Welfare

Parishioners offer support to one another through various ministries. ​If you are in need of them, or if you would like to volunteer to help, please contact the Parish Office. 

Home visiting

Parishioners who have difficulty getting out, or who live in care homes and nursing homes are visited by the members of the parish Visiting Group. They usually visit once a week and aim to ensure parishioners have as much contact with the parish as they would like, and to offer companionship and spiritual and emotional support.

​The Visiting Group also organises the monthly 'Event' at Our Lady of the Assumption. See the Social Activities page for further information.  

Hospital visiting

Patients in St Richard's Hospital are visited by lay ministers who take Holy Communion to the hospital on Wednesdays and Sundays. The priests also visit the hospital at other times and can also be called out if someone is seriously ill and needs the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The hospital staff are able to page them.

Please ensure the Parish Office is informed if you are in hospital, so you are added to the visiting list: the hospital does not always tell the parish.

Bereavement care

Friendly and confidential support is offered to the recently bereaved by the parish Bereavement Group.  Members of the group attend funerals to welcome the bereaved and assist with various ministries. They stay in touch with the families after the funeral, if desired, and offer a ‘listening ear’ but do not provide counselling. 

Each November, bereaved families are invited to the annual Bereavement Mass, at which the families and those they have lost are prayed for.