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Fr. Yenda's Monthly Letters 2008 January 2008 My dear people of St Mary’s. Well, Happy New Year!! Faster than usual (or so it seems) the New Year is upon us, and we are sitting in our armchairs drinking a toast to 2008 and singing Auld Lang Syne, wondering why this year, as always, there is nothing on the TV worth watching when the clock strikes midnight! The New Year gives us a great sense of hope. For some people 2007 will have been a wonderful year, and they can only hope that 2008 will be just as good. For others 2007 may have been a terrible year, and they will be full of optimism for 2008 being much better. For most of us it will be somewhere in between I expect. As we start 2008, perhaps it’s a good time to look at what we are actually doing as the Church of England in this place. The Church of England is an interesting institution really, because depending on your tradition and viewpoint, there are different understandings of where our Church actually sits in the scheme of Christian understanding. When people refer to ‘The Catholic Church’ they invariably mean the Roman Catholic Church with the Pope at its helm. Yet if we look in the Book of Common Prayer, it is quite clear that the Church of England is part of that Catholic Christendom. In the Creed we see the words, ‘I believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church’. Indeed it was Archbishop Fisher who said that ‘The Church of England has no doctrines of its own, only those of the Catholic Church’. At the time of Henry viii the Church of England changed in some ways; but not necessarily quite as much as we sometimes think. The Church of England did not become a protestant organisation in the sense that some people often think it did. The Church of England maintained its Catholic order of Bishop Priest and Deacon – and these sacred ministries are maintained to the present day. (I often think it very ironic that the Church of England came into being largely because the king wanted a divorce and a remarriage – and now most Anglican clergy refuse to marry divorcees!! (That is perhaps by the by though!) Equally important are the seven Sacraments of the Church which the Church of England also maintains: - Marriage (people get married!) Baptism (people get baptised), Holy Orders (people are ordained as bishops, priests or deacons), Extreme Unction (people are anointed with holy oils at their death and offered the last rites), Holy Communion (the sacrament of Our Lord’s body and blood, the service which is celebrated every Sunday in all churches and daily in many), and Penance (people come to make their confession to the priest in church and receive his advice, penance and absolution). In fact, all those sacramental expressions of the Christian faith which are assumed to be Roman Catholic are, in fact, quintessentially part of the Anglican expression of Christianity too. Interestingly enough, very often people say that when they visit churches like ours, that it is ‘like a Catholic Church’! Slightly ironic in a way, because as I have illustrated, the Church of England is, in fact, part of Catholic Christendom. Services in the Church of England, certainly in the tradition maintained here at Sundon are conducted in a manner which is clearly Catholic in its ethos and practice, and very often more so than they are in Roman churches since the 1960s. So, where does the difference come? What is the main difference between the Church of Rome and the Church of England. Well, from a practical point of view, Roman clergy have to spend 7 years in training, where as Anglican clergy spend 2 or 3. I am not sure I could really have managed 7 years in a seminary, and I am quite happy to admit that! But the real difference is the understanding of the Papacy. In many Anglican churches the Holy Father is actually prayed for out loud at every service – although interestingly enough that isn’t currently the practice at Sundon. The Pope is the head of the Church of Rome, and those people who are members of the Church of Rome will do as he says and sees fit. The Church of England works in a slightly different way. In the Church of England there is far more compromise, give and take, and negotiation over things. This is because the Church of England is such a broad church. Anglo Catholics on one side, evangelicals on the other, and centralists in the middle, holding it all together is actually a very difficult task. Consequently, the Archbishop of Canterbury has to be a man who both listens and considers the consequences of every matter he is concerned with. The essence of the two styles of leadership does of course have pros and cons. Every Roman catholic will understand what the Pope says and will adhere to it – even if they don’t like it. This is particularly interesting now that the Holy Father has demanded that those people who want the Latin Mass are entitled to have it provided for them, regardless of whether their local priest is vehemently against it!! In the Church of England, if people want a particular style of churchmanship, it is usually there for them to begin with. Ultimately, to my mind, the Church of England does, in England, what the church should be doing