St Catherine's Church

There is a growing and vibrant community of worshippers at St. Catherine’s Church, Port Erin. The church benefits from being able to seamlessly combine both contemporary worship (provided by a music group)and traditional forms of worship on the organ. During the Summer months the church organises weekly concerts given by local musicians and choirs with refreshments being provided in the Church Hall.

Sunday Services

Our main Sunday services are Common Worship and begin at 11am and these are

1st Sunday Morning Prayer

2nd Sunday Holy Communion

3rd Sunday All Age Service (non-Eucharistic)

4th Sunday Joint Service at Parish Church

5th Sunday Holy Communion

After each service there is fellowship (over a cup of coffee) at the back of church

Click image to the left for information about St Catherine's organ [taken from a new book: Churches of Mann: Isle of Man Churches, Chapels and Keeills, published by Lily Publication, which includes a CD of the main church organs on the Island (featuring local organist Gareth Moore), and is available via the Culture Vannin Site]

Church Hall

St. Catherine’s Church has a nearby Hall. This has recently been refurbished with modern kitchen and toilet facilities, and is available to hire for parties, meetings, wedding receptions, etc.

History

St. Catherine’s Church was built in 1880 by the generosity of William Milner, a locksmith who moved from Liverpool to Port Erin. He set up many charities to help the poverty-stricken fisherman. In memory of his charitable works Milner’s Tower (in the shape of a lock) was erected on Bradda Head.

A history recounting the first 50 years of St. Catherine’s was compiled by in 1930. Writing at the time, Bishop Stanton-Jones said of St. Catherine’s that it has been ‘a centre of worship and beneficent ministry, serving the spiritual interests not only of the residents but also the summer visitors’. 

A further history book was compiled in 1980 to celebrate the centenary in the life of the church. It is recorded that it was Mr Milner’s wish that the church should be ‘dedicated to St. Catherine since that Saint’s name had been attached to the first Christian Church in the district – Keeill Catreeney.

St. Catherine of Alexandria, living at the beginning of the 4th century was ‘remarkable for her learning’. The Emperor Maxentius brought fifty philosophers to try to convince here that belief in Christianity was foolish. She converted them, and the emperor in a rage put them to death. Later after converting more people, the emperor decided that Catherine must die. First a wheel (set with razors) was constructed to which Catherine was tied to the rim, but instead of cutting her to pieces the wheel broke and injured many of the onlookers; she was later beheaded. From that time onwards, Catherine has been associated with the wheel, and a wheel window forms a prominent feature in the west end of our church.

1930 Book	1980 book