Fr Finigan to move from Blackfen

PLEASE NOTE: NO FURTHER COMMENTS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THIS POST - MY INTENTION WAS NOT TO DISRUPT EITHER FR STEVEN'S OR FR TIM'S PLANS BUT SOME READERS SEEM TO THINK THAT THIS IS THE CASE.

Fr Tim Finigan

Picture: Ordinariate Expats

Parishioners at Our Lady of the Rosary in Blackfen will be dismayed at the news that Fr Tim Finigan (The Hermeneutic of Continuity) for any Martians who may not have come across this great priest, is to move to the Church of St Austin and St Gregory with St Anne in the seaside resort of Margate.

There are good reasons for any bishop to move his priests to a different parish every so often and, it is a certainty that, in Fr Tim's case, it must be that Archbishop Peter Smith wanted to apply the considerable spiritual and pastoral abilities of Fr Finigan to the wider benefit of his flock.

This move highlights a problem that many of us who seek a Latin Mass on a Sunday come across.

Traditional Catholics in Britain tend to cluster close to parishes where the old Mass is offered regularly and, when the PP is moved on, it can come as something of a tragedy for those left behind, doubly so when they may have lost both the Mass and a good spiritual director.

A good priest moulds his flock to bind them closer to Christ and to enhance their prospects of salvation and, as a result, the parishioners assume something of the character of the priest.

It can come as a bitter blow to lose that priest despite the fact that, in  Fr F's case, his successor will bring his own gifts to the parish.

Thankfully, for Blackfen, the new PP, Fr Steven Fisher is known to celebrate Mass in the Extraordinary Form.

As for the good folk of Margate, they are providentially fortunate as a result of the Archbishop's decision.

Prayers needed for Fr Tim, Fr Steven and the parishioners of both Blackfen and Margate.