An Anglican welcome to daily Mass

ANGLICANS in a rural Dorset town have been quick to open their hearts and their doors to a neighbouring Catholic congregation rendered homeless this week when builders moved in to undertake a major extension project to their church.
The 160-plus parishioners of St Mark's in Beaminster, West Dorset, have gratefully accepted an offer to share the use of nearby St Mary's Anglican church for the four-to-five months their own church will be undergoing extension work.
The first Mass at the ancient Anglican church will take place this Sunday. "We'll have to fit around their service schedule, but we can't wait to go," said St John's parishioner and editor of the parish newsletter Michael Walcot.
"We're a small rural town, and St Mary's and St John's are really the only two active churches," he added. "Over the 25 years since the foundation of the Catholic parish here, friendship between the two communities has grown considerably, and the two parish priests get on like a house on fire."
The Beaminster Anglican team ministry produces a monthly publication with two pages of Catholic news and views contributed by St John's. Last week the Catholic Herald reported that a Catholic church in Eastbourne was considering offering the use of its premises to a neighbouring Anglican church.