A message from Fr John

Dear Friends

Good morning

Today is the feast of St John Vianney, the Cure of Ars. He was a parish priest during the revival of the French church after the ravages of the revolution; known for his simplicity and holiness, he is the Patron Saint of diocesan priests.

But how that Church has changed: during the 1990s there were 30,000 priests in France, in 2015 there were just 5,800. And the situation is not much better in this country: in what is now the single parish of Holy Trinity there were four parishes served by seven priests - now just one.

I think today might be an opportunity for us to look back with gratitude on some of the great pastors we have known: for me they would include Fr Tom Wilson at St Matthew’s, Fr Jack Rigby, Fr Marnie Cunningham, Fr Paul Smith (but don’t tell him!) and quite a few more who in their different ways have served the people of God with love.

We might also pray for our young people and for vocations to the diocesan priesthood and the religious life. And I’m very much aware that this part of the country was rich and generous in vocations to the contemplative live - Fr Bob Waring’s brother (Fr Gregory) for example was a hugely respected monk at Mt St Bernard Cistercian monastery and Fr Ernie Bank’s brother was guest master there (Br Alberic).

But I think we must also recognise that the church is changing - the pandemic has forced that reality upon us even more. Obviously our access to Mass and the Sacraments is curtailed, and we don’t have the immediate support of the parish community which is so important. However, we are realising that our communion with the Body of Christ is in no way diminished; our relationship with Jesus somehow seems to be even deeper because we don’t have the familiar surroundings. We have, in our own way, become those contemplatives as we ponder the love of God in all parts of our lives - not just in church.

And we are growing in our appreciation that all the baptised have a call to share in missionary discipleship as Ambassadors for Christ. Lay leadership is so important and the taking of responsibility for the life of the Church is for everyone not the few - volunteering is better than the press gang!

There are many other green shoots of growth in the Church. Our changing Church is taking the lead in so many different areas of life across the world.Did you get chance to look up ourcommonhome.org? The Cafod website also has many links.

Mass will be as usual today albeit from my dining room - the chapel is is being re-decorated after the flood. And for that reason we won’t be able to have Exposition today. This week will be a little topsy-turvey here and I have a couple of days on call for Salford Royal - let’s try to keep to our usual routine.

St Joseph, pray for us

Every blessing

Fr John