Summer is a curious time in parishes. Everything goes into suspended animation, and this year more so than ever, with the never-ending hot weather. Schools are closed, and a lot of a parish priest's work is school based: no more school masses, no more governor meetings, no more school visits, until September.
And as schools end, holidays begin: for so many of our parishioners, this means the time when they go “home”, that is, back to their country of origin, where many of them have family and property. So for a great many families in my parish it is back to Poland, Italy, Malta, Hungary or the Philippines, and the pews are correspondingly depleted. Those from central Europe tend to drive home, making epic journeys across the continent, with small children in the back, all of whom, I am sure, are far too well trained to ask “Are we nearly there yet?” before they reach the Channel ports.
