Let the bells ring out in the heart of the city!

This week we had a set of digital bells installed at the Church. The speakers are discretely located on the outside of the Church, and I am impressed myself by how authentic the bells sound.
They were working for the weddings which we had this Saturday afternoon, and after the morning masss of Our Lady we had Immaculate Mary (the Lourdes Hymn) floating out into the city air.
I've been a little concerned that the neighbours might object, but it seems the bells are hardly audible indoors (we are being cautious, keeping the volume down at the moment) and some have actually said they like them. I suppose next to the sound of emergency vehicles, more general traffic, drunken shouting, screeching tyres, the bells sound fine.
Almost everyone in the parish was delighted. There are always one or two, of course, who are wet blankets. One couple pulled a face and said 'It's all very well in a little village, but what it the point in a city?'
Well, my response is 'More to the point'! Sometimes people locally don't even realise that the Church is open - in fact, we are the only major denomination with a major presence in the city centre. The anglican church is a ruin, the old methodist church is surrounded by scaffolding, besides the catholics there is only a small baptist and salvation army building.
Let the bells ring out in the heart of the city!

St Maria Goretti Day

Last Weekend (Sunday 9th July) I was back with the good people of St Maria Goretti, in Bentilee, for their 50th Anniversary celebrations. It was a wonderful day. The Archbishop celebrated the Mass, and it was lovely being with so many old friends at the reception afterwards.

The picture here was also in the Catholic Herald this weekend (16th July 2006) and I guess it will also be in Catholic Today, the diocesan newspaper. A little oddly, abouthalf the group hyave been cut off from the left of the picture, including Fr Philip Griffin, who was my predecessor at Maria Goretti. In the diocesan website the picture is accompanied by the press release, which was used word for word in the the Herald.

Article in Diocesan Website (link valid on 15th July 2006)