Parish Profile
Westminster Record March 2011
St Mary Magdalen, Willesden Green
By Jo-Anne Rowney With over 1,050 parishioners as well as 40 active groups and 70 servers St Mary Magdalen, on the Jubilee line, is a vibrant, active parish, home to a large youth group and hugely diverse ethnic community. The first Mass on the site was said in 1901 and the parish was formed in 1905, but the church itself wasn’t built until 1939. Newspaper cuttings announcing the grand opening of the church and the original cake slicer Cardinal Hinsley used when he visited hold pride of place in the priest’s house.
Fr Hugh MacKenzie outside St Mary Magdalen Church grotto Parish Priest, Fr Hugh MacKenzie, has been at Willesden Green for nine years, after four years as parish priest at St Mary’s, Chelsea and spending time as a chaplain in Harrow, at St Dominic’s Sixth Form
College. It was his wealth of experience working with young people that made Fr Hugh a perfect choice for an active parish looking to develop its youth work. Fr Hugh said: “When I came here it was a committed parish, but the one area they were looking at developing was youth. We spoke to Bishop Alan Hopes because of my background and my involvement with the Faith movement as well as my time as sixth form chaplain they thought I could help.” The parishioners were keen to provide groups for youth and in one of their planned giving drives they raised £20,000 which enabled the parish to employ a youth worker. They are now on their third youthworker since the initial drive. Another initiative is a post confirmation group that meets at 5pm on Saturdays, sometimes arriving earlier to do charitable work and visit the sick and housebound. The group is growing, with 16 members regularly staying late into the evening. The current confirmation course has 40 signed up and the communion course has 65 this year. Working so closely with the teenagers, Fr Hugh acknowledges there are problems getting teenagers to Mass. “It’s hard work, but I think attendance goes up over the years, which is gratifying to see. However, In the post confirmation group there’s a good culture of practicing. There are always some that get drawn in to weekly Mass and pretty quickly all the youngsters are going. It’s nice that when we drop them off on Saturday night they’re asking each other what Mass they’re going to.” The younger parishioners aren’t forgotten either. There is group for yr 7/8 which is “going well” with 17 members that meet Fridays in term-time. There is also a yr 5/6 club that’s “extremely popular”, with a reserve list due to the demand for places. “The basis of
Article in the Willesden Chronicle, May 1939
Interior of St Mary Magdalen with statue (inset) all youth work is the two primary schools nearby. There are a lot of young people associated with the community,” adds Fr Hugh.
A little community The hardest challenge with the young people for Fr Hugh, is fighting the appeal of secularism. “Even though I’m lucky to have teenagers come back to Mass because of all the work we do, the challenge of secularism is very difficult.” he says. “They’re so influenced by secular values even at 14 years old. You feel sometimes they’ll be more evangelised by secularism than the other way around, but we still have to try.” But he’s hopeful for the future. “For youth there’s always things to do. There’s a little community now. Maybe you’ll see the same people when you go to events, but in some ways that’s nice because they’re getting to know each other. A lot of them now have a sense that it’s just normal to go to exposition at 13 and be a Catholic teenager. It’s become part of their life.”
A means of grace While Willesden Green has a vibrant youth scene they also have a variety of groups other parishioners can join. The range of courses and groups are a “means of grace”, says Fr Hugh. In total the parish has a staggering 40 active groups. They range from Echoes to Rosary groups, as well as courses for those wanting to find out more about Catholicism. The parish also has 68 altar servers, and 34 members of the Union of Catholic Mothers which has been part of the parish since 1957.
The most multicultural area Brent is one of the most multicultural boroughs in London, and Willesden Green is the most multicultural part of Brent, says Fr Hugh. The Church of St Mary Magdalen is surrounded by reminders of how culturally rich the area is, with The Islamic College, the famous Shree Swaminarayan Hindu temple, and a tiny Jewish synagogue nearby. The area has changed vastly over the last few years, says Fr Hugh. “In the last fifteen years the Irish have returned home and have been replaced by people from the Indian subcontinent.” The parish now has a Sinhalese ethnic chaplaincy Mass once a month celebrated by Fr Rohitha Rodrigo, the Sinhalese chaplain who lives in the priest’s house with Fr Hugh. Despite the variety of cultures, Fr Hugh notes that there is a clear sense of community at Willesden Green. “Coming from an area that was so transient, the closeness here was a nice surprise. Some families have been here for generations and our main junior school has a lot of teachers that were once pupils there.”
The sense of community is helped by regular events, including an annual dinner dance. Previously run by the Knights of St Columba, the parish took the dance on a few years ago for Church fundraising. Large families and the old and young attend, as well as a lot of the wider local community. “It’s a close community,” says Fr Hugh. “I think people are happy to be part of the parish and don’t want to move out. Even though we’re now part of a busy city, there’s still a village feel.”
Sunday Mass (Sat 6.30pm) 9, 10.30, 12noon, 6.30pm Holy Day Mass (Vigil 6.30pm) 9.30, 12noon, 7pm Weekday Mass Mon-Fri 9.30, Mon and Fri 6.30pm, Sat 10 Exposition Sat 5.30-6.15pm Confession Sat 10.30-11, 5.30-6.15pm Sinhalese-speaking Mass 4th Sunday of the month, 5pm Page 9