Travel with us to Grimsby to meet Fr Andrew and his parish

For this month's featured parish article, we visited the Parish of the Most Holy & Undivided Trinity Grimsby, Cleethorpes & Immingham where we met with Fr Andrew Cole.

We did not only speak with him but also had a tour seeing the churches within his parish and...its bees.

Good morning Fr Andrew, could you tell us a little about what has been happening in your parish recently?

 Well, this parish in its current form is just over seven years old. It was established in January 2017, an amalgamation of various parishes, and it covers the whole of the Borough of North East Lincolnshire and a little bit of East Lindsey District and North Lincolnshire as well. Over these years, within our three parish churches here who have sort of built up a sense of community. This parish is a very welcoming parish. It reflects the all-embracing, the all-inclusive love of God; and that's been areal focus: that everybody is welcome and everybody belongs.

What have been the biggest joys?

The biggest joy is seeing people coming together and really developing their faith, celebrating their faith and living their faith. Our parish mission statement is we value all in the name of Jesus the Christ by exercising our baptismal mission as prophet, priest and king so that all may flourish.

We deepen our faith in the prophetic mission. We celebrate it in the priestly mission, and we live it in the kingly mission, which also reflects the discipleship, encounter, and missionary discipleship that Bishop Patrick talks about as his priorities for the Diocese.

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And what about challenges?  

The challenge is always that there was a time when here in North East Lincolnshire, there were five or six priests and now there's me. I've got a great deacon, Deacon Stephen Durkin, and of course, sister Ann Helen, and sister Briggetta. We have about 140 active volunteers performing various ministries, from serving to Ministry of Holy Communion, to making tea and coffee, to leading groups, all sorts of things…It's great to see so many people wanting to be involved. So what is actually a challenge is also an opportunity to do things in a new way, to rethink our way of being and way of life and our way of doing.

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What do you enjoy the most living out your priestly ministry in parish life?  

Celebrating mass, preaching, visiting the sick and housebound, particularly bringing the sacrament of the anointing of the sick to those who are ill; and the apostolic pardon to those who are dying. The sacrament of the anointing of the sick is still a great unsung part of the life of the Church. Many will still know it as extreme unction just for the dying, but it's called the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. It's not called the sacrament of the anointing of the dying, and it's not called the sacrament of the anointing of the better. So, each year in this parish, twice a year, we have we have liturgies which bring people together from across the whole parish where I can anoint them in church. It's lovely now people come and say: “Will you anoint me before mass? Can I see you after mass for the anointing?.”

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Last question: what words of encouragement would you give to another parish?

I would say, really, I think our mission statement in this parish sums it all up. We value all in the name of Jesus the Christ. That's the words of encouragement I would give to all my fellow Christians, my fellow parish priests, or every single parish in the Diocese ofNottingham and beyond. We value all in the name of Jesus the Christ. That's the greatest encouragement we can give is to think like Jesus, to see like Jesus, to hear like Jesus, to speak like Jesus, to love like Jesus, to live like Jesus. And that's the greatest encouragement I can give.

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You can see the full interview below!