Dear Friends

Last month was an important time in the life of the parish when Her Majesty the Queen was present for the dedication of the Memorial to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Inspite of the unexpected re-scheduling because of the funeral of the Pope, it was a splendid occasion with a rich mixture of Her late Majesty’s relatives, local residents and many other people whose generosity had made the Memorial possible. Amongst the guests were Canon Dendle French and his wife, Margaret, and it was delightful to welcome him back as our preacher for the Parish Communion at St Martin’s, Preston, earlier in the day.

The month of May brings to a close the major festivals of the Christian year. Ascensiontide, Whitsun and Trinity Sunday all occur in May this year and then we move into the long post-Trinity season which lasts until we reach Advent once again.

The Papacy of the late John Paul the Second will be remembered for many things and several commentators have observed that he will be a hard act to follow. He was a great believer in ecumenism and outreach to those outside Catholicism. This outreach went beyond the boundaries of Christianity to people of other faiths like Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism. This has long been a bone of contention among Christians because if Christianity is true, should we not be converting these people to our faith rather than entering into dialogue with them as holders of equally valid sets of beliefs ? Jesus is reported to have said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no-one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6). I have heard sincere Christians claim that this shows that other faiths fall short of ours.

On the other hand, we know that Islam is growing on the world stage more than Christianity and that the doctrinal and moral influence of the Christian church is in decline in the developed world. In addition, many new religious movements have arisen in the west during the post-war period which owe their origin