Together We Make Maryhill

In September 2021 we began a partnership with our Church of Scotland neighbours, Maryhill Ruchill Parish Church. We’ve been enjoying a growing friendship over the past few years, sharing social occasions and times of worship. As we considered how to help our community recover from and thrive after the pandemic, we decided to formally work together to serve the people of Maryhill. The project is titled Together We Make Maryhill and we are joint partners with Maryhill Ruchill Parish to fund and carry out various activities in the community, as well as employing a Community Outreach Worker who works with both churches.

St. Vincent de Paul Society

The St Vincent de Paul group at the Immaculate Conception Church comprises of five members who meet regularly for the purpose of supporting families and individuals facing hardship or loneliness throughout the local area. They receive requests for support either directly from individuals or through third parties, such as local schools or the parish community. The requests can be for money (for food, power, to pay bills) or for clothing, furniture and other essential items. Most of their income is through charitable donations. The Society is able to provide such help through the support it receives practically and financially from fellow parishioners.

Ozanam Newsletter Easter 2023 web

Justice & Peace

The Justice & Peace group’s work is driven by the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, especially concern for the poor and marginalised. We seek to promote the common good and stand in solidarity with those who are oppressed, all done in the context of both local and global events. We aim to inform ourselves about current issues and to share our understandings with the parish, together with opportunities to advocate actively for change. Our current concerns include the dangers to the environment, the plight of refugees and migrants, poverty in Scotland and the need for governments to promote peace not militarism.

We are having a series of information evenings on Catholic Social Teaching. You can click below to download the slides from our first session.

Ecumenical Group

There has been a long-term special friendship with Maryhill Ruchill Parish Church. Now we are keen to develop this further, in line with the St Margaret’s Declaration of Friendship between our Churches. In recent years, our Joint-Churches Ecumenical Group has been arranging joint worship and events during COP26, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Lent, Holy Week and Advent. Recently we have been delighted to develop connections with St Gregory’s, Gairbraid and Findlay Churches.

Tuesday Club

The Tuesday Club is a weekly lunch club for seniors, that meets in our hall for lunch, bingo and a chat. The club runs from 11.30am -2.30pm throughout the year, with an annual summer trip to Largs (with fish tea at Nardini’s) and a panto and dinner at Christmas. The Irish Heritage group visit three times per year with food, music and dancing. The club has been building friendships in the local community for seven years now and we welcome about 65 people each week.
A warm welcome is always assured for new faces!

St Gregory’s Foodbank

The St Gregory’s independent foodbank is situated at St Gregory’s Church in the Wyndford. It is open Monday to Friday from 10am-12noon and is staffed entirely by volunteers. Our team is a mix of parishioners from local Christian churches and people with no church affiliation at all – the common denominator is that they all want to help to support those in need in the community. No referral is needed, just turn up once a week and a basic bag can be dispensed with whatever secondary items we have from various donated sources.
The foodbank has been running continuously since 2017, but the numbers of people being helped is rising at an alarming rate. In the first six months of 2022, we helped more that 8,500 people. This is an increase of more than 2,000 people on the same period in 2021.
Can you find out more on their website by clicking here or you can follow them on their Facebook page.

12 Step Groups

The parish hosts three weekly 12 Step groups, advertised in the relevant publications and websites. You can contact us confidentially for further information.