A Blessed Easter

…to you all.

By popular request……

Our new missal

Love the missal; not so keen on the other stuff. But it makes me look forward to the publication.

The Heritage Lottery Fund and Churches

The architect Deirdre Waddington has drawn to my attention that the Heritage Lottery Fund doesn't seem to be too keen on giving money to churches.

The Fund is carrying out a consultation (which you can find here) about how it might allot its money. Members of the public can register their views, and I would strongly encourage you to do so and pass the word around.

Miss Waddington says:

To my mind the questionnaire is not very well designed.  It seems that it is necessary to mention churches in the comments box for them to get a look in.  The one good aspect is that you can review what you have written before signing off.

Here is the email that is being circulated:

“I have been told authoritatively, and from a completely dependable source, that the initial results from the HLF on-line e-mail consultation are not especially encouraging with regard to potential future funding for churches.

Although a sizeable proportion of those responding to date have indicated that they enthusiastically support future funding for historic structures and buildings, a far smaller proportion have indicated support for resources being targeted at churches. This may reflect a shortcoming in the questions themselves, and therefore a confusion in the public mind about whether funding would be offered to churches as historic buildings or whether all churches are to regarded as religious institutions, and therefore as a low priority for Heritage funding.

Given the eventual phasing-out of much English Heritage money to support historic buildings, and the need to garner support from the HLF for our churches, it is essential that we do all we can to influence the on-line consultation in the direction of continued (and greater) support for church buildings as important historic structures and part of the national patrimony.    

The deadline for on-line comments is 26^th April and the documentation is available on www.hlf.org.uk/consultation2011  Please respond yourselves and get anyone else (DAC members, workers in your diocesan office, friends, complete strangers off the street…) you can to do the same. The numbers of people responding are fairly small, so the chances of having a significant effect on the statistical balance are good. “www.hlf.org.uk/consultation2011

Getting Old

I have always thought of myself as essentially young in at least one respect; the priest who baptized me nearly half a century ago was still in active ministry until this morning.

Please say a prayer for the soul of Fr Brendan Burke, who gave me the most extraordinary gift of Baptism all those years ago, and who was still the Parish Priest of Rustington in Sussex until he died this morning.

Euge, serve bone et fidele!

Invitation to Catholic Bloggers!

The Vatican has invited Catholic bloggers to a meeting in the Vatican.

This event, organized by the Pontifical Council for Culture and Social Communication, has as its objective to allow a dialogue between bloggers and the representatives of the Church, to share the experiences of those who are active in this field, and to understand better the needs of such a community.

There isn't much time; the meeting is scheduled to take place on 2nd May in the Pius X auditorium.

If you read Italian, you can find more here: Google Translate may help out, if you don't.

Hat tip, Palazzo Apostolico.

History Lesson

A history lesson with a difference, from a Warder at the Tower of London. The best bit starts at about 3.00 and goes on to the end. Hat tip to Gary Blosh. There are more of these on the YouTube site.