St Peter to the rescue

One of my most potent worries is financial: the largest church in our parish, St Peter's was built in 1983; it is a cheap and shoddy replacement for a solid gothic building that has now been divided into flats. The architect seemingly had no understanding what the church was going to be used for, and the contractors seem to have cut every corner possible, so that now we are trying to prop up a dreadfully inferior building that we have no chance of replacing (unless one of you readers has no use for two or three million…… I didn't think so). So we must prop it up.

This coming weekend, I was bracing myself to ask the long-suffering people to dip into their pockets yet again to throw good money after bad in order to repair our building. Our people are really very generous at a time of financial hardship, and it went to my heart to have to ask, but our roof windows are leaking, and our floor is crumbling.

But after this morning's Mass, on the feast of our Patron, St Peter, I arrived back in the house, and there was a note from some solicitors, saying that we have had a substantial legacy (4 figures) from a former parishioner (a lovely chap, whom I knew well). This will help enormously to get the roof put right.

Thank you, St Peter, and thank you Alfons Hangartner. May you rest in peace. One foundation Mass coming up for the next 25 years.