Today was my first Sunday Mass in my new parish. It was also the first Sunday Mass in that parish in a very long time. There were not many people there as most of the regulars had already come the night before, but of those present, some of the older ones could still remember the old days of having Sunday masses. I was actually rather surprised by the turnout and even more surprised by the authentic joy and thankfulness of those present.

On another note, I bought chicken wire yesterday. I have no intention of keeping chickens, but I think it will be the easiest way to keep the birds out of the church. There are numerous broken windows and until now I have found no good way of closing them because of the strong winds here. So, as I wait for new glass to be put in, I figured I could at least keep the birds out with chicken wire. I hope that next week a whole group of us can go and give the church a proper cleaning – but there is no real point until I can keep them out. I was informed by a woman who has helped clean the church in the past that I will probably have to buy pure hydrochloric acid to be able to remove the stains from all of their droppings. Charming.

One other thing I saw that I have to find a solution for is the Holy Dust font. I noticed that there was no holy water, and so I planned on refilling it, only to then realize that there was not much sense. At present the wall that it is attached to is decaying so rapidly that it readily refills it with plaster and paint dust. I can’t see much sense in putting water in it, but all the same I saw that there were quite a few finger trails in the dust of people who still had the habit of dipping in before making the sign of the cross.

Seeing this and so many other things, reminds me of what our architect said: it would be cheaper to knock the church down and start over than to renovate it. God help us!