Westminster Record - February 2019 by RCWestminster

Westminster Record

February 2019 | 20p

Youth reach out in West London

Christian Unity

Small Communities for Mission

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Pages 8 & 9

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‘Do you wish to change the world?’

That was the question Bishop Nicholas Hudson asked his audience in Panama at the catechesis he gave at World Youth Day on 24th January 2019. Challenging these young people to change the world, he said it was ‘because the world needs to change; it needs Christ more than ever; and it needs you, to tell people why you love and worship and wish to serve him.’ He inspired them with the stories of three remarkable individuals who have done just that. Beginning with the founder of L’Arche, Bishop Nicholas explained that Jean Vanier set out to do ‘something irrevocable’ by following the Lord’s call to serve him. ‘What’s important is

that you seek to find the place where Jesus is calling you to be his disciple.’ ‘Finding our calling isn’t easy,’ said Bishop Nicholas, but ‘it matters to us profoundly because it touches on who we are at the very deepest level of our being. ‘It comes back to what Pope Francis says about mission. Remember: the whole of your life is a mission; what’s important is to ask the Holy Spirit at each step to help you make choices which are to true to the mission with which you’ve been entrusted.’ Entrusting ourselves to the Lord is key and ‘there can be no better moment to entrust ourselves than when we’ve just received Holy Communion.’

‘If we wish to grow in discipleship, we need to grow in love and reverence for the Eucharist…because the Eucharist is an invitation not just to be with [Jesus] but to go with him.’ ‘We receive communion in order that we might receive strength for mission. But if communion is for mission, then mission is also for communion because when we reach out to those in need, we meet Christ in them; we experience communion with him.’ ‘Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is a marvellous role model for us if we seek to be generous.’ He shows us ‘how much a human being can achieve if he or she allows God’s grace to course through their veins.’

He ‘teaches us that mercy is the key to holiness. Because it was mercy which led Blessed Pier Giorgio to return time and again, even risking his life for it, to those who were most in need.’ Likewise, when St Oscar Romero became Archbishop and began visiting the parishes in his diocese, ‘his eyes were opened to the poverty of his people.’ Despite repeated threats from the military, ‘still he denounced their violence, going on radio time and again to speak for those who had no voice.’ Although he was afraid, St Oscar told his friends, ‘“I trust that, if they kill me, then, as I take my last breath, I shall feel God holding me in his loving embrace.” And so it happened.’

These three servants of the Lord ‘teach us that our own life is a mission too’. ‘We may discover that mission sooner; we may discover it later; it may never be that clear to us. What matters is that, at every important stage of life, we entrust, re-entrust ourselves to him; and he will lead us to do great things for him.’

Editorial

Westminster Record | February 2019

Westminster Record – Contact us Editor Mgr Mark Langham

Our faith is ever bright

Vaughan House, 46 Francis Street SW1P 1QN Managing Editor Marie Saba 020 7798 9031 Inhouse writers Martha Behan 020 7798 9030, Sharon Pinto 020 7798 9178 Photos Mazur/Catholicnews.org.uk Design Julian Game To order copies contact Michelle Jones 0161 908 5330 or email michelle.jones@thecatholicuniverse.com Print management and distribution by The Universe Media Group Ltd.

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‘April is the cruellest month.’ The poet TS Eliot didn’t know what he was talking about. February is far more cruel. By April, as even Eliot admits, plants are bursting forth. February, by contrast, is grey, damp, dark. Our mood matches the overcast, cloudy, sunless cast of the sky. People are more crabby. There is nothing to look forward to, nothing to relieve the gloom.

Yet February is punctuated by feasts that can raise the spirits. The Presentation of the Lord, or Candlemas, on 2nd February is a great affirmation of the unquenchable brightness of faith; even in the dreary days of winter, there is a shape and a destiny to our lives, and our steps are guided by a light that can never be dimmed. On 14th February, two great saints, Cyril and Methodius, lead us forward into new lands, guided by that fire of belief. Undaunted by the problems they faced, they imagined new ways of communicating their faith to the peoples of eastern Europe, even inventing a new alphabet. Think what they could have done with iPads! On 22nd February, we celebrate the Chair of St Peter, which is not about a chair at

all, but rather that security in faith and certainty that our communion with Peter brings us. My Protestant friends are often amazed when I tell them that we don’t simply consider the Pope the successor of Peter (in the way that Queen Elizabeth is the successor of William the Conqueror). Rather, Peter continues to guide the Church through Francis, and the promises of Christ to his Church are made real in that ministry. Something to think on, then, as you pull on your thick socks and wring out your scarves. In February, the earth sleeps. But our faith is ever bright and challenging us to new delight. Now that’s worth smiling about!

