Parish Profile - Kensal New Town

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Westminster Record December 2012 / January 2013

Parish Profile - Kensal New Town

Restored to its original beauty By Rachel Obordo and Fiona Paley A church designed by the architect refurbished to its vibrant red, green of Westminster Cathedral was and gold design. consecrated last Saturday, for the Relics of St Charles Borromeo, St first time since it was opened 130 Agnes, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta and years ago. Blessed Vicente Soler were donated Bishop Alan Hopes, auxiliary bishop by groups such as the English of Westminster, was the principal Province of the Augustinian celebrant at the solemn Mass of Recollects and deposited inside dedication of Our Lady of the Holy the altar. Souls, Kensal New Town. But the most eye-catching feature of With 15 concelebrants, 600 people the restoration is the beautiful Gothic comprising local councillors, former lettering of the De Profundis teachers of the nearby school St inscription that runs across the arches Mary’s, and old and new parishioners, on the north and south sides of the consecration comes after a year the nave. of restoration works to bring back the The Mass was followed by a reception “lost beauty” of John Francis Bentley’s at the local primary school, St Mary’s, 1882 design. which had food and drink donated by Parish priest Fr Shaun Church said: parishioners. “When we began this project, our guiding principle was to give back to The Church of Our Lady of the Holy Our Lady of the Holy Souls some of its Souls is one of four churches original beauty, which had sadly been established during the second half of lost or covered over in subsequent the nineteenth century in West London by the Oblates of St Charles, decades.” Bayswater. The Church was opened “Today we give thanks to God for the on 13 April 1882, less than a year skills and dedication of the architects, from the date of the first stone laying. surveyors, craftsmen, conservators, restorers and decorators who have The Oblates were asked by Cardinal worked so diligently to bring this Manning, the then superior of the Oblates to open a work of restoration and mission in Kensal New redecoration to fruition. “Today we give Town. The mission was The crucifix that was thanks to God for the established in a small set on the east wall of the church is now skills and dedication two roomed cottage. A bigger size church of the architects, suspended over the new was urgently needed tiled sanctuary and surveyors, craftsmen, for the growing marble altar, decorated conservators, Catholic population. A with a wooden restorers and temporary iron church altarpiece detailing the decorators.” was built in 1873 by seven personified gifts John Fancis Bentley. of the Holy Spirit. The original Victorian pulpit was The Church was recorded by the uncovered in 2011 and has been Registrar General on 16 November

Parishioners at the reception which was held at St Mary’s Primary School

Fr Shaun Church and Bishop Alan Hopes with the new altar

1880 as a Place of Religious Worship and the solemnization of marriages on 20 November 1880. This church served its purpose for seven years and was named St Mary of the Holy Souls. Towards the close of 1880 Bentley was invited by Fr CJ Keens OSC to design a more permanent church. Today the parish is a vibrant and diverese community according to Fr Church. He said: “ Mass attendance is around 620-630. We have a strong group of altar servers who were outstanding on the day of the

consecration. The Bishop praised how they served, with dignity, and was very impressed. We also have two good choirs who came together to sing. Colin Mawby, former Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral produced specially composed settings for the Rite of Consecration which were sung for the first time.” In the five years that he has been at Kensal New Town Fr Shaun said that the consecration of the Church has really brought the parish community together. “At the reception, people brought so much food. One of the stewards said as they were driving along Harrow Road and all they could see was people carrying plates of food for the reception! I think that summed up the sense of the community coming together to celebrate this event.” “We were lucky that quite a few of former parish priests were able to attend and we had 17 or 18 priests in total. The consecration of a church is quite rare. Sometimes just an altar is consecrated or part of the building, but I think people realised what a privileged momenet of grace it was for the parish to be able to participate in this.” Despite being a very active parish the Year of Faith is providing opportunities not to be missed. Fr Shaun said “We are running the Robert Barron ‘Catholicism’ programme. We will run it twice in the year. We are starting in Advent as an afternoon event. I’m hoping young mums will come before picking up

the children from school. We will then run it again at Easter as a evening session. I’m excited about the Catholicism course, I think it will be good and the people will enjoy it. We also have an annual Novena to Our Lady in May and the theme this year is ‘Women in the Bible.’ “We have had a year of restoring the interior and a lot of generous fundraising from parishoners. In the summer I did a coast to coast walk across north of England from St Bee’s in Cumbria to Robin Hood Bay in Yorkshire. It took me two weeks, it is something I have always wanted to do and I thought if I could raise a bit of money as well it would be great. I thought I’d raise about £1,000. In the end I raised over £7,000 from parishoners. It was a sign of how people responded so generously to this project. But people have responded not just financially but in giving their time and skills. It has been a real collabrative effort. It has given the parish a new sense of identity and sense of pride in their church.” Mass Times and Information Sunday Mass (Sat 6pm), 9, 11 (Family). Address: 68 Hazlewood crescent, Kensal Road W10 5DJ Tel: 020 8969 2660 Email: kensalnewtown@rcdow.org.uk Page 9


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