My final appointment was to Ham, an area south of Richmond which was cut off as a Parish in around 1980. My predecessor there Canon Telford was actually a member of my old class at Wonersh, but one day he was found dead...and he had been dead for two days already !
This was in an attractive area bounded by the Thames on one side and Richmond Park on the other. Over three quarters of the area is open fields or park land. Once again problems arose from just one or two parishioners mainly over liturgy of course. They wanted to run the Parish their way. One or two objected to the way I ran the funerals. On one occasion a lady called me up afterwards to say how much she objected to my words at a funeral when I indicated that the person concerned was in need of prayers as he had died refusing to see a priest. She had written to the Bishop...but in fact the dead mans brother has ASKED me to say that ! By the way the best procedure when complaining to Deans or Bishops about a priest is to indicate you are doing so and if possible to give you a copy of the letter they are sending. Of course if it is matter of sexual impropriety, no such information should be imparted to the priest accused ! My health had declined especially after I developed balance problems and a mild form of Menieres disease. One parishioner wrote to the Bishop saying the best place to find me was in the Doctors surgery ! So I was actually asked if I would like to resign on health grounds..and I accepted and so for the last three years I have been retired in a small flat only just outside the Parish because the medical facilities are excellent and this in fact is the nicest area of London I know.
I supply in different parishes and continue to work as archivist. In the next few blogs I shall deal with archive work and also with some of the other problems I met with ,,,which it seems nearly all priests meet with !...starting with Parish meetings !!!!
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
It seems that wherever you go you are met with a group of parishoners who seem to think they own the Liturgy.Where does this 'its mine' idea come from?
As the 'Deacon of Ham' I would like to record how much I appreciated the ministry of Fr Clifton during his seven years as our Parish Priest. As a convert from the Anglican tradition myself, I greatly valued his sound teaching.
I was not used to the Tridentine Mass, but appreaciated the dignified way in which Fr Michael always celebrated the Modern Roman Rite. What a pity more parishioners didn't treasure his wise and generous ministry.
To Peter Thanks for your comment.
To White Stone name seeker. The parishioners who claim to own the liturgy are those who have read certain documents in the liturgy decree and also the document on the nature of the church which gives more prominence to the laity and less prominence to the ordained minister particularly they think over the Mass. This is indeed a matter I have looked into at depth and will deal with in
future blogs
To Peter Thanks for your comment.
To White Stone name seeker. The parishioners who claim to own the liturgy are those who have read certain documents in the liturgy decree and also the document on the nature of the church which gives more prominence to the laity and less prominence to the ordained minister particularly they think over the Mass. This is indeed a matter I have looked into at depth and will deal with in
future blogs
Post a Comment