St Charles Borromeo Church in Hull is a gem, much loved by people in Hull and environs, especially students. I stayed in the presbytery last night after speaking to the Hull Faith Forum, organised by Fr William Massie with the help of various students. I was last up in Hull in 2008 and it was great to see some of the same young people now graduated from being interested teenagers to being active young adult apostles, as well as some new younger auditores. Helpers included James Preece of Catholic and Loving It.
I was speaking on the Church and trying to pitch things so that the younger ones would receive some catechesis while the young adults would also have some theology to take home. In the question session, one of the teenagers asked me to explain what I was saying about the Song of Songs as a type of the people of God looking forward to the coming of Christ. I chose an easier example to illustrate types: the crossing of the Red Sea. To get younger ones involved, I asked them to tell me what they knew about Moses so that I could explain how the Fathers saw the exodus as a type of our Baptism, the Christian life and the journey to heaven.
One young lad, who was obviously well catechised and knew quite a bit, told me about the escape from the Egyptians, the parting of the Red Sea, and the people wandering in the desert. He made one slip of the tongue which rendered some of the adults incapable for a few minutes. It was just a slip and he corrected himself, but I think nobody will forget the image of God sending manure from heaven down upon the Israelites.
This morning at St Charles, I celebrated a quiet Mass at the fine side altar dedicated to the Sacred Heart before heading back to London on Hull Trains.
No reason not to combine a cat post with all this. Here is the owner and proprietor of St Charles: at least she is not in any doubt about that.
7 comments:
That was some slip of the tongue, Father.
I see that you are trying to ingratiate yourself with the many Catholic cat lovers... ;-)
The next time I'm in England I must make a point of visiting this church in Hull. I does feature in that beautiful book "A Glimpse of Heaven" which features many of the really beautiful architectural gems which the Catholic Church in England does possess. Although I hail from Yorkshire originally, Hull is not a city which I have often visited.
Wow!!! Now that's what I call a CHURCH!
... and I'm sure some inspiration was gained insofar as the design of the Blackfen minor basilica is concerned ;)
Was this the same group that God waited forty years to die out? Manure would make sense then!
I too thought this was another possible plan for the Basilica!
Love that cat!
Dogs have owners.
Cats have staff.
Good one!
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