[poche]

The main island of Tristan da Cunha prides itself on being the most remote inhabited island in the world. It takes up to two weeks to get there by sea from South Africa.
This gives the Catholic parish of St Joseph’s a claim to being the most remote parish on earth. It was thanks to Napoleon that life on the island began. When the defeated emperor was exiled to St Helena, the British sent a garrison to Tristan da Cunha as a precaution against a French attempt to liberate him. Pretty soon the government realised that the French weren’t coming, and even if they were, Tristan da Cunha was so far away that they certainly wouldn’t come from there. So the garrison was withdrawn. Some of the men stationed there sought leave to remain on the island, and thus the little settlement of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas was born.
The Catholic community on the island began with the arrival of a remarkable woman from Mullingar called Agnes Rogers, remembered today by islanders as Granny Aggie. She came to work as housekeeper for the island’s administrator. This devout soul was horrified to find no Catholic church and no sign of a priest ever having visited the island.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/march-16th-2018/the-most-remote-parish-on-earth/

[Viva Cristo Rey]

Is it Latin Mass or new Mass?

[monka966]

Take a guess, or better yet, take a look:

http://www.tristandc.com/newschurch2006-2011.php

[songbird]

ashes laid to rest!  Says it all.

[poche]

She came under enormous pressure to renounce her faith and simply conform to the majority religious practice. She refused and was treated appallingly by the authorities. The prejudice was such that, when food was scarce, she was even denied rations. Eventually, her stubborn love of her faith wore down the opposition and she established a small chapel in her home. The parish was born.


http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/march-16th-2018/the-most-remote-parish-on-earth/

How long would you be willing to go without in order to be Catholic?

[poche]

In 1932, Fr LH Barry was the first Catholic priest to visit Tristan (he was Catholic chaplain on HMS Carlisle). Aggie hadn’t seen a priest for 23 years. He reported that “She heard Mass and went to the Sacraments, and her joy was great and touching to see.” The next recorded visit of a priest was in 1955. He wrote: “On Tristan da Cunha, the world’s loneliest island, I heard the first Confession of children too young to remember what a priest looks like. They were better prepared than many of the children who live within sight of city churches.
“ ‘Did they do all right?’ Agnes Rogers anxiously asked me.
“‘Yes, Grannie Aggie – God bless you – they did splendidly!’
“Agnes has lived most of her life beyond the reach of priest and sacrament.
Nevertheless, Sunday after Sunday, she tries, humbly, to instil into her kin something of her own simple greatness.”
We are now preparing to set Granny Aggie on the path to canonisation, but for the islanders she is a saint already.


http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/march-16th-2018/the-most-remote-parish-on-earth/

I think we should all live the holiness that would set us on the path to canonization.

[poche]

Today the parish is cared for by three catechists, all descendants of Granny Aggie. A priest visits once a year, normally in September. This year, however, I visited the parish in January and February. This meant sailing on the good ship Edinburgh, a “fish factory” that can carry 12 passengers wishing to visit the island. The accommodation on this working vessel is small and basic. Getting into my small berth each night was quite a challenge, as I am not exactly petite. And as for the South Atlantic swells, I can assure you that they are anything but swell. The voyage was so bad that I’m pretty sure the captain was considering throwing me overboard, like Jonah. But thankfully we made it.
Tristan da Cunha has a population of 263, just over a third of whom are Catholics. This may seem a small number to travel such great distances to visit, but the kindness and deep faith of the islanders made the long voyage well worthwhile.


http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/march-16th-2018/the-most-remote-parish-on-earth/

Something must be right if they went from one person to just over one third. St Catherine Emerich said that if there were but one Catholic in the world then the gates of Hell could not prevail over that one person.