Following the American Example

On 21st May I reported on Bishop Libasci of Manchester, New Hampshire handing over care of the Church of St Stanislaus to the FSSP.  I am sure that they will be delighted with the church building that they will be acquiring.

                    

Apparently, it became surplus to requirements for the celebration of Mass when parishes were merged a few years ago, but has been used for eucharistic adoration since then.

On 27th May, I reported on a similar move by Bishop Barres of the Diocese of Allentown, who handed over the Church of St Stephen of Hungary to the FSSP.  This seems to be a continuing trend, as there are now about 50 examples in the USA of former diocesan churches being in the care of traditional orders.  I suppose one could add the churches run by the Society of St John Cantius, and possibly others, to the list.

The example has been followed to a degree in England and Wales at New Brighton, Preston and Warrington, and one could add York and Bournemouth.  There must be many other opportunities to hand over underused churches in our larger cities.  Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham are obvious examples, and opportunities probably exist in other cities like Bristol, Nottingham, Leeds, Derby and Newcastle.  There may even be some suitable underused churches in our own Diocese of Middlesbrough.

With iuncreasing numbers in the seminaries of both The Priestly Fraternity of St Peter and the Institute of Christ the King, Supreme Priest, including candidates from these British Isles, these orders will have the priests to staff to to take on more missions.  Let us hope that the bishops of England and Wales will follow their American cousins, and make more churches available.