Introductions
Jostone News, the parish magazine of St Joseph’s Church in Stonehouse,
Gloucestershire has an interesting feature – introducing new members of
the parish to everyone else. This example comes from the latest issue.
Perhaps your parish magazine could try the idea?
It’s slightly scary writing an autobiographical piece! I guess the easiest thing to do is to introduce myself…I’ve been a visitor to St. Josephs for quite a few years now, but have only recently moved to the Parish. I’m originally from the North West of England (St Helens and Wigan area) but have spent the past seven years living in various places – London, Wiltshire and Bristol – because of my job. I work for the NHS in public health – which basically involves doing research and other work around improving the health of the population. At the moment though I am on secondment to the University of the West of England (UWE), down in Bristol, where I am working as a Lecturer in Public Health.
Because I’ve moved around a lot I’ve attended lots of different churches over the years, all of which have their own character. During 1999 and 2000 I lived in Newman House, the catholic chaplaincy in the centre of London. It was a wonderful place to live, surrounded by catholic students from all over the world. The following year I moved to Chippenham, Wiltshire, where I went to mass in a local church. It was a nice place, but I never really felt part of the community. Partly this was because I travelled quite a lot on weekends and also because the church didn’t have any after-mass gathering where you could meet people. A year later I moved to Bradley Stoke, Bristol, and started going to a church in Patchway. This was a nice church, with a friendly priest who gave impressive sermons, but again I never felt part of the parish – it was just a local church that I went to. During all this I attended my church back in Lancashire - Our Lady’s – the church I continue to class as “my church”, even though I only go to mass there when visiting my family.
Now I’ve moved to Stonehouse, it’s nice to feel part of a community again at St. Joseph’s. Ever since attending mass at St. Joseph’s I was struck by the community like atmosphere – having tea and biscuits after mass and chatting with other parishioners was a new experience for me! I’ve now got two churches which I class as “my church”, and I feel that’s a lucky position to be in!
Paul Pilkington
This article was first published in Jostone News
It’s slightly scary writing an autobiographical piece! I guess the easiest thing to do is to introduce myself…I’ve been a visitor to St. Josephs for quite a few years now, but have only recently moved to the Parish. I’m originally from the North West of England (St Helens and Wigan area) but have spent the past seven years living in various places – London, Wiltshire and Bristol – because of my job. I work for the NHS in public health – which basically involves doing research and other work around improving the health of the population. At the moment though I am on secondment to the University of the West of England (UWE), down in Bristol, where I am working as a Lecturer in Public Health.
Because I’ve moved around a lot I’ve attended lots of different churches over the years, all of which have their own character. During 1999 and 2000 I lived in Newman House, the catholic chaplaincy in the centre of London. It was a wonderful place to live, surrounded by catholic students from all over the world. The following year I moved to Chippenham, Wiltshire, where I went to mass in a local church. It was a nice place, but I never really felt part of the community. Partly this was because I travelled quite a lot on weekends and also because the church didn’t have any after-mass gathering where you could meet people. A year later I moved to Bradley Stoke, Bristol, and started going to a church in Patchway. This was a nice church, with a friendly priest who gave impressive sermons, but again I never felt part of the parish – it was just a local church that I went to. During all this I attended my church back in Lancashire - Our Lady’s – the church I continue to class as “my church”, even though I only go to mass there when visiting my family.
Now I’ve moved to Stonehouse, it’s nice to feel part of a community again at St. Joseph’s. Ever since attending mass at St. Joseph’s I was struck by the community like atmosphere – having tea and biscuits after mass and chatting with other parishioners was a new experience for me! I’ve now got two churches which I class as “my church”, and I feel that’s a lucky position to be in!
Paul Pilkington
This article was first published in Jostone News
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