Holy Smoke
highlights act of liturgical vandalism.
"You may have thought that this sort of vandalism went out in the 1970s. But we at the Catholic Herald saw this happen just a few years ago. St Joseph’s is in the same building as the newspaper. Members of staff used to go to Mass there at lunchtimes. They don’t any more: they go to another church. The wrecking of St Joseph’s by the diocese of Westminster is recorded in Moyra Doorly’s book No Place For God. "
I comment!
This reordering (if that is what you can call it) broke the hearts both of the architect who made St Joseph's the gem that it was and the former parish priest. Catholic Herald staff are not the only ones that walked to be replaced with pseudo-elite of well-thinking people, not remotely connected to the realities on the surrounding estates. The present parish priest should go and the Church returned to its former glory. The Cardinal owes this not just to the Catholics of the parish but all those who love the beautiful and the good. I and I suspect many others would be delighted to form a group raising the money to put the Church right.
Magnificent indeed that you highlight such a tragedy.
I also had a letter at the time in The Tablet about the whole fiasco.
I comment further
I am told by urgent email that Fr Healy has now left to be a hermit (can't do much damage then!) and the parish is administered from Moorfields, where Fr Peter Newby, Chairman of the Diocesan Art and Architecture Commission, is rector. A golden opportunity to right past wrongs.
And this was the altar in 1988 following a so-called remodelling by a Fr Denis Watters in 1988, and apparently opened with praise by Cardinal Hume as an example of a model reordering (!!!!)
This was restored again and but the restoration was destroyed with the spiritually devastating results seen on Holy Smoke.
"You may have thought that this sort of vandalism went out in the 1970s. But we at the Catholic Herald saw this happen just a few years ago. St Joseph’s is in the same building as the newspaper. Members of staff used to go to Mass there at lunchtimes. They don’t any more: they go to another church. The wrecking of St Joseph’s by the diocese of Westminster is recorded in Moyra Doorly’s book No Place For God. "
I comment!
This reordering (if that is what you can call it) broke the hearts both of the architect who made St Joseph's the gem that it was and the former parish priest. Catholic Herald staff are not the only ones that walked to be replaced with pseudo-elite of well-thinking people, not remotely connected to the realities on the surrounding estates. The present parish priest should go and the Church returned to its former glory. The Cardinal owes this not just to the Catholics of the parish but all those who love the beautiful and the good. I and I suspect many others would be delighted to form a group raising the money to put the Church right.
Magnificent indeed that you highlight such a tragedy.
I also had a letter at the time in The Tablet about the whole fiasco.
It is unfortunate that Fr Healy, the priest of St Joseph's Church, Bunhill Row in London, should describe the parish when he arrived as "neglected, hidden in a back street and inward looking" (“Together in stillness”, 17 January). This is the reverse of my experience: a few years ago, it was a jewel of Catholic faith, art, liturgy and devotion, as anyone who visited the church and assisted at Mass will testify. Many of my friends from the continent visited the church to be greeted by excellent local members of the parish. It could hardly be described as inward looking.
I comment further
I am told by urgent email that Fr Healy has now left to be a hermit (can't do much damage then!) and the parish is administered from Moorfields, where Fr Peter Newby, Chairman of the Diocesan Art and Architecture Commission, is rector. A golden opportunity to right past wrongs.
St Joseph's Church, Bunhill Row has been the victim of two acts of liturgical vandalism.
This was the High Altar in 1922.
And this was the altar in 1988 following a so-called remodelling by a Fr Denis Watters in 1988, and apparently opened with praise by Cardinal Hume as an example of a model reordering (!!!!)
This was restored again and but the restoration was destroyed with the spiritually devastating results seen on Holy Smoke. Sadly, not confined to the 1970s- St Konrad's Church in Linz has just been remodelled to allegedly bring it into conformance with the demands of Vatican II. It was pretty bad before but just sufficiently old to have known the Latin Mass.
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