CELEBRATIONS in Manchester on Sunday to mark the 50th anniversary of the return of the Friars Minor Conventual to this country, will include the laying of the foundation stone for the new 05,000 church of St. Clare.
The head of the Order, Fr. V. Costantini, is coming from Rome for the ceremonies. The foundation stone will be laid by Bishop Beck of Salford after leading a procession of 1,000 people from the Good Shepherd Convent.
The Father General will lay a commemoration stone to mark the occasion. Fr. Vincent Mayer. a former provincial at Liverpool, and one of the pioneer Friars, has travelled from America.
The new church will seat 1,000 people and may result in the present St. Clare's being turned into a school, says Fr. George Rudrof, the parish priest.
LAST MASSES IN CANADA'S GHOST TOWNS
The last Masses have been offered in three parish churches which were closely linked with the early Catholic history of upper Canada and now will soon disappear under the St. Lawrence Seaway.
They are the Lady of Grace Church at Dickinson's Landing, Ontario. and the mission churches of St. Francis, at Farran's Point, and St. George's, at Mille Roche's.
These churches and communities on the St. Lawrence River figured prominently in the work of the early missionaries who planted the Faith in what is now the province of Ontario. ,
But the three riverside places are now ghost towns. Most residents have been moved to the new communities of Ingleside and Long Sault, farther inland, to escape the flood waters that are to course over the areas as part of the vast seaway project.
Brother Friars
On Sunday, the feast of St. Dominic, Fr. Michael Halliday (Guardian) and Frs. Quentin Jackson and Oswin O'Grady, all Franciscons from St. Bonaventure's. Bristol, together with Master of Ceremonies, Thurifer and Acolytes from that church visited Woodchester Priory to offer High Mass for their fellow friars, the Dominicans, on their patronal feast. They were thus preserving an old custom, which arose through the great personal friendship of their respective Founders, of visiting and offering the main 41ass of the day for each other. It is also customary to take their own servers with them on these interchange of visits owing to the difference in the rites.