Westminster Record November 2012
Parish Profile - Hoddesdon
Celebrating 50 years of the church building 2012 is a very special year for St Augustine’s Catholic Church in Hoddesdon as it is the golden jubilee of the church building. The first brick of the church was laid by Fr Longstaff on Tuesday 11 July 1961 and the foundation stone was laid on Friday 6 April 1962. The church was completed by the summer, and the first Masses were celebrated in the church on Sunday 5 August. Then on Sunday 7 October, the church was due to have been formally opened by Cardinal Godfrey. In fact, that never happened, as the Cardinal had to prepare to be present at the imminent opening of the Second Vatican Council in Rome on the 11 October. Auxiliary Bishop Cashman came instead on that Sunday. On Sunday 7 October 2012, Fr Philip Miller, parish priest of St Augustine’s welcomed to the parish the Most Revd Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, for the 50th anniversary of the formal opening in 1962. Fr Philip Miller has been parish priest of St Augustine’s since 2007. He was ordained on 4 September 1999 in St Alban’s church and served as curate at Enfield parish and then as a hospital chaplain to the Royal London Hospital and St Barts before becoming parish priest of St Augustine’s. Fr Philip describes his 750 regular parishioners as very varied however there are some distinct groups. There a lot of families as well as a large Sicilian community, many of whom attend Mass on a Sunday in Italian. There are two primary schools in his parish which provided lots of children to sing at the Mass celebrated by the Archbishop on Sunday 7 October. “They were brilliant; I think the Archbishop was impressed. Originally we planned to have different schools singing different songs, but in fact they worked together and produced a joint choir which was lovely” says Fr Philip. It is clear that children and young families make up a large part of the parish when Fr Philip reveals the impressive statistics that 76 children made their First Holy Communion in the parish last year and there are around 400 young children in total. “First Holy Communion lessons are run by catechists in the parish. There are about nine groups and so it is a bit difficult for me to get to them all.”
From left to right: Fr Michael Archer, June Rowland the Mayors Consort, the Worshipful Mayor for the Borough of Broxbourne, Councillor Eddy Rowland, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Mr Charles Walker, MP for the Broxbourne constituency, Fr Brian Reynolds and Fr Philip Miller.
However Fr Philip does visit both primary schools every Tuesday and teaches a class once a term for each school. “I teach whatever the teachers would like me to and wherever they are in the curriculum” he says. As well as the school Fr Philip says: “On site we have a play group/pre nursery school which is rated by Ofstead. It is obviously not exclusive to parishioners, but lots of parishioners do use it. “ Fr Philip tells me that he prepares the Confirmation candidates himself and last year around 30 young adults were confirmed. And let’s not forget the baptisms! Fr Philip says that most Sundays there is a baptism of one or two children, with an average of around 60 baptisms a year.
The parish celebrations were also attended by Fr Michael Archer, who was a curate when the church was built together with Fr Brian Reynolds, parish priest from 1990– 2002. The Mass was also attended by Mr Charles Walker, MP for the Broxbourne constituency, and the Worshipful the Mayor for the Borough of Broxbourne, Councillor Eddie Rowland. Fr Philip reckons that although the church normally comfortably holds about 450 people, about 575 attended Mass with the Archbishop. The Mass was also followed by a lunch afterwards in the crypt of the church which serves as a parish hall. “It was very special day for the parish and the Mass with the Archbishop was a great start to the Year of Faith for us.”
The Year of Faith I ask whether his parish is doing anything special for the Year of Faith? “I have some keys aims for the parish. Certainly in this first season I’d like parishioners to think about people that they might like to invite back to Mass, and secondly I’d encourage each parishioner to undertake some spiritual reading. It doesn’t have to be very heavy, but something connected to the Faith.” Overall, I’d like to address reverence in church and encourage parishioners to really think about whether they are really living the Faith of the Church. But these are just ideas at the moment and I’ll work with the parish to see how we can best celebrate the Year of Faith.”
MASS TIMES AND INFORMATION St Augustine’s Church Hoddesdon Esdaile Lane, Herts EN11 8DS Tel: 01992 440986 Email: hoddesdon@rcdow.org.uk Sunday Mass Times: (Sat 6.30pm), 9.15 (With Children’s Liturgy), 11.15 (with Children’s Litugry), 4pm (Italian), First Sun only 5.30pm (Latin)