Does your parish have a website?

Blackfen? Chislehurst? Morriston? No, it's Brighton

And, if it does, was it produced by your version of Grunty O'Troffe, the parish 'artist' and, if so is it grindingly boring?

There are surprisingly few parishes that promote (yes, that's right, promote) themselves and the Faith proficiently through the world wide web.

And, when you connect with your parish site do you have to search for Mass times amongst a swamp of politically correct inclusive words and sentences?

Well, having lambasted a parish in the diocese of Abuse and Blasphemy for being ultra fluffy and 'touchy feely' I am most pleased to offer up some praise for another A & B parish not further than you could throw a modernist from the church I originally posted about HERE.

The excellent website in question is, naturally enough, that of Fr Ray Blake's parish, St Mary Magdalen, spiritual home of so many fine bloggers and commentators.

Having read Fr Ray's parish website I found it informative and easy to navigate around and....(a big AND).....the pictures used are mainly shots of Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form (well, as Fr Ray offers the OF Mass ad orientem I suspect that, in a spirit of even handedness, some of the pictures may belong to the OF).

The only downside is the fact that the website features an honourable altar server who has just retired after 75 years of service on the sanctuary.

Grrr.......and I thought that I was doing well at a mere 65 years service!

A guilty prayer for Fr Ray

That Argentine Bishop really started something when he began Santa bashing. It was a prompt for many to air their views as to the hollowness of the Santa Claus figure; a secular fat man in a red suit, dishing out materialism from a big sack. Fr Ray issued a post moderately agreeing with this view and then a few bloggers jumped on him from a great height....mea culpa. I was one, I am a sinner...my name is Richard and I....ooops, sorry, that's for another venue!
Now Fr Blake feels as if he has been branded a Scrooge; and to cap it all the Church has been burgled, the renovations are in a mess and there's wall to wall immigrants making beetroot soup in the kitchen.
Bless you Father for your good work and I am sorry for your woes.
If anyone would like to make a contribution to Father's fund, visit Fr Ray's Blog.
Below is a prayer to the patron Saint of priests, St John Vianney. He, also knew what it was like to be broke and up to his ears in problems but he also had manifestations of Satan to contend with!

Relics of St John Vianney at the London Oratory

Say the prayer for Fr Ray and all of our priests to whom we owe so much....

For Parish Priests

Dear Saint John Vianney, 
your childhood dream was to be a Priest, 
to win souls for God. 
You endured years of toil and humiliation 
to attain the Priesthood. 
You became a priest truly after God's own heart, 
outstanding in humility and poverty; 
prayer and mortification. 
Totally devoted to the service of God's people. 
The Church has exalted you as model 
and patron saint of all Parish priests, 
trusting that your example and prayers 
will help them to live up 
to the high dignity of their vocation 
to be faithful servants of God's people, 
to be perfect imitators of Christ the Saviour 
Who came not to be served but to serve, 
to give His Life in ransom for many. 

Pray that God may give to His Church today 
many more priests after His own Heart. 
Pray for all the priests under your patronage, 
that they may be worthy representatives 
of Christ the Good Shepherd. 
May they wholeheartedly devote themselves 
to prayer and penance; 
be examples of humility and poverty; 
shining models of holiness; 
tireless and powerful preachers of the Word of God; 
zealous dispensers of God's Grace in the Sacraments. 
May their loving devotion to Jesus in the Eucharist 
and to Mary His Mother 
be the Twin Fountains of fruitfulness for their ministry.

Amen.