Refreshment Eucharist

Today we had a lunch date with our friends Martin and Chris in Newport, and they invited us to join them beforehand in attending the Eucharist at the Parish Church of St Julius & Aaron on the east side of the city, where they are regular attenders.  

The church is tucked away on the hillside above the suburb of St Julian's, close to where the M4 climbs up a very long hill in by passing the city. It's an interesting building in the Anglo Catholic architectural ethos, using red brick and stone to good effect, dating from the early twentieth century. It contains the reredos rescued from Llanthony Priory, a failed nineteeth century monastic experiment in the Honddu Valley, north of Abergavenny. The church was never completed and indeed looks incomplete. Apparently there is a plan afoot finally to add a Lady Chapel on the south side of chancel, as this was originally conceived

I went to St Julius and Aaron's parish church just once as a guest preacher for USPG in mid-eighties. It was good to return with friends and realise how much it had changed in 25 years. Admittedly, sun was streaming in and enhancing the sanctuary, but I remembered it as a somewhat sombre over furnished place all those years ago. The chancel has been cleared of choir stalls and a nave altar installed, leaving the impressive Llanthony reredos and altar to serve as a setting for the Blessed Sacrament tabernacle.

Distribution of flowers during the Mass

The church was full for an all age Mothering Sunday Family Eucharist. The service blended Catholic ritual with contemporary music and the use of a project for hymns, liturgical texts and visual aids during the sermon. It was all beautifully done, with a well crafted homily from Fr Rex the Vicar. So well done as to feel natural and relaxed. I imagine it must have taken a huge amount of careful preparation in order not to feel contrived or self conscious.

The church is fortunate in having a gifted organist and choir director who is sensitive to the worship needs of both priest and community - a marvellous partnership. It's the other side of town from where Martin and Chris life, and it's quite an effort to get the family there on time, but it's obviously worth their while. It's a place where people can feel nurtured and uplifted in an everyday parochial environment, because what happen there matters muchly to those who make it happen.

I hope that's how history will remember the majority of our parishes in this era of survival struggle.