Homeless Jesus finds a place at Farm Street On the evening of Tuesday 15th January, the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Joseph Adams, blessed the Homeless Jesus statue recently installed at Farm Street Jesuit Church. This statue by Timothy Schmalz depicts Jesus as a homeless person, sleeping on a park bench. His face and hands are obscured by a blanket, but crucifixion wounds on his feet reveal his identity. It has been described as a visual translation of Jesus’ admonition ‘as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, so you did it to me’. The blessing took place at the end of Mass, which was concelebrated by, among others, Bishop Nicholas

Hudson, and Fr Paul O’Reilly SJ who gave the homily, sharing some of his experience of working with homeless people in his capacity as a GP at the Cardinal Hume Centre. After Mass there were two short talks. The first was from the Chief Executive of the Cardinal Hume Centre, George O’Neill, who said we should look for hope not in places of power, but find it in unexpected places. Director of the Jesuit Refugee Service Sarah Teather explained that just as the statue asks us to see Christ in everyone, the most important thing about working with people is to see the humanity in them first; only then will we begin to see Christ.

The statue is located inside the church before the altar in the side chapel of Our Lady of the Seven Dolours. Parish Priest Fr Dominic Robinson SJ said, ‘It is fitting to place the Son under the protection of his Mother depicted in grief where the crucifixion wounds and Mary’s pierced heart are so close together. The permanent home here for Homeless Jesus allows its message to ring true and reflect the core beliefs of the congregation and may inspire all those who see it to thoughtful consideration and action in the community.’ Farm Street Church is a fitting location for the statue because the parish has ministered to homeless people in very practical ways for the last four years. Parish administrator and project coordinator Scott McCombe explains: ‘Here at Farm Street we host fifteen homeless people on Monday nights during four months of the year. Volunteers from the parish have organised a rota for setting up the church hall, welcoming the guests, eating a hot meal with them, tidying up

and setting up the hall as a dormitory.’ Fr Dominic added, ‘Jesuit commitment to faith and justice in action finds expression here as a sign of welcome to all, a challenge to a culture of exclusion and judgement.’ The Homeless Jesus project originated with the Jesuits in

Canada: the first cast of the statue is located at Regis College in Toronto. The most famous is outside the Vatican’s charity offices in Rome, blessed by Pope Francis on its installation in 2016. There are now at least a dozen casts in the United States, as well as in Dublin, Glasgow and Manchester.

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Westminster Record | February 2019

Settlement scheme for EU citizens post Brexit As Brexit talks continue, the government announced on 21st January that the fee of £65 which millions of EU citizens were expected to pay as part of their application for settled status would be scrapped. Bishop Paul McAleenan welcomed Prime Minister Theresa May's announcement that EU citizens applying for 'settled status' to remain in the UK after Brexit will no longer be expected to pay the application fee. Applicants must have lived in the UK for five years to be eligible for 'settled status'. Lead bishop for migration and asylum for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Bishop Paul said: ‘I am pleased that the government has abandoned plans to charge EU citizens for securing their existing rights. ‘As I conveyed to the immigration minister earlier this year, such charges would not only be unjust, but would also create an unnecessary barrier for many people accessing the settlement scheme. ‘The Church stands in solidarity with all EU citizens who have made their home here and we will continue to engage with the government as the scheme is implemented.’ In 2018, the government announced its plans for the settlement scheme, requiring any EU citizen who wants to remain in the UK after Brexit (with the exception of Irish citizens) to apply. ‘Settled status’ gives EU citizens access to education and healthcare after Britain leaves the EU. In December, Bishop Paul had expressed concerns about the rollout of the scheme and the effect it would have on those who are vulnerable: ‘While this is an important step we understand that, especially for people who have contributed to our society over many years, it may feel unjust and divisive that they are now required to apply for permission to stay. ‘We also expect that some people, particularly those who are already vulnerable, may face difficulties in practically accessing the scheme, leaving their immigration status at risk. ‘Notwithstanding our concerns about these principles

and practicalities, it remains a fact that EU citizens must apply if they are to protect their existing rights and their place in our society. ‘We therefore ask Catholic parishes, schools and organisations to bring the settlement scheme to the attention of all who need to avail of it and to be aware of vulnerable people who may face barriers to applying or not realise that they need to apply. ‘In particular, we encourage you to signpost people towards the official information on the settlement scheme: gov.uk/settled-status-eucitizens-families and to make use of the various information resources available: gov.uk/government/publicatio ns/eu-settlement-schemecommunity-leaders-toolkit’ Acknowledging the role of EU citizens in the UK, he added: ‘The Church has experienced first-hand the extensive contribution that people from across Europe have made to our society. They are an integral and valued part of our parishes, schools and communities.

