For the sake of those who were unable to attend Mass at our churches last week, I repeat here the article explaining the current situation.

At a meeting on Friday 26th June between Archbishop Stack, Fr Matthew, Fr Gareth Leyshon of St Philip Evans and Fr William Isaac of St Teilo’s, the future provision of priests for this area of Cardiff, the so-called “Northern Arc”, was discussed. The Archbishop made the decision that in the light of ongoing uncertainty concerning Fr Tomy’s return, and the wider needs of the diocese, Fr Tomy would not be coming back to our 3 Churches, and that we should therefore plan for the presence of only 3 priests in the area, and not 4. In other words, Fr Tomy may return to this diocese, but not to these parishes

This decision was made independently of the start of our summer schedule of weekend Masses. The decision has wide implications for us, and for me as an individual, of course. As it is, the summer schedule allows us to get through the summer and to plan for the longer term future, not just in our 3 Churches, but across the Northern Arc, where there will need to be more of the cooperation that we have recently been putting into action.

The recent A.G.M. at Christ the King served to remind me once more of the wide variety of activities there and across our 3 Churches, and the large number of people involved in them. Although we may complain from time to time of there not being enough volunteers etc, I can assure you that compared to most parishes in the diocese, and our friends in other denominations, we do well. This gives me great hope for a future without so many priests, a future which has suddenly landed right in our laps.

I know that we can all work together for the future, with the help of our friends, the priests and people of our neighbouring parishes, and, of course, with the grace of the Lord himself, and the prayers of Our Lady, St Brigid and St Paul.

Fr Matthew

At a meeting on Friday 26th June between Archbishop Stack, Fr Matthew, Fr Gareth Leyshon of St Philip Evans and Fr William Isaac of St Teilo’s, the future provision of priests for this area of Cardiff, the so-called “Northern Arc”, was discussed. The Archbishop made the decision that in the light of ongoing uncertainty concerning his return, and the wider needs of the diocese, Fr Tomy would not be coming back to our 3 Churches, and that we should therefore plan for the presence of only 3 priests in the area, and not 4.

This decision was made independently of the start this week of our summer schedule of weekend Masses. The decision has wide implications for us, and for me as an individual, that I am only just coming to terms with. The fact that it was made on the day before my birthday didn’t help! As it is, the summer schedule allows us to get through the summer and to plan for the longer term future, not just in our 3 Churches, but across the Northern Arc, where there will need to be more of the cooperation that we have recently been putting into action.

The recent A.G.M. at Christ the King served to remind me once more of the wide variety of activities there and across our 3 Churches, and the large number of people involved in them. Although we may complain from time to time of there not being enough volunteers etc, I can assure you that compared to most parishes in the diocese, and our friends in other denominations, we do well. This gives me great hope for a future without so many priests, a future which has suddenly landed right in our laps.

So while this decision knocked me off my perch, as they say, during this week, I’m climbing back on and know that we can all work together for the future, with the help of our friends, the priests and people of our neighbouring parishes, and, of course, with the grace of the Lord himself, and the prayers of Our Lady, St Brigid and St Paul.

Fr Matthew

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