I would like to invite all those interested from across the parish to come together on Monday 13 March 2023 at 6.30pm for a special Mass to mark the tenth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, and then to stay for a presentation and discussion. All welcome! Here is the original text of what I’ve shared with the parish over the last couple of weeks:

It seems odd to me that we have such a beautiful stone Altar and sanctuary, that we do not use the original Altar of the Church and set aside the wooden table altar, returning our orientation and our prayer, priest and people together, towards the Altar and the Tabernacle, towards the East, asparishioners and priests did for almost a century, from when the Church was built, until such time as we have the funds to move the stone Altar.

I hope you will be open to this way forward, and I will explain a little more about this reorientation of our prayer at Mass over the coming weeks, as the sanctuary begins to take shape with the hopedfor return of the sanctuary walls, restored Altar gates, new Ambo, small columns, Tabernacle veils and perhaps a carpet runner, centrally between the Altar and the lower sanctuary, as shown on original photographs. Meanwhile, I encourage you to say a prayer in thanksgiving to God for all those who have come before us in our parish and who left their spiritual legacy to us in such a beautiful inheritance in our churches.