A WORD OF SINCERE THANKS:

MANY NEW POSSIBILITIES

Last weekend I was writing my notes before the Friday evening celebration and everything I anticipated happened. Indeed, the occasion was more than I could possibly have imagined. Both in the church and in the school afterwards the atmosphere was joyful and inclusive. While at times hopelessly embarrassed, again I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all of you: those who conceived the idea and arranged the events with such meticulous care and those of you who, while not able to be there, joined us on-line or in spirit. I have received umpteen cards, gifts and messages of good will: I hope this will suffice as my ‘thank you’ letter!

I sense that we are now ready to move on with renewed enthusiasm for the mission the Lord has given us at this time and there are further providential signs that things are falling into place. For example, we are almost ready to go live with our new webcams in the churches. The work is complete in St Mary’s and the wiring is underway at Bishop Eton even as I write. The quality of both the pictures and the sound is outstanding and will provide us with a range of new opportunities to reach out to those who cannot get to church, not to mention the wider world. I am sure that we have made the right decision in going ahead with this technology and ensuring that we employed a highly professional firm to provide it for us.

You will appreciate that this will mean that soon I will not need to record Mass each week from the Community Oratory. However, until we are fully functional, I will continue to do so, and I anticipate continuing to record a weekly message because it provides me with an opportunity to explore certain issues in more detail than I can simply in the written form or even in a homily at Mass. In my last recorded message, I touched on a remarkable meditation on the Mass, written by Dom Gregory Dix, an Anglican Benedictine monk, who died in 1952. I am indebted to Fr Michael Henesy for drawing my attention to it. As the Bishops of England and Wales encourage us to resume more regular attendance at Mass from Pentecost, I plan to use this meditation as our focus. Hopefully, it will provide us with an approach which concentrates more on the wonder of God’s invitation to us than on obligations and sins. Meanwhile, may I remind you that this coming Thursday is the Solemnity of the Ascension. Accordingly, we will have four Masses between the two parishes, including a Vigil Mass at St Mary’s on the Wednesday evening. Please see the Mass timetable in this bulletin.