I have been the priest of a small, rural parish for several years now. Our church is a modest and modern building which sits well in its village surroundings. It is the sort of place where you would never dream of planting a church today. But because of the conversion of the 8th Earl of Denbigh, in the 1850s the parish was endowed and flourished.
When the new church was built in the 1990s a small bellcote was erected but left empty. For a long time I have felt that it was crying out for some bells to call the faithful to Mass, ring the Angelus and be a gentle reminder of God’s Kingdom and his presence in our community. I also had the romantic notion of the bells ringing across the village and surrounding countryside after many years’ absence.
