I was going to blog on this on the weekend, but found myself caught up the whole weekend on setting up a new computer at home (what a chore – Windows 7 doesn’t want to talk to half my software! Anyone want a hardly used logitech webcam?). Cathnews reproduced the story in their bulletin this morning.
The Saturday Age ran this story on a north-eastern country Catholic church that was closing, St Brigid’s in Greta. I have actually been out in that parish not so long ago. Lots of faithful people out there, and some good priests too. Anyway, here’s the story. Have a giggle.
Dan Ryan first went to Mass at St Brigid’s in 1932, when his father piled the family into a canvas-topped Essex to drive the five kilometres to church.
Now 87, Mr Ryan remembers the reluctance of parishioners in the 1970s to buck traditional roles and join the priest in giving out Holy Communion. Father Bill Bachelor, the parish priest for 30 years, grew tired of the reluctance and so walked around the churchyard after Mass one Sunday asking whether just one parishioner would accept his request. Paddy Murnane, a dairy farmer, spoke for many when he told Father Bachelor that he would consider giving out communion if the priest would come down to his farm to milk his cows.
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