Rain
in the Rectory
A Conversation with Canon Cristofoli
Interview and photos by Michael Durnan
t’s a neo-Gothic gem of a Catholic Church, perched high over once-Catholic
Preston England. And now, St Walburge’s, along with the city’s breath-taking English Martyr’s Church, have been placed into the care of the Institute of Christ the King.
Why is Preston ‘once Catholic’? Reasons given vary; some will blame poor catechesis and liturgies, others say it’s just a casualty of relativism and consumerism. Whatever the cause, essentially today one is hard put to find any sign of Catholic belief or practice in Preston, once an epicentre of Catholic life in England.
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