New Parish Prayer Cards
Take a peek at our new Parish Prayer, and our new Parish Prayer Cards, specially designed, one for each church:
Three Churches
Three Communities
Serving One Lord.
Welcome to the website for the brand-new Parish of The Good Samaritan, Burnley, incorporating the churches of Christ the King, St John the Baptist and St Mary of the Assumption. Each of the three churches has its own special character, comprised of, and helping meet the needs of, its own community. We are part of the Diocese of Salford. The parish covers a wide area, encompassing Central Burnley and the semi rural areas of Worsthorne and Cliviger. The oldest church is St Mary's, which has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century, the current church being opened in 1849. St John's church opened in 1881 and the youngster of the three, Christ the King, came into being in 1936. Together the three make a rich and vibrant community, working together to celebrate our Catholic faith and put our relationship with Jesus Christ into action by sharing together in many different ways.
I am delighted at our new three church, one parish website and I trust you will find it easy to move around the site and hopefully find it to be a big help to you. Like all new ventures, a lot of hard work has gone into this new project by a small but dedicated team, to whom I am very grateful. I am also grateful that they have pledged to ensure our web site is kept current and updated regularly, which of course is so imperative. I must also give thanks to the many parishioners who contributed articles large and small for the website – without their articles the website would have little to show our visitors so a big thank you to them!
As well as the team of those involved in running and contributing to the website, there is also a team of clergy who serve the three churches by also working together. In addition to myself, as the Parish Priest based at St Mary’s, there is also Fr Kevin Tierney who is the Assistant Priest, also resident at St Mary’s. The rest of the team comprises Fr Emmanuel Ugwuoke and Fr Benneth Okonkwo, who are Vincentian priests, resident at St John the Baptist presbytery. We meet regularly in order to ensure that things run smoothly.
Much work and thought had gone into the idea of bringing our three parishes together as one, as part of Bishop John’s plan for the reorganisation of all the parishes in the Diocese of Salford published in early 2017. When I arrived in Burnley in July 2018 to begin my role in bringing the three parishes together, I spoke in each of the three churches of the need to move forward at the right pace in order to ensure that everyone is on board with us. I used the phrase: “Festina Lente”, which means “make haste, slowly”. I genuinely feel with this website, our recently launched joint three church Newsletter, as well as many of the other ways that we are finding to collaborate and work together, are all signs that we are making progress, without rushing.
Despite all the responsibilities, I genuinely love being in Burnley; the people here are really appreciative of what we are trying to do and I speak for the clergy team in saying how supported we each feel by the people we serve. There are a lot of very good things going on in each of our three churches, and a good many new things that we are keen to establish as we go forward. Thank you for your interest in our parish communities and please enjoy your visit to this website.
Fr David
Quick Guide 
Mass Times: Christ the King | St Mary's | St John's | All Three Churches
Find Us: Christ the King | St Mary's | St John's
Contact Us: Contact Details
Also on This Page: Dates For Your Diary | Regular Events | Related External Events | New Parish Prayer and Church Prayer Cards
Other Pages in this Section:
Weekly Reflection | Parish Clergy | Sacraments | How do I...? | Further Announcement Details | Local Martyrs | Inspirational Quotes | Celebration Photos
The Latest Reflection from Fr David -
Click here for Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Sunday 23rd February 2020
LENT
This week brings the start of Lent. Please note the Masses available on Ash Wednesday with the distribution of ashes. There will be several opportunities for added devotions during this time of penitence. Please try to give enrich your life and your faith during the season.
ASH WEDNESDAY
Times of Mass with the distribution of Ashes is as follows:-
Christ the King ~ 9.15am in church; 1.30pm in school.
St Mary’s ~ 10.45am in school: 12.30pm and 6:00pm in church.
St John’s ~ 9.30am in school : 7:00pm in church.
EARLY MORNING MASS FOR LENT
Starting on Friday 28th February, there will be an extra Mass on each Friday of Lent at 6.30am in St Mary’s church. This will be followed by breakfast for all present in the Parish Rooms.
Dates for Your Diary
and Forthcoming Events
Deanery Lenten Station Mass
Thursday 26th March at Sacred Heart, Colne. We plan to put on a coach from Burnley for this event.
Diocesan Altar Servers Retreat Days
Saturday 18th April and 16th May at Theodore House at Stoneyhurst near Clitheroe.
