Westminster Record May 2015 by RCWestminster

Westminster Record

May 2015 | 20p

Holy Week in the Cathedral

Catholic Deaf Awareness Week

Remembering Cardinal Manning 150 Years On

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‘Christians Crucial to Mid-East Mosaic’

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In solidarity with Iraqi Christians who have been driven out of their homes and lands, Cardinal Vincent visited Erbil in northern Iraq on 11 and 12 April. In his Easter Vigil Homily the previous weekend the Cardinal spoke of the wretchedness of those who have been forced away from their homes', especially mentioning the millions of displaced people in Northern Iraq. In drawing attention to their plight the Cardinal is also seeking to promote the humanitarian efforts aimed at alleviating the suffering of all refugees and displaced people. While recognising the witness

and leadership of the Churches in Iraq, Cardinal Vincent is also asking what more can be done by governments across the world to prevent the persecution of Christians. Cardinal Vincent was accompanied on this journey by Bishop Nicholas. Archbishop Bashar Warda, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, hosted the visit, during which they met with Christian families living in refugee camps, as well as Christian and political leaders. ‘I promise to tell your story.’ On Sunday 12 April, marked as the ‘First Sunday’ in the Chaldean calendar, the Cardinal joined Archbishop

Warda and the Chaldean community in the celebration of Mass in the Cathedral of St Joseph. The Cardinal expressed his gratitude for the warm welcome he had received and his admiration for the courage shown by so many people who, in recent months, had lost everything except their family love and their faith. He also thanked the Chaldean Community in Erbil for the admirable and effective welcome they had given, under the leadership of their Archbishop, to so many thousands of displaced people. 'I promise to tell your story when I get home and that the Catholic people of England and

Wales will keep you all very much in their prayers. We know that so much more needs to be done so that you can return to your homes and lands. We pray for your perseverance and patience in these very difficult circumstances.' The Cardinal then reflected on the character of St Thomas who, in his suffering and sorrow, had stayed away from the community of the disciples. Only when he returned did he receive the good news of the Resurrection of the Lord. 'Never stay away from the community of the Church because of sadness, or anger, or distress. Always stay within the embrace of the community

because there, together, you will find the love and support which so reflects the love of the Lord. There you are able to say 'my Lord and my God'.' Finally, the Cardinal repeated the Lord's own greeting: 'Peace be with you.' 'This greeting does not mean that our lives will be free from trouble. The Lord does not promise that to us. Rather this greeting is a prayer that all the blessings of God will be given to you. And this is my greeting to you all. Please pray for us as we will most certainly pray for you all!'

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Editorial Westminster Record – Contact us

Westminster Record | May 2015

Taking the Lead from Our Cardinals

Editor Mgr Mark Langham Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue SW1P 1QJ Managing Editor Marie Saba 020 7798 9031 Inhouse writers Chris O’Callaghan, John Scott 020 7798 9030, and Hannah Woolley 020 7798 9178 Design Julian Game Proofing John Scott To order copies contact Andrea Black 0161 214 1216 or email andrea.black@thecatholicuniverse.com Print management and distribution by The Universe Media Group Ltd.

June publication dates Editorial deadline: 14 May 2015 Listings email: communications@rcdow.org.uk News and stories call 020 7798 9030 Email: communications@rcdow.org.uk Advertising deadline: 22 May 2015 To advertise contact Carol Malpass 0161 214 1244 or email carol.malpass@thecatholicuniverse.com Produced by the Communications Office of the Diocese of Westminster. News and articles published in the Westminster Record do not necessarily represent the views of the Diocese of Westminster, unless specifically stated otherwise. Appearance of advertisements does not imply editorial endorsement.

Like many of you, I love the silent vastness and prayerfulness of our Cathedral. Imagine, however, if over 100,000 refugees were to arrive on its steps needing safety and shelter. Imagine finding them space to eat and sleep and for children to play amid its chapels. That is what happened to the Archbishop of Erbil, in Kurdistan, as persecuted Christians fled the conflict in Iraq. This month we report on Cardinal Vincent’s visit to this region, and his experience of meeting traumatised and desperate families. Surely our concern for their plight must be one factor we take into account in the coming general election.

Another century, another Cardinal, but the same concern for the poor and marginalised. We do not make enough of Cardinal Manning, one of our greatest Archbishops, who is considered by some the Father of Catholic Social Teaching, and who will be the subject of a conference this month. We also take a look at the historic roots of our Diocese in articles about the parish of Marylebone, and the Benedictines at Ealing Abbey. Fittingly, a monk features as our saint of the month: St Bede the Venerable. This will be a month of many political speeches and promises; we recall the importance of the human scale of government in articles about healthcare and Catholic Deaf Awareness week. In choosing how to vote in the Election, let us heed the careful advice of our Bishops, and work for a world shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

For more news from around the diocese throughout the month, please see

www.rcdow.org.uk where new stories are posted daily.

Cardinal Welcomes Modern Slavery Act Group last year in the Vatican, the crime of trafficking and modern slavery is a crime against humanity; a wound on the body of Christ. 'I echo the Home Secretary’s words today when she describes the presence of modern slavery in today’s society as an affront to the dignity and humanity of every one of us. It is also important to recognise the vital role of Theresa May in ensuring the passage of this legislation. I pay tribute to her personal commitment to rid our society of this scourge and the support she has given to all those who seek Cardinal Vincent with Theresa May at the first Santa Marta Group meeting in Rome to combat the traffickers and to care for the victims of On 26 March, Royal Assent was the enhanced support and trafficking.' given to the Modern Slavery protection for victims is The Santa Marta Group, led Act 2015. In a statement issued particularly to be welcomed. by Metropolitan Police on the day, Cardinal Vincent ‘Along with many others, said: the Catholic Church through the Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe and Cardinal ‘I welcome the Modern Bakhita Initiative and the Santa Vincent, is an alliance of Slavery Act 2015 as the Bill Marta Group, where police international police chiefs and receives Royal Assent today. chiefs and the Church work bishops from around the world While no Act can cover together internationally, is working together with civil everything in the serious committed to working towards society to eradicate human criminal activity of human the eradication of modern trafficking and provide pastoral trafficking and modern slavery, slavery. As Pope Francis said at care to victims. which abuses vulnerable people, the launch of the Santa Marta Page 2

News

Westminster Record | May 2015

Cardinal Vincent Visits Iraqi ‘Relatives’ Help with Dignity Speaking to the media upon his return, the Cardinal described how 125,000 people had arrived in Erbil overnight in August last year after fleeing from Islamic State forces. These people are now housed in converted shipping containers, called caravans, and rented accommodation paid for by the local Churches (Syrian, Chaldean and Orthodox Rites) and Church agencies such as Aid to the Church in Need. These caravans are located in ‘centres’, not ‘camps’ and those who are displaced are referred to as 'our relatives', not 'refugees', in an effort to extend help with dignity to those who have been displaced. 'This is help that's going to get them back up on their feet,' explained the Cardinal. He said that he went to Iraq to show solidarity with Christians but that he ‘came away full of admiration for those displaced people and the generosity and effective work of the Churches in Erbil.’ He described how Archbishop Warda has turned all of his Cathedral’s facilities and land into facilities to help people. He extended his gratitude and praise to local priests and religious who, having been driven out themselves, have accompanied the people and continue to work among them

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in the centres. The Cardinal commended their example as religious leaders who 'smell of the sheep’. During the visit, Cardinal Vincent also met the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul who lost his 'cathedral, historic traditions of his faith, and manuscripts' in two hours as he and his community were driven out of the town. Despite being regularly sent photos of his cathedral being desecrated by IS forces, he remains resilient, preaching at the Orthodox

Easter Vigil on 11 April on the need to be 'ready to build again, to go forward' once his community can return to Mosul. Cardinal Vincent was moved by the 'great trauma for families and Church communities'. He said it is 'impossible to meet them, especially the children, without being determined that they must have a future'. An essential element of this future is education. Archbishop Warda is providing educational opportunities and has founded

A Stable Fabric for the Future In the process of rebuilding the cultural and regional heritage of the area in and around Mosul once IS are removed, the Cardinal stated that the presence of the Christian communities is

‘essential, not out of a nostalgic sense that this community is 2000 years old but as part of building a stable, balanced society in that region and I think that the Christian presence is essential to that mosaic’. The unique gift which Christians can contribute to the rebuilding of the Middle East is a 'deep, profound commitment to forgiveness and reconciliation', which is essential to building a 'stable fabric for the future'.

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a school based on the International Baccalaureate, and there are plans to establish a university. The Archbishop hopes that this investment in the future will encourage Christians to stay in Iraq.

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News

Westminster Record September 20112015 Westminster Record | May

An Encounter with the Living Stones in Jordan

By Fr Dominic Robinson A group of 14 pilgrims from various Christian congregations in Britain, including five from Farm Street Jesuit Church in London, went on pilgrimage to Jordan in April. The pilgrimage provided the opportunity to show solidarity

with the Christian churches of the Middle East through meeting and worshipping with the Christian communities in Jordan as they celebrated Holy Week and Easter together. In Jordan, Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians celebrate

as celebrating Holy Thursday at the Latin Cathedral and Easter Vigil at the Melkite Cathedral in Amman. Good Friday saw an ecumenical Way of the Cross in the wholly Christian town of Fuheis, led by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, which attracted 2,000 Christians. On the final day there was a meeting with members of the Middle Eastern Council of Churches, who spoke of the serious situation of Christians in Jordan as they welcome tens of thousands of their sisters and brothers who have often been expelled violently from Iraq and Syria. In addition there were visits to places of biblical interest the site of Our Lord’s baptism and Mount Nebo where Moses died. But the aim of the pilgrimage was not to learn about the past but to encounter the ‘living Easter on the same date as a way stones’, those in the region today of showing the unity of the who need our support so badly Christian population at this as they struggle to keep extremely threatening time in the Christianity as part of the mosaic region. The pilgrims worshipped of the Middle East. This included together with the Greek a visit to a Catholic orphanage in Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox and Anjara, where about 50 Syrian Anglican communities, as well and Iraqi refugee children with

disabilities are cared for, and a refugee resettlement centre run by the Sons of Divine Providence in Zirqa, where 44 Christians expelled from Mosul and surrounding area now live. For the group these visits were especially harrowing, with many being touched by the wonderfully warm hospitality and the hope these refugees had in what seemed to be a hopeless situation. In Zirqa the group spent the afternoon with the refugee community and learnt how, having been there for seven months, they were now cut off from other family members who had fled to Kurdistan, and just waiting to leave. Caritas and the Jesuit Refugee Service are trying to help move them on through the UN, but at present they have nowhere to go. Living Stones, in conjunction with Farm Street and Christians of different traditions, will be organising a similar pilgrimage elsewhere in the Middle East next spring. Watch this space for further details.

