Priest wants open church

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH must become a church “without walls” if it is to remain relevant to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Stressing that too many people were living in the past, Vicar General Monsignor Vincent Blackett urged members to band together to build the open church of his dreams.

The monsignor, who was spending his first Sunday back at Black Rock’s Our Lady Queen of the Universe, made the comments in his sermon as he and his congregation celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord yesterday.

In a 20-minute delivery, he started out by regaling his congregation with the story of how he found himself locked in the new rectory yesterday morning because he had taken up the wrong set of keys, and faced the choice of jumping through a window or yelling for help.

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