Rose of York

Saturday, 27. June 2009, 14:57

Penfold

Saturday, 27. June 2009, 14:24

In many parishes there were once things called, curates. It was the curate’s lot to visit the housebound and distribute Holy Communion to the long term sick in the Parish. The Parish priest might visit the better off end of the parish and may in dire emergency visit the not so well off but on the whole the housebound were fortunate if they saw either of them more than twice a month.

Such behaviour, I would consider unacceptable. Jesus did not restrict his attentions to the better off areas.

In the parish where I grew up, in the town classified, officially, as having the highest percentage of slum dwellings in England, we all knew that the parish priest and his two curates visited the poorer areas, givng devoted service.

In retirement Monsignor Hugh Atkinson of Lincoln, respected by practically everybody in that city, spent his days walking round the back streets and council estates around the church, Monday to Saturday, visiting sick parishioners, in his late eighties. Once a week a parishioner drove him to the better off areas. None were neglected.

Any priest who came to visit me because I live in a detached home in "this exclusive much sought after area with rural views, and easy access to facilities" would be politely requested to send a caring priest.