Saturday 1 November 2008

The Northern Festival.

York Minster.

The Nave Altar.

The High Altar with candlesticks from Lord Halifax.

Full House!

It was good to see so many readers there, thank you to the many of you who said hello
and made kind comments about the blog.

Fr Glyn Webster, gentleman and Canon Chancellor.

The Great Banner of York in the procession.

The Bishop of Beverley.

The Bishop preaching.

With Fr Philip Corbett, the other Deacon of the Mass was Fr Ben Archibald.

The Bishop of Blackburn also concelebrated, as you can see,
with the Bishops of Whitby and Pontefract.


The procession forms on the way out.

The Great Banner of York leaving.

Regular Wanderers the Coucills.

The West Door.

Saint Peter (to whom the Minster is dedicated) and the Bishop.

Ron, Churchwarden of Saint Crispin's and chum of AW, with their wonderful banner! I once had the privilege of preaching at Christ Church for the Ascension, it is one of the jewels of Manchester and well worth a visit.

Ken, Churchwarden and coachman, ready to take us home.

Today was the Northern Provincial Festival at York Minster, which means that parishes which are members of Forward in Faith in the Northern part of the country went to the Minster to be with their bishop. I am told that there were over three and a half thousand souls there, which is a good showing and made for a long queue at the Fish and Chip shop afterwards (and every other restaurant in the town, I understand). The Minster is a stunning place, as I hope these pictures reflect and it was good to be with so many like minded souls. I was also delighted to find some of my beloved Traquair Jacobite Ale in a shop around the corner.

Earth was bumped back to quickly on return. Once everyone was safely off the coach and taken home (and wheelchair handles retrieved and all the rest) there was immediate need to go to North Manchester General Hospital with the Parish Priest to see, pray with and anoint a Parishioner who is near the end of her journey. We also did the same with Fr Gorden Dowden, one time Priest of the Ascension, Hulme, in Manchester. He has spent the last few months in Nazareth House in our Parish, unhappily, and is now receiving care after a stroke in the Hospital. Pray for them both.

I am, as you may gather, tired. I will have pictures of our All Saints High Mass at St Hilda's tomorrow for you. All is ready for the great feast and the bar is set up for the after Mass drinks for the Parish Priest's birthday. Thank you, once again, for so many of you who said kind words about the blog, particularly Paul, and the nice family who kept waving in an excitable fashion who I did not recognise at all! Thank you, even to the couple of people who legged it in the opposite direction whenever they saw me.