How Our
Two Churches Came Together.
Both churches have their own history up to the amalgamation of the Parishes of St Mary’s in Bacup with St Anselm’s in Whitworth in the year 2009. So, the Church Parishes have separate Historical Timelines, Parish Priests and Schools up to that time.
After 2009, when the Parishes merged and became one Parish, served by the same Parish Priest, it was renamed ‘The Parish of St Mary & St Anselm, Bacup and Whitworth’.
Each church still has a Primary School associated with it and a worshiping local community, but we come together and have a shared and mutual interdependent relationship led by our Parish Priest. This enables us to increase our communal efforts to benefit the wider joined-up community.
We have one Parish Priest, one Finance/Planned Giving Scheme, one Parish Safeguarding Officer and a single Social Events Team working together for inter mutual support.
Before 2009 each Church community functioned as a separate Parish and their Historical Stories can be found here.