There is story in today's Daily Mail which is of the genre of those that usually appear around Christmas. You know the sort: ‘Winterval’, ‘Winter Festival’, ‘Winter lights’, ‘Celebrity lights’, ‘Luminous’, ‘Eid/Diwali/Christmas lights’, ‘multi-faith holiday’, school bans on nativity plays and shopping centres clamping down on carol singers due to health and safety fears, etc., etc.Well, it appears we have our first Easter 'ban'. Father Hugh MacKenzie, of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church in Willesden has been told he and his congregation may not march on Good Friday along a 400-yard route, as they have done every Easter for 13 years, because Brent Council say it breaches health and safety regulations. There is now, apparently, 'strict legal procedure' the council has to follow before they can permit such marches. And so 200 Christians from four churches – the New Testament Church of God, St Andrew’s Church of England, St Mary Magdalen and Willesden Green Baptist Church – will not be able to march. It has been tradition that the public witness precedes their joint celebration of communion (which is interesting ecumenically, but His Grace won't go there today).
He is tempted to say that this is one for Father Pickles, but it really isn't. This is the Queen's highway, and she is supreme Governor of the Church of England. She is sworn to uphold our customs and traditions, and Easter marches go back just a few centuries.
His Grace advises these churches not to make any fuss: don't draw parallels with gay pride marches or Muslims blocking roads to pray with impunity; or to Brent's support for Diwali or Eid celebrations. Just go out and march, as you have done for years. Let them arrest you and bring you to court. And then we will see what excrement hits the fan.
