Sunday Masses:

6:30 pm Saturday Vigil, 8:00, 8:50 (new family orientated mass), 10:00 (normal family orientated mass), 11:30 (Latin Sung mass), 1:00, 5:00, 8:00,
8:30 am mass at Sacred Heart School (confessions from 8.15 am)

Weekday Masses are at 8, 10, and 6:30

Confessions will remain at the normal time:
15 minutes before 6:30 weekday mass
Saturday 10:30 to 12:00, 3:00 to 4:00, 6:00 to 6:30 and after 6:30 pm Mass
Confessions will be inside the Upper Hall kitchen, the entrance from inside the hall.

Hopes:

In the six months or so we are out of the church, we will experience a period of “camping out”. I use that term to describe the temporary nature of the move as well as those awkward adjustments needed to do this move as efficiently as possible. Our church is beautiful and dearly loved by ourselves and many in the surrounding area. It is a treasure for the Catholic community in Wimbledon. We are spending just short of a million pounds to assure its stable beauty into the 22nd Century.

However our community is the Church independent of the church building. The Temple of the Lord is within our souls as well as within the Tabernacle. The gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation, nurtured in the other sacraments, is the foundation of the Church. By separating ourselves from the external manifestations of the Church, we may experience in a different way the internal manifestations of the Holy Spirit within our community. One hopes that we will find the Spirit in surprising places as well as experience our Christian fellowship in a refreshed way.

We will return to the Church in the autumn to a newly laid oak floor on which newly restored pews will sit. Also, I hope we will return renewed so as to appreciate the Church’s beauty because we have experienced the inner beauty of our being Church while we are in the Upper Hall.

General information:

The altar will be on the stage, along with a tabernacle which will allow the Blessed Sacrament to be permanently reserved in the Upper Hall. 360 – 370 chairs will be placed in three columns on the main hall floor. The chairs will be interconnected and locked for safety. A piano will be positioned on the mezzanine near the stage. Choirs and cantors will be positioned there also. For safety, movement up and down the stage area will be limited. Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers will receive the ciborium from the foot of the stage. Parents are strongly advised not to allow their children to roam near the stairs up to the stage. NO PRAMS OR BUGGIES WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE UPPER HALL, EVEN INSIDE THE OUTER DOORS. Space will be made available in the Lower Hall for them to be stored. Only child seats which can be placed on a chair will be allowed in the hall.

Access to the upper hall will be available to all. At all the masses people will be available to use the chair lift. We hope to have additional welcomers available to help those who may need some assistance up and down the steps to the Upper Hall.

There are loop systems effective throughout the halls for the hard of hearing. Hearing aid users should switch their aid to the T position.

Parking:

Parking is always at a premium. If you are able-bodied, please do not park in the spaces near the hall entrance. Please leave them for elderly people and those with disabilities. Parking is always available on a Sunday on the grounds of Wimbledon College. Donhead School is usually also available for some masses on a Sunday. But, until September, that will not be possible, because of significant construction work at the school. As always, please be considerate of the surrounding neighbourhood in choosing where to park.

Funerals:

Funerals will be facilitated based on the family’s wishes. The surrounding parishes are aware of our vacating the church. Upon discussions at the time, arrangements can be made to have a funeral mass in any of the surrounding parishes, using their morning mass. We will bring ourselves, priest and congregation, to their church. However, if the family desires to have the funeral mass in the Upper Hall, that will also be possible. My hope would be people would feel comfortable to have the mass in the hall, but I understand completely if other arrangements are desired.

See also: fundraising and the move to the upper hall