Midnight mass crime fear

Midnight mass will be held earlier in the evening at churches across the West Midlands this Christmas to stop drunks disrupting the services.

The traditional mass normally begins after 11pm on Christmas Eve but clergy in some areas have been advised by police to start much earlier amid fears of rowdy behaviour and violent crime. Priests concerned for the safety of their parishioners are holding the services as early as 6pm, a survey by The Tablet, the Catholic weekly magazine, has found.

A number of priests contacted by the magazine said they were concerned for the safety of elderly worshippers crossing busy roads at night after accidents in previous years.

Peter Jennings of the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, which takes in the Black Country and Staffordshire, said that churches are changing times to reflect the needs of their congregation. He said: "These concerns are things that the churches are keeping in mind at this time of year.

"Midnight mass can be brought forward for a number of reasons, including the fact that elderly people often don't like being out at that time of night."

Father Eamonn Corduff, of St Patrick's RC Church, in Wolverhampton Road, Heath Town, said his latest mass on Christmas Eve was at 9pm. Our Lady Of Perpetual Succour RC Church, in Cannock Road, Wolverhampton, will hold midnight mass at 10pm.

A Dudley church has brought forward its usual mass service and even scrapped the traditional title. St Mary's Church in Kingswinford will instead hold a 'First Eucharist of Christmas' at 9.30pm.

Some churches do plan to keep with tradition. Father Patrick Daly, of St Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, in North Street, Wolverhampton, said he would be conducting mass at midnight as usual.