in England. Its pastoral care, its parochial work, and its administrations of the Sacraments of the Church. As we look to a new year as the Church of England in this place, I hope we will work this year at understanding where we actually are, and as we do that, understand and see how we can show the love of Christ in our parish with the full richness of the Sacraments of the Church which we have. As ever and throughout 2008, It remains my very great joy and privilege to serve as your parish priest, Every good wish Fr Yenda February 2008 My dear people of St Mary’s. I can only begin this month’s letter with an enormous note of thanks. Last month I reached the mile-stone of middle age, having my 40th birthday a week after New Year. I had been requested to remain at home on the evening of the Saturday after, and was taken to the church hall where a surprise party had been organised! I had absolutely no idea that anything on this scale had been organised and I was deeply touched! As I came in I saw my aunt who had come from Royston and my cousin from Reading – so the arrangements had been very thorough indeed!! It was tremendously kind and I am, as I say, deeply touched – not least of all by the very generous gift as well. How my wonderful folk managed to arrange all this without my knowing is simply stunning – but what might be equally impressive is that my mother managed not to breath a word to me about it for all the months it was going on, either!! (yes I can say that, she does read the magazine!!) So, after a wonderful end to last year with the best Midnight Mass attendance I have known, and a marvellous start to the New Year as I have just illustrated, we fall to Lent earlier than we ever have. Apparently Easter this year falls earlier than it has since 1913, and will not be so early again this century. So it all happens very quickly this year. The feast of Candlemass, when we celebrate Our Lord being Presented in the Temple this year falls on the day when we would usually keep Quinquagesima Sunday. In the Prayer Book rite it was customary to wear purple vestments for Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima, and I wonder how those churches who still follow that will manage their colour schemes this year! Funnily enough it is one old fashioned practice that I have never adopted – perhaps because Lent goes on long enough as it is, without adding another three weeks of purple to it! So; here we are; starting Lent at the beginning of February. It is perhaps the bleakest time of the year liturgically; the church is as bare as it can be, no flowers and so forth. We all try and stay away from some of the things we like – how many of us have our most successful diets during Lent?! Some of us will take on extra things which may challenge us in some way. It is a time of year when we are able to ‘go that extra mile’ and when we come to Holy Week consider all the events of Our Lord’s suffering and death before we celebrate His Resurrection. It is only natural that during this time of year our thoughts and minds do turn to those who are suffering in our communities – and there is plenty of it in Luton. How many people in our town suffer inadequate housing? How many fear to walk outside their front doors? How many ‘working girls’ are there on the streets of our town – and how many of them would be working in the ‘oldest profession’ if it weren’t for sheer desperation? It is surely an occupation that no one would actually ‘choose’, that is so fundamentally obvious. Lent reminds us that as Our Lord prepared for His suffering, there is still suffering all around us. Very often the sad thing is that we can do little about it, little to alleviate it. Yet there is one thing we can do. We can pray about it. Lent is a time when we can focus our minds on the sadnesses in the world, and actually offer them to God in prayer. So, as we being Lent, I wish you all luck with your diets, and all your Lenten observances! And remember of course, it is only 6 weeks, and then there will be more chocolate in the shops than at any other time of year! As always it remains my immense joy and privilege to serve as your parish priest With all good wishes Fr Yenda March 2008 My Dear people of St. Mary’s. I am always aware that all churches run best when people in them ‘do their bit’ – this is simple common sense in one sense – but in many churches up and down the country it is more and more difficult to get people to do things. In some parishes, the problem is the other way round…too many cooks and not enough broth, as the old adage goes! Striking the right balance is not only difficult, but also somewhat vital, and – as in most aspects of parish life – St. Mary’s Sundon is doing very well. There is a noticeable willingness amongst our people to give of our time and our talents – talents which God has of course given to us, and which we use to His greater glory. Singling people out for praise is one of the most dangerous things any priest can do; ‘Father mentioned so-and-so’s dusting of the pulpit, and never mentioned that I dusted two pews’! Yet this month, I should like to make mention of some of the work which goes on here at S Mary’s, because there is so much effort that is put in for