Fulham Remembers Life of a Local War Hero The life of Private Edward Dwyer, a local Catholic who became the recipient of a Victoria Cross for valour during the First World War, was remembered at the Fulham War Memorial in Vicarage Garden on 20 April. A service of commemoration and the unveiling of a plaque in the Private’s honour was led by the Parish Priest of Fulham 1, Fr Dennis Touw, the Dean of Hammersmith and Fulham, Fr Richard Andrew, Canon Christopher Tuckwell who was representing the Cardinal and the Reverend Canon Joseph Hawes, the Anglican Vicar of Fulham.

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Private Dwyer joined the Army aged 16 lying about his age to gain entry. In April 1915 he was involved in an action at Hill Sixty, Belgium, a key strategic location over which the Germans and British fought ferociously with a serious loss of life on both sides. On 20 April, surrounded by dead and wounded comrades, Private Dwyer was significantly outnumbered by German forces and alone in his trench but against all odds he managed to repulse the enemy attack with grenades. The Hill was only relinquished to the Germans after they used gas on the British soldiers. At the time of the action, Private Dwyer was just 19. For this act of bravery he received the Victoria Cross from King George V at Buckingham Palace on 15 June 1915. A modest man, when he later returned to Fulham while on leave, he kept his presence quiet, but was later discovered and made the centre of celebrations by the community.

Local Army Cadets from the Fulham Barracks with Lance Corporal Beharry at the War Memorial in Vicarage Garden

At the time he was the youngest recipient of the VC in the First World War. On his last leave home he left his medal in the care of Canon Browne of Holloway before returning to the front. He was killed in action on 3 September 1916 at Guillemont on the Somme. He is buried at Flatiron Copse Cemetery. His medal was presented to

the regimental museum in 1962. Today his VC is displayed at the Princess of Wales’ Royal Regiment (Queens and Royal Hampshires) Museum in Dover Castle. Also in attendance on the day were Councillor Stephen Cowan, the leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council, Councillor Mercy Umeh, Mayor of the Borough of Hammersmith and

Fulham, Wing Commander Mike Dudgeon, Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, Chelsea Pensioners and representatives of the Armed Forces including Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, the latest recipient of the Victoria Cross for actions in Iraq in 2004. Students of St Thomas of Canterbury School where Private Dwyer was educated were also present. Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/RCWestminster

News

Westminster Record | May 2015

Preparing for the National Evangelisation Conference Proclaim ’15, the evangelisation initiative launched in January to support, inspire and encourage new expressions of parish evangelisation, moves into its next phase as parishes prepare to send delegates to the sold-out National Catholic Evangelisation Conference in Birmingham on 11 July to join representatives from around the country. Brenden Thompson, who will be representing the Deanery of Camden in July, says: ‘I’m looking forward to the Conference, to listening and learning from the experiences of others around the country about

how their work of missionary outreach. I hope we’ll all leave inspired to find new ways to discern how God is calling our parishes to serve those around us.’ To help parishes prepare for the conference and to pray about how they might discover what more they can do, small group materials have been made available on the Diocesan website. On the same day as the conference, each parish in the Diocese is invited to offer time for prayer on the evening of 11 July for the work of evangelisation in England and Wales.

The national conference will be followed by more local events, including a Diocesan conference in the autumn. Resource materials are being made available throughout the year to help parishes and deaneries prepare their own local events. So, please be sure to visit the website regularly to see what’s new. For more information on Proclaim, please visit www.rcdow.org.uk/faith/ proclaim-westminster/ or contact Ausra Karaliute in the Agency for Evangelisation, 020 7931 6078.

Pope Francis: Life and Teaching Renowned Argentinian journalist Elisabetta Piqué’s Francis: Life and Revolution has gained much acclaim for its insight into the life of the Pope. There is much rich material from interviews with people who have known Jorge Bergolio as brother, friend, teacher and bishop. Their stories about him convey the love and respect they hold for him and for the indelible mark he has left in their lives. At times, it reads more like a panegyric for a dear friend than a biography. Yet this is a book of two halves. It is evident that one of the people who greatly admires the Pope is Piqué herself. She clearly cherishes their friendship, so much so that sometimes the book reads like a memoir of life with the Pope as a friend, rather than his biography. Whilst this approach may appeal to some, it often seems jarring to be reading about Pope Francis only to be interrupted by a vignette about Piqué and her family. Overall, there are wonderful insights about the personality of the man who was elevated to the See of Peter, if the reader can only ignore the author’s intrusions of personal details. A better insight about the Pope is offered through his own words which have surprised, motivated and challenged the world in equal measure. Two volumes gathering together excerpts from his homilies, addresses, general audiences

and writings, and arranged thematically, provide fruitful material for reflection. The first, published last year and well worth revisiting in light of the Pope’s declaration of a Year of Mercy, is The Church of Mercy, which offers material about sharing the Good News, being a poor Church for the poor, and offering testimony to the world through example. The second, published earlier this year, called Walking with Jesus: The Heart of Christian Life, has wonderful reflections about the journey of faith: receiving the Good News, living the sacramental life, witnessing to our faith, and accompanying others on the walk. Each volume is a rich source of catechesis to help us ponder on our own relationship with Christ and His Church and where we are on our own journey of faith. Presented simply and in the Holy Father’s usual forthright manner, each volume is easily accessible to most readers. They would make a thoughtful gift for a young person at their Confirmation or for anyone who wants to learn more about their faith.

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News

Westminster Record | May 2015

Bishop Challoner Students Join the Fight against Meningitis Ambassador, I have visited the Houses of Parliament and have met HRH Prince Edward, campaigned for a vaccine, and raised awareness in local communities, offering students advice on spotting meningitis and handing out symptoms cards. I have also shown the students my website and talked about my experience.’ Students at Bishop Challoner rallied around the cause, baking huge batches of biscuits and cakes, as well as talking to people about the disease at school and delivering an awareness presentation. ‘They decided as part of their Reach Out programme to fundraise for a charity,’ Onor continued. ‘They explained they had been inspired by my

Onor with students from Bishop Challoner School and the cheque for Meningitis Now

Onor Crummay, a history teacher at Bishop Challoner Catholic Federation of Schools, ran the London Marathon on 25 April to raise money for Meningitis Now. In her first year of university she almost lost her life to bacterial meningitis and septicaemia, which left her with minor neurological damage forcing her to postpone her studies for a year. Since her recovery she has been actively campaigning as a Community Ambassador for Meningitis Now to raise awareness of the symptoms of the disease, particularly among young people. ‘Several Year 11 students asked me about my meningitis story back in October’, said Onor. ‘As part of my role as an

St Dominic’s Celebrates 35 Years

John F Kennedy and St Paul’s Recognised for GCSE Attainment

St Dominic’s Sixth Form College in Harrow marked 35 years of Catholic Education in April with a special Mass and celebratory lunch. The College was delighted to welcome Parish Priest Fr Shaun Middleton and priests from the Dominican order to the service, alongside 200 students and current and former staff members. A number of Dominican Sisters from the Bushey and Stone communities also attended, some of whom were resident at the Convent in Harrow-onthe-Hill in the 1960s. The College was established in 1979, with the foundation stone laid by Cardinal Basil Hume. However, nuns from the Dominican Order first set up a girl’s boarding school in Harrow-on-the-Hill in 1878, Page 6

having been invited by Cardinal Manning, an old boy of Harrow School, to provide catechesis classes for local children. The school flourished, new buildings were added and the beautiful Chapel was opened in 1921. Today St Dominic’s is a Beacon College with its latest Ofsted Inspection rating it as ‘Outstanding’. Guests at the celebration viewed a display of School and College photographs and images dating back to the late 19th century, reviving memories for many who left the College 20 or 30 years ago. Principal Andrew Parkin commented that ‘it was a very special moment in the history of the College, and one that shows that the St Dominic’s community spirit continues to go from strength to strength’.

story and wanted to raise money for meningitis. I was absolutely gobsmacked to receive a giant cheque for Meningitis Now for £1000, raised from cake sales, waxing legs and holding a dodge ball tournament. To have raised that much money on top of revising hard for their GCSEs is amazing’. Onor trained for months and ran the London Marathon on 25 April. For a detailed account of her experiences and training blog, please visit www.meningitismarathon.wix. com/meningitismarathon where you can also sponsor her for the Marathon at www.justgiving.com/ onorsmeningitismarathon

Students from John F. Kennedy School who have attained top GCSEs

John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Hemel Hempstead and St Paul's Catholic College in Sunbury-on-Thames have received national recognition for the exceptional attainment of their students in their 2014 GCSE examinations. SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers Network, recently undertook its annual analysis of Department of Education data on all state-funded schools in England and identified the schools’ success.

