Blog posts have been impossible during Holy Week due to the amount of parish commitments and I have only just uploaded the final reflections on the Stations of the Cross. Our Sacristan was ill and this has led to a greater appreciation of all that he does on our behalf. Needless to say after lunch today I was comatose!!!
Holy Week and Easter has been very well attended at St Mary & St Giles and as usual we oberserved a very full Holy Week and Easter which was not spolit despite the best efforts of the television and newspaper campaigns with their now not so hidden agenda of trying to break the Church so that they can enjoy their own predilictions without anyone to remind them of that little three letter word beginning with "S." On the BBC early this morning I was unsuprised to see two commentators that had been lined up to spout the agreed line that the problems the church faced with child abuse should also lead to the Satte refusing the Church an opt out on "equality matters." I notice that St Peter's Square in Rome was as packed as usual, the Churches and Cathedrals of Ireland and of churches throughout the world still had many people attending Mass while apparently last Sunday Mr Tachell's motley crew could only muster 30 odd folk.
Now in writing all that no one should be under any illusion that the sexual abuse of children by priests, religious and lay workers is nothing less than totally abhorrent, but like many I am sick and tired of "certain elements" trying to run with a story of their own making on the back of such a terrible thing to happen to young people. It is also most interesting that only one denomination is being targetted - none have run with the story of an Anglican priest in Wales who was jailed last week, which makes talk of "lost all credibility" all the more regrettable. In reality "certain elements" will not be happy until they have the scapegoat they want: that is, the person they have loathed from the moment he was elected to office.
Back to the Liturgy:
As usual a very high turn out on Good Friday with over 120 at the Liturgy and this morning there were over 260 at the Parish Mass, Renewal of Baptismal Promises and Blessing of the Easter Garden. After Mass the children enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt and the older "young" people had their own in the churchyard.
I was able to announce this morning that last Wednesday I had a site meeting with Messrs Rattee & Kett (our Contractors) and our Architect regarding the building of the new hall. The Churchwardens and I have agreed that work will start on the building of the new hall on April 19th – assuming all goes well and we have no hold ups we have a projected completion date of September 3rd 2010.
In preparation for this copies of the Faculty have been sent to our Architect, Julian Limentani, and to the Contractors; and I have completed the first section of our Insurer’s Building Works Form and sent it on to the Architect for completion as this will make sure that we are completely covered for the duration of the works. Once the extension is completed the Church shall, in all probability, have to be reassessed for insurance value and premium purposes. But we shall finally have the hall attached to the Parish Church which is what we all desired for many years. I shall be posting regular updates on the building of the new hall as it develops.
In preparation for this copies of the Faculty have been sent to our Architect, Julian Limentani, and to the Contractors; and I have completed the first section of our Insurer’s Building Works Form and sent it on to the Architect for completion as this will make sure that we are completely covered for the duration of the works. Once the extension is completed the Church shall, in all probability, have to be reassessed for insurance value and premium purposes. But we shall finally have the hall attached to the Parish Church which is what we all desired for many years. I shall be posting regular updates on the building of the new hall as it develops.
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