St. Catherine of Siena Church consists of a wide range of different people, from all ages and different backgrounds. The Catholic Church is a universal Church and so our community consists of many different nationalities and languages. Whoever you are you are assured a warm welcome at St. Catherine of Siena.
If it’s your first visit then it’s probably best to turn up around 9:45am on Sunday morning. If you are driving then you will be pleased to hear that we have a large free car park. For directions and details of public transport please see our How to Find Us page. You’ll be greeted at the door by our welcoming team who will give you information about the Church. Please do tell them that you are a visitor and ask them for help. We do not point out visitors or do anything that will embarrass you, so please do allow us to welcome you and make your first visit a success.
What to wear:
This is easy. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. There is no dress code, we accept people as they are. There is no need to change your dress, or to try to be something you are not. Whether you come as a suited businessman or a freaked-out punk that is fine with us. Most people find a suitable balance of casual dress. After all we do not want to distract each other from our primary purpose which is the worship of God.
What to expect:
For some people going anywhere for the first time can be a bit of a nerve-racking experience. To help avoid any worries here’s a quick summary of what you can expect at St. Catherine’s. First of all you will find that we aren’t super-spiritual beings, we all arrive at Church carrying with us the reality of our lives, sometimes we want to celebrate, sometimes we want to cry! Most people try to use the time before the Mass begins to relax and put themselves into the presence of God.
Catholic Churches are “dedicated” and set aside for the worship of God, so we have certain customs. We do not eat or drink in Church. We do not smoke (even if it was allowed by the state!). We try to respect other people’s need to pray in the Church. We switch off our mobile phones! We do not chat before Mass, and if we do we whisper.
Our worship is quite structured, and you will be able to follow the Mass in the Weekly Mass Sheet. We sing hymns, we listen to prayers, we say prayers, we listen to scripture readings and to a homily to help us understand the scriptures. Please do try to join in, Mass is not really a spectator sport. Please see our The Mass page for a more in-depth explanation as what is going on at the various parts of the Mass.
A central part of the Mass is where our members will come up in procession to receive Holy Communion. While we do not invite visitors to receive Holy Communion, it is a sign of membership already achieved, we do invite visitors and many of our younger members to come up to receive a personal blessing. The sign we use for people to express a desire to receive a blessing rather than Holy Communion is to cross your arms across your chest.
Hopefully by the end of the Mass, you will have met some members of the Church. Mass usually takes one hour, and so by 11am you will probably be in need of some refreshment. Please do come and join us for a cup of tea or coffee in the Parish Hall. Our aim is that whether you are just looking into Christianity for the first time or have been a Christian for many years that you should be encouraged and inspired by a visit to the Church. We hope and pray that everyone will draw closer to God.
What we believe:
Sometimes people are overwhelmed by questions of faith, some of which relate to historical differences which may seem not entirely relevant to today. Essentially, we are a middle of the road Christian Church, and we believe that all can have a relationship with God. We believe this relationship with God is possible because of God’s initiative and because of Jesus (God’s only Son) who invites us to follow him. Since we are all at different points on the journey of faith, our expression of our faith and the words we use to express our understanding can be very different. Often coming to Church is the first step, and then finding our more about how the Church expresses it’s faith comes later.
If you wish to find out more about some specific questions of faith, please see our What we Believe page.
Is it just Sundays?
Absolutely not! God is with us all week long and we aim to lead lives pleasing to him. We’re not perfect and we all make mistakes, but we desire to make a positive contribution to our community and the world in everything we do. We organise events, both spiritual and social throughout the year. We also hold courses and meetings which help us to get to know each other and reflect with each other on the issues that affect our everyday living.
For disabled people:
We aim to be an all-inclusive church, and we are blessed with buildings that are reasonably accessible. However, we could always improve. If you wish to discuss specific needs please contact our parish office.
Our premises are wheelchair accessible and we have reserved parking spaces for blue badge holders, which are near the Church and Hall entrances. We have a loop system in both the Church and Hall for the use of hearing aid users. We provide some Large Print materials to assist with participation in our worship by those who are partially sighted.
We now have a fully wheelchair accessible toilet. We are still working on converting our buildings to fully provide compliant access.