‘We also recognise the evidence that immigration from Europe has not undermined opportunities for UK citizens, but rather brought considerable economic and social benefits. ‘It is clear that since the 2016 referendum many people living here have faced profound uncertainty and insecurity about their future. ‘Although the reassurances offered by senior politicians are important, people have been given far too little information or binding commitments about their right to stay. ‘For some this has been worsened by the appalling rise in hate crime, which has left them feeling unwelcome or even threatened in the country that has become their home. ‘ He urged the whole Catholic community ‘to take up Pope Francis’ call to welcome, protect, promote and help to integrate everyone who has made their home here, with particular concern at present for our European brothers and sisters.’

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Westminster Record | February 2019

Click to Pray chosen official WYD prayer app by Fr David Stewart SJ The Pope’s Prayer Network is honoured to have had Click To Pray chosen as the official prayer platform of WYD Panama. Click To Pray is now a community of at least 1,240,000 people (app, website and social networks) in six languages. In March we will launch the platform in traditional Chinese. An updated version of the app, 4.0, is released this month. The app, on your phone, tablet or desktop, accompanies you throughout your day. It connects you with many thousands of people who find purpose in praying every day for the challenges of humanity and for the mission of the

DECREE CONCERNING THE MERGER OF THE PARISHES of St MARY & St JOSEPH (Hemel Hempstead Boxmoor) & St MARK (HemelHempstead West) Following consultation with the Council of Priests in accordance with Canon 515 §2, and conscious of the views expressed by the priests of the local Deanery and the lay faithful of the above named parishes, I, Vincent Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, have determined that the spiritual welfare and pastoral needs of the faithful of the parish of St Mary & St Joseph (Hemel Hempstead Boxmoor) and of the faithful of the parish of St Mark (Hemel Hempstead West) will be better served by merging these two parishes into one new parish. Therefore, I hereby decree that the parish of St Mary & St Joseph and the parish of St Mark are united to form a new parish. The ecclesiastical goods and patrimonial rights of the former parish of St Mary & St Joseph and of the former parish of St Mark, together with their respective obligations, in accordance with Canons 121-122, are ceded to the newly erected parish. The name of the new parish shall be ‘Hemel West with the Churches of St Mary & St Joseph and St Mark.’ The territorial boundaries of the new parish shall be the combined boundaries of the Page 4

former parish of St Mary & St Joseph and the former parish of St Mark. As both the churches of the former parish of St Mary and St Joseph and of the former parish of St Mark will remain open and will serve as Churches of the new parish, separate sacramental registers will continue to be kept. In accordance with Canon 524, I appoint Reverend Paul McDermott as the parish priest of the new parish of ‘Hemel West with the Churches of St Mary & St Joseph and St Mark.’ The dispositions of this decree shall be applied retroactively so that the merger of the two parishes will have come into effect on 1 January 2019. The fact of the merger shall be communicated to the parishioners of the new parish by Father McDermott at the earliest opportunity. The decree shall be published on the diocesan website and in the Westminster Record. Given at Westminster this second day of February in the year of Our Lord two thousand and nineteen, Feast of the Presentation Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols Archbishop of Westminster

Church as the Pope proposes in his monthly prayer intentions. Through prayer, we can live and build the world we dream. Through prayer, we can give meaning to our lives and be moved to action. Click To Pray, the Pope's official prayer platform invites you to join the Pope’s call to connect your heart with others seeking to serve the mission of Jesus. It’s an opportunity to accompany the Pope in prayer in a new digital way. Together, we make each day different. Click To Pray also lets you share on the Prayer Wall, your own prayer intentions for all to pray with you. At the same

time, our other popular offering, the monthly Pope Video, is now available in Swahili, Polish, Vietnamese and Chinese. Each day, the app offers a different set of short and accessible prayers. The first is to start off the day, as we pray to make ourselves available for Christ’s mission; a second one, very brief and focussed, is for at least once during the day, to help us recall the offering we made. And in the evening, following the advice we get from St Ignatius of Loyola, the Ignatian review of the day helps us to notice God’s presence in our day, to recognise where the Good

Spirit has been prompting us and offering us opportunities to practice the language of dialogue and love. It involves a moment of repentance if we realise we have followed a less loving path and invites us to begin to pray for the next day, that we offer ourselves anew and become more open the Giver of all good gifts. Visit www.click-to-pray.org or download the latest version of the app (on App Store, iTunes and Google Play) to pray with the Pope, and hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world.

