Church Support

St Osmund’s

We have a number of flower arrangers and they work in teams of two on a rota basis arranging flowers on either a Friday or Saturday (as best suits them).  For large celebrations (ie Christmas, Easter, Confirmation etc) everyone is invited to join together to make the church beautiful for these important moments in our parish life.  Tea and coffee is provided.  For further information or to volunteer, please contact Jan on 780196 or email the parish office.

St Gregory’s

We have a number of flower arrangers who work on a rota basis.  For further information or to volunteer, please contact Margaret on 01722 324466 or Mandy on 07973 932356.

The sacristy is the room in the church where we keep the vestments for our priests, deacons and altar servers, other church furnishings, sacred vessels and liturgical books.

Sacristans are the volunteers appointed for the care of the sacristy. Our sacristans arrive before Mass and prepare the church for Mass, setting out the correct vestments for the day and any liturgical books, sacred vessels, candles etc. that will be needed. After Mass they help to put everything away in good and tidy order ready for the next celebration.

We have a team of sacristans who fulfil this role on a rota basis, normally at the Mass that they most commonly attend. Our dedicated team carry out this role not only for Sunday Masses but also for the weekday Masses and any special celebrations such as weddings, funerals or baptisms.

Full training is given and the amount of commitment can vary according to your circumstances. If you would like to volunteer for this role, please speak to one of our priests or contact Niki in the parish office. A DBS check is required for this role.

When the faithful gather for Mass, Christ is present in a number of ways. He is present in the person of the priest standing 'in persona Christi', He is present sacramentally in Holy Communion, He is present in the proclaimed Word of God and he is present in His Church as represented by the assembled people. The ministry of welcome seeks to ensure that all feel that they have a place in that assembly and through this that can enter wholeheartedly into the celebration of the liturgy, giving thanks to God for the love he has poured out on us.

There is an old saying that “you cannot create a first impression twice”. So it is with any parish, any Catholic community. A visitor or a new parishioner’s view of the community around them is significantly shaped by the presence or absence of a welcoming atmosphere when they enter a new church for the first time. Although the ministry of welcome is the responsibility of all parishioners, a special responsibility falls on those who have volunteered to greet people as they cross the threshold of our churches for Mass, funerals or other liturgies.

I am interested in this ministry - what does it involve?

As a welcomer you will be asked to arrive early to ensure that all necessary fire exits are unlocked and unobstructed before the start of the Mass. You will then greet people as they arrive, welcome them warmly and hand out the weekly newsletter, service sheet or hymn books and other items as required. At the end of Mass you may be asked to collect any hymn books as they are handed in and to say 'goodbye' to people as they leave.

There is a rota in each church for welcomers, so you will not be required to welcome every week. You can still attend your usual Mass and will not be asked to change your Mass going routine. If you would like to volunteer, please contact:

St Osmund’s

9am – Melvyn and Sandra on 322858

11am – Michael and Bernadette on 07876 773525 

6pm – contact the parish office

St Gregory’s

9.30am – Jane on 744332

Music is an integral part of Catholic liturgy and there is singing at every Sunday Mass as is appropriate for the high-point of our week. Music is part of the symbolic language of worship, a vehicle of God’s revelation. It is a symbol of unity between the people and their God and also among the people themselves. French liturgist, Fr Joseph Gelineau said ‘If one person in the assembly is not singing then the praise of God is incomplete.’

We are always seeking to improve the music in our churches so if you would like to become involved, please email the parish office or telephone one of the contacts listed below:

St Osmund’s

9am – Caroline on 562703

11am – Hadyn on 332239

6pm – Lizzie on 335597

St Gregory’s

9.30am – Sam on 742918

In addition, we often form ‘ad hoc’ choirs and music groups when we all join together for special celebrations – The Triduum, Confirmation etc. and these are a good way to contribute to our music if you cannot make a regular commitment. For more information, please contact Caroline on 502503.

Children wishing to become altar servers must have received their First Holy Communion and be regular Mass attenders.   We warmly welcome both girls and boys to become servers and full training is given.  Over time and experience, our servers are initiated into the Guild of St Stephen. 

Becoming an altar server is a great way to serve God and our community.  You will begin to understand why certain actions are performed at Mass and it makes all the symbols of the Mass so much more understandable and interesting.

As you begin to understand why we do something you get so much more from it.  By focusing and understanding what’s going on, the Mass can then lead you into a much deeper relationship with God.

By becoming an altar server you’ll be meeting up with many of the same people every time you serve at Mass. With a great range of ages and experiences, you’ll meet some fantastic people you’d probably meet nowhere else. As your friendship develops, you’ll end up having many friends who all share your faith and this can lead to some brilliant conversations and great memories.

By taking up a responsibility at Mass you start to recognise more and more people in the church in general. This slowly changes your experience of the church community, from a group of random people you stand next to at Mass, to a large and diverse family who you can meet and chat with every time you go and make you feel truly at home in your church.

