Tonight we had a parish council meeting at SS Peter and Paul`s Longbenton. The parish is having a tough time although there are signs of growth. The agenda was fairly ad hoc but I was delighted to be asked` Why can we not have a Latin Mass here?` I am very happy to oblige and will try to arrange something at a suitable time. The other question I liked was `What has happened to the idea of having statues of SS Peter and Paul in the church?` The idea was actually to have icons on the back wall of the sanctuary. I hope to have an icon of Christ, Pantocrator, in the centre and SS Peter and Paul on either side. I was expecting objections on ground of cost but everyone seemed happy if it meant parish funds being spent on the church. It was also suggested that people might be willing to make donations. If only life was always as straightforward!
We have a number of Indian families from Kerala in the parish and I am happy to report that they have suggested having a prayer group for intercession. We also have a headteacher who is doing his utmost to promote parish-school links and is willing to try any suggestion to motivate the children to come to Mass. One of the mothers of school children has volunteered to teach Mass 18 to the children and asked `Can we not have Latin lessons for the children on a Saturday morning?` I supppose if mosques manage to teach Arabic I don`t see why it is out of the question to teach Latin to children through the church.
2 comments:
It is true then "God works in mysterious ways", what a tremendous result. How refreshing to hear of parishioner's, parent's and a truly dedicated Headteacher working together to overcome the problems of declining attendance by schoolchildren and their families in the parish.
Other parish's take note this is how we as Christian communities should all be working, by listening to and taking into consideration all of our parishioners view's not just our own particular interest's or favoured projects.
Good Luck SS Peter & Paul's Parish.
Re Mass XVIII - there is a nice wee Agnus Dei in the "pick'n'mix' section at the end of the Ordinaries - begins fa-mi-re-me-do, it's very singable and much less Lenten ... (then they could learn the dead easy Agnus from XVIII for Advent)
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