A Roam to the Dome of Home...

Inspired by the attempt of the local LMS to arrange a trip to the New Brighton Church of Saints Peter, Paul and Philomena, Fr Dickson decided to see what we could do as a parish. We managed to assemble a dozen or so folks who were interested in making the trip, which we made this past Sunday. We met some lovely people there (some who are readers of this blog) and met up with some dear friends. We were made to feel very welcome by both the clergy and the people.

I won’t spend time writing about the Church itself, because it is well presented in their recent video (which I assume all our readers have seen elsewhere but which can be viewed here). The Church/shrine is administered by the Institute of Christ the King, Sovereign Priest, and we were pleased that the clergy could join us for lunch after Mass.

We had the joy of attending a Missa Cantata -with some very nice singing indeed. It is singing that we miss here at home, since no one here feels they can be part of a Latin choir. As such a sung Mass is impossible, which is a big drawback to presenting the Traditional Rite in its full glory. While Low Mass can be wonderful with its silence and meditative mode of prayer, a sung Mass once a month would be, for us, the complete presentation of the Traditional Mass.

We were given an interesting guide to the features and history of the parish and the Church by Anne Archer, whom you can see in the video. We also took some photographs of our group intently listening to said lady! All in all we had a great time there. 

If there is any recommendation we would make, it would be to arrange Coffee Mornings after Sunday Mass so folk can meet and share time together. The school is in the Church grounds, which may make a suitable place to have coffee, socialise and welcome visitors –and increase funds! (Here in Thornley Father utilises our Sunday Coffee Morning for Justice & Peace issues, which has enabled us to make donations of £100 each to the likes of Aid to the Church in Need, The Little Way, SPUC etc, and to do so three or four times a year, as well as make contributions to emergency and to disaster appeals.

A good lunch in pleasant surroundings with great company topped off the day, ensuring we had been fed both in body and soul before our return journey home.