Roman Catholic Church, Newmarket Parish
My apologies for the long silence. I have just been too busy for my own good. Like so many people in my age group, I have new responsibilities for elderly and dying parents and I am up and down to Manchester every other week. The emotional and physical strain - and the sheer loss of a couple of days from my other commitments - are forcing me into some tough choices over priorities, and I fear this column has been one of the victims. We have reached a plateau up in the north and I have made other adjustments, so I hope normal business as far as the Crier is concerned can now be resumed. Indeed I have a backlog of things I am keen to write about, suitably eclectic, I hope! - my experiences in Japan and Korea, the history of pub signs, one or two other pieces of local history as well as the changes in the parish - but forgive me if there are the occasional blips.
The urgent reason for writing this month is to alert Catholics (and anyone else who is interested) to the changes that are taking place. Fr John Drury retired to the West of Ireland (lucky man!) back in August, Fr Paul semi-retires to the Pennines on 6 October, and Fr Michael Griffin (who was with us while Fr Paul was on sabbatical for 6 months about three years ago) arrives to take over as Parish Priest. Since (for the foreseeable future) he will be the only priest, there will have to be changes in Mass times. At its simplest, he cannot say Mass simultaneously in Newmarket and Kirtling. It is likely that there will be a reduction of Masses from five to four, a Saturday evening "Vigil" Mass in Newmarket and two Masses on a Sunday in Newmarket and one in Kirtling at times to be agreed after consultation. This will happen pretty quickly and I hope to be able to announce them here next month.
Meanwhile, the long-announced and much delayed Waitrose development seems set to begin over the next three months. Initially, we will lose the Presbytery and office and most of our parking. Later, we will lose our Hall and then there will be a three-month period while the church is out-of-action and a 12-month period while our new Hall and pastoral centre is being built. At some point during that period we will receive the new land from the current Ambulance Station and Fire Station that will mean at the end of the chaos we will have (a) as much usable land as at present (b) a church with new heating, lighting, sound and rethought liturgical space (c) a new and better Hall and offices, meeting rooms etc. But in the meanwhile there will be much disruption and I know we will be hoping our ecumenical friends may be able to help us out at times.
On my last day in Japan, 20 minutes in fact before I was due to leave for the airport, a Japanese student approached me at my farewell party. She said: "I believe you are a Catholic minister". I explained briefly that I was and she said: "I want to become a Christian". How I dealt with this in the time I had might be worth exploring, but for now I will just say this. Bricks and mortar and sacred spaces matter, but in the end the church is people who reveal Jesus to one another. So I must not let the disruptions blind me or any readers of this column to that fact.