Church Stewards are engaged in general stewarding, in tidying up after mass and in taking up the various collections at masses.

In Fr. Peter’s words; “There is a group of people who appear twice during the Mass and pass along some baskets hoping that we will put something into them -give something away. They are the collectors, the basket cases. This ministry, one of the hardest it must be said, is one of the oldest ministries in the Church. In the early Church people brought their own things to Mass, specifically bread and wine for the altar and foodstuffs to support other members of the community. As things developed it became easier to substitute the “things” with coins. And so the collections became a part of the liturgy. But these collections actually mean something: as we contribute to the First collection we are contributing to the support of our priests and the second collection is dedicated to SHARE – building up less well off churches & parishes in the Dioceses or to specific works of the diocese like Crosscare, Accord, Child Safeguard and Protection service amongst others. So the collectors, the silent heroes of Sundays, make it possible to continue the tradition of showing our ownership of the Church through our contributions. Thank you … our own basket cases.”