150 Years of Our Parish
Next Sunday we welcome our Archbishop, John Wilson, who is coming to celebrate 11am Mass on the Feast of Pentecost, the glorious feast of the birthday of the Universal Church. He chose this wonderful feast to be with us, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the opening of our church.
In April 1875 a pontifical high Mass was celebrated by a Bishop Weathers, who was auxiliary bishop of Westminster Diocese, and the sermon that day was preached by Cardinal Manning, Archbishop of Westminster. According to The Times report, taking for his text the words of St. Paul, in the 4th chapter of Galatians, “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all”, the Cardinal said that the freedom of the Church was essential for the teaching of Divine truth; that it was for the freedom of the Church, oppressed by King Henry, that Becket bled, the cause for which St. Thomas died, seven hundred years ago. The newspaper also reported that after the Mass, there was a luncheon in the Music-hall, where about 500 sat down, the Duke of Norfolk presiding.
After our Mass next Sunday there will of course be refreshments in the Parish Hall. Not on the grand scale of 150 years ago, but we will cut a cake and have a toast. We also plan to have a small exhibition of documents and items that show something of the history of our parish.
During the Mass the Archbishop will bless a new icon of Thomas of Canterbury written especially for our parish and church. The Archbishop will pray, ‘Today we venerate this image of your servant St Thomas of Canterbury, in whose honour we dedicate it.’ The 7th Ecumenical Council makes it clear that suitable images are to be venerated, and such veneration passes directly to the saint depicted, especially as St Thomas is the patron of our church containing his relic, in the city associated with him. We plan to put the icon in the Martyrs Chapel where it can be venerated.
There has been enormous change in our world in the last one hundred and fifty years. We have experienced two World Wars, and there’s been tremendous change too in the life of the Catholic Church. It was in 1891 that Leo XIII wrote his encyclical that laid the foundation for modern Roman Catholic social teaching. In 1962 the Second Vatican Council was convened by John XXIII, which marked a milestone in Church history, setting off a process of deep transformation, both within the Church itself and regarding its relations with the modern world, other Christian Churches and non-Christian religions. The process is still ongoing.
As we prepare for the great feast of Pentecost, let us ask the Holy Spirit to enable us to pray the prayer we find in this Sunday’s Gospel:
May the love which the Father has for his Son Jesus be in each one of us as we journey as pilgrims. May the Lord fill us with the Spirit and enable us, as the parish community of St Thomas and St Dunstan in Hersden, to be one in heart and mind in Christ.
