A long journey to Margate


People travel to visit Margate, but not usually over a distance of 9,000 miles. To be fair, Fr Michael Rowe has been in Europe for other reasons, notably the international conference in Rome of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy which I was so sorry to miss in January. Nevertheless, he took the train down from St Pancras today to visit one of the oldest missions in the Archdiocese of Southwark and it was great to catch up on news from Australia and many friends there.

I was mortified to discover, after hearing confessions in the school, that it was actually snowing when I went down to the town centre to meet him. I thought that a good lunch was in order after such a journey and we were well looked after by the excellent bastion of good honest British restaurant tradition, Bentley's Lounge and Grill, at the bottom of the High Street.

Father Rowe is Rector of the Traditional Latin Mass Centre at St Anne's in Belmont. I promised to post a photo for his people as he told me that some are kind enough to read this blog. Greetings from Margate! Father is standing in our beautiful Lady Chapel at St Austin and St Gregory, designed by Edward Pugin, the son of Augustus Welby Pugin.

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