the benefit of our Church and Parish and, again, for the greater glory of God. Last month Brian Wood who we all know devotes hour upon hour to the care of our churchyard was awarded a Mayor’s Citizenship Award for the work he has done here. This is very richly deserved, and I have yet to have anyone visit our church who isn’t simply amazed at how marvellous the churchyard looks, and how beautifully it is kept. These awards are not handed out like sweets, and this level of recognition is not only impressive but very richly deserved. This has of course given me the opportunity to say my own thanks, not only to Brian Wood for the work he does here, but to all those people who give of their time and talents; and there are many. Some of us are able to give lots of time, and are able to do lots of physical work, others of us may work in different t ways, some of us may at times feel we don’t do that much. But the fact is that in a parish church, things only run smoothly when the people do pull together, and use the talents they have. I never cease to be amazed by the level of commitment of people here and the effort people are prepared to put into things – be it raising money, organising things, helping with social events, holding particular office in the church council – or even if our contribution is our attendance prayerfully in church, it is all vital. For all these contributions our parish is by far the richer. There is always the feeling amongst clergy that we are supposed to be able to do all the jobs that need doing, and never admit if we need help, let alone admit to there being things we can’t do!! When we get old we can legitimately shy away from climbing up ladders! Yet where does it say that we can’t admit to being weak in areas of finance and administration? Those people who deal with that side of things do me personally an immense service; I have yet to achieve a pass in Mathematics O Level, and having people who so readily attend to the numerical and administrative side of things not only makes my work a great deal easier, but frees me up for the priestly work in the parish which is really what I am here to do! Yet what is equally important is that we make that commitment to be in Church each and every Sunday, and our commitment to Our Lord at the Altar is vital because all that we do in the parish is offered to God in our worship. A church where people pray and where people attentively love Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, is a church which is as rich as ever it could be. That is as much a contribution as anything else. We all have different talents, and it is to the glory of God that we use them. This month sees Easter come at the end of the Triduum when we suffer with Our Lord in His agony and death, and we glory in His Resurrection from the dead. Easter is a feast of great joy, and a time when we also consider how our own spiritual lives have faired through Lent; did our Lenten Observances do us any good, and do we take up our own crosses after Lent with renewed vigour and renewed commitment to Our Lord? How many of us will have given up our sugar in our coffee, never again to feel the need to use it?! It happens. Easter brings us hope. It is the great festival when we really get to the crux of what our Holy Religion is really all about. In the Resurrection of Our Lord we have assurance of our own resurrection too, we know that Our Lord conquered death and for us too there is that knowing that we too shall have that joy and privilege of being with God, living for ever in His loving care.
As ever it remains
my immense joy and privilege to April 2008 T his month I wanted to explain the implications of what is meant by ‘The suspension of the Living’, because this parish which has been suspended for 5 years is now in the process of being re-suspended against the wishes of both the Parochial Church Council and also very firmly against my own. So I think it is important that this month I make it very clear what the Suspension of the Living actually is, and what it actually means.A Parish is known as a ‘Living’ – the Vicar or Rector has the Living of a particular parish, and with it he has the right of Freehold to remain in office until he reaches the age of 70. The bishop under whom he serves may request him to move, or may request him to take on additional parishes, but as a Freehold Incumbent he is at liberty to refuse if he so chooses. When the Presentation of a Living is Suspended, the parish priest is not technically the Vicar or Rector, but simply the Priest in Charge. A Priest in Charge has no right of Freehold, he has but the license that the Bishop has given him. In some dioceses, that license if fixed for 5 or 7 years, at the end of which the Bishop can refuse to renew that license. In this diocese the licenses are (at least in the case of this parish) open ended, so there is no date by which the Priest in Charge should have packed up his house and found alternative employment! A Priest in Charge has no rights of security, and what security he does have depends to some extent on the relationship he has with his bishop. I do have to make it very plain, however that in this diocese the Bishop has shown me nothing less than the utmost