The schools have qualified for an SSAT Educational Outcomes Award by being in the top 20% of non-selective schools nationally for high average grades achieved by students. They have been invited to receive an award at a regional celebration ceremony at Holland Park School in London on 12 May. Sue Williamson, Chief Executive of SSAT, said: ‘The schools should be congratulated for their exceptional

achievement. They have proved themselves to be leading the field in improving GCSE outcomes for their students. These results are testament to the commitment and hard work of the students, teachers and leadership teams and shows what can be achieved when skilled teachers have high expectations and ambition for every young person. I am proud that these schools are members of the SSAT network.’ Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/RCWestminster

Schools News

Westminster Record | May 2015

St Benedict’s Celebrates Patronal Feast Day

St Benedict’s School, Ealing, celebrated the Feast Day of its Patron Saint on Monday 23 March. A host of fun activities raised an impressive £8,419.32 for Mary’s Meals, Aid to the Church in Need, Kitchen Table Charities Trust and The Passage. There was also time for prayer, reflection and thanksgiving when the school’s Guest of Honour, Bishop Nicholas, celebrated Mass in the Abbey Church. Dr Julie Greenhough reflected on Bishop Nicholas’s homily: ‘As the daughters and sons of St Benedict, he extolled us to be the best person that we could and to follow our vocation in life. Encouraging us to turn our hearts to knowledge and understanding, the reading from Proverbs cited

three traits to aspire to: uprightness, equity, and fairdealing. How well those words express our school mission, “Teaching a Way of Living”‘. During the Mass the Senior School Consort Choir and Junior School Schola delighted us with Mozart’s ‘Ave Verum’ and gave us a new joyful twist with the Kyrie and Gloria by Chilcott’s Jazz Mass. Before and after Mass, pupils and staff enjoyed several activities and raising money for the chosen charities. In the Junior School there was a variety of party games and an Easter Egg Raffle for younger pupils, while Forms 1 and 2 showed off their athletic prowess with a Netball ShootOut Competition. The afternoon saw the long awaited

Pentecost People: Lives of Faith One of the key activities of the Diocesan Education Service is to provide resources to Catholic primary schools to assist them in providing Religious Education to their pupils and help them achieve Attainment Levels set by the Bishops. Pupils learn about our beliefs, our rituals and celebrations, and about those who have lived exemplar lives of faith. Over the past two years the resource at this time has focused on both the story of Pentecost (strand one) and the celebration of Mass at Pentecost (strand two). This year, the resource material focuses on strand three and those who live according to their faith. Pupils have been asked to identify the actions and practices of people of faith, whom we have named ‘Pentecost People’, and how faith informs the whole of their lives. Finally, in the upper school, pupils will be asked to consider how people of faith

respond to a particular issue. In order to support this learning, schools were invited to interview people who were willing to speak about their faith and how it informs how they live. The videos which can be found on the diocesan website are the gift of those schools who approached people, prepared pupils and arranged the filming. We thank every one of them, pupils, staff and interview subjects, for their generosity and for allowing the voices of these Pentecost People to be heard. Acts of the Apostles tells us that after the coming of the Spirit the disciples went out and spoke to the crowd 'as the spirit gave them the ability'. The Spirit is still at work! To watch the videos, please see http://rcdow.org.uk/ education/news/

‘Bennie’s got Talent’ show, won by the group Corakai: Coralie, Kaila and Emma from Form 1P, who were clear favourites with the audience and judges. The biggest queue in the Senior School was for the barbeque stall, rivalled only by the one for the ‘Haunted House’. More traditional games ranged from ‘Beat the Goalie’ to the ‘Washing Line Challenge’. The hottest room was ‘Just Dance on the Wii’, while the sports hall offered more soothing stalls, including a nail and tattoo beauty parlour and butterfly face painting. Students and staff had a wonderful day knowing that their generosity and donations were going to such worthwhile causes.

Pupil Premium Award for St Joseph’s

Congratulations to St Joseph’s Primary School in Chelsea which has been recognised as one of the top 10 schools in the UK for helping children to improve academically. The school won a High Aspiration Award from the Government’s Department of Education and the sum of £25,000 at a ceremony at Drapers Hall at the end of March. Canon Stuart Wilson described the Award as ‘a tremendous achievement for our school’. The photo shows the Headteacher, Mrs Karen Wyatt, the Deputy Head, Mr James Stacey and the Parish Priest of St Mary’s Church, Cadogan Street, Canon Stuart with the Award. Page 7

News

Westminster Record | May 2015

Celebrity Chef Visits Cardinal Hume Centre

Unexpected Journeys and Home Comforts By Fr Peter-Michael Scott If you are fortunate to be able to go abroad for a holiday, the last thing you usually do before leaving home is check that you have your passport. Before leaving or entering the country, immigration officers check every detail of your passport. Passports convey details of your age, nationality and where you were born. If you find yourself lost and without money, you know that showing your passport to a consulate or embassy would help get you home to your family. Another form of journey, often unexpected and unpleasant, is arriving unconscious in hospital; sometimes an unforeseen collision with a vehicle or a fall

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may mean we make an unplanned visit unknowingly to an A&E department. God, while providing us with zest for adventure, also wants to ensure that His love is called upon and someone we love is around if the unthinkable happens. ‘Catholic Identity Cards’ are rather like passports. If you have one in your purse or wallet, then, if the unthinkable happens and you find yourself unconscious in A&E, the medics attending to you will

be able to call a chaplain and contact your family and loved ones. The Chaplain will anoint you, conferring the healing touch of the Father, and your earthly family can stay and pray for you, helping the medics to ensure your recovery. Above is an example of a ‘Catholic Identity Card’. To obtain one for yourself or another family member, contact your parish priest. Fr Peter is the Cardinal’s Advisor for Healthcare Chaplains

Saturday Kitchen arrived a day early at the Cardinal Hume Centre on 27 March, when famous chef Ben Tish from the Ember Yard restaurant delivered a culinary master class for residents and users of the Centre’s family services. Ember Yard, recently named

one of London’s top restaurants, has chosen the Centre as its charity partner. Over the last year, customers have donated over £16,000 via a £1 addition to their bill. This incredible sum has gone towards training a new generation of cooks. Ben cooked up a tasty treat for lucky members of the Centre’s community. He said of the partnership: ‘I'm delighted to be involved in this project. Two things dear to me are teaching and food and these are essential parts of life. If I can pass on these skills then I'll be very happy indeed.’ Young people living in the Centre’s hostel have been learning how to plan, budget, shop, and cook a whole range of nutritious meals.

Parish Profile

Westminster Record | May 2015

Marylebone: A Warm Welcome Guaranteed By Chris O’Callaghan A warm welcome is always extended at Marylebone’s presbytery, not only by parish priest Fr Michael Johnston, but also by Finian, a cocker spaniel who has been resident in Marylebone since the end of 2013. The Church of Our Lady of the Rosary stands in a side road near the busy intersection between Edgware Road and the Marylebone flyover. It is a simple brick structure set back from the road, with the entrance to the presbytery on the right and, on the left, a hall nearing its refurbishment, thanks to Growing in Faith contributions. The interior is very different. High arches and cream walls give the church great light and it is large enough to seat 800 people. The building was opened in 1964 by Cardinal Heenan to replace the former church which was too small to serve the community at the time. Last year the parish celebrated 50 years since the church’s opening at a special Mass which was presided over by Cardinal Vincent, who stood and spoke to the congregation on the same spot where Cardinal Heenan had half a century before. The parish itself has a strange demographic. For a start, it has no schools within its boundaries, a strange experience for Fr Michael, who has been a school chaplain and governor and also a member of the Diocesan Education Commission. What the parish does have, however, is the greatest concentration of hotels of any parish in the Diocese. 121 in total are within the boundaries. This means that the congregation at Marylebone

frequently sees many tourists who are passing through or on holiday in the capital. The makeup of the parish has become more Arabic in recent years also, as many Arabs now live in the area in the newer developments. The parish also serves the less well-off from the local council estates as well. The combination of hotels and the socio-economic range makes for an eclectic group of people in the parish.

Fr Michael has been a priest for over 30 years, but has always been a Londoner through and through. Born and raised in St John’s Wood, a mile and a half from his current parish, he has served at Somers Town, Chiswick, Ruislip and Notting Hill and also served as Vocations Director for the Diocese. He says he has always tried to serve these parishes with three simple goals; to build up the community, to implement and encourage the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and to enable people to participate in parish life as fully as possible using their many gifts and talents. It is a simple credo to live by, but an important one. As Fr Michael observes, as vocations decrease, the involvement of the laity has become and will continue to be crucial. He is aided at Marylebone by Fr Austin

Garvey, a retired priest who lives in the presbytery, but Fr Michael does not see a return to a time when there were four priests living in Marylebone. Because of the busy nature of a central London parish, Fr Michael says it is hard to develop the usual social action groups present in many parishes in the Diocese. Couple that with the new faces coming and going every week at Mass from the hotels and you can understand why. The Legion of Mary, Knights of St Columba, Union of Catholic Mothers and SVP are all present in the parish but finding it hard to attract new members. In this sense, developing projects can be challenging work. But Fr Michael has developed an unexpected partnership with the

local Caffè Nero. As he is out walking Finian twice a day at dawn and dusk, he passes the shop on Edgware Road. Noticing the amounts of food in the shop not allowed to be retained, Fr Michael enquired as to what is done with the leftover produce. ‘It’s thrown away’, came the response from the manager of the store. So Fr Michael asked if he could collect it at the end of the day and re-distribute it to the poor and needy. So every day, he and Finian collect the leftover food to give to the homeless in the area. Travel is also a great love for Fr Michael and this year will see him lead his 25th parish pilgrimage. In previous years, groups have visited all of the major shrine locations in Europe

and did go to Mexico one year to visit Guadeloupe. This year the group will visit Budapest and Prague to visit shrines there. There is a great warmth in Marylebone which I have encountered every time I have visited. And even if Fr Michael isn’t around, Finian will make sure you feel welcome in this cosmopolitan parish. Founded: 1855 Mass Times: (Sat 6pm), 8.30, 11 (Family), 6pm (Folk). Also open 7am-7pm for private prayer Address: 211 Old Marylebone Road, NW1 5QT Telephone: 020 7723 5101 Website: parish.rcdow.org.uk/ marylebone Page 9

Holy Week

Westminster Record | May 2015

Holy Week

Westminster Record | May 2015

Holy Week in the Cathedral Marking the events of the Passion, Cardinal Vincent and the chaplains of the Cathedral led the commemorations of Holy Week at the Cathedral and in central London between 29 March and 5 April. The week began with the Cardinal leading the procession along Ambrosden Avenue carrying palms into the Cathedral, a reminder of Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. On Tuesday of Holy Week, over 300 priests joined Cardinal Vincent, Cardinal Cormac, Bishops John and Nicholas in the celebration of the Chrism Mass, when they renewed their priestly vows in the presence of over 2000 of the faithful from across the Diocese. During the Mass, the three sacred oils, Catechumens, Infirmans and Chrism, used for anointing in the sacraments during the year, were also blessed. Reflecting on the gift of mercy in his homily, Cardinal Vincent described it as ‘not a message of cheap grace. Rather God’s mercy is our opportunity for repentance, the invitation to start again. Mercy is ultimately grace for conversion, the “time”, the “space” for healing, for new life’.