DECREE CONCERNING THE MERGER OF THE PARISHES of OUR LADY, QUEEN OF ALL CREATION (Hemel Hempstead East) & THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION, (Hemel Hempstead North) Following consultation with the Council of Priests in accordance with Canon 515 §2, and conscious of the views expressed by the priests of the local Deanery and the lay faithful of the above named parishes, I, Vincent Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, have determined that the spiritual welfare and pastoral needs of the faithful of the parish of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation (Hemel Hempstead East) and of the faithful of the parish of The Church of the Resurrection (Hemel Hempstead North) will be better served by merging these two parishes into one new parish. Therefore, I hereby decree that the parish of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation and the parish of The Church of the Resurrection are united to form a new parish. The ecclesiastical goods and patrimonial rights of the former parish of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation and of the former parish of The Church of the Resurrection, together with their respective obligations, in accordance with Canons 121-122, are ceded to the newly erected parish.

The name of the new parish shall be ‘Hemel East with the Churches of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation and The Church of the Resurrection.’ The territorial boundaries of the new parish shall be the combined boundaries of the former parish of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation and the former parish of The Church of the Resurrection. As both the churches of the former parish of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation and of the former parish of The Church of the Resurrection will remain open and will serve as Churches of the new parish, separate sacramental registers will continue to be kept. In accordance with Canon 524, I appoint Reverend Kim Addison as the parish priest of the new parish of ‘Hemel East with the Churches of Our Lady, Queen of All Creation and The Church of the Resurrection.’ The dispositions of this decree shall be applied retroactively so that the merger of the two parishes will have come into effect on 1 January 2019. The fact of the merger shall be communicated to the parishioners of the new

parish by Father Addison at the earliest opportunity. The decree shall be published on the diocesan website and in the Westminster Record. Given at Westminster this second day of February in the year of Our Lord two thousand and nineteen, Feast of the Presentation. Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols Archbishop of Westminster

Westminster Record | February 2019

Step forward in love this Lent! by Elke Springett, Caritas Volunteer Coordinator With Lent only a few weeks away, Caritas Westminster invites the Catholic community to consider doing something a bit different this year. Have you thought about giving some time to volunteering? The possibilities are endless, and you will make a real difference. A good place to start is your local parish. Most parishes and their parish groups (e.g., the SVP) will welcome new volunteers with open arms. Need some more inspiration? Well, how about helping out at a charity or local project like this one? ‘Feed Up Warm Up’ is a weekly drop-in in Hitchin offering a whole range of goods and services to homeless men and women and families living in poverty, all thanks to the many volunteers involved. The recently launched project is the brainchild of Shane Cole who was himself homeless for a

while. Now back on his feet and running his own street food business, he wanted to give something back to the community. Guests receive a hot meal, non-perishable foods to take away, free toiletries and clothes. Two volunteer hairdressers and a chiropodist offer free haircuts and foot care with a busker providing the music to add to the friendly atmosphere. An important part of so successfully bringing together this ‘amazing group of compassionate people helping others’ (a Facebook comment) has been matching the volunteer roles to the skills of the volunteers. There is something to do for everyone: make tea and coffee, man a stall, do a group street walk or be one of the greeters, many of whom have worked in mental health professions. No less important is the almost invisible job of doing the washing up in the kitchen.

Shane recalls the project’s astonishing journey: ‘It started as a small pipe dream and turned into a large-scale community event which the community really supported. … A big massive, massive thank you to all 160 volunteers! I’m not a one-man band and they have made this possible, and without them none of this would be happening.’ ‘Feed Up Warm Up’, which is supported by the local Council, several community groups, the local parish and Caritas Westminster, is a fantastic example of what is possible when enough people give of their time and skills to help others in their community. If you are inspired to help, there is an opportunity for you to get involved. Just have a look at the Caritas Volunteer Service website, our free matching site for volunteering opportunities in the diocese. Some examples to show the variety of volunteer roles currently listed by various charities and organisations are: Foodbank Driver, Bereavement Peer Support, Beginners ESOL Teacher, Youth or Campaign Volunteer, Bucket Collector Champion, Event Squad, Admin Volunteer, Befriender, Arts & Crafts Class Volunteer, Kitchen Assistant, Prison and Immigration Centre Visiting. Whatever cause you would like to support, whatever time commitment or skills you have to offer, go for it! Not only will you ‘use whatever gift you have received to serve others’ (1 Peter 4:10), you will make new friends, develop new skills, be inspired and even improve your health! Find out for yourself how much you will enjoy the experience.

‘For I was sick and you visited me.’ by Analiza Botelho It is important to spend time with the elderly or sick who may be alone or unable to leave their homes during the cold winter. A group of 24 young people, from the community of St Lawrence Parish in Feltham, volunteered to visit 24 houses and spent a day with the elderly. The day started off with a reflection on the importance of looking after the elderly and supporting those who need our help, and continued with carrying out a work of Christian mercy: to visit the sick. Everybody got into groups of three and wore special vests to show members of the local community what they were doing. Every visit was enjoyable and informative as the young people were given

insight into the lives of the elderly. The day ended with all the volunteers discussing their visits and sharing the different stories they heard from each home. Many volunteers felt the day had a positive impact on their lives. Adults, who organized the day felt it was a great success. Fr Peter Shekelton, Assistant Priest at the parish, thought ‘the day was a moving experience for both the youth and the people visited and should be repeated.’ Spending time with the elderly people in our local community is something small which can make a huge difference for others. The day was a simple and uncomplicated idea which connected the elderly, sick and housebound with the youth of the parish.