respect, support, encouragement and consideration, and of him I could never have asked for greater support than he has given me. However, the present bishop will be retiring in January 2009, and no one knows what kind of a man the replacement will be. Ultimately, if a Bishop asks a Priest in Charge to take on extra work, such as an extra parish, unlike the Freehold Incumbent, he really has little room for refusal. So far, it might look as though all this affects the clergy but not really the parish as a whole; but that is not actually the case. A parish where the Living is in place will, when it becomes vacant, have a long list of applicants for the Freehold Living; I have seen many parishes where clergy have been falling over themselves to apply for Freehold parishes. By the same token, it has to be said that those parishes which are suspended have particular difficulty in attracting interested applicants; this surely shows the great need clergy have for Freehold Livings. There is, however, for clergy, an unexpected upside in all this. It is very likely that in January 2009 (although some people are expecting January 2010) there will be strong legal employment rights for clergy, under the auspices of the ‘Common Tenure’ measure. This will mean that a Priest in Charge will in effect have the security of an Incumbent with Freehold – such legislation is very seriously overdue it has to be said, and it is largely through the Trades Union Amicus (of which I have long been a member) that such legislation is being realised. It also means however that once the Common Tenure measure is implemented, those clergy who currently have the Incumbent Freehold of their parishes will be permitted to keep it – after all it is theirs! Those clergy who do not have the Freehold of their parishes will never actually have it as it will have been abolished. Therefore it is vital that the Common Tenure measure gives clergy the maximum possible security in their parishes. This is more vital for clergy than most workers, given that clergy who are out of work lose not only their income, but also their homes, and also find it more difficult to transfer their working skills to other jobs than most other workers (despite the fact that some would argue that point). There is only one legitimate reason for the Suspension of a Living, and that is ‘Pastoral Reorganisation’. In Luton that is actually on-going, so actually the diocese do have a legitimate reason for the suspension; that cannot be contested. However, the other thing which affects us and which we have to watch very closely is the Luton Review. On the positive side, the Luton Review has, in fact, been remodelled from the original one, and from our point of view it could not be better. Each of the set-ups of the parishes (or ‘partnerships’ as they committee has called them) has actually been organised on the basis of Churchmanship rather than anything else. Hence we are ‘partnered’ with Holy Cross Marsh Farm, Holy Trinity Biscot and S. Saviour’s. By the year 2016, this ‘partnership’ of parishes will lose one clergyman and have 3 rather than 4 serving these 4 churches. It will, therefore, mean that one of us clergymen will be looking after 2 churches rather than one. At the moment we have the smallest parish population (around 6,700) but this is due to rise to around 15,000 once all the new housing is built. Marsh Farm currently has around 10,000 I believe, and I am not aware of plans to expand that parish by any great degree. It remains to be seen who will get the extra workload in the future. But the important thing is that we are linked to churches with which we have some measure of affinity. I have, however, made it abundantly clear at several meetings I have been to concerning the Luton Review, as well as ensuring it be further ratified by the Parochial Church Council of this parish, that under no circumstances whatever, will any other clergyman conduct any services in the church of S Mary the Virgin Sundon except at my express invitation. As I said the way the Luton Review is organised it is actually pretty good, but it is still a great disappointment that the Living of this parish is being re-suspended, and both myself and the Parochial Church Council have struggled long and hard to do everything possible to ensure that a further suspension was not realised – the fact that the parish is being re-suspended is entirely without our agreement. It is, however, not entirely the end of the world – but that is only because the pastoral re-organisation at the moment for us looks mainly positive, and also that in the course of one or two years there will be employment rights for clergy. When that happens, even those of us without the security of freehold will, at very long last, be able to sleep soundly in our beds! My word…all exciting stuff this month, so I shall endeavour to write something a little lighter for May!
As ever it remains my fervent joy and
immense privilege to serve as the parish priest of this wonderful parish, With all good wishes Fr Yenda May 2008 May's magazine entry was a reproduction of the APCCM address this year focusing on the repercussions of the renewal of the 'suspension of the living' at St Mary's. You can read this here.
