St. Ann’s, Manchester

St. Ann’s, Manchester

St. Ann’s is in Manchester city centre. It is open Tuesday to Saturday  and obviously receives many visitors. It is well sign posted and well worth going to see. I found an excellent, colour, guide at only £1, a simple welcome leaflet with a guide around the building and a ‘Words for Prayer, Thought and Wonder’ leaflet as well. There is a stall with books, cards etc as well.

There didn’t seem to be a visitor’s book but there is a place to leave prayer request cards (in a very prominent place – too many are tucked away as an afterthought), a votive stand to light candles and holy water in the font. The Lady Chapel is designated as a quiet space.

There is a good church website – http://www.stannsmanchester.com/ which gives clear visitor information. The only thing lacking is something for children but otherwise I rate that as very good. It is a real oasis of peace in a bustling city. Here are some more pictures-

Nearby is a real gem of a church – St. Mary’s which is well signposted as ‘The Hidden Gem’. See the website – http://hiddengem.catholicfaith.co.uk/home2.html

This is well worth seeing. My study has been focused on Anglican Churches but it is interesting how all the Roman Catholic churches I have come across have been open . As most of these are in urban areas it does tend to counter the excuse that urban Anglican churches give that they cannot open because of the fear of vandalism… Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of this lovely church. It also has a well stocked gift shop with all sorts of booklets and candles etc. for sale.