Changing water into........cash. Wales - what a nation!

What can you say about a land that so often succeeds against all the odds, even in times of global economic recession?

Wales has done it again with the launch of a new product from Halen Mon a company located on the isle of Anglesey, ancestral home of A Reluctant Sinner.

Halen Mon  produces a range of expensive table salts that can be found in uber upmarket delicatessens around the world.

Now they have launched a new product; it's designed for cooking those delicate vegetables such as new baby potatoes or purple brussels sprouts still on the stem.

What can it be? What essential is missing from the top chef's list of receipts?

Nothing less than  sea water in a jar! What!

Yes, dear reader, all you do is to buy a jar of this delicious....err.....condiment, is that the word? Add it to a pan of the aforesaid vegetables and cook for the required period.

And, to accompany this dish of epicurean proportions - how about a tin (can if you are American) of Pembrokeshire air? It's fresh and bracing and very reasonable in price, please contact me to place your orders.

So what, you may ask, has this got to do with Catholicism?

A good question; well, it put me in mind of the Diocese of Wrexham, that poor and desolate wasteland that embraces the Isle of Anglesey, better known in these parts as Ynys Mon, where traditional Catholics are as common on the ground as pork pies in a synagogue.

Poor old Wrexham Catholics have been opening jars of the spiritual equivalent of sea water for a long time now and supplementing the range with cans full of fresh air.

The trouble is, that it does not make for a healthy diet; these items may be OK as supplements (if you cannot be bothered to source the real thing yourself) but you cannot thrive on them.

You grow thin and pale, or at least, your soul does. And you hunger for a slab of a rarely done EF Mass or an Afternoon Benediction - real food!

This is allegedly, a year of change for the Diocese; Bishop Regan is due to retire.

Get a can of  Vat II  now!
It will add a real insipid flavour
to your spiritual life!

Let us hope and pray that the Holy Father will send a shepherd who knows a thing or two about animal husbandry and who will feed his flock well - but not on sea water or fresh air.