To search for volunteering opportunities please visit www.caritaswestminster.org.uk/v olunteer and register for a free account. If you are interested in posting your volunteering roles on the site, please contact Elke Springett at caritasvol@rcdow.org.uk Follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/diocese.westminster

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Westminster Record | February 2019

Faith in action: Training day at Newman Catholic College

St Thomas More pupils mark Parliament Week with MP Q&A For the third successive year staff from Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School and Newman Catholic College came together at the start of the spring term for a day of reflection and debate. This year the conference was held at Newman Catholic College in Harlesden, NW10.The theme of the day was ‘Faith in Action’. Both schools have been in partnership for the last four years; staff welcome the opportunity to share experiences and learn from each other. The day was opened by Bishop John Sherrington who concluded his eloquent address with a homework question which asked: ‘How do you build this global vision and a civilization of love which provides the learning environment which enables each student to discover equality with the other and that diversity is valuable and a gift?’ During the course of the day staff chose four of 17 varied workshop presentations that ranged from ‘Social Justice and the Common Good’ to ‘Bereavement Counselling’ and ‘Overcoming Disadvantage in Schools’. JP Morrison, Director of Education, delivered the day’s valedictory comments and reminded the assembled audience of nearly 200 teachers and support staff that ‘children are the priority, challenge is the realty and collaboration is the strategy’. In addition to the high quality learning on offer a number of charity Page 6

organisations, including Caritas Westminster, For Jimmy and Sufra Food Bank, were also in attendance. As well as informing attendees about their work, they were also able to take part in the dialogue and add to the general ethos of the day. There is an acknowledgement from both institutions that, as well as ensuring that our students achieve the best possible educational outcomes, Catholic schools must place the

concept of faith in action at the centre of their work. Daniel Coyle, Head teacher of Newman Catholic College, said: ‘We are delighted that for the third year colleagues from these two fabulous schools were able to join together to share and discuss ideas about the true meaning of Catholic education in an inner city context. We look forward to many years of collaboration which will enhance and enlighten the work that we do on a daily basis.’

In the autumn, St Thomas More Catholic School welcomed David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, to a Q&A session with their Year 11 pupils. The event took place during UK Parliament Week, a national campaign for schools to raise pupils’ understanding of how Parliament and government are run. Pupils asked challenging questions about a wide range of issues, from Brexit to knife crime, healthcare to housing. David Lammy treated the pupils with respect, answering their questions and engaging on all kinds of difficult political issues.

Fifteen-year-old pupil David Ohene Nyantakyi said the meeting ‘genuinely motivated me as David Lammy offered a clear example of a hard-working, determined man who grew up in a deprived area of Tottenham and worked his way towards excellence. This was an excellent opportunity to speak with a man who possesses the ability to make significant and real changes not only in Tottenham, but in England as a whole’. This was a sentiment echoed by many of the young people in attendance.

St Michael’s successful expansion bid St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School in Finchley has been selected by the Department for Education (DfE) to receive funding from the Selective School Expansion Fund to expand the school. The expansion will allow the school to increase the number of planned admissions from 96 to 128, with the additional 32 places created reserved for Pupil Premium students. In due course at least 25% of their students will be from deprived backgrounds. Under the scheme, the DfE will fund new classrooms and a larger canteen. The hall will also be renovated and a mezzanine floor added to enable whole-school Masses and assemblies to continue. St Michael’s was founded by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, whose mission was to

serve the needs of poor children. This bid to expand the school was successful because of the school governors’ commitment to increasing the number of students who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium. The expansion, therefore, is an opportunity to continue the original mission of the Sisters who founded the school. Pupil Premium students at St Michael's perform at an outstanding level. In 2017 they gained a Progress-8 score of +0.76 (i.e. they gained GCSE grades 0.76 of a grade higher than students nationally for the same ability). This excellent performance ranked St Michael's best out of all schools in the London Borough of Barnet for Pupil Premium results. St Michael's is one of the nation’s most successful state schools, being ranked 13th in the country by The Sunday Times.

Headteacher Michael Stimpson explains: ‘Education at St Michael's is not just about exam results; it is about enabling students to move to the next stage of their life and equipping them with the skills required to put to good use the gifts they have been given.

Expanding the school will provide more students with the opportunities already enjoyed by current students, and thus enable the school to make a greater contribution to the national ambition of accelerating the social mobility of young people in our society.’