Archbishop Mennini and the chaplains of the Cathedral. In his homily, the Cardinal spoke about a Roman centurion depicted on a vestment which he had worn when celebrating the Requiem Mass for King Richard III in Leicester, explaining that a ‘strong legend’ was attached to the soldier. This centurion, said to have been called Longinus, was splashed by blood and water streaming from the Lord’s side after he had pierced him, which transformed him into a man of peace and a follower of Christ. The Cardinal asked that as the congregation approached the Cross this afternoon, ‘let us do so in footsteps of Longinus because we too open the wounds on our Lord’s body through our waywardness…. We come to be touched by His blood so that we may serve Him’. The following evening, the Easter Vigil which changes our heavy hearts at the Lord’s death to ones filled with joy at His Resurrection, began with the Cathedral in total darkness and was gradually filled with light On Maundy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper was celebrated by the Cardinal and Archbishop Antonio Mennini, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United Kingdom. Imitating Christ washing His disciples’ feet in the Gospel, the Cardinal washed the feet of 12 Chelsea Pensioners, an act which he called ‘an expression of divine love’ in his homily. Good Friday commemorations began with the ecumenical Walk of Witness from Methodist Central Hall and Westminster Abbey to the Cathedral. During the Walk Cardinal Vincent, along with Canon David Stanton and the

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Reverend Tony Miles, preached to the assembled crowd. Cardinal Vincent spoke about the trial of Jesus, reflecting on the Scripture read out as the procession reached the steps of the Cathedral. He

from the Paschal Candle, a light the Cardinal described as ‘the fire of the Holy Spirit through which Creation took shape’. He invited people to take hold of the light, just as they grasped the candle in their hands; to receive the hope proclaimed in the Resurrection of Christ; and to seize the day, shaping it by following Christ in all we do and say. He went on to welcome those that were baptised and received into the Church at the Easter Vigil, both in the Cathedral and across the Diocese. A total of 233 people were baptised, 190 people confirmed and 161 people were received into full communion with the Catholic Church on this night.

explained that Jesus is our rock on which we build our lives, lives that shape our society to strive for the common good, to serve others and to respect human life and the dignity of the person. After the Walk of Witness, the annual re-enactment of the Passion by the Wintershall Players took place in Trafalgar Square. At the end of the play, Cardinal Vincent addressed the thousands in attendance, thanking them for being part of the dramatic production of the Lord’s Passion and for their witness to the life of Christ. At 3pm, the Cardinal led the Solemn Commemoration of the Passion of the Lord, along with Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/RCWestminster

Semana Santa: Holy Week in Valladolid By Tim Mangatal Every Easter the city of Valladolid dresses up to celebrate one of the most important events in the city: Semana Santa and welcomes tourists from all around the world due to its cultural and spiritual processions. These processions are led by the confraternities in Valladolid, consisting of over 12,000 people in 20 different brotherhoods. Each confraternity wears different coloured robes to signify the aspects of their particular order. The Royal English College has honorary membership of the ‘Vera Cruz’ confraternity, the oldest in Valladolid, having been established in 1498. They wear green and lead many processions throughout Holy Week, most notably Palm Sunday, which this year was led by Cardinal Ricardo Blázquez, Archbishop of Valladolid, who was recently elevated to the College of Cardinals. The processions are unlike anything I have witnessed before and both unique and moving. Each one focuses on the ‘paso’ or float that the members of the confraternity carry. Sculptures of magnificent detail and the

highest artistic quality are carried on these pasos by members known as Penitents in vibrantly coloured vestments. This year the biggest float was carried by 32 men during the general procession on Good Friday evening. Each procession is accompanied by trumpets, horns, bagpipes but, most distinctly drums. They are played by what looks like an army of musicians, consisting of hundreds of people of all ages, and during the final days of Holy Week, are played to chilling and unnerving rhythms which instantly captivate you, setting the scene for the paso approaching slowly behind them. The general procession on Good Friday, that of the Holy Passion of the Redeemer, is the only Holy Week procession in Spain where all 20 brotherhoods are involved, a vast spectacle that tells the full story of the Passion of Christ from the Last Supper to His Resurrection. The week is always very well organized, but the weather is a very important factor as many of the statues are made from wood and polychromed, a technique for

which Valladolid is famous. Many of the sculptures used in the processions are featured in the city’s Sculpture Museum which well repays a visit. By tradition, the Royal English College participates in the Holy Week processions. Our College is home to a statue of Our Lady known as the ‘Wounded One’, in Spanish, ‘Vulnerata’ and on the Monday of Holy Week the seminarians of the English College, assisted by the seminarians of San Jose, the diocesan seminary in Valladolid, carried Our Lady Vulnerata to meet Christ in the streets outside the College. It was a very moving and sorrowful event for those waiting patiently for this encounter on the streets. Holy Week in Valladolid can be acclaimed as one of Spain’s finest; its processions, sculptures and confraternities make this city very distinct and special in the way it conducts solemnly the Church’s most important week of the year. It executes this with a very high reverence and respect and holds dearly the richness and glory of the Passion and Resurrection. Page 11

Holy Week

Westminster Record | May 2015

Holy Week

Westminster Record | May 2015

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Reverend Tony Miles, preached to the assembled crowd. Cardinal Vincent spoke about the trial of Jesus, reflecting on the Scripture read out as the procession reached the steps of the Cathedral. He

Youth

Westminster Record | May 2015

Director’s Spotlight: Reflecting on the Past, Preparing for the Future

Recently I reflected on our 2010 Vision of Youth Ministry to see what we have achieved, how much progress we have made and the key challenges ahead of us. The Centre for Youth Ministry has been open now for a couple of years and it’s wonderful to be able to host a range of youth events and gatherings, aided by our central location and breadth of

facilities, with movements like Catholic Underground adopting the Centre as their venue of choice. I’ve seen our team grow, bringing youthfulness, energy and experience to our mission. James, Rebekah and Christine have been like a whirlwind, bringing ideas, knowledge and vision to help build the youth presence in our parishes; they are positively relentless. We now map our work and partner with lots of parishes on a rolling basis, always ready to help develop a local youth strategy, support the building of a youth group, assist in the employment and support for a parish youth worker or simply be around to offer guidance. We are particularly encouraged by the development of the Parish Youth Worker community which comes

together regularly to share ideas and mutual challenges. There has been some significant progress made with our communication strategy and in particular our popular website with its appealing appearance and interesting content. Of course, our engagement with our constituencies through social media is pivotal and we tweet almost on a daily basis, with Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Vine as key elements of our wider strategy. We thoroughly enjoy our outreach work which ranges from supporting school

inductions and reflection days, to building and leading pilgrimages, through to driving events like Flame, with over 1,000 young people from the Diocese present. The development of the young adults training programme has been especially pleasing and the recent Music Ministry Day led by Edwin Fawcett was a triumph. We are now developing our Performing Arts Retreat weekend with our friends at the Focolare Community, and we hope that it will be another wonderful opportunity to support our young people as they build their skills and

confidence and hopefully for the benefit of their local parish communities. We’ve done a lot and we have plenty still to do. I see a real determination within the team to work alongside many more parishes, given that this remains the cornerstone of our work, but also to develop more interesting ways to engage with our young people and young adults. Please remember us in your prayers and if you have an idea on youth, then please share it with us! Phil Ross is Director of the Diocesan Youth Ministry

Chaplain’s Corner Fr David Reilly, Diocesan Youth Chaplain

One of the many remarkable aspects of Pope St John Paul’s pontificate was the establishment of World Youth Day. It surely was the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of much discernment and was inaugurated in Rome in 1986. Next year, the whole Church will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of that significant event. The city and Archdiocese of Krakow in Poland will host the celebration next summer in the presence of the Holy Father Pope Francis. It is no accident that the forthcoming World Youth Day is being held in the city and See once led by Cardinal Karol Wojtyła as Page 12

Archbishop of Krakow and successor of St Stanislaus, before he became Pope John Paul II. It was from that See that he was called by Christ to ‘stretch out his hands and be led where he would rather not go,’ (John 21:18) when he was elected Bishop of the Church of Rome and successor of St Peter on 16 October 1978. It is also significant that the forthcoming World Youth Day will be celebrated in the heart of the Year of Mercy. This Holy Year, convoked by Pope Francis, will echo and locate the theme of World Youth Day, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart’ (Matthew 5:8) in the context of the Jubilee of Mercy. The Diocese will participate in Krakow with an official pilgrimage led by Cardinal Vincent and Bishop John. For more information on how to be part of this life-changing experience, please contact us at the Westminster Youth Ministry and we will be happy to help.

