Image: Welcome Sign

Welcome Visitors

Image: Father Chris Gorton Welcome to our website and welcome to our parish. Hopefully this site will be a shop window for you to have a look at what is going on here as well as a way of communicating information. This parish is alive and active and you are welcome to be a part of it! The 'source and summit' of our life is the Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist which are well attended, family friendly and have a variety of people exercising the different ministries within the Church.

From this flow many different activities to help us live out the words at the end of our Sunday celebration to 'Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord.' With a parish forum open to all as one of many forms of consultation new ideas are being implemented whilst trying to ensure that what is good is not lost. There are close links with our primary school and our secondary school, Fisher More, and with the local community.

The parish has a rich heritage and tradition, a diversity of background, a sense of vitality and celebration shot through with faith, and a hope filled future. At the moment particular emphasis is being placed on our ministry of welcome as a parish community with each other and to people coming here for the first time. At the centre of this community is Christ himself and there is a place here for you!

A world of Holy Saviour

Our Priest

Father Chris Gorton
Email: father@holysaviour.org.uk

Image: Holy Saviour RC Church, Nelson  

About Us

Holy Saviour Roman Catholic Church is one of the four catholic parishes located in Pendle. We are all part of the Diocese of Salford.

We are an open, friendly and diverse community of Christian believers. We always welcome guests, visitors and new parishioners to our parish. Masses are normally held everyday, however it would be best to check this week's times before coming along.

Related Links

Parish History

A summary of our basic Catholic beliefs

This sections contains a concise overview of major Catholic beliefs. Not every belief is included. For a more in-depth look at different beliefs and concepts, please check out the links provided at the bottom of this section.

  • Authority: The Bible, Tradition, Etc
    Catholics have various sources of authority: The Bible, Tradition, the Creeds, the Bishops, and the Pope, among others. Ultimately, Christ is our authority, but this authority has been passed from Christ to His Apostles. The Bible and Tradition come from the same Apostolic Deposit, and we do not pit them against each other. The Catholic Church (and the Orthodox Church) has retained this authority through Apostolic Succession, which is the passing down of authority from the apostles to their successors. The pope, or bishop of Rome, has a first place among the successors to the apostles as the successor to Peter, the "Rock," and prince of the apostles. While Catholics (and the Orthodox and the early Church) do not embrace sola scriptora, the 16th century belief that the Bible alone is our final authority, Catholics hold the Bible in high regard as the word of God.

  • The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
    The Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus Christ established. Thus the Church subsists in the Catholic Church. However, other Christians are also in communion with the Catholic Church by virtue of their sacraments. The Orthodox Churches possess fully valid sacraments, and are true particular Churches, whereas Protestant Christians are in communion with the Catholic Church on account of their baptism; still, this communion is impaired. The Church in one, because it is unified in Christ across regions and time periods. The Church is Holy on account of the grace of Christ given to it and the holy sacraments it provides. The Church is Catholic because it contains the fullness of the Apostolic Deposit of Faith, thus is it truly "according to the whole" and "universal." Finally, the Church is Apostolic because its Teachings and Authority come from the Apostles themselves.

  • God: the Trinity
    Catholics follow the Nicene Creed, which affirms that we believe in one God in three persons. Essentially Catholics believe the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all God: distinct in some way, but not divided.

  • Jesus Christ: God and Man
    Catholics believe Jesus is fully God and fully Man, with a human will and a divine will. He is the King of Cosmos, the Word of God, and the awaited Messiah of Israel. He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, was crucified, truly died, and rose again bodily, all for our sins. He ascended into heaven and is still alive interceding on our behalf before the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. Jesus was a great Teacher, and His Teachings are the very Teachings of God.

  • The Sacraments
    The sacraments are divinely instituted signs that give the grace that they signify. Catholics and Orthodox accept seven sacraments: Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Matrimony, and Anointing of the Sick.

  • Salvation and Grace
    Catholics believed we are saved only by God's grace working in us. Thus we are justified, or transformed from the state of unrighteousness into a state of holiness and the sonship of God. Justification is the merciful and freely given act of God which takes away our sins and makes us just and holy in our whole being. This justification is given to us in the sacrament of baptism. Justification is the beginning of our free response to God, that is our faith in Christ and our cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus Catholics believe in salvation by grace alone, solely on account of the work of Christ. However, neither Catholics nor Orthodox accept the reformation concept of forensic justification or "justification by faith alone."

  • The Virgin Mary
    Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ. Catholics believe that Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus and that Mary remained a Virgin her entire life. Mary was conceived without original sin in order to be a sinless bearer of God incarnate: Jesus Christ. This is known as the immaculate conception. This sinlessness was accomplished only because of the merits of Jesus Christ. At the end of her life, Mary was assumed into heaven, like the great saint Elijah. Mary is the Mother of us and the mother of the Church, and just as Christ is the new Adam, Mary is the new Eve, who obeyed God where Eve disobeyed.

Related Links

Other Information you might find useful

Image: Go in Peace Sign