Operation Christmas Child

October 22, 2021October 19, 2021Leave a comment

Operation Christmas child is a way of bringing some Christmas cheer to a poor, needy or suffering child.

The idea is to fill a shoebox with small gifts, (please read the leaflet carefully about what is acceptable) and add a donation of £5 or more towards transport costs.

A simple shoebox gift packed with love and fuelled by prayer can have a huge impact!

If you have trouble getting a shoebox, we have a supply of flat pack boxes already decorated for 50pence each.

We are an official collecting point for filled Shoeboxes.

Alternatively, you can ‘pack’ a Shoebox online at: https://shoeboxonline.samaritans-purse.org.uk/

Click here to see the fantastic shoeboxes we collected two years ago.

We are also holding a special service to gather the filled Shoeboxes, when you can hear more about what happens to the filled boxes.

Date – Sunday 21^stNovember

Time – 10.00 am with refreshments after the service.

Place – St Catherine’s Church, Wittenham Avenue, RG31 5LN.

Alternatively you can bring Shoeboxes to St Catherine’s Church or Cornwell 0-5 Play Group anytime before 21^st November.

Climate Sunday – 3rd October

September 27, 2021October 10, 2021Leave a comment

We’re holding our Climate Sunday service on 3rd October.

Please join us to hear our guest preacher Alison Riggs, Environment Action Delivery Co-ordinator for the Diocese of Oxford.

Refreshments will be served in the hall at end of the service.

Harvest Service – 26th September

September 20, 2021October 10, 2021Leave a comment

This year’s Harvest Service will be held on 26th September at 10am.

We will be supporting the charity Send-a-Cow who provide tools and education for farming in Africa.

Financial gifts to ‘Send A Cow’ can be made online by going to https://sendacow.org/donate-now/give-a-donation/ and putting in our church reference AM5101 at the bottom in the ‘let us know why….’ box. OR just put cash in the special collection plate.

We’re also collecting tinned/packet goods, for Readifood.

Refreshments will be served in the hall at end of the service. Followed by ‘Spud lunch’ at 12.30pm with choice of fillings – chilli, cheese, beans or tuna, and salad.

Church Activities and Coronavirus

September 15, 2021October 10, 20211 Comment

This page is regularly updated. Please return regularly to read the latest situation.

The Coronavirus Pandemic continues to change all our lives. As our level of restriction is continually under review, so our pattern of Sunday services and other midweek gatherings are affected again.

We meet together at 10am on Sunday at St Catherine’s. For those of you unable to attend, the service is now livestreamed via Facebook. Click here for the latest details of our services.

We hold a traditional Holy Communion, in church, every Wednesday at 9am. Click here for details.

Every Wednesday we release an episode of ‘Dwelling in the Sermon’ on our Facebook page hosted by Rev Gill and rev Phil. Click here for details of our on-line resources.

Café Siena is open Thursdays and Fridays 10am-2pm. Click here for the latest of what’s happening in the Café.

We hold weekly Bible Study meetings, both physical and purely on-line.

During these difficult times, we continue to explore how to be a different kind of church, and how to both keep in contact and provide practical help.

If you are isolating at home, we encourage you to :-

Join our live-streamed video services via our Facebook page . We have a Sunday morning service video as well as a mid-week chat.
Keep in contact via email, social media or telephone with each other. If you are not already in one of our ‘Virtual Groups’ and wish to be included, please email us.

Please refer to this page for Practical Help if you are ill or isolated.

Please refer to this page for Spiritual Help during this time.

Church Activities

Different groups are at different stages regarding restarting. At the time of writing, the following groups and activities have restarted

- - Mothers Union
  - Tots Praise
  - Cornwell 0-5s Play Group
  - Pick-n-mix Youth Group
  - Cat’s Cartoon Club

The following groups have not yet restarted.

- - Mid-Week Services held in the Garden Room
  - Tuesday get Together
  - Friday Friends
  - York House communion
  - Calcot Cuppa

Please check back on this web site or our Facebook page for further details.

Other Hall & Church Users

Some groups, such as St Catherine’s Pre-school, had a specification exemption from lockdown. and continued to meet in a strict Covid-secure environment.

At this time we do not know when any particular church centre users will restart their groups. Please check with them for further details.

Last updated 15th September 2021 00:00 am.
Originally published 16th March 2020 9:00 am.

Indoor Sunday Services – from 5th September

August 30, 2021October 10, 2021Leave a comment

We’re moving back indoors for our Sunday Services from 5th September.

We’ll keep social distancing and masks will be required.

The service will also be livestreamed to our Facebook Page.

#ThankYouDay Open Air Service – Sunday 4th July

July 3, 2021July 4, 2021Leave a comment

We promised to make a weather related announcement regarding our #ThankYouDay Open Air Worship at 10.00 am Sunday 4th July.

The forecast looks like rain, so please bring your facemasks in case we have to worship indoors. (We can use the hall with livestream so hope we can accommodate everyone who comes!!)

Whether in or our, the service will be livestreamed. Please download the service booklet here.

We will do all we can to worship outdoors – but it just may not be possible, so come ready for IN OR OUT!!!

Thank You Day – Sunday 4th July

June 30, 2021Leave a comment

Our Sunday 10am Open Air services during July and August (weather permitting) start on July 4th with a special “Thank You Service”.

The 4th July is a national Thank You Day to celebrate the countless acts of kindness that have helped see us through this difficult year. Whether it’s an NHS hero, a volunteer who took groceries to someone shielding, binmen or friends making us smile over Zoom, we all have someone to thank. #ThankYouDay

All of our Open Air services will be short and simple, and followed by the opportunity to stay on for open air communion each week. If it rains, we’ll move indoors.

We’d love you to join us. Families very welcome!

Livestream from Church – Sunday 27th June

June 25, 2021Leave a comment

This coming Sunday – the 27th June – will be our first livestream of the in-church service. It starts at 10am and can be watched in the same way as all our live videos – via our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/St.Catherines.Tilehurst/live .

This means that our ‘At Home’ video service on Sunday Mornings has now finished.

We will also no longer be holding our post service Zoom coffee. Many thanks to all of you who joined in and made it so enjoyable, but since services have resumed in St Catherine’s’ numbers joining our Zoom Coffee have dropped off.

Further, a reminder that next week – Sunday July 4th – will (weather permitting) be our first Summer Open Air service, and we start with a special ‘Thank You’ service.

You are encouraged to join us in church, in person, if you can. Otherwise we hope you can join in via our Live-stream