Norbertines to leave Manchester, UK
Basilica to close:
"Thank you to everyone who gave so generously to the “Friends of Corpus Christi” in the hope of building a new Priory. Altogether you raised £10,000 which is truly amazing and a great mark of your kindness. In the coming weeks, we will write to everyone who gave their address when “buying a brick” and inform them of our decision to move away from Varley Street. We will either return the donation or ask permission to use that money for the education of our future priests; they are the real building blocks of the future. "
"Thank you to everyone who gave so generously to the “Friends of Corpus Christi” in the hope of building a new Priory. Altogether you raised £10,000 which is truly amazing and a great mark of your kindness. In the coming weeks, we will write to everyone who gave their address when “buying a brick” and inform them of our decision to move away from Varley Street. We will either return the donation or ask permission to use that money for the education of our future priests; they are the real building blocks of the future. "
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Comments
As a Mancunian (by schooling if not by birth), I am terribly sad to think that the Corpus Christi basilica might fall into disuse, but it has been in a terrible state of disrepair for decades. The fact is that Miles Platting is no longer a Catholic area of town, and it is one of the poorest districts in Manchester. There is no way the tiny local congregation could ever afford the upkeep, let alone the restoration of the basilica.
Fr Hugh Allan, the Prior of the Manchester community, is - like his predecessor Fr Michael Gallagher - a committed traditionalist who regularly celebrates the (old) Norbertine rite. Under his leadership, the community is growing rapidly, such that neither Varley Street nor St Chad's offers adequate accommodation.
So, although this story does belong on your blog, it is not a case of the 'progressive' philistinism to which you so often, very rightly, draw attention.