SUNDAY 8th AUGUST.. 2004. OUR 32nd SUNDAY OF PRAYERS FOR THE RE-OPENING OF OUR BELOVED CHURCH ST MICHAEL'S..
Good Morning and welcome to the peoples prayers on this our 32nd Sunday outside St Michael's Church. Thank you all for sharing our worship this morning and all the mornings through our struggle for justice.....

Let us call to mind the reasons we are praying outside our Church. To all of us St Michaels is, and always will be a Holy and Sacred Place and our Spiritual Home. Our Church was closed down with little notice and NO CONSULTATION WITH THE PEOPLE. The people of the St Michael's Family wrote many letters pleading with our Bishop to meet with us, no meeting was ever granted to us, we were ignored by our Diocese. Our only crime we want to worship in our Church.
We asked WHY, close a Church in the midst of a massive regeneration area, surely St Michael's should be the very heart of the community, the historic mills are at present being re- developed, new houses, new hotels and even the canal is being diverted WHY then is a Church .not wanted.. No-one from the Diocese has been able to answer any of our questions, or offered any compassion or understanding to the people of St Michaels. We continue to knock on the door, but sadly the door is still firmly locked. Locked against the very people who donated the money to build it, the people of Ancoats were poor, hard working people and St Michael's was the very centre of their community. It is our belief that we are the rightful owners of St Michael's. It is the legacy of our grandparents and great grandparents, and the many who contributed during the years when people struggled to survive..

The last few weeks have been very busy for our group, can we ever forget being present at the Mass said outside our beloved Church, this was truly a miracle.. We all firmly believe that the priest was sent by Our Blessed Lord who did not ignore our prayers and pleas to Him. It was an unbelievable sight, many of our older people and young alike openly wept, because they knew that this was a miracle. As the beautiful hymns filled the street people were amazed at the sheer magnitude of what had just happened. Our Blessed Lord answered our prayers, we all believe that this was His way of saying you are doing the right thing and carry on praying, which we will be doing , we believe that prayer can move mountains and it was proved outside St Michael's The priest who said the Mass was truly, a good Samaritan. He never asked what happens to me if I say Mass , he asked What happens to those people if I dont say Mass.. We all thank you Father for your empathy towards us, may God Bless you always... On 11th July 2004, the largest congregation in the Salford Diocese at Sunday Mass was outside St Michael's. Church Ancoats, .

We have since been told that a Mass was said in a Holy Catholic Church (Somewhere) FOR ALL THE SINS COMITTED OUTSIDE ST MICHAEL'S CHURCH ON SUNDAY 11th JULY, . We know, what Our Lord said of sinners, LET THE ONE WITH NO FAULT CAST THE FIRST STONE....

Our procession of Faith together with the Italian Association was a wonderful day of evangelising on the streets of Manchester, We thank the Deputy Leader of the Council Jim Battle and Councillor Marc Ramsbottom for giving support at the procession. we have received many offers of help from various organisations and people moved by our plight. Some people still feel strongly about their Catholic Faith and are not willing to sacrifice their beliefs on the altar of conformity.
They like us remember, that, Jesus Christ was a non-conformist St John the Baptist, St Paul and St Peter all did what they believed to be right, and most of all we must remember our first obedience is to God and not to any man, we must not follow blindly anyone if we believe that they are doing the wrong thing.

Last Sunday we were joined outside by Deputy Council Leader Jim Battle, Mike Carmody, and Mike Loughman they are working on our behalf, we thank them for their words of support and really appreciated their presence. We will keep you updated on their findings..

We will be having another Mass outside in the near future and will inform people of the date.

One of our group has suggested that we have a candlelight vigil outside St Michaels, saying the rosary and thanking Our Blessed Lord for the miracle that happened on the 11th July, .We will be discussing this on Sunday. For ideas..

We have received information from St Brigid's San Francisco, the Church held a Mass outside 2 weeks ago, and they like us are calling this a miracle, we are happy for them and do know exactly how they feel. God Bless Them.

Our wonderful friends in Belfast are having a Mass outside this Sunday, and are holding meetings to discuss the date of their return into St Josephs Sailortown. We wish them well and know how they have prayed for this day.. The Diocese have 60 days to announce the date of their return, after 3 years on the steps outside. Prayer moves mountains.. God Bless Them.

We pray for our Clergy and for Bishop Brain, that they will open their hearts and do what is right.

We also remember our dear friends from St Josephs Sailortown Belfast and St Mary of the Angels Liverpool, these good people are suffering the same sense of hurt and loss at the closure of their churches as ourselves. Yet they keep us in their hearts and prayers through these dark days, we bless them for their struggle and pray for a speedy resolution to their troubles. Our prayers are with them

Once again we thank all who join with us each Sunday. E.mail....savestmichaels@hotmail.com....

PRAYER MEETING OUTSIDE ST MICHAELS,GEORGE LEIGH STREET ANCOATS. EACH SUNDAY 1100am