Westminster Record | February 2019

Diocese without Frontiers: Life at the Apostolic Nunciature In this occasional series of articles from our diocesan priests who serve in other roles outside the diocese, Mgr Vincent Brady provides a look at the Apostolic Nunciature. Archbishop Edward Adams from the United States of America). There is also a second accredited member of Vatican Diplomatic staff here and I am now working with my sixth (one from Poland, then America, Nigeria, Spain, Mexico and now Monsignor Matteo De Mori, from Italy). One could say of the Apostolic Nuncio, that, like most Catholic bishops, he wears two hats. The first is his formal diplomatic role as Ambassador to the Court of St James, which involves liaison with the Foreign Office and other members of the Diplomatic Corps based in Great Britain. Like any other ambassador he keeps an eye on the news and the political life of the country and keeps the Vatican informed. His other hat is to be a link between the Holy Father, Pope Francis, and the bishops of Scotland, England and Wales and a conduit for communications in both directions. He shares in the role of the Pope in ‘strengthening the brethren’. He has an advisory and supportive role with the hierarchy but he is not in any sense a ‘super bishop’ and he cannot intervene in the life of any particular diocese. The local bishops, as successors of the Apostles, are responsible for pastoral matters in their own dioceses. He also has a responsibility to try to find and suggest

worthy candidates for the office of bishop and to make discreet enquiries about their suitability which are then passed to the Congregation of Bishops in Rome for consideration and presentation to the Holy Father. Mercifully, because my Italian is not so good, I am not really part of that process. One of the parts of my role which I really enjoy would be the Nuncio’s pastoral visits to the different dioceses up and down the country. Sometimes

it’s for formal events like episcopal ordinations or diocesan jubilee celebrations. Sometimes it means simple visits to parishes for more local occasions: a great chance to meet priests and people in their own situations and to experience so much good work, continuing day by day, which very seldom makes the news. When one is ordained a priest, at least speaking for myself, one has very little idea what may be asked during the

years, yet the Lord is good and, if one tries to say ‘Yes’ to him and maintains a sense of humour, for the most part, his ‘burden is light’. May I ask for your prayers for the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Edward Adams, and for those of us who share in his ministry. Perhaps I should also mention by way of conclusion, that after all these years, my only regret is that Ferrero Rocher chocolates are not quite as abundant as most people expect!

I have been assigned to the Apostolic Nunciature, which is the Vatican Embassy in London for just over 15 years now, and a question I have been asked regularly is: ‘Does the Ambassador really serve Ferrero Rocher chocolates at receptions?’ This for me rather highlights the fact that people often have a hazy idea of the work of Papal Representatives and Ambassadors in general. In fact, as a parish priest by trade and training, I was astonished to be appointed here as the Nuncio’s Private Secretary. My role is to help with his diary, to brief him before events and meetings and to help in any way that he needs. I suspect that the reason I was asked is that having served as Cardinal Hume’s Private Secretary from 1989 to 1994, I was known to be good at carrying bags for important people and to be a reasonably competent PA. After ordination as a priest in 1980, my appointments have been as Assistant Priest at Holy Rood, Watford, St George’s, Sudbury and Blessed Sacrament, Copenhagen Street. After my time with Cardinal Hume I then served as Parish Priest at St Matthew’s Northwood and Our Lady of Victories, Kensington. I have been at the Apostolic Nunciature since 2003 and I am currently serving under my fourth Nuncio (two from Spain, one from Italy and now

Mgr Vincent Brady carries the Papal Bulls that were read at the episcopal ordinations of Bishops Paul McAleenan and John Wilson. Follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/diocese.westminster

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Christian Unity

Westminster Record | February 2019

Christian Unity

Westminster Record | February 2019

What does it mean to be European and Christian in the UK in 2019?

London’s Most Hallowed Space

by Bishop Nicholas Hudson

by Fr Nicholas Schofield

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are being called to as we prepare to take our leave of the EU. I believe, firstly, we’re being called to affirm Europe as a Peace Project, regardless of whether we belong to the EU or not; and, secondly, to affirm that, in Europe, Christians count the way we treat the most vulnerable people as key to what it means to be human. I believe these times call us to proclaim Christianity much more explicitly: to proclaim a Christianity which contrasts with the ‘Christianism’, rightly identified as characterising the UK’s main political parties; to proclaim a Christianity which announces the prophetic, priestly and kingly offices of Christ, and places them front of stage in the response we offer as churches to the challenges posed by Brexit. Sant’Egidio placing Paolo centre-stage gave eloquent testimony to this, I felt. Paolo also prepared the way for Pope Francis the next day to call the Christians of Europe to keep the human at the centre of all our concerns. What Europe needs from the churches, said Pope Francis, is community. The churches need to build communities which place at their hearts the most vulnerable members of society and, in this way, call all men and women of goodwill to keep the human at the centre of all their deliberations. We, as churches, have the potential to be real hubs for the localities in which we stand, announcing our presence in a mass of great buildings, uniting a diversity of groups through common vital endeavours which transcend difference. We’re not, and never shall we become, party political but we have, at this time of political turbulence, not just a right but a duty to proclaim more loudly than ever the Christian values which should inform UK society’s adaptation to leaving the EU. I would like to conclude with three more observations: First, we need, as churches in England and Wales, to worry

