2315: Sacred Heart, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England

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6 May 2012

I realise it’s over four months since your Mystery Worshipper visited Sacred Heart, Ilkley. However, I too was a visitor to that church today and by sheer coincidence this report was mentioned in the homily! Monsignor Heskin was telling the story of Barnabas welcoming Paul into the Christian community, despite human reservations to strangers, admittedly shared by the monsignor as well as the rest of us.

I agree entirely with Don Bosco, with the exception of his comments on the comfortableness of the kneelers in the church, which I found to be the most comfortable I’ve come across.

Despite the fact that Monsignor Heskin is one of the vicars general of the Diocese of Leeds, I was held captive by his informal preaching, which was not only very personal to his parishioners, but also to me as a visitor.

I’m also glad to report that since Christmas, the congregation spoke up loud and proud with the words of the new translation. Perhaps the confusion when your Mystery Worshipper visited was indeed down to the number of people in the church who don’t worship on a regular basis.

Sadly, I found myself one of only a handful who joined in the singing

Su Goodyear