Since Fr. Anthony Glaysher moved to the parish of Ryde on the Isle of Wight last Autumn, he has worked tirelessly in restoring the “worshipping community” and has been faithful in restoring a sense of devotion and tradition to the parish, including the implementation of the Benedictine reforms. He is starting the Traditional Lenten Devotion of Quarant Ore.
Last week the Holy Father very strongly encouraged adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at a plenary meeting of The Congregation of Divine Worship.
I would hope to follow Father Glaysher's example but I am not sure my people would want to come and pray. How do I move towards 40 hours in a small urban parish where people are afraid to come out at night?
8 comments:
In faith?
On the link
from your link, Father, they say:
It is assumed that the exposition and prayer should be kept up by night as well as by day, but permission is given to dispense with this requirement when an adequate number of watchers cannot be obtained.
Well, when I introduced the Quarant'Ore in my last Parish (on the 40th anniversary of the church's consecration) we didn't go through the night - for similar reasons to yours. This is what I did:
Keep the traditional structure: Mass of Exposition (Day 1), Missa pro pace (Day 2) and Mass of Deposition (Day 3). Celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours every day and repose the Blessed Sacrament after Compline (you could either expose the Lord early each morning or, say, prior to Morning Prayer).
Get a rota of people to watch before the Blessed Sacrament, link in with the Parish School and get the children in for a short visit to the Blessed Sacrament. Publicise the devotion in the Deanery etc.
If you repose the Blessed Sacrament after Compline (or even after Vespers), you'll not have any of those late-night worries.
Have stacks and stacks of candles and flowers (invite people to "sponsor" a candle and publish their intentions for inclusion in the Mass Intention and the event will self-finance).
I know it's not strictly speaking 40 hours - but go for it, dear Father, and Jesus will smile on your Parish. He did on mine!
You make it sound like we are living in the ghetto. We live in a perfectly safe area, it's actually a very nice area and people do come out at night,look at the numbers for your Latin Mass... Stop trying to sound like such a hero.
One of the things about my schooldays which I remember most strongly is that we were given chunks of Shakespeare to learn off by heart. I can still remember quite a number of them. The play which we studied for School Certificate (That pre-dates GCEs) was Macbeth. In it, when Macbeth and his wife are plotting to murder Duncan and Macbeth asks his wife what will happen if they fail. She tells him to "Be bloody, bold, and resolute, and we'll not fail"
I recommend you to take those words to heart. You don't have to be "bloody", you're not aiming to kill anyone, but the being "bold" and "resolute" bits certainly apply.
I rather think that you will be surprised. People said the same thing here when perpetual adoration was proposed in some churches but there still are four churches in our Archdiocese who do have it.
JARay
Publish a rota here on the internet for the forty hours. Get people to sign up for one hour and leave their contact details.
Also put the same rota up in your parish noticeboard. Go to the local schools, colleges and universities and leave the rota there.
If you can get 30 hours filled in, go ahead and you fill the rest yourself. You won't need to do it all yourself.... people will come along who haven't signed up.
40 hours may not be possible in your parish. Start with one hour and catechise the people as to what adoration is all about. Don't presume that people remember or were ever told about adoration. Maybe it will be possible to have daylight adoration throughout the day in time.
David, sometimes the elderly do not feel the same comfort zone others do. They are more prone to being attacked because they are percieved as vulnerable.
Who's an easier target, a 50 year old guy in decent shape and tennis shoes, or an 80 year old lady taking the bus home at night?
IF I'm a hood, my victim is more likely going to be the old lady. The gent may be the one with more money, but he'd also be more likely to bust me in the mouth. [In the US, however, depending the state, the little old lady may be packin' "the equalizer."]
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