NEW CHURCH FOR ENGLAND'S OLDEST PLACE OF PILGRIMAGE

From Our Own Correspondent
TAUNTON.
The diocese of Clifton and the county of Somerset have been enriched by the erection at Glastonbury of the new Church of Our Lady, which was solemnly opened on Tuesday with Pontifical High Mass, sung by Mgr. Wm. Lee, Bishop of Clifton.
NEAR RUINS OF ABBEY
Beautifully designed in free Gothic style and erected in stnne, the new church occupies a prominent frontal position opposite the ruins of the great Abbey, and next to the Convent of the Sisters of St. Louis, through whose generous co-operation the site was made available.
Over the doorway appears a statue of Our Lady and the Infant Jesus, and on either side are statues of St. Dunstan, most famous of Glastonbury's Abbots, and Blessed Richard Whiting, the last Abbot, to whom and his companion martyrs the church ranks as a memorial.
The spacious interior accommodates between 300 and 400 persons. There are three altars, those at the sides being of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Doors, seating and other woodwork arc of oak The total cost of the building is about £12,000 The response to the Glastonbury appeal has been so good that the Bishop was able to announce at the luncheon hat followed the ceremonies that when another £2.000 is raised he will be able to consecrate the church.
ENGLAND'S FIRST SHRINE In the eksurse of his sermon Mgr. M. McGrath told the crowded congregation that nowhere else in Great Britain did they tread ground so immemorially sacred.
Legend linked Glastonbury with St. Joseph of Arimathea, who, according to this tradition, built there the first Christian shrine in this land—the little wattled church. True it was that the otd church of the ever-Blessed Virgin Mary was a historical fact whose origin was lost in the mist of age.
Under the fostering care of the great Benedictine Order that church grew, with the passing Of time into a massive pile. It was the centre of pilgrimages from all these western lands until that sad day in November, 1539, when Richard Whiting poured out his blood for Holy Church on Glastonbury Tor.
And then the great church became a broken church, a pitiful memorial of the unbridled lust of a brutish king.
In the year 725 the Saxon King Ina gave a charter to the monks of that day. That charter was a historical document. It spoke of the Church of Glastonbury at that time as the first church. the foremost church in Britain, the source %rid fount of British piety. Saxon. Welsh. and Irish Abbots succeeded one another until the year .1077 when the first Norman Abbot came in. Even Popes came to realise and recognise the preeminence of Glastonbury.
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Speaking of the Abbeys long associated with Welsh and Irish monasteries, Mgr. McGrath said that in addition to being a Celtic monastery, Glastonbury had a foreign origin. No Celtic monastery in England or Ireland was dedicated to saints, but there at Glastonbury they had a British church from the very beginning with the dedication to the Mother of God, which showed that the founder who set up the first altar there and built his little chinch came from abroad.
The large gathering of clergy, both secular and regular, attending the opening, despite the times, included monks from Downside Abbey.
Guilds and Societies C.E.G., Coventry
STRONGER NOW THAN BEFORE THE WAR The Coventry Centre of the Catholic Evidence Guild held their annual meeting on Saturday. The meeting was preceded by a Retreat attended by the Active, Auxiliary, and Associate Members.
In his report, the Master stressed that the Guild, though suffering from the loss of 60 per cent. of its speakers through the war, had struggled on and made good its losses. Two speakers had just gained first licences and several were in training.
Attendance at the Study and Training Classes had been regular since the first week of the war, in spite of transport difficulties and the black-out. In fact, the Centre was in a stronger position than before last summer, having acquired a room of its own and a considerable library.
K.S.C.,Hornchurch
HOW ONE DAY'S RETREAT Over 30 Knights of St. Columba from Flornchurch and Romford Councils attended a day's Retreat in St. Mary's, Hornchurch, on Sunday. The exercises were given by Fr. Wright, C.SS.R., who also preached at the last Mass and at the evening service, when the Rector, Canon Van Meenen, dedicated England to St. Peter.
The P.O., W. J. Austin, and three other Provincial Officers were among the retreatants, whose numbers were affected by Sunday working.
Catholic Workers
WANT BOOKS FOR STUDY CIRCLE Church Latin classes, a C.S.G. Study Circle, and a lending library of 110 books are features of the Barkingside (Essex) Catholic Worker Centre, which has now been in existence a year. Members sell the (Comb:tied in next column).