June 2008 My dear people of St Mary’s; As we have just about finished all the exciting festivities of Easter and the post Easter ceremonies such as Whitsuntide, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi and the Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi, we settle back into a very long stretch of green Sundays! Easter being so early this year, there is very little to split up that long section of green which we see Sunday by Sunday now! It got me thinking actually about how in the Old Rite we actually had three less Sundays in green vestments because the three Sundays preceding Lent were actually kept in the colour purple as a preparation for Lent, in effect it was as if Lent was 9 weeks long rather than 6 – it is one old custom I have not kept here, because I happen to think that the 6 weeks of Lent is quite long enough!! Interestingly enough the Church does from time to time make alterations to its liturgical life, and when this happens some of us like it, some of us don’t, and some people (probably this is the category I fall into) just ignore the changes and carry on regardless! So in recent months there has been some really interesting – and dare I say – wonderful liturgical activity. Lets take a step back a second. In the 1960s there was a movement in the Roman Church to modernise the liturgy – it is said that the 2nd Vatican Council went a good deal further in its modernising than Pope John XXIII had perhaps intended, but whatever the reasons, the liturgical changes of the 1960s not only completely altered the services of the Church, but those people who still wanted the Latin Mass in its traditional style were pretty much unable to find it – it was in practice (although not in Church Law) all but abolished. Soon after this the Church of England came up with its new Rites of Series 1, 2, and eventually Series 3 which seemed to catch on in something of a big way. Then came 1980 and the ASB arrived, and in it there were several options for Rite A and for Rite B – Rite B being the traditional language; by using different options from these rites it was possible to make at least an interesting liturgy. Common Worship came our way a few years back, and that has been interesting because it has made a number of alterations to what was once Rite A, but in the case of what was Rite B there has been significant improvement (here I have to state this is my opinion and not necessarily the opinion of every reader!) Suffice to say it is somewhat easier to arrive at a good traditional liturgy from the Common Worship texts than it was with the ASB… make of that what you will. It would seem that in recent history, the Church of Rome has been somewhat the leader in liturgical change and reform, and the Church of England has seemed to follow with its own liturgical change at similar times. So, where are we now? Interestingly enough the Roman Church has recently made an amazing turn round. The present Holy Father has issued a very interesting document, ‘Summorum Pontificum’, ‘Motu Proprio on the use of the Roman Liturgy prior to the reform of 1970’. In this document (which fortunately is published with an English translation) Pope Benedict XVI has in fact done something which both many Romans and Anglicans have been waiting for some time. He has seen the value in traditional worship, and not only has he encouraged it, he has in fact stated that where people want the traditional Rites they have a rite to it (no pun intended!) Article 5 / 1 clearly states that ‘…In parishes where there is a stable group of faithful who adhere to the earlier liturgical tradition, the pastor should willingly accept their request to celebrate the Mass according to the rite of the Roman missal published in 1962…’ which basically means that even if the pastor doesn’t like the traditional rite himself, he has to provide it for his people. Interestingly enough, reading further on in the document we arrive at article 7. Article 7 contains the following, ‘…If a group of lay faithful, as mentioned in art 5 / 1 has not obtained satisfaction to their request from the pastor, they should inform the diocesan bishop…(who)…is strongly requested to satisfy their wishes…’ Doesn’t get much clearer than that! So, in short the Roman Church can no longer refuse to allow its people to celebrate the Old Latin Mass. How does that affect us as Anglicans?! Well in several ways really. Firstly Anglo Catholics have always used at least some of the Roman rite in their services, and actually most of us use the Roman services in their entirety (I must concede however that this is not entirely the case with what I use!) so it will be interesting to see how many Anglican parishes revert to a more traditional style of worship in the light of Motu Proprio. Secondly the Church of England has never ceased to allow the use of the traditional Anglican Rite, (the 1662 Book of Common Prayer), which has remained in use, although in many places it has been used with a number of additions. In the Church of England those people who wanted the Prayer Book could easily request it, and some priest somewhere would probably offer it to them. In the Church of Rome it was somewhat more difficult; until around the 1980s when the Latin Mass Society became fairly strong, and the Tridentine Rite was allowed with certain permissions, the only way people could attend the traditional Latin Mass was to follow Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre; and of course this wouldn’t have been to everyone’s tastes. So, now the Roman Church has in a way come full circle, from the Tridentine Rite through all the new rites of the 1960s and 70s, and now the traditional rite is back very much in vogue for those people who want it. It will be