Canons celebrate

HUNDREDS of parishioners are expected to converge on St Mary's Abbey, Bodmin. on June 24, for a centenary Mass of thanksgiving,
It was a different story, one hundred years ago. when the Canons Regular of the Lateran returned to England for the first time since the Reformation. Then only one man turned up to greet them and celebrate their return for he was the only Catholic in the town.
But Fr Menchini and his little hand of Canons were not downhearted. They had asked for a mission in England and that's exactly what they got. Reason alone told them that things couldn't get worse and their faith and trust in God made them hope that they might, one day, be very much better.
Now we are celebrating the arrival of those early pioneers. The new Abbey Church, made from hand cut stone, serves as a parish chuch for the many local parisioners and as a house of prayer for the community which runs several 'mission centres' and parishes in Cornwall.
The Order has since spread to other parts of the country — with missions in the Thames Valley and parishes in London, where our students train for the priesthood and religious life.
In this, our centenary year, we shall, no doubt, reminisce and give thank for the past. But most of all, we shall be praying for more vocations to carry on this work in the future. We hope that many Herald readers will join us with their prayers.
Fr Denis O'Gorman CRL