
live in the Presbytery at Our
Lady and Saint Paul’s Catholic Church. The
Sunday we attended there were twenty-
five people present including children and
young people.
Shamrock biscuits
After Mass we moved to a small room
for refreshments. These included home-
made cakes and shamrock biscuits! Well,
it was March 17 th . We purchased a jar of
home-made marmalade and spoke with
Rita Tonge (71) a retired escort for special
needs children, Sandra Modric (64) a
retired secretary and Terry Miller (56) a
bus driver.
high in quality
Frank Hartley
My wife still attends Saint
Gabriel’s (the Anglican
church where they used to
attend) so I drop her off and
then come on here.”
fears of the
Catholic Church
Sandra and Rita could not
see the Mission growing. “The Ordinariate
is not promoted in the CofE,” they said.
“People I know, know nothing about
the Ordinariate. We need to promote it
according to unity.” Rita felt that “People
are stubborn. There is a lot of negativity.”
Sandra said, “Not enough emphasis is
given to the doctrines of the Church.”
Terry thought, “Being on the edge of
Manchester did not help. We would pick
up more people if we were more central.”
Sandra added, “There is a big problem.
Lots of CofE people want to be true to
the apostolic doctrines, traditional if you
like. They are frightened of the Catholic
Church. They fear the discipline. For me it
meant liberation. We cannot shift the goal-
posts to suit a secular world.”
They all agreed their Ordinariate
Mission was small, but as Sandra said,
“Also friendly and cosy! Small in number,
Rita confided that her daughter had
but high in quality! A little family really.” Bridget Starkie
been married twice. “She would not go
Rita added, “Although small, we have a
common bond. The Ordinariate is a blessing to us for an annulment. It would be too long and too much
from Pope Benedict.” The welcome received was “With trouble”. Terry chuckled that his wife was happy being
open arms here at Saint Joseph’s”, Rita said. “We went an Anglican and he was happy being a Catholic. “I am
to Saint Peter’s at first, but some cradle Catholics had a Cradle Catholic, now I go with the Ordinariate. It is
trouble accepting us, so we came to Saint Joseph’s and not a problem.”
it has been wonderful. A lot of people do not know
about the Ordinariate or what it stands for.” Terry said raise our profile
he still went to Saint Peter’s on occasion, especially on
As to Mission and Evangelisation, they all thought
a Saturday morning.
it was still early days. Sandra added thoughtfully,
“We need strength in numbers first. We are having
The time of Sunday Mass (1100) was convenient a concert on 13 th April”. Rita said, “That is great for
enough for Sandra, although she added, “1030 would funds, but it will not bring people to the Ordinariate.”
be better, but it does”. Terry said, “It is fine for me. Sandra said, “Yes, it will raise our profile. I do a lot of