Westminster Record May 2009
Parish Profile Kentish Town: really reaching out Fiona Paley Fr Tom Forde has been at Kentish Town for seven years. He shares his house with Fr Eddie Woo of the Chinese chaplaincy and, together, they have recently been helping a Chinese student improve his English. The church is open from 8am to 8pm every day. “ A lot of people have a personal relationship with God, that isn’t ‘churchy’ if you like, and they come in. It is recognised as a place where people can bring their problems to the God that they recognise. And with people always popping in and out it is reasonably safe,” explains Fr Tom. Although this does come at a cost: “One man asked another lady praying in the Church if he could pray alone. She obliged but the next time I came into the Church there was a station of the Cross missing!” says Fr Tom.
Coping with difficulties “It is a very busy area,” says Fr Tom. “People are driven by anxieties and are trying to cope with life’s problems. It can be hard to encourage people to see faith as a power to cope with the difficulties. These days there is less family support and support from society in general for people and so people do tend to avoid their problems by turning to drink and drugs.” Sacramental preparation in the parish is very thorough with preparation for parents as well as the children. “We have contact
with the children for six months, maybe a year at the most. But their parents have contact with them all the time, so it is important that the parents are formed too. This is something that I think the Diocese is trying to do in general with the adult catechism programmes and I think that it needs to be primary,” says Fr Tom.
and it has all kinds of insulation. “People are very generous when they have to be and most the buildings on the site are a memorial to people’s faith. In the past they have identified with the church and its buildings and taken a responsibility. And it is the same today”, he says, pointing to the new roof.
As we go through to the Church building Fr Tom explains: “The parish is older than the building we are in. As a parish we will be celebrating our 150th anniversary in a few years. But it was only in
He also explains that it is a heritage building and so they are in fact limited in the alternations that they make. “For example there are issues with the width of some of the doors, but we are not allowed to change them. Still you do what you can.”
“A lot of people have a personal relationship with God” the late 70s that we came to this building, which was a Methodist Church.” I received a shock as I entered the church building as Fr Tom told me that it could seat up to 1,051. But with two tiers I can see how that is entirely possible. “It had to be modified a bit,” he says, “the main thing being putting an aisle down the middle of the benches.” The tabernacle is to the corner and the building retains a very light spacious atmosphere owing to the plain windows and very high ceiling. In fact, I am informed that it is probably the greenest roof in the Diocese. It has just been replaced, Fr Tom says,
Cross section of people It is impossible to talk about Kentish Town without mentioning its outreach programmes. The biggest is a welfare programme that has run every days for 18 years, every day. “Food is provided here for about 70 homeless people, more at weekend. They sit down and are served. Life gets too much for lots of people and some can break the ordinary pattern of their lives by turning to drink or something else. But they still have needs to be met, and not just needs such as food, but also a need for community and to be brought back into community. There are so many different people, some even very well educated and well travelled and life has just dealt them a blow. They humbly come here are they are our guests”.
Francis, who has been staying at Kentish Town in order to improve his English and Fr Tom Forde, Parish Priest
“People live in a rushed world, and these people can’t live in that world, the best thing that you can give them is time.” Fr Tom also informs me that the project is funded by the Irish government and the St John Southworth Fund. Kentish Town also has a very active SVP group. “They are an army of workers, of carers if you like,” says Fr Tom. “They go into the communities and make regular visitations.” Fr Tom explains that “it is hard to be pastoral now. When I was a young priest it was much easier. We have a visitation group that meets on a Friday. We meet for a light lunch, reflect on the Sunday scriptures and go out and visit the sick.
Practical and spiritual
The interior retains a very light spacious atmosphere
However, even with all the practical help that Kentish Town gives the surrounding area, one cannot accuse them of neglecting the spiritual. At midday as Fr Tom is showing me me around the Church we are stopped by Charlie who asks if they are having midday prayer that day? Fr Tom looks slightly hesitant as he was about to show me the hall, until I tell him that I too would like to say midday prayer. It is in this way that I find out that they try and pray the office in the Church on most days. This is truely a parish that has all the bases covered!
The only stained glass window in the church was saved from the old building