More than two months ago Rorate reported on the negotiations between the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the Bishop of Shrewsbury over the "Dome of Home" in New Brighton, Wirral. Last week, Fr. Ray Blake posted the following press release from the Diocese of Shrewsbury on the conclusion of the negotiations:
The Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury and Monsignor Gilles Wach, General Prior of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, have agreed to work towards establishing a foundation of the Institute at the Church of Ss Peter and Paul in New Brighton, Wirral, during the course of this year. The principal aim of the new foundation will be to provide a centre in the Diocese of Shrewsbury for the celebration of Holy Mass and the other Sacraments in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The presence of the Institute – a society of Apostolic life of Pontifical right – will also enable the church to become a centre for Eucharistic devotion and adoration, allowing the faithful to come to pray for an increase in faith and love for the Most Holy Eucharist.
A spokesman for the diocese said: “The members of the Institute will work in close collaboration with Father Philip Moor, the parish priest of the Parish of the Holy Apostles and Martyrs, since it is the wish of Bishop Davies that this shrine church will express the harmony between the two usages of the one Roman Rite.“As the Holy Father, Pope Benedict, reminded us in his 2007 Moto Proprio, Summorum Pontificum, ‘there is no contradiction between the two editions of the Roman Missal’, it is the sincere hope of the bishop that this establishment will foster reconciliation at the heart of the Church: one of the express aims of the 2007 papal document.“Finally, the foundation will ensure that the patrimony of the church building so dear to Catholics and other members of the local community is secured and continues to bear witness to the faith and mission of the Church.”Since Bishop Davies was first approached by the Institute last year, he has been consulting with the Holy See, his brother northern Catholic bishops, the Patrimony Committee of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, and English Heritage about the future of the Church of Ss Peter and Paul.