about Ireland; worry about maintaining the Good Friday Agreement; ask ourselves what we may need to say or do to play our part as churches to uphold it in this fragile time of transition and backstop. Secondly, we must, as church, denounce hate crime of any sort. 2017 saw a 17% increase in levels of hate crime in the UK. We should surely amplify the calls from the World Council of Churches and the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development to stand against a rising tide of xenophobia, racism and populist nationalism. As churches, we need surely to think how, in England and Wales, and alongside the churches of Scotland and Northern Ireland, we can promote the common good of the UK; and indeed challenge any hostility or suggestions of superiority between one nation and another, except at rugby, of course! Thirdly, we need as churches to give radical witness in the whole area of how non-British Europeans are treated in the UK. I would like simply to suggest that we are well-placed, as churches in England and Wales, to communicate what is surely our Christian belief that nonBritish Europeans are an integral and valued part of our parishes, schools and communities; and that any anti-European rhetoric towards them should be heavily resisted. This too speaks loudly and eloquently to the need to keep the human, before any economic, legal or political considerations, at the heart of all our concerns. And this is a conviction which should surely characterise the churches of England and Wales at all times, but at this time more urgently than ever! This is an abridged version of a talk given at the joint meeting of Anglican and Roman Catholic Bishops in Leicester on 14th January.

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Catholic and Anglican bishops at their joint meeting on 14th January 2019

May they be one: Praying for Christian Unity Christian leaders across the UK have issued a joint letter encouraging Christians of all denominations to join together in prayer during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, from 18th to 25th January 2019. The letter, whose signatories include Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, invites Christians to participate in this call to prayer with the ‘utmost seriousness.’ The letter’s central message urges Christians to ‘pray together for Christian unity, in our life together, our witness and our longing to see the

Kingdom of God in the midst of our world’ and to ‘find ways to give expression to our search for greater unity in obedience to the command of Christ that we love one another,’ citing Jesus’s last prayer on unity taken from John 17. The leaders also encourage Christians to get involved in Thy Kingdom Come, a global ecumenical prayer movement in which Christians pray for more people to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Thy Kingdom Come, now in its fourth year, has united over a million Christians from more than 65 different denominations

and traditions, in more than 114 countries to pray for evangelisation. It takes place between Ascension and Pentecost, May 30th-June 9th. Commenting on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Cardinal Vincent Nichols said: ‘We should never underestimate the power of prayer nor our need of the strength that God gives us through prayer. I appeal to all to take to heart this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Growth in unity comes about, above all, as a gift of God. Our shared life in Christ is the powerful source of our shared mission. May this Week of

Prayer, as well as the time of prayer at Pentecost, “Thy Kingdom Come”, strengthen our common life and mission.’ The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said: ‘Unity in truth and faithfulness in witness are gifts to the Church from the heart of God. Each requires the other. Please join with us and other faithful servants of Christ in churches across England as we pray for the Holy Spirit to work in us to fulfil God’s purpose (Philippians 2.13).’ To read the full message, visit http://bit.ly/2FKWTZw

Remembering a Dark Past On 20th January, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a memorial to seven Jesuit martyrs was unveiled at the Anglican Church of StGiles-in-the-Fields following a service of Choral Evensong, attended by members of both Anglican and Catholic communities in central London. To mark this ecumenical moment, Bishop Paul McAleenan and Venerable Luke Miller, Archdeacon of London, along with clergy from Farm Street, St Giles and St Patrick’s, Soho, took part in the service. Writing in The Pelican, the newsletter of St Giles, Rev Alan Carr, the Rector, explained: ‘This January finds us marking once and for all an unfortunate episode in the nation’s, and in London’s, history, now generally known as the Titus Oates Affair. Follow Westminster Youth Ministry on Twitter at: twitter.com/dowym

