The Northern Arc

As Catholics we know we are part of the universal Church, and also part of the local Church – our diocese, gathered around our Archbishop, George Stack. More locally we are part of Cardiff deanery, and therefore in our planning we must take into account all these “bonds”. Over recent years several parts of the city have begun to do pastoral planning in local groups of parishes.

In one sense we here in the 3 Churches blazed the trail here in this joint planning, but we too are part of these different levels, we too have neighbours. A few months ago the Archbishop asked me to start working more closely with Fr Gareth Leyshon of St Philip Evans and Fr William Isaac of St Teilo’s and Our Lady of Lourdes. He referred to us as the “Northern Arc”! We have met three or four times since and have begun work on three fronts, with a few others lined up behind them.

Baptism preparation

We are aiming to set up a joint Baptism Preparation course to run every month instead of our current every few months. All baptism catechists and those interested are invited to come to a shared meeting at St Brigid’s Hall on Monday 22nd June at 7.30pm. If you would like to come along, please let me know.

Marriage preparation

We are collating resources for the preparation of couples getting married, with a view to sharing good practice and perhaps cooperating in the preparation too.

General issues of cooperation including weekend Masses

We are convening a joint meeting of two parishioners of each of the six churches plus we three priests on Wednesday 24th June, again at St Brigid’s Hall. We will discuss the principles of cooperation in the mission of the Church. Our own current experience here in the 3 Churches shows how close we are to being unable to sustain the current pattern of weekend Masses. St Philip Evans have their own issues also. In the absence of Fr Tomy, we came very, very close to having to reduce the number of Saturday evening and Sunday Masses for the month of June. This reveals that the current pattern of 13 Masses within the cluster and several involving our priest elsewhere, sustained by 4 priests in our six churches is under severe pressure when one is on holiday or sick etc. I must emphasise that this is an exploratory meeting, a gathering to seek a vision of how to proceed, while understanding that we really cannot remain as we are. Our Parish Councils are advising me on who to represent our 3 Churches.

Please remember this initiative in your prayers. We live in times of challenge for the Church, challenges both from the world in which we live and challenges from within the Church too. Yet with the Lord’s promise to be with us always, the principles of the Second Vatican Council, the leadership of Pope Francis and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we are more than up to those challenges.

Fr Matthew