To find out more about the Youth Ministry and experiences of our young people at: dowym.org.uk

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Follow Westminster Youth Ministry on Twitter at: twitter.com/dowym

See photos of youth events at: http://flickr.com/ photos/catholicwestminster

Youth

Westminster Record | May 2015

Holy Week the Taizé Way Ahead of the pilgrimage to Taizé in August, Christine Sterlini spent Holy Week there and writes: After journeying through a cold and wet Paris, I arrived in Taizé to be warmly welcomed by Brother Paolo, one of the English brothers in the community. Taizé is an ecumenical monastic community in the heart of France. Established by the Swiss Christian Brother Roger in 1940, the community started to attract international attention towards the end of his life and now thousands of young people flock to this small village every week to partake in life there. I shared a dormitory for the week with four Germans, a Spanish girl and a girl from Lithuania, whom I got on with very well from the start. Some were regulars to Taizé and had been coming for three or four years because they enjoy it so much, whilst others, like me,

were visiting for the first time. My first experience of Taizé prayer was at the Morning Prayer, celebrated with thousands of young people in the church in many different languages. Taizé prayer is beautiful and, although it took me a couple of days to work out what was going on, I soon got into the rhythm of it. After this, we were split into groups for talks given by the brothers. One of my favourite sessions was discussing texts in the Bible. The conversations were held in English and there was much laughter and patience involved as everyone tried their best to express themselves in a language which, for most people, wasn’t their mother tongue. I was intrigued to find myself, for the first time in my life, having indepth discussions about God with a group of people of all

different nationalities and faiths, as well as no faith at all. Another aspect that I enjoyed was the work. Each pilgrim is assigned a job such as cleaning the toilets, tidying the church or emptying bins. These jobs might sound grim but were actually good fun and fostered a sense of camaraderie. It was a great way to meet new people and often the tasks would finish with games. I was given the job of serving food to 4,000 people but was ably helped and entertained by some Irish pilgrims. Between talks, work, prayer and food, people would have time to relax; there were football and frisbee games in the fields, people playing music and dancing, and others sat drawing and playing games. People would also gather around the ‘Oyak’, a little shop/cafe that

opens several times a day, and would stand around chatting and drinking coffee. Every night there was a prayer service. This final act of the day is very popular because it is so calm and peaceful. Some people stay for just 20 minutes or so, whilst others stay for hours. The church is very enchanting and relaxing during the late hours and I would often find myself swept up in the atmosphere. Celebrating Easter at Taizé was incredibly special. We gathered outside the church to light the Paschal candle and then filed inside. Young children lit the small candles held by the monks who then passed on the flame around. I was really struck by how ecumenical and united the Church was in this moment. The Mass that day was one I will never forget.

SPEC Shine at the Celebrate Conference By Jon Rogers

Follow Westminster Youth Ministry on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/doywm

Events Catholic Underground

Easter week for the SPEC community was spent at Celebrate, a week-long family conference that offers a faithfilled and fun event combining Christian teaching, inspirational speakers and celebration of the liturgy in a vibrant atmosphere to celebrate the love of God. Celebrate may sound a little grim on paper but in fact it was wonderful. The chalets we stay in are basic, the beds not so comfy and the weather in spring-time can be bleak. So why do we go? In short, for the breath-taking scenery, incredible speakers and the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit. They are what make it worthwhile, and the Celebrate ‘regulars’ have always noticed a real flowering of joy in the conference. We were at Celebrate to help with stewarding: keeping people safe, helping them to engage with the conference and making sure that the loo-rolls didn’t run out. On reflection, our roles were a bit like some extra mums and dads to join the ranks of families that fill the seats at Celebrate. That’s really what a year at SPEC is about, nurturing the young people to grow the Church. To find out more about the Youth Ministry and experiences of our young people at: wym.rcdow.org.uk.

It was very sad saying goodbye to everyone as I got on the bus for my journey back home. My week in Taizé had been an extraordinary one and I am already very excited to be going back again in August with people from the Diocese. I sincerely hope you will be able to join us for a fantastic, unforgettable week.

In addition to the stewarding, we all took part in the conference in our own way. All age groups are catered for with separate ‘streams’ for children of four years to young adults of 25. Our volunteer missionaries joined Joel’s Bar, the young adults stream which offered seminars, talks, liturgy, prayer and social times throughout the week. Some of us at SPEC are parents with young children. Parents do all sorts of things to help their families grow closer to Christ: tell stories, listen, pray with the kids. There is a parallel between being a volunteer missionary at SPEC where we minister to, pray with and pray for the young people of the Diocese. We feed our community and we feed the young people with the only food that really matters: the Bread of Life - the Word that comes from the mouth of God. If the thought of spending a year as a missionary at SPEC sounds attractive, that’s great. We have small comfortable rooms with comfy beds; but so much more than that. See http://dowym.com/spec

Follow Westminster Youth Ministry on Twitter at: twitter.com/dowym

Saturday 16 May St Aloysius Church, 20 Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA Young Adults in the West Sunday 24 May St Michael and Martin Church, Hounslow, 94 Bath Road TW3 3EH Taizé pilgrimage Saturday 15 August – Monday 24 August Taizé, France Performing Arts weekend Friday 16 October – Sunday 18 October Focolare Centre, 69 Parkway, Welwyn Garden City AL8 6ED World Youth Day pilgrimage Monday 18 July 2016 – Sunday 31 July 2016 Krakow, Poland For additional information on any of these upcoming events, please contact us on our social media channels or email: youth@rcdow.org.uk See photos of youth events at: http://flickr.com/ photos/catholicwestminster

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Social Action

Westminster Record | May 2015

The Church and Climate Change: Protecting Mother Earth By Barbara Kentish Westminster Justice and Peace is focusing on climate change this year, when the future of our planet will be discussed in Paris in December at the UN COP 21 climate talks. World leaders will meet to try and agree to lower carbon emissions, thus reducing the rate of global warming. Christian responses to this issue are not lacking. The Pope is expected to issue a ‘green’ encyclical, CAFOD has devoted the next three years to the One Climate, One World campaign, while we at Justice and Peace have organised two events. First, we are joining with other churches and faiths in the Pray and Fast for the Climate movement, with an event on the first day of every month. On 1 May it will be held at the Assumption Convent in Kensington, on 1 June at St Martin-in-the-Fields, and on 1 July at Our Lady, Queen of Apostles in Welwyn Garden City. Secondly we are planning a Cycle Ride for the Climate with other European groups to Paris.

Fr Joe Ryan, Francis McDonagh of St Mellitus J&P and I explored the cycling route, the Avenue Verte, during the Easter break. The Westminster ride will be divided into two phases: the London-Newhaven leg in August and the Dieppe-Paris leg in December to coincide with the Climate Talks themselves. Our aim is to raise awareness of the urgency of a revolution in attitudes toward the environment, and of the need for agreement between politicians. The Commission has already started to link up with French parishes. The Parish Priest of Dieppe, Fr Geoffroi Delatouche, will welcome British cycling pilgrims next December to talk to his parishioners. ‘Half of them work for nuclear power stations, so we can discuss that!’ he told us. We also attended the French Pax Christi Climate Conference in March, and will link with them to hold a joint event in December, adding our collective voices to the call for a world policy to address climate change.

Finding the Common Good On 24 March local leaders, charity partners and parishioners gathered at the Hurtado Jesuit Centre in Wapping for the first in a series of topical discussions focused on economic, political and cultural issues affecting local and global communities. Dr Patrick Riordan SJ, lecturer in Political Philosophy at Heythrop College, led a discussion on the Common Good by defining three basic questions: who are we, what is our business and how do we go about minding our own business? The diverse audience came from the communities of Wapping, Tower Hamlets and further afield with local residents, charity partners, community leaders, parishioners, social entrepreneurs and retired people from Catholic, other Christian, Muslim and secular backgrounds. Many who attended saw the Common Good as an important topic in the light of current political and global events. However, individual and cultural experiences made an impression on our Page 14

understanding of the Common Good and how these goods could be defined. As discussion continued, there was a sense that what is important is to share a common ground by which these ideas could develop. Importantly, one message was not to take for granted the common values and resources that already exist between diverse groups within communities. For a fuller report and upcoming dates: www.hurtadocentre.org.uk

Barbara Kentish, Francis McDonagh and Fr Joe Ryan on their recce of the Avenue Verte, the cycle route that will be undertaken

Making Donations Change More Lives Thank you to all the parishes and schools that have fundraised for the Lent Fast Day appeal, helping CAFOD raise over £100,000 in the Diocese so far. St Joan of Arc School, Highbury Park, filled their CAFOD boxes and raised £1,258.37, while St Monica’s School, Southgate, decided to buy World Gifts with their fundraising initiative ‘Change for Change’! Each class selected the gifts they wanted to buy and the whole school also had a non-uniform day. Ali and Antonia, Year 6 students from St Thomas More School, Letchworth Garden City, were inspired after hearing a talk about CAFOD’s

work in Latin America, and held a ‘Wackie Onesie’ day at their school, raising £213.05. Maria Fidelis School in Euston got behind CAFOD’s One Climate, One World Campaign at their campaigning day on 27 March. Students got an insight into the people whose lives are affected by climate change and got to grips with different ways of campaigning with sessions on media and campaign comics. Westminster Justice and Peace also led a session on Fairtrade.

This year CAFOD has been awarded Match Funding by the UK government meaning that donations to the Lent appeal will be matched pound for pound, up to a total of £5million, to double the impact of donations. In order for donations to be included in Match Funding they must reach CAFOD by 17 May, so please ensure all donations are sent in by this date. Contact CAFOD Westminster on westminster@cafod.org.uk or 0208 449 6970.

