Floor heave and rising from the dead!

(Mass was on Saturday 6th August 2011)

I attended mass on Saturday evening and heard, and saw, the most extraordinary thing.

In the announcements, the Priest announced that there had been a problem with "floor heave" and that the baptistry (a part of the church to one side of the alter, where the font is located) was now out of bounds. It is expected to remain so for some time.

After the service, naturally a lot of the congregation went up to have a closer look at what had been described to us. What we saw was quite astonishing. The effected area of the floor was a rectangle at least a metre wide and a little longer. It had risen several inches above the normal floor level. On of the younger lads said it looked like "someone had been trying to rise from the dead". I think he can be forgiven the blasphemy, because that is exactly what it did look like.

The area in question is floored with quarry tiles. They have been arranged in a geometric pattern. The upheaval has broken quite a number of them. That's right - has broken thick quarry tiles. Some of the other members told me that this had happened during the week when a service had been in progress and that the noise (of the tiles breaking) had been frightening. I can quite believe it.

All I can say is, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would find it hard to believe.