The Green Chalice by Mark Coleman

I had half an hour spare in Rochdale Town Centre yesterday and so I dropped into Touchstones local history library. The very helpful librarians gave me a folder on "the Parish Church" and so I skimmed some pamphlets of Dr Molesworth's sermons. I was very struck in reading about this Vicar of Rochdale that the parishioners wanted him to publish his sermons. So much so that 15 of them, all men, including one Churchwarden, had written him a letter on 10th December 1849 demanding that he publish his sermon from the 2nd Sunday of Advent. This sermon, the letter tells us would "dispel some of the fallacies" around and that "it was an excellent exposition" of the task of the Church in "holy education." Rather than talk about the disputes and contentions that gave rise to this letter, I want to reflect on communication. Dr Molesworth published a number of pamphlets in his time. There was one reflecting on the salvation of a Rochdale horse steale...