Social Action

Westminster Record | May 2015

Catholics Mark Deaf Awareness Week

Catholic Deaf Awareness Week takes place from 10 to 16 May. This is a time to recognise and highlight the skills and talents of the Deaf community and to raise awareness in parishes about the importance of including Deaf people in parish life. Without the inclusion of all members of the parish the face of Christ is not complete.

Some Deaf people use British Sign Language (BSL) to communicate, whilst others rely on lip reading. People who are hard of hearing, an issue that is increasing with our aging population, may well rely on the use of a hearing loop to follow Mass. Every person is different. Below are some suggestions for not only including Deaf people in your parish but also using their skills and talents to contribute to parish life. • Welcome Deaf and hard of hearing people in the same way that you welcome all

people to your parish: with a smile and a handshake. • When talking to a person who is Deaf or hard of hearing, make sure you face them and do not move your head from side to side while speaking. Make sure that your face is not in shadow and do not do anything that might distort your lip patterns. Speak clearly, not too fast, but not exaggeratingly slowly. If the person has not understood, try to re-phrase what you are saying as some words are more difficult to lip-read. Most importantly, persevere and don’t give up. • Allow for some reserved seating at the front of the church so that the Deaf and hard of hearing people can see everything that is taking place. Make sure that there is enough allocated seating for the whole family if one member of the family is Deaf. • Make sure that all notices are available in a written format. A last minute announcement from the sanctuary that you are looking for a new person to help with the finances in the office might not reach a highly suitable candidate as they might not have heard the announcement.

• Make sure you always use a microphone and hearing loop as having a loud voice does not compensate for not doing this. • Many priests do not write out their homilies, so Deaf people can often miss what is being preached. Perhaps someone or a small group of people could take it in turns to take notes and share them with the Deaf or hard of hearing people in your parish. • If you have people in your parish that use BSL, be prepared to book suitably qualified interpreters for them on occasions like their children’s first Holy Communion or Confirmation Masses. The Caritas Deaf Service team are happy to help in these situations. Please contact us as early as possible as we get booked up a long time in advance. Deaf and hard of hearing people have a lot they can offer to the life of a parish and including them in your parish life is a positive experience for everyone. Caritas Deaf Service has recently run a Deaf Awareness and sign language course at Sacred Heart parish in Kilburn. For 10 weeks, Christine

Christopher, a Deaf lady, taught basic sign language. The group were enthusiastic and there was much fun and laughter. Fr Terry Murray OMI had previously worked with Deaf people in Ireland. Irish Sign Language is very different to British Sign Language so he joined the course too. Towards the end of the course Fr Terry invited the Deaf Community for Mass where the students and Deaf Community joined together with the parish, praying, signing and singing together. Michelle Roca, Director of Caritas Deaf Service, came along to the parish youth group to teach them some basic signs and fingerspelling. She also taught them to sign a rendition of ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen and ‘Dial Tones’ by As It Is which will not be forgotten! There was also a session with the confirmation class where the traditional prayers were taught. If you would like to do something similar in your parish, please get in touch with Caritas Deaf Service for more information: michelleroca@rcdow.org.uk

Caritas Develop New Shelter Programme The active fundraising of Growing in Faith ended in December, but the generosity of parishioners continues to fund important work throughout the diocese. In particular, funding is helping Caritas Westminster to develop new, transformational projects that reach out to those most in need and April saw the start of a project that will make a real difference to the homeless in central London. Caritas organised a network of seven churches, five of which are Catholic, to offer a night shelter circuit from 15 April which will run until 27 May. Most winter night shelters begin to close their doors by the beginning of April, yet homelessness is a year-round problem, and the need for shelter remains. The circuit will be based at a different church venue every night on a rota basis. Each church offers an evening meal, overnight stay and breakfast

and will have the capacity to provide fifteen beds each night. Over the seven week period, this will amount to over 700 beds. Enabled by Growing in Faith, Caritas is providing the seedfunding for this project, as well as advice and training for parish priests and volunteers. This is crucial, as for some of the churches involved, it will be the first time they are hosting a night shelter. Caritas is working with two other charities: Housing Justice, a Christian organisation that provides safety and best practice guidelines for homeless shelters, and West London Day Mission, which facilitates showers, laundry, lunch, medical services and referrals for the homeless. As a pilot scheme, working with other local charities will ensure this project really takes off, remains sustainable and hopefully successful enough to reopen again in October.

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Vocations Benedictines: Over a Century in Ealing

Westminster Record | May 2015

By Dom James Leachman OSB Benedictines, as all other Christians, are always engaged in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ and a monastic community’s apostolate is an overflowing of the monks’ faith in Jesus Christ. Because cultures and civilizations change our monastic identity can evolve and change over the years to adapt to contemporary culture. One of the biggest challenges at the beginning of the new millennium is to find ways in which we can meet and serve our neighbours. Our shared community life and our celebration of the divine liturgy as established and regulated by the Roman Catholic Church are our principal ways of proclaiming the Good News to the people of Ealing.

We offer hospitality for prayer and learning and we offer pastoral service to St Benedict's parish and schools. Hospitality is an additional characteristic of monastic life. Men guests may live, eat and pray with us in the monastery. Men seeking to discern their vocation in life are welcome to stay with us and speak with a monk. Women and men are welcome to stay in the house for guests and to worship with us in the liturgy in the abbey church. The external dimensions of Catholic worship: the architectural setting, music in its many forms, ritual and the authorised liturgical books have been valued by the Ealing monks as ways in which all in the assembly may participate fully and profoundly in the mystery of Christian worship.

The Downside Abbey community founded her first daughter house in Ealing in 1897. In subsequent years the young community in Ealing has been growing and adapting to the culture of subsequent generations whilst endeavouring to remain faithful to the inspiration of our founder, St Benedict, the Father of western monasticism. Pastoral and missionary work in various forms: parish, chaplaincy and others, were soon established at Ealing; and Ealing Abbey was registered for Roman Catholic worship on 24 November 1899. Today single and married Catholics, consecrated men and women living in religious communities and associations of the faithful are all valued members of our parish community. Spouses and friends who belong to other churches and religions regularly attend services in Ealing Abbey. The establishment in 1910 by Dom Cyril Rylance and continued investments by the

monastic community over the years in the Ealing Abbey Choir and other ministries of music, including organ and voice tuition, has provided a very important contribution to Catholic worship in West London today. Education is regularly an aspect of the life of Benedictines, and so it is no surprise that the Ealing community rapidly became committed to educating Catholic children. The monastic community has shown continued commitment over the years first to St Benedict’s School, founded in 1902, and to St Gregory’s School which celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2013. Over the years and rather gradually, developing from the regular hours dedicated to reading and study during the monastic day and from the work of evangelisation and catechesis in parish and schools, there grew the ministry of writing and adult education.

More recently, this 100-year narrative has led to the monks founding Ealing Abbey Counselling Service in 1993 and the Benedictine Study & Arts Centre in 1992 and, with St Michael's Abbey in Farnborough, the Liturgy Institute in 2010 and in 2011 the monastic community began to imagine of how to further develop its mission and service. On 1 March 2015 Ealing Abbey began a collaboration with the NAOS-Institute, an institute for psychotherapy and counseling, in one of the monastery properties with the shared intention of developing adult education on our site. Recently Fr Abbot also accepted an invitation for Ealing Abbey to be a ‘promotor abbey' in an international research project on contemporary monastic communities based at Catholic University, Leuven. Let the Spirit of St Benedict inspire and flourish in our day as of old and in our beloved city of London.

For more information on vocations please contact Fr Richard Nesbitt richardnesbitt@rcdow.org.uk or 020 7349 5624 If you have a story or an event you would like to have featured on this page, please contact communications@rcdow.org.uk or 020 7798 9030 Page 16

Marriage & Family Life

Westminster Record | May 2015

World Meeting of Families The next World Meeting of Families will be held in Philadelphia in September. Edmund Adamus, the Director for Marriage and Family Life, will be attending to represent the Diocese. He explains its history as an ecclesial event and something of the unique icon commissioned for this year's gathering with Pope Francis. The WMF was conceived by Pope St John Paul II in 1992 to look at strengthening the sacred bonds of the family globally. The first Meeting took place in Rome in 1994, the International Year of the Family. Every three years since then, families from all over the world are invited by the Holy Father to attend. At the conference families share their thoughts, dialogue and prayers, working together to grow both as individuals and in their families. Families can also participate in discussion groups on the Christian family’s role in the Church and society, led by many distinguished speakers. Tens of thousands of families and thousands of bishops and priests have gathered at these celebrations to renew and deepen their understanding of the Christian family as the primary agent of

evangelisation. I was honoured to be a speaker in 2009 in Mexico and look forward to this year’s event as the first with Pope Francis. The special painting of the Holy Family by Neil Carlsin is symbolic of the call to holiness for all, starting in our families. The light of Christ illuminates our hearts and minds, and our interactions with others. Consequently, the painting on the right focuses on His centrality, with His eyes fixed firmly on the viewer, extending a sign of blessing. Next to Him is His Blessed Mother, gazing slightly beyond her Son as she looks towards His Passion whilst St Joseph gently rests a hand on his wife. Behind the Holy Family stand Mary’s mother and father, Sts Anne and Joachim. Like Mary and Joseph, they too focus on Christ. Surrounding the figures is a ciborium based on that over the altar at the Cathedral Basilica in Philadelphia. On the upper left is the coat-of-arms of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and on the upper right is the coat-of-arms of Pope Francis. Situated at the bottom are white lilies, symbolic of the purity of Christ’s Mother.

