When I first visited Washington DC, I was intrigued by the semi-official designation of the White House as the “People’s House.” It spoke to me of the curious hybrid function it has: partly a family home; partly the seat of executive power; but wholly the patrimony of the People of this great nation.

We priests are always public persons: we have the right to privacy, but in many ways not a private life, so to speak. Part of our assignment as diocesan clergy is to live amongst our people and not in communes of fellow clerics, like religious do. We live amongst you.

For this reason, Parishes and Communities of Faith, like ours here at Sacred Heart, provide their priests with somewhere to live. It’s not a ‘grace and favor’ apartment: I am required to live here, to be available for you. For this reason, on a much smaller scale, a Rectory has a similar hybrid function to the White House in Washington. It is where I live, but it is also where I work; and the Community also has rights over it. It is not my home, it is my house – and yours.

Priests may differ on the extent to which they make use of the Rectory for official functions – and many would not agree with my conception of the Rectory as a kind of people’s house – but I feel it is important you come to see the Rectory as another center for Community-building, in addition to the Pryor-Hubbard Hall.

Many of you know that the Rectory suffered a flood about 9 months ago – and it has taken that long to negotiate an insurance settlement to enable remedial work to take place. Once that has happened, the Rectory will enter into a new phase of its life in our Community – and the first floor will be used for entertaining and other functions, by invitation.

When I moved in a year ago, the Rectory was empty: there was no longer any furniture – and what were previously its contents had been stored or disbursed. We have worked hard since then to regroup and rebuild, so that it may continue to provide accommodation for the Rector and any other clergy who might be assigned here.

Over the next few months you will see a degree of building work happening at the Rectory, and once that is complete, I look forward to welcoming you in to come and see – to inaugurate a new phase of its life – and, perhaps, offering a reset of how we view the physical resources we have.

You should be proud of the Rectory – indeed, you should take pride in it, because the welcome given to your priest is a reflection of the welcome afforded by the Community to Christ. In his turn, the welcome the priest offers you, the people, is a reflection of his obligation to see Christ in you. Together, by the way we treat each other, we make that image of Christ more visible in our midst – but only together, not in parallel. God bless you all.