Parish Office
Saint Wilfrid’s Parish Church, Harrogate
St Wilfrid's ChurchDuchy Road
Harrogate
HG1 2EY
North Yorkshire
Latest News from St Wilfrid's
July 2010
We are encouraged to see an Interregnum as a time of growth for our church communities; an insight which is to be extended where we can into the wider parish. A clergy vacancy, to use the proper term in this diocese, should be a time for us to take stock of ourselves and of where each of us is in our lives of faith and in our personal journeys with the Lord. It's a time for a renewal of perspective and sense of purpose and let's hope we've managed to achieve something of that among us here – it's not too late!
Now it's time for us to welcome Fr Gary Waddington among us as Team Rector, Parish Priest and brother in Christ. At his Induction service in the evening of 18 July we will all be asked if we are willing to support and uphold Fr Gary in his ministry with and among us. Let's face it, we're all going to give a hearty "Yes!" to this question from the Bishop. However, I wonder if we've reflected on what that actually means? It means exactly what it says. Read More in this month's edition of the Network Parish Magazine which includes the Prayer Intentions List for July.
For a full list of events this month see this month.
Download the full, extended version of the Ascensiontide Network Parish Magazine here
June 2010
Invitation to the Institution and Induction of Fr Gary Waddington
We are delighted to invite you to the service of Institution and Induction of Fr Gary Waddington as our new team rector. The service will take place at St Wilfrids on Sunday 18th July at 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome and everybody on the St Wilfrids Electoral Roll should have received an invitation so please do make a special effort to give Fr Gary as big and as warm a welcome as possible.
For more news from St Wilfrids, download this months edition of Saint Wilfrid's Network which includes the Prayer Intentions List for June.
May 2010
Confirmation. Acscension Day - Thursday 13th May. We will be pleased to welcome Martyn, Bishop of Beverley to the sund mass at 7:00pm when he will confirm 21 adults and children. Please remember the candidates in your prayers.
The service of Institution and Induction of Fr Gary Waddington as our new team rector will take place at St Wilfrids on Sunday 18th July at 6:30pm. Please make a note of this in your diaries so that we can give Fr Gary as big a welcome as possible.
For a full list of events this month see this month.
Download this months Prayer Intentions List for May.
March 2010
Message from the Rector-designate of St Wilfrids - Father Gary Waddington
You may have heard the recent announcement that I have been asked to come and be the new Team Rector of the parish. This is a huge joy and is very exciting, as well as a great responsibility. I'm thrilled to take up this appointment and am very much looking forward to being with you before too long.
No doubt you'll be wondering what I'm going to be like.... or even what life will be like after I've arrived. For all of us, there is, quite naturally, a bit of anxiety. I might also be wondering what you are all going to be like!
So I hope that the 'potted biography' that follows might be of some small use. I am sure that, of course, we will all get to know each other much better in the months and years that lie ahead.
I grew up just over 20 miles away from St Wilfrid's, in Skipton, where my Mother and siblings still live. I didn't really go to church much until I was asked to join the choir at Holy Trinity and the rest, as they say is history. From School at Ermysted's, I went to St Chad's College at the University of Durham where I studied Biology, and from there I went to test my sense of vocation, working as a pastoral assistant at a parish in London for two years.
After three years of study at St Stephen's House in Oxford I came to Portsmouth to be the Curate in the Parish of Holy Spirit, Southsea. Four years later, I was appointed Vicar of Paulsgrove, a large area of significant deprivation on the northern edge of the city, where I have been for the last 10 years.
I've also during that time been Succentor at Portsmouth Cathedral and been on both the deanery and diocesan synods. I've taught some theology in the Diocese and have tutored candidates for ordination.
The parish has also been very fortunate in having a stream of ordinands on placement, learning about the priestly life in the context of urban ministry. Somewhere in all of this I've completed a further degree, sat on the DAC (which deals with church faculty applications) and been a member of a similar group, which deals with the fabric at Portsmouth Cathedral. I'm also a member of the Church of England's Liturgical Commission (which amongst other things is responsible for all the Common Worship books) and I co-chair one of the national groups for Fresh Expressions.
Spare time (!) is taken up with music, modern art (what my late father called two blobs of paint on a canvas), cooking and a great interest in Modern British and American Politics. But that's quite enough about me for the moment. I wonder if I can now ask for your help?
I ask you to continue to pray for each other and for the parish as the interregnum enters its final phase, and for all those who have continuing responsibility. Please also continue to pray for and support the clergy and staff of the parish – both now and in the months to come.
Pray too for me, as I come to serve amongst you, that we might work together to be faithful in our worship, grow ever deeper in our love for Christ and proclaim that joy to all we meet.
Finally, please, of your charity, would you pray too for the clergy and people of the Parish of Paulsgrove, as they prepare to enter an interregnum? After all, you all know what that's like!
I look forward to meeting all of you soon,
Fr Gary Waddington SSC
Team Rector designate
Welcome to Saint Wilfrid's Church Harrogate
We hope that you will enjoy this on-line visit and explore our pages to learn a little more about Saint Wilfrid's and its people. If travel permits, we hope that one day you will pay a "reality visit" to Saint Wilfrid's and join us for worship. A Visitors' & Newcomers' Pack is available in Church.
Saint Wilfrid's Harrogate, is a Parish Church serving the Jennyfield, Killinghall Moor and Duchy areas of the town. The very fine Grade I listed building by the distinguished architect, Temple Moore, and its tradition of Anglo-Catholic worship also draw people from beyond the parish boundaries.
A wide range of ages, professions and trades is represented among the people who gather Sunday by Sunday to worship God at the Parish Mass, which is our principle act of worship. See the Worship & Young People pages to learn more about the Young Wilf's Sunday School and other things going on each Sunday.
Whilst Saint Wilfrid's has a long-established catholic tradition, it is not aligned with either Affirming Catholicism or Forward in Faith. People of differing outlook are able to worship together in this parish which has passed Resolutions A & B under the Ordination of Women measure but has not opted for alternative Episcopal oversight.
The Parish Church of St Wilfrid, Harrogate is one of the finest modern churches in the North of England. In 1903 the eminent ecclesiastical architect, Temple Moore, was invited to design "a fine Early English church of great dignity and beauty, to be built of stone and to accommodate 900 worshippers". This "exceeding magnifical" building was consecrated in June 1914, and completed by the addition of the Holy Spirit Chapel (1928) and the Lady Chapel (1935) - these two were the work of Leslie Moore, son-in-law of the original architect.
Architect and son-in-law had soaked themselves in the Gothic style of the 13th Century, and the whole building conveys an unerring sense of scale and proportion, with a wonderful power to create vistas and an impression of great space. The glory and majesty of God are truly proclaimed in St Wilfrid's where the Holy Eucharist, the central act of Christian worship, has been celebrated every day for seventy or more years. It is now the only Grade 1 listed building in Harrogate.
Fr John Thompson-Vear
Team Vicar