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Saints & Obituaries Bede the Venerable: 25 May The first thing to note about St Bede is that he is the only English Doctor of the Church, declared as such in 1899 by Pope Leo XIII. Those with sharp memories will know that St Anselm, our other Doctor, was born in Italy and was a French Abbot before becoming Archbishop of Canterbury. Bede, who was born around 672, offers powerful testimony to the religious life. As a child, he lived first in the monastery of Monkwearmouth and then, probably from the age of ten, in Jarrow (both, basically, in modern Sunderland). Beyond a trip to York and one to Lindisfarne, he seems to have hardly ever left these monasteries. Intellectually and spiritually, however, Bede knew no bounds and three areas of his work are particularly worth our attention. Bede was completely aware of the tradition of scriptural interpretation that came from the Fathers of the early centuries. He passed it on to other monks and extended it with his own Commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testaments. Monkwearmouth and Jarrow were known as great centres of learning, with an estimated 200 books in their library (remember that books were precious and required copying by hand). This was also an age when a scriptural scholar could be a theologian, classicist, mathematician, astronomer and Bede was familiar with classical Latin

authors and certainly knew some Greek. Secondly, Bede was heavily involved in the English Church’s dispute over how to calculate the date of Easter. He produced several works on chronology, commenting also on the sun, moon and planets which led him to date the creation of the world at 3952 B.C. Although this is unconvincing to us, it is important as it contradicted the then-prevailing calculation. What still affects us from Bede’s work is that he was the first to use the B.C. (Before Christ)/A.D. (Anno Domini, In the Year of Our Lord) dating system. Secularists now call it C.E. (Common Era), but Bede still stands behind it. Thirdly, Bede was England’s first serious historian. His Ecclesiastical History of the English People, completed in 731, starts with the Roman invasion in 55 B.C. and follows the trials and rise of the English Church. Naturally, there are gaps since Bede was dependent on visitors to Jarrow and correspondents for information. He wrote little on the West of England and is distinctly cautious about St Wilfrid. Neither does he show much love for the native British Church which survived the departure of the Romans and remained to greet St Augustine of Canterbury. Yet this is to judge Bede by modern criteria. His History is a remarkable achievement of objectivity, where he is concerned to indicate his sources and justify

his account. English history owes him the greatest debt. St Bede died on 26 May 735, which was the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension that year. Subsequently that day was assigned to St Augustine of Canterbury and St Bede’s feast day moved to 25 May, whilst St Augustine is now on 27 May, with St Philip Neri on 26 May. Perhaps a saint much concerned with the date of Easter and computing time will forgive our modern messing with his feast. St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers’ Club meets on every Sunday for walks around London and the Home Counties. Contact by email: antoinette_adkins2000@yahoo .co.uk, call 020 8769 3643 or check out the website: www.stfrancisramblers. ukwalkers.com

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Westminster Record | May 2015

Christopher Mathews RIP

In Memoriam: May

Christopher Mathews, a former priest of the diocese, died on 20 March aged 87. Born in December 1928, Christopher received secondary level education in Canada, having been evacuated during the Second World War, then at Douai School near Reading. He studied for the Priesthood at the Venerable English College, Rome, and with the Salesians in Fribourg and was Ordained to the Priesthood in Westminster Cathedral by Cardinal Griffin on 12 June 1954. He served in the parish of Holy Trinity and St Augustine of Canterbury, Baldock from 1954 to 1964 and was then appointed to St Mary’s, Chelsea. In 1971 he left Chelsea to live in Alicante, Spain. He was unsure about his vocation and, with his health being poor, he was given permission to leave the Diocese. His public ministry as a Priest ceased and with the advance of years, his health deteriorated. Christopher maintained contact with the Diocese and was grateful for the support he received. In 2012, he petitioned for laicisation which was granted in January 2013. Following this, he lived until his death in a care home run by Jesuits. His Funeral Mass took place locally and his desire to be cremated was honoured.

2 Fr John Coughlan (1997) Fr John Farrelly (1990) Fr Francis Finnegan (1999) Fr Edward Bilsborrow (2007) 4 Fr Peter Lowry (1972) Fr Raymond Tomalin (1996) 5 Canon Herbert Welchman (1982) Fr Denys Lucas (1995) 6 Fr John Hathway (1995) Fr Anthony Potter (2003) 7 Fr Alistair Russell (1997) 9 Fr Bernard Lagrue (1995) 10 Fr Patrick Keegan (1992) Canon Denis Britt-Compton (2002) Fr Charles Mercer (2005) Mgr Canon Oliver Kelly (1995) 11 Fr Thomas Kean (1981) 13 Mgr Stephen Shaw (1998) 14 Fr Peter Boshell (1993) Fr Dominic McEwan (1969) 15 Fr William O’Brien (2004) 20 Fr Stanislaus Savage (1975) Fr Michael Markey (2014) 22 Fr Ronald Richardson (1999) Fr Charles MacMahon (2003) 23 Fr Bernard Bussy (1992) Fr Hugh McAleese (1994) Fr Matthew Burrows (2010) 24 Fr Denis Ward (1978) Fr Michael Garvey (2002) Fr Denis Nottingham (2002) Fr Philip Rogers (1995) 25 Mgr Canon John Bagshawe (1971) Mgr Denis McGuiness (1993) Fr John Oldland (1995) 26 Canon Patrick J Murphy (1974) Fr John Murray (1995) 30 Fr Albert Purdie (1976) 31 Canon Reginald Crook (1990) Fr John Luke (2003) Fr Kevin Greene (2004)

Ealing Abbey Events Presbyteral ordination of Br Ambrose McCambridge OSB by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Saturday 4 July at 11am. Book disputation on Ask the Beasts, Darwin and the God of Love, by Elizabeth Johnson. Panel: Clare Watkins, Abbot Martin Shipperlee, Catherine Pepinster, Fr Jim Sweeney CP. on Sat 29 August at 3pm in Ealing Abbey Parish Hall.

Events & Calendar

Westminster Record | May 2015

REGULAR EVENTS

Liturgical Calendar - May

If you have an event, please email: communications@rcdow.org.uk

Prayer Groups SUNDAYS Taizé at St James, Piccadilly W1J 9LL every third Sunday 5pm. Call 020 7503 5128 for details. Tyburn Benedictines Monastic afternoon Every first Sunday 2-5pm Martyrs’ Crypt, Tyburn Convent, 8 Hyde Park Place W2 2LJ. Westminster Cathedral Young Adults meet socially after the 7pm Mass on Sundays and then at the nearby Windsor Castle pub. For further details please contact: westminsteryoungadults@gmail.com

MONDAYS Mothers’ Prayers at St Dominic’s Priory, Haverstock Hill NW5 4LB Mondays 2.303.30pm in the Lourdes Chapel. All are welcome.

TUESDAYS Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Tuesdays 6-9pm concluding with Benediction at Newman House, 111 Gower Street WC1E 6AR. Details 020 7387 6370. Prayers for London at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden Tuesdays 7.30pm. Organised by the Guild of Our Lady of Willesden, Nicoll Road NW10 9AX. Vocations Prayer Group Second Tuesday of the month 8pm at 47C Gaisford Street NW5 2EB. Taizé at St. James’, Spanish Place, W1U 3UY every 1st Tuesday of the month at 7pm. Email: penny28hb@aol.com or just come along.

WEDNESDAYS Wednesdays on the Wall (WOTW) Every first Wednesday 6pm at All Hallows on the Wall, 83 London Wall EC2M 5ND. A short service of prayer and reflection at 6pm, coffee at 6.45pm followed by discussion.

Corpus Christi Contemplative Prayer Group for Young Adults Wednesdays from 7pm at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane WC2E 7NB. For further details please contact corpuschristipg@yahoogroups. co.uk Evangelisation Prayer Group for young adults meets from 7pm on Wednesdays at Notre Dame de France, 5 Leicester Place WC2H 7BX. For further details please contact Armel at apostles.jesus@yahoo.co.uk

1 Fri

Easter feria or St Joseph the Worker; Friday abstinence

2 Sat

St Athanasius, Bishop & Doctor

3 Sun

+ 5th SUNDAY OF EASTER

4 Mon

THE ENGLISH MARTYRS

5 Tue

Easter feria, Fifth Week of Easter

6 Wed

Easter feria

7 Thu

Easter feria

8 Fri

Easter feria; Friday abstinence

9 Sat

Easter feria

10 Sun

+ 6th SUNDAY OF EASTER

11 Mon

Easter feria, Sixth Week of Easter

12 Tue

Easter feria or Sts Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs or St Pancras, Martyr

13 Wed

Easter feria or Our Lady of Fatima

14 Thu

ST MATTHIAS, Apostle

15 Fri

Easter feria; Friday abstinence

16 Sat

Easter feria

17 Sun

+ THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

18 Mon

Easter feria, Seventh Week of Easter or St John I, Pope &

THURSDAYS Jesus Christ the Fullness of Life Every first Thursday of the month. Young adults from all Christian denominations pray and share a meal. Details www.jcfl.org.uk Soul Food A Catholic charismatic prayer group for young adults meets Thursdays 7-9pm at St Charles Borromeo, Ogle Street W1W 6HS. Details at www.soulfoodgroup.org St John Paul II Prayer Group Every second Thursday of the month 78pm, Mass, Adoration and Prayer at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane WC2E 7NB.

Martyr 19 Tue

Easter feria

20 Wed

Easter feria or St Bernadine of Siena, Priest

21 Thu

Easter feria or St Christopher Magallanes, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs; Anniversary of the Installation of Cardinal Vincent Nichols, 11th Archbishop of Westminster (2009)

22 Fri

Easter feria or St Rita of Cascia, Religious; Friday abstinence

23 Sat

Easter feria

24 Sun

+ PENTECOST SUNDAY

25 Mon

St Bede the Venerable, Priest & Doctor

26 Tue

St Philip Neri, Priest

27 Wed

ST AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY, Bishop

28 Thu

feria, Eighth Week of Year 1

29 Fri

feria; Friday abstinence

30 Sat

feria or Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday

31 Sun

+ THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

FRIDAYS Association of Divorced and Separated Catholics Every third Friday of the month. All divorced and separated Catholics are welcome. Call Frank or Christine on 020 8422 1591. Divine Mercy Prayers and Mass Every first Friday 2.30-4.30pm at Our Lady, Mother of the Church, 2 Windsor Road W5 5PD. Westminster Cathedral Charismatic Prayer Group Every Friday 7.30pm Prayer, Praise and Teaching. First Friday is a healing Mass. For details, please call: 020 8748 2632.

