April 2

The morning was spend trying to arrange the schedule for the month of April. Some things required a bit of juggling, but that is nothing new. One attempts to balance the schedule as best one can.

In rural ministry, with a number of churches, the schedule of services is not always the same. A single point parish, an urban parish, can pretty much set a Sunday schedule of services and stick with it making accommodations for Holy Days. One should not view this as a strength or weakness of urban verses rural, but simply a difference. Ministry in urban and rural parishes have different stresses and focuses.

Some of the clergy may be familiar with The Parson's Handbook by Percy Dreamer, 1899. It is a very complete handbook for all matters of the liturgy of the Church, but barely addresses the ministry of the parson beyond the walls of a church building. It is still a rather useful book though, as Dreamer focuses upon liturgical matters exclusively. Wish he wrote more about the maniple though.

Charles R Forder published The Parish Priest at Work in 1947. I came across this book at the Hiscock — Moore Memorial Library. This is an extremely useful book and addresses those matters of pastoral ministry that Dreamer does not. Chapter 28 of The Parish Priest at Work is entitled The Country Specialist, aka &4x2013; the Country Parson. This has been a helpful to read from time to time.

Old books are like old friends — good ones we never grow weary of.