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Thank you to all those who have responded to the consultation about an additional Mass. There were some helpful suggestions and also a few pieces of advice, including a number of people who suggested not providing an additional Mass at all, mindful of the workload of being the sole parish priest in Ellesmere Port and Hooton! Thank you!

We have a conundrum: we are a growing parish! Two things to mention, in particular: last Sunday there were 60 children at the 11am Mass and Children’s Liturgy, whilst I noticed a sudden drop in those attending the 9am Mass, now returned to Hooton. Sunday 9am Mass at Hooton, though almost a full church, was around 80 less than the average Mass attendance when the Mass was at Our Lady Star of the Sea these past three or four months.

It seems to me to be short-sighted to unintentionally suppress the numbers of those who wish to attend Mass by not utilising our parishes churches in the most effective way possible, that is, to use the largest church for the largest congregations who gather at the most popular times for Sunday Masses. I am tasked with providing Sunday Masses for a whole town, with a growing population thanks to Catholic immigration and – thank God - an increasing number of children and families given the focus I have asked our five Catholic schools to share with me on encouraging this much-needed demographic who are largely absent.

Having received helpful feedback from parishioners as part of this recent consultation, it seems that a mid-afternoon Sunday Mass may be worth trying, and so I propose experimenting with a Sunday afternoon 4pm Mass, beginning on the Second Sunday of Easter, Sunday 27 April 2025.

I suggest a month’s experimentation, with a review to see how helpful and well-attended such a Mass is. It is a joy to be a growing parish. Thanks be to God and our Lady that we have such considerations to think through and discern.