Jump to content

The Parish of Saint Mary


Westen

Recommended Posts

ParishHeader.png

 

The Parish of Saint Mary

What is the Parish?

The Parish of Saint Mary, otherwise known as the Parish, is a community established by Father Francis Ward in the Strawberry area of Los Santos. The Parish is intended to be a place of safety and spiritual guidance for those who seek it. Whilst the Parish denomination itself is Catholic, it accepts people from all backgrounds and religions.

 

Who is Father Francis Ward?

Francis Montgomery Ward, also known as Father Ward, or Frankie to his closer associates, is a British-born Texan who has recently moved to Los Santos. Father Ward has been a preacher for the past three years in Texas and has experience with leading a church.

 

Francis Montgomery Ward's background story:

 

 


Francis Montgomery Ward – Frankie, or Monty to his friends – is by all accounts a perfectly normal Catholic Priest. Except maybe for the hundreds of thousands of dollars that he stole.

 

But that’s a bit of a jump. Let’s start at the beginning.

 

Francis Ward was originally born in Chippenham, a decently sized town in the south of England. He was born on 13/12/1989 to Joseph and Madeline Ward, at exactly 17:51. The timing for this is so precise because Joseph fainted and broke the bedside clock in the process. Francis was raised as a strong Catholic – so strong, he was molested by his priest on his 10th birthday to the sound of Bonnie Tyler playing in the background.

I guess this is a good time to split Francis’ life into two distinct components – pre, and post-10th birthday. Pre-10th birthday, Francis’ family was your bog standard, highly religious family with his father working as a teacher and his mother helping run the local corner shop. Post-10th birthday, the family is significantly more strained after having moved to Texas to start fresh. Why Texas? Nobody knows, not even Joseph and Madeline, who picked the plane tickets out of a discount brochure because the travel agency was certain that the Y2K bug was going to kill them all.

 

After Francis’ parents found out what had happened, they rushed to keep it quiet: they didn’t want their small community becoming corrupted with scandals and the fanciful tales of a child. For several weeks they tried to push it under the rug, but Francis’ escalating behavioural problems culminated in him headbutting someone at school and breaking their nose - and it could no longer be ignored. One of the problems of living in a small town is that everybody knows everybody, so word spread like wildfire about what Francis was alleging. It didn’t end well for the Ward family with them being ostracised from the community for daring to spout such nonsense about the good Father. Eventually, they were offered the chance to leave – the Wards wanted a change of scenery, and the Church didn’t want them there anymore. So, after the Church offered to sponsor them for citizenship in America to cover up the scandal, they took the offer and moved to Texas to start fresh. Really, Texas was the perfect place for them – over four million Catholics whilst being large enough to remain relatively anonymous. Several years and a large sum of money later, they were citizens.

 

At this point, Francis was able to integrate into the local high school – albeit a bit late – as a 7th grader. The turmoil of having his life uprooted and moved to a different continent, combined with the fact he had been molested and not really received any emotional support, meant that his grades suffered rather significantly. His father took a job at a neighbouring high school and Madeline took up a role as a librarian. Francis’ parents would say that at this point, it appeared he had put the past behind him – Francis would disagree. Having already inconvenienced his family, he decided the best course of action was to just not tell anyone about his feelings.

At the age of 16, Francis felt it was his calling to become a Priest. This was for several reasons, the most notable being that he – in some sort of twisted way – wanted to act as the role model that his Priest back home could not. And so, despite the protests of his parents, he did. At 18, Francis entered the seminary and spent eight years training to become a priest. At 26, Francis had joined the profession that had ruined his life almost 16 years earlier. Francis used this opportunity to return to Chippenham to visit the Father. It had been speculated by some in the community that Francis helped him into an early grave.

 

After returning to the US, Francis became the minister of the Sacred Hearts Church. His personality and engaging sermons ensured that he quickly built up a following. Given the demographics, his Parish consisted of mainly retirees or middle-aged Catholics. Francis maintained his community for two years until the flash floods in August of 2018 wiped out the church and a portion of the town with it.

 

 

 

 

Parish Members

As it stands, the Parish is single-handedly run and managed by Father Ward. This includes managing administrative tasks such as planning sermons weddings. Father Ward is actively looking for interested members of the community to help him in running the church. If you're interested, please contact Father Ward on 5661701 or pop by the church during the day and have a chat!

 

Sermons and Parish Functions

The Parish, being a Catholic group, runs prayers most days throughout the day and the standard morning Saturday / Sunday prayers at 8:30 am and 10:45 am respectively. The Parish is also available to host functions, such as baptisms, weddings or other events. If you are interested in having an event held at the Parish, please contact Father Ward as detailed above.

 

The following document is a Mass Leaflet. This is intended to give you guidance in what to say and do in Mass.

Spoiler

6pUrsX3.jpg

 

Upcoming Events

There are no upcoming events.

 

Noticeboard


20/12/18 - The funds have been sent and construction has officially begun on the interior of the Church. Please check regularly for updates. We are also looking for an Interior Design company to assist with designing the interior - if you are interested please contact Father Ward via email at [email protected] (( forum PM me )).

 

23/12/18 - The Church has been successfully re-built. We shall be hosting a mass on Christmas Eve for all those who wish to attend at 21:00.

 

26/12/18 - The church has been redesigned. It is now open to the public and you're more than welcome to stop by for a chat and a drink.

 

 

13/01/19 - Thank you to all that attended Mass this morning. A leaflet has been produced on guidance for those who are unfamiliar with the order of Mass.

 

This leaflet can be found digitally here:

https://imgur.com/a/BURyK5h

 

Or a copy can provided to you by Father Ward in person at the Church.

 

15/01/19 - An evening mass will be held at the Church tomorrow Wednesday 16th Jan 2019 at 19:00hrs. All are welcome.


 


 

Roleplay

Introduction

Father Ward is new to Los Santos and is looking to establish himself by meeting local businesses and spreading the word.

 

 


Grocery%2BStore.png
 

 

 

 

After buying groceries, he drives back to the church and starts to collect his thoughts.

 

 


Church.png
 

 

 

 

Under the auspices of wanting to re-colour his vehicle, Father Ward takes a trip to Glass Heroes.

 

 


Vehicle%2BRespray.png
 

 

 

 

Father Ward starts collecting items needed for his first sermon. Whilst not top of the list, he sees an advertisement for a business offering wine. It's his perfect chance to start meeting potential suppliers.

 

 


Communion%2BWine%2B1.png

 

Communion%2BWine%2B2.png

 

Communion%2BWine%2B3.png

 

 

 

  • Upvote 11
  • Applaud 1
Link to comment

Noticeboard added and updated:

20/12/18 - The funds have been sent and construction has officially begun on the interior of the Church. Please check regularly for updates. We are also looking for an Interior Design company to assist with designing the interior - if you are interested please contact Father Ward via email at [email protected] (( forum PM me )).

Link to comment

Yessss! I've been playing a Catholic Latina in the Southside, so this is such a perfect addition to the Davis/Rancho area. I've even been visiting churches and doing /me by myself, so this really welcome. There are actually a lot of beautiful churches in Los Santos, so I've wanted to see something like this for a long time. :)

Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...