SATURDAYS Taizé at Notre Dame de France 5 Leicester Place WC2H 7BX at 7.15pm. Call 020 7437 9363.

The May Procession at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden takes place on Sunday 10th May at 3.30pm. The street procession will be made to the Convent of Jesus and Mary where the homily will be preached by Fr William Nicol, Pastoral Director at Allen Hall Seminary. The procession returns to the Shrine Church for Benediction. Come and join us as we pray the Rosary for Peace, and the protection of our City.

For more events from around the diocese throughout the month, please see www.rcdow.org.uk

A Day for the Lord - St Patrick’s Church, Soho, will be hosting 24-hour Vigils of Eucharistic Adoration all year with priests available for confessions. The next one will take place from 12noon Friday 15 to 12noon Saturday 16 May. All are invited to take time to pray before the Lord. Praying with Pope Francis - May 2015 Universal Intention: Care for the suffering - That, rejecting the culture of indifference, we may care for our neighbours who suffer, especially the sick and poor. For Evangelisation: Openness to mission - That Mary’s intercession may help Christians in secularised cultures be ready to proclaim Jesus.

Other regular Masses Deaf Community Mass First Sunday of the month 4.30pm at Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue SW1P 1QW. Young Adults Mass Held every Sunday at Church of the Immaculate Conception, 114 Mount Street W1K 3AH. Quiet prayer 7.15pm, Mass 7.30pm. Social gathering afterwards. Contact: team@fsplus.info or visit www.fsplus.info. Mass at Canary Wharf Held on Tuesdays at 12.30pm at 2 Churchill Place E14 5RB. Organised by Mgr Vladimir Felzmann, Chaplain to Canary Wharf Communities. Details www.cwcc.org.uk. St Albans Abbey Fridays at 12 noon. Mass in the Lady Chapel of St Albans Abbey AL1 1BY. LGBT Catholics Westminster Mass 2nd & 4th Sundays 6.15pm, Church of the Immaculate Conception, 114 Mount Street, W1K 3AH. Contact: lgbtcatholicswestminster@gmail. com EXTRAORDINARY FORM MASSES Sundays: Low Mass 9.30am, St James Spanish Place W1U 3QY. Low Mass 9am, The Oratory, Brompton Road SW7 2RP. Low Mass 5pm, St Bartholomew, St Albans AL1 2PE. Low Mass 5.30pm, Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, NW10 9AX. Mondays: Low Mass 8am The Oratory, Brompton Road SW7 2RP Mass 6.30pm Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NB. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays: Low Mass, 8am The Oratory, Brompton Road SW7 2RP. Fridays: Low Mass 7.45am St Mary Moorfields, 4/5 Eldon Street EC2N 7LS. Low Mass 8am The Oratory, Brompton Road SW7 2RP. Low Mass 6pm St Etheldreda, Ely Place EC1N 6RY. First Friday. Low Mass 6pm St John the Baptist Church, King Edward's Road E9 7SF. First Friday only. Low Mass 6.30pm Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane WC2E 7NB. Second Friday only. Saturdays: Low Mass 12.15pm, St Wilfrid’s Chapel, The Oratory, Brompton Road SW7 2RP. Low Mass 4.30pm, Side Chapel, Westminster Cathedral SW1P 1QW. Second Saturday only.

Corpus Christi Procession Returns to London For a second year there will be a Corpus Christi procession led by Cardinal Vincent between the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street and St James’ Church, Spanish Place on Sunday 7 June. The procession will leave Farm Street at 5.15pm and will end with Benediction at Spanish Place at around 7pm. All are welcome to attend, especially families with children preparing for their First Holy Communion. Last year more than 1,000 people took part and it is hoped that this year the Catholic witness in this busy part of central London will be even greater. Parishes in possession of a Blessed Sacrament banner are asked to carry it in the procession. Priests and deacons interested in participating should contact either Peter Allingham (peter@ancient.co.uk) or Peter Sefton-Williams (peter@seftonwilliams.com). Details of where and when to arrive and vesting instructions will then be issued to them. Follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/diocese.westminster

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History

Westminster Record | May 2015

Archive Celebrates Acquisition of Cardinal Manning Papers

By Fr Nicholas Schofield Henry Edward Manning was appointed Archbishop of Westminster 150 years ago. He is surely one of the greatest of our cardinals; a man of tremendous ability, charisma and holiness, who turned his back on a glittering career in the Established Church to become a Catholic priest working in the slums of west London. As Archbishop, he was noted not only for his significant contribution to the First Vatican Council but also his concern for the poor and famous intervention in the London Dock Strike of 1889. He died on 14 January 1892, the same day as the Duke of Clarence, second in line to the Throne; and yet news of the Cardinal’s demise dominated the headlines and tens of thousands queued to pay their respects. At the time of his death it might have seemed that Manning’s posthumous reputation was assured, but he very quickly suffered at the hands of his biographers. Edmund Purcell, who claimed Page 20

he had been chosen by the Cardinal as his official biographer, not only helped himself to Manning’s personal papers but wrote an unflattering portrait of ‘an ecclesiastic consumed by ambition and the will to dominate, prepared to gain his ends by any means, however unscrupulous.’ A similarly negative impression was made by Lytton Strachey in Eminent Victorians. The surviving papers remained with the Oblates of St Charles, the religious community Manning established at Bayswater. Conditions were less than ideal and many items were damaged during the Second World War, with further confusion about their future when the Oblates were suppressed in the 1960s. Fortunately a French priestscholar, Fr Alphonse Chapeau, stepped in to arrange and conserve the archive, taking it for safekeeping back to Angers. In time, many of the papers from the Anglican period were deposited at the Bodleian

Library, Oxford and the Pitt Theological Library at Emery University in Atlanta. Some of the Catholic papers were given to Westminster, but a significant collection remained in private hands at Angers. Last summer two members of the Westminster Archive team made the journey to Angers to collect the remaining papers, thanks to the generosity of Jacqueline ClaisGirard, an academic and friend of Fr Chapeau. It was an exciting moment when the cupboard was opened and folders were passed out containing the letters of Blessed John Henry Newman and many other leading figures from the period; correspondence relating to such hot topics as ‘Social Reform’, ‘Education’ and ‘Ireland’, as well as several important volumes of autobiography and letters of spiritual direction. There was even a volume inscribed to Manning’s wife, Caroline Sargent, and a set of Holy Week books bought during a visit to Rome while he was an Anglican. For so long, Cardinal Manning has been notably absent from the collections of the Diocesan Archive but now there is a rich selection of papers which will be accessible to scholars and hopefully lead to a revival in Manning scholarship, and (who knows?) the definitive biography he has long deserved. To celebrate the anniversary of Manning’s appointment to Westminster (as well as the death of Cardinal Wiseman), a conference is being held at Our Lady of Victories Parish Centre on Saturday 9 May, 10.30am4pm (cost £5 per person). It is still not too late to register: please see www.rcdow.org.uk/news/ from-wiseman-to-manning/ There will also be a short exhibition on the life of Manning in St Patrick’s Chapel at the Cathedral during May and June. Finally, on 9 June Cardinal Vincent will offer the 5.30pm Mass at the Cathedral for the repose of the souls of Wiseman and Manning, who now rest in the crypt below the sanctuary. All are welcome to attend.

Isleworth: The Little Parish with a Big History The parish of Our Lady of Sorrows and St Bridget of Sweden in Isleworth is one of the smallest in the diocese, but also one of the oldest. Its unique and fascinating history is now the subject of The Catholic Community in Isleworth by parishioner and local historian Stuart Bagnall whose family have lived in Isleworth for over 100 years. Although records are disappointingly sparse, Stuart has managed to assemble a story which stretches back 400 years. The story begins in the 1670s when what started as a domestic chaplaincy in the household of the Earls of Shrewsbury became a mission to the whole of West Middlesex and the adjacent parts of Surrey. The importance of the Isleworth mission was clearly recognised by the bishops in the calibre of the priests they appointed to serve it. Moreover, it was at one time home to four convents of sisters. Only one remains as the international headquarters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, whose founder purchased Gumley House in 1841. Over the years the area served shrunk as new missions and parishes were founded, but Isleworth can justly claim to be the mother church for much of West Middlesex. Local historian Kevin Brown recently discovered in the archives of the Sisters of Nazareth at Hammersmith documents which show that

Isleworth had a freestanding Catholic chapel built in 1797 on the instructions of the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the first in southern England. Previously it had been thought that the chapel was located within the privacy of the Earl's mansion. The church has always been dedicated to Our Lady and St Bridget of Sweden. The adoption of the Swedish saint as patroness arose from the fact that in the late Middle Ages Isleworth was the home of the only English community of Bridgettine nuns and monks at Syon Abbey. This stood on the site now occupied by Syon House, a seat of the Duke of Northumberland. As 2015 marks the 600th anniversary of the foundation of the abbey by King Henry V, the Duke has invited local churches, Catholic, Anglican and Free, to celebrate the anniversary with an open air service on the recently rediscovered site of the abbey church on 19 July. If you want to learn more about the story of this fascinating parish you can obtain The Catholic Community in Isleworth, price £5 available from www.amazon.co.uk and other book stores. Alternatively please send £6.20 (incl. p&p) to The Bookshop, Our Lady of Sorrows and St Bridget of Sweden Catholic Church, Memorial Square, 112 Twickenham Road, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 6DL or email bookshop@stbridgets.org.uk or visit (www.stbridgets.org.uk). It will also be available to download on Kindle from May. Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/RCWestminster