Charity Fundraiser
Thursday 23rd April ~ Charity fundraiser with Comedian Jimmy Cricket at the 110 club. Details to follow.
10th Anniversary of the death of Fr Michael Ryan
who is Fr David's good friend Sunday 16th August.
50th Anniversary of Catholic writer Francois Mauriac, who won Nobel prize for literature in 1952
Tuesday 1st September Mass in French celebrated by Fr David at St Mary's. This will be followed by "French" refreshments in the parish rooms and extracts in English from Mauriac's works will be recited
REGULAR EVENTS:
ALL THREE CHURCHES
Prayer Group For Vocations To The Priesthood
At St Mary’s Church at 7pm every 3rd Tuesday of the month. Entrance by the Sacristy door adjacent to the car park. All are welcome.
Good Samaritan Parish Board and Card Games
for parishioners of all 3 churches:
At a recent Board & Card Games session we were introduced to a game called Chaos and it proved as chaotic as its name. It is described as easy to learn, yet challenging to master. Peals of laughter and howls of frustration rang out as we did our best. It was a relief to relax with a game of rummikub.
If you would like to join our merry throng, please phone Maureen Smith on 01282 433706 for full details.
Home Produce Stall
The Home Produce Stall has been established to allow people to contribute to parish life, for the benefit and pleasure of others. It also provides a small but consistent flow of income for the parish.
People use their skills and talents to make goods for sale. Mainly it is edibles – cakes, mini-meals, bread etc, along with occasional donations of jam, marmalade, fresh fruit and veg, plants. We welcome anything that has the tag ‘home produce’. We sell it at the Sunday Coffee Morning. So people who may not otherwise be able to make major contributions of time and energy bring joy to people who relish their produce.
You are invited to help in two possible ways. First, can you contribute to the stall from your skills and experience. Or you could play ‘stall-holder of the week’! We have a rota of people who come and sell the goodies, which is a great opportunity for chat and make new friends.
If you want to help in either way, please call Frank or Barbara on 01282 424967 or 07713 718 700
Music In Church
Both St John's Choir and St Mary's Music Groups meet to practice on a Thursday evening; 7:00pm at St Mary's & 7:30 at St John's.
You are warmly invited, and will be welcome to join either group to help enhance our sung liturgies.
Slovak Mass
St John's Ivy Street every third Sunday.
Have an item or notice
for the website?
Our email addresses -
General: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For Christ the King - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For St Mary’s - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For St John’s - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For all sections - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
General Comments and Suggestions - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
NB: these addresses are just for website matters -
if you have a church-related question or issue please see church addresses/phone numbers here
Other Events/Announcements of Interest
Help us Celebrate our Centenary!
Burnley Catenian Circle will be 100 in November 2020 and there will be some celebrations!
As part of the build up, we are seeking to gather a record of the Circle's history and are appealing for old photos, articles, memorabilia and memories of Circle events, members and families.
Can you help?
material can be sent to a special email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Knights of St Columba
Find out more about the 110 Club - click here!
Other KSC 110 Club regular events:
Cyclone Idai Disaster
What CAFOD is doing about it:
Mission Possible, Nairobi:
read all about it - click here!
Volunteering Opportunities!
Here's your chance to volunteer for any voluntary posts which may appear from time to time in any or all of our three parishes.
Occasionally we may feature some opportunities for voluntary work with worthy causes in the wider community too!
Our first featured advertisement is for a good cause you may not have thought about...
Hot Off the Press: Our New Prayer Cards -
One Parish Prayer for us all, One Prayer Card for Each Church!
Christ the King:
St John's:
St Mary's:
Wonderful Prayer!
Wonderful Cards!
With special thanks to all those who took part in our competitions - well done each and every one of you!
To mark the very special occasion of our three churches coming together as one new parish, on Saturday 28th September we held a Celebration Mass at St Mary's followed by a Reception at Turf Moor, attended by 250 parishioners from all 3 churches.
To view some great photos taken of the occasion by Denise Foulds, click here
The Parish of the Good Samaritan logo design by Lucy in Year 8, BTCC
Other images, given freely & used with grateful thanks are by
OpenClipart-Vectors, Gerd Altman, Alexas_Fotos & Jo_Lanta,
all from Pixabay.com