IT COULD be a new tongue-twister: the brewing bishop blessed the
blessed beer brewed at Brewery Tap specially to celebrate Leeds
Parish Church's being raised to the status of a Minster. It is
called Minster Ale, and it is for sale not only at local pubs,
where the brewery is to donate 50p to church charities from every
pint sold, but two of the ten firkins brewed went to the new
Minster to help with the celebrations.
The link between beer and the Church
in England is a historic one, the Bishop of Ripon &
Leeds, the Rt Revd John Packer, said. "There is a long
tradition of monks in the Middle Ages who were associated with the
Minster churches' brewing beer - principally because water was not
safe to drink, and it also provided a good deal of enjoyment and
refreshment.
"The monasteries would brew the beer,
and it would be shared by the workers and the people on the estate;
so the brewing of beer was a service to the community, and that
tradition continues."
Leeds Parish Church, he said, has
always had that tradition of service and mission to the whole of
Leeds - that was why it was being designated a Minster, "which
describes very well what its role has been; and what we are doing
is affirming that, and its future role as a key part of the culture
of the whole city".