interesting actually to see what happens in Anglican Churches in the light of this; will we see something of a return to more traditional worship in the Church of England as a result? That remains to be seen. Perhaps the beauty in all this is that the Church of England has always had a very great diversity; that Anglican churches do vary from one to another means that whatever you may like you can, with a bit of searching, find it. I would always say that I would never want to attend certain forms of service myself, but I would consider it vitally important that those forms of service are available for those people who are brought closer to God through them. In this recent document, the Church of Rome has actually offered its people this same opportunity to find that which does bring them closer to God; those people who like one particular style of worship are at liberty to have that which they like, and I am certain that will give a tremendous richness to all our churches in the long run, not just the Church of Rome. Interestingly enough, those clergy who favour traditional worship in both the Churches of Rome and of England tend largely to be younger clergy – and often congregations tend to be younger as well. That is not only interesting, but it does, actually, illustrate that after the liturgical reforms of the 60s and 70s, people are once again looking for something richer. So…before anyone starts to get excited that services at Sundon church will start being in Latin, I am afraid they won’t; I shall continue to offer traditional worship in English! However, if people actually want me to conduct extra services in the week in Latin, then it would be somewhat churlish if I were to refuse! Really we are in an interesting time in the Church at the moment, and in what we see what is going on around us, I think the future looks not only interesting, but actually very bright! It remains as always my very great joy and tremendous privilege to serve as your parish priest; With all good wishes Fr Yenda July 2008 My dear people of St Mary’s; Recently I had the very great joy to re-visit (after a gap of nine years since my previous visit) what is perhaps the most beautiful city in the world – Prague. There are some who would of course find cities that they prefer, but from a personal point of view I have yet to find anywhere that would match it. A few days in Prague is a wealth of opportunity to see the most amazing buildings, the most incredible churches, and a kind of ‘unspoiled’ European ‘ruggedness’ which I think is very charming. As I toured round on the rustic trams, listening to the almost unpronounceable language around me, I was aware that there was so much to take in. What struck me most of all was how very fortunate I was to be seeing such a beautiful place, and how wonderful it was to simply take my passport and my suit case through customs, and see it all. We take this for granted now, when it is only a few years back that a visit to the Eastern-block was tremendously difficult, and the security there was unbelievable – even today, people still remember people being followed around by political policemen watching your every move. People in Eastern-block countries of course were not
allowed to leave their countries either – the beautiful city of Prague was to
all intents and purpose ‘locked away’ and it is only in recent years that we
have been able to visit such places and to be enthralled by its splendour – and
there are many other wonderful cities in that part of Europe for which the case
was the same. Just as when I have visited Auschwitz in the past and also the Anne Frank House, you can never really put into words what it means to be in those places and the impossibility of trying to understand what horror went on in these places. In Terezin, the lady in question, Alice Herz-Sommer used to give piano recitals, as well as other concerts by several famous musicians had been encarcerated there at the same time. During that time, and obviously weak from the existence she had there, she gave recitals of all 24 Chopin Studies. This is a tremendous feat for any pianist; only once have I ever attended a concert where 12 have been played live, but all 24 is not only an incredible feat, but is also quite rare. The Chopin Studies incorporate every imaginable pianistic difficulty, and very few people – even master pianists – can really play them with enough confidence to programme them all in a recital. In a kind of mind over matter, this lady decided that such a feat was actually what she needed to concentrate her mind and her energies away from the horror of what she was having to survive. Picking up this book and visiting the actual place was an experience which will stay with me for a very long time, I am sure. Courage takes many and varied forms, and in the example I have used here we see courage in a very extreme case – courage which was necessary not only for someone’s own sanity, but also for their own survival. As a priest I see examples of courage on a regular basis – often very easily missed, but they are there. Courage, in fact, has many facets and even in the smallest examples it is there. That is one of the things which makes a priest’s life very special…the people a priest comes across in the course of a working week, and the way they embrace life and its difficulties, and somehow always come out on top. For all of us, life throws challenges at us from time to
time, but some people get more challenges than others – and the great courage
which they show is always very humbling to those of us around them. As always it is my enormous privilege and very great joy to serve as your parish priest, With all good wishes Fr Yenda
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