If you would like to volunteer for altar server training, please speak to one of our priests or deacons or email the parish office.  Altar Servers who are 16 years or older are subject to a DBS Check  

The term 'Liturgy of the Word with Children' refers to the practice of children leaving the Sunday assembly during the Liturgy of the Word and gathering with adult leaders in a nearby location to celebrate a separate Liturgy of the Word that is more appropriate to their level of understanding.

In the Salisbury Catholic Churches, we keep two key principles in mind when preparing and celebrating Children's Liturgy of the Word. Firstly, Children's Liturgy of the Word is liturgy , ritual prayer, and not catechesis (religious instruction) or child minding. Because it is a liturgical celebration, all the principles of good liturgy (active participation, clear symbols, etc) apply. Secondly, it is liturgy of the word, so it is ritual centred on the proclamation and breaking open of the scriptures. The children do what the rest of the community is doing at this point of the Mass. They listen to the scriptures proclaimed and applied to contemporary life and respond in various ways.

For further information, please see Liturgy of the Word with Children – Guidelines, produced by the Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales in 1996.

There is the opportunity for children to attend our Children’s Liturgy of the Word at the Masses shown below. When children are new or especially young, parents are very welcome to accompany their children. All leaders and helpers in this ministry are subject to a DBS check. If you would like to volunteer to help with this ministry, please contact the relevant person below:

St Osmund’s

9am Mass Ed on 07779 011913

11am Mass Frances on 337164

St Gregory’s

9.30am Mass  Please contact the parish office on 333581

In addition, if you have a preschool child, you may like to bring them to the Tuesday 9.45am Mass at St Osmund’s. There is not a Children’s Liturgy of the Word at this Mass but, during term time, a class from St Osmund’s School joins us for Mass each week and the Mass is appropriately ‘child-friendly’. Everyone is welcome.

The term ‘lector’ or ‘reader’ refers to a lay person who, in a particular liturgy, is assigned to read a Biblical text other than the Gospel. Our ‘readers’ also lead the Prayer of the Faithful  (Intercessions).  Reading the Gospel at Mass is reserved specifically to the deacon or, in his absence, to the priest.

If you would like to volunteer to read at Mass, please contact the parish office or the contact shown below for the Mass that you most frequently attend. 

St Osmund’s

9am – Caroline on 562703
11am – Frances on 337164
6pm – David on 01980 611865

St Gregory’s

9.30 am – Jane on 744332

For major celebrations when we join together (such as the Triduum, Confirmation or Midnight Mass), readers are drawn from each of the separate reader rotas and are contacted directly.

There are many important roles in a parish that often fail to get recognised for their sacredness and their importance. Two of these roles are that of the collectors and the offertory processors.
We may think of the collectors as merely gathering the money necessary for parish costs. They and the offertory processors are more than this.

When we place our offering in the collection plate we are placing our ‘first fruits’ before the altar to be offered to God. In ancient times the offering would have been actual first fruits  – the best offerings from our crops or herds. Nowadays it is generally in the form of money and we are expected to ‘give from our abundance’.  For some, money is scarce, but everyone has something to lay before God’s altar, such as our time and our talent in the service of the church, our suffering and our hardship. The collection is a special time when we reflect on what we have been given and place our gifts and burdens, not just money, before God as an offering to Him.
As the collectors and offertory processors carry these gifts forward they represent each of us. How appropriate it is then when we see our youngest members of our faith family take part in the procession.  Who among us is more worthy than these innocent children to perform this sacred task.

Thank you to the families who bring their children to fulfil this role.

Formerly known as ‘Eucharistic Ministers’ or ‘Ministers of Holy Communion’, these are parishioners who, in certain circumstances, distribute Holy Communion either at Mass or by taking it to a sick or housebound person.

We have a team of EMHCs from all three of our churches who take communion to the sick and/or housebound and some who are also trained and appointed to visit and distribute communion in the hospital on Sundays.  A DBS check is required for this role.  If you know of a housebound or sick parishioner who would like to receive communion in their own home, please contact Fr Anthony at the parish office.

Ministers that distribute communion at Mass do so on a rota basis organised by:

St Osmund’s

Caroline  on 562703

St Gregory’s

Jane on 744332

Tea, coffee and biscuits (and sometimes cake!) are served following a number of our Masses.  The goal and purpose is to bring parishioners together for fellowship and to be a place where new parishioners or visitors can get to know us a little better.

We warmly welcome everyone to join us.  Refreshments are served after the following Masses on a rota basis.  If you would like to volunteer to join one of the rotas, please contact the parish office or the contact listed below:

St Osmund’s

9am Sunday Mass  – Bridget on 330197

St Gregory’s

9.30am Mass – Margaret on 501854