When, instead of hearing the expected letter from Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Peter Smith after the Gospel at Mass this morning, I heard a waffley sermon I thought the priest had decided to read it out under "notices" after the Post Communion Prayer. It was not.
Instead there was a vague reference to copies being available at the back of the church. In other words it looked very much to me as if the priest bottled out.
With pastors like this is it any wonder that we are such a miserable shower?
I wonder if anyone else had a similar experience...or did you actually get to hear the letter?
Update: I gather that in one parish in the Wrexham diocese the Parish Priest not only read out the letter but encouraged parishioners to follow his own example and write to David Cameron. A priest in the Shrewsbury diocese apologised to his parishioners saying that he had not received the letter and therefore could not read it to them.
2 hours ago
No silence in our Church Patricius!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Jackie. It is good to hear that there are some good priests. I can hardly express the dismay I felt this morning when the letter was swept under the carpet so to speak.
ReplyDeleteThere was no excuse for not reading the letter. it has been made available on three or four blogs and if the priest concerned had had the sense he was born with he could have searched for it on the Bishops' web site or asked for it from another priest even across the diocesan border. There should have been no problem about both reading it out AND providing copies.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Father. As a layman of a certain age I never cease to be impressed at clergy using the internet. If I hadn't had my children to teach me I doubt I should ever have managed to cope with a computer let alone go online!
ReplyDelete