‘At a time of fevered antiCatholicism, a disgruntled and malicious Oates sought personal revenge on the Jesuit order by inventing a plot that a number of their priests were planning to murder the king. The charge was taken up by the popular press and London mob and in its wake a number of priests and lay people were convicted of treason and met a brutal death at the hands of the executioner. Like others, I imagine, they made their way west along High Holborn and St Giles High Street to Tyburn, but in the case of seven of them their bodies were brought back again eastwards and laid to rest in St Giles Churchyard. Why they in particular were returned to us I am not sure but returned they were, though today, of course, as with everyone else once buried in the churchyard, it is not possible to say where they lay for certain (perhaps in Follow us on Instagram at: @dowym

the northern part of the churchyard, often reserved for suicides, undesirables and those of uncertain origin). ‘Equally mysterious is why so long has passed without some kind of material commemoration of these burials among us at St Giles. Our Protestant identity was more marked in previous generations, to be sure, and this, coupled with today’s climate of greater, mutual toleration (indeed, fraternisation), now allows, in a way that was, perhaps, less possible before, this present project.’ The project, a shared initiative between St Giles, the Jesuit community at Farm Street and St Patrick’s, Soho Square, was the creation of a memorial tablet of Portland stone, carved by Philip Surey, a member of the Art Workers’ Guild. It has been installed on the far west wall of the church above the stairs

going up to the northern gallery, immediately to the right when entering the churchyard from the main north door. The tablet commemorates all ‘who have died from disease or poverty or violence or age’, including the Jesuit martyrs, and who are interred in the churchyard.

Unusually for central London churches, St-Giles-in-theFields is surrounded by a green space, once used as its churchyard and full of surprising secrets. The graveyard at St Giles was the final resting place for the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, and many of the victims of the plagues that regularly hit London, including the Great Plague of 1665. For many years, gallows stood near the churchyard, where Flitcroft Street now meets St Giles High Street, and on their way from Newgate to Tyburn condemned criminals would stop at the churchyard gate to drink a strengthening ale from the ‘St Giles Bowl’. The condemned often reached the ‘Triple Tree’ inebriated, which was perhaps a small mercy. I wondered whether any of the Catholic martyrs were fortified here in such a way. Some of them certainly returned to the churchyard for burial: a favourable option given the alternative of the remains being flung into a mass grave or displayed across London as a deterrent to others. These include 11 of those martyred in 1679 as a result of the fictitious Popish Plot to assassinate Charles II. The first to be buried here, in January 1679, were Blesseds William Ireland, a Jesuit priest, and John Grove, described by Challoner as ‘a Catholic layman, employed as a servant

by the English Jesuits in their affairs about town.’ Ireland’s kinsman, Richard Pendrell, had been buried at St Giles eight years previously and is described on his memorial as ‘Preserver and Conductor to His Majesty Charles the Second of Great Britain after his Escape from Worcester Fight in the year 1651’. Blessed William himself protested a similar loyalty on reaching Tyburn, which he called ‘the last theatre of the world’, where he prayed that God ‘shower down a thousand and a thousand blessings upon his Majesty.’ The following month it was the turn of Blessed Robert Greene, ‘an ancient feeble man, cushion-keeper of the Queen’s chapel’, and his servant Blessed Lawrence Hill, both accused of murdering Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey, the magistrate involved in investigating the alleged plot, whose sudden death increased the anti-Catholic frenzy. The two men strenuously denied the allegations made against them. The executions and burials continued: the Benedictine Blessed Thomas Pickering, the five Jesuits Blesseds Thomas Whitebread, William Barrow (alias Harcourt), John Fenwick, John Gavan and Anthony Turner, and the barrister Blessed Richard Langhorne. The most high profile martyr to be buried at St Giles, however, is no longer there:

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St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. After being hanged, drawn and quartered on 1st July 1681, his body was buried in two tin boxes beside the five Jesuits on the north side of St Giles. In 1683 the remains were successfully exhumed, even though a woman had been buried above him, and smuggled to the English Benedictine monastery at Lamspringe, near Hildesheim in Germany. A member of the community, Dom Maurus Corker, had befriended Plunkett while imprisoned at Newgate and had assisted him in his last days. He was at the time President of the English Benedictine Congregation and may have admitted the Archbishop as a ‘confrater’ of his abbey shortly before his execution. It was fitting, then, that the martyr’s body was enshrined in the abbey church, alongside other relics, such as the head of St Thomas of Hereford; Corker’s desire, writes one modern historian, was to create ‘a pantheon of English saints and martyrs which proclaimed the holiness and continuity of the English Catholic community.’ The body was later translated to Downside Abbey. Plunkett’s head, meanwhile, was brought to Rome and then transferred to Armagh and Drogheda, where it can be venerated at the church of St Peter to this day. The churchyard of St Giles may appear to the casual passer-by as a convenient green space to sit down, enjoy a sandwich and catch up with the social media. In actual fact it is one of London’s most hallowed spots, with the remains of eleven beatified martyrs hidden beneath the ground, silently witnessing to the faith and awaiting the day of resurrection. This is an abridged version of the article which originally appeared in the June 2018 edition. For the full article, please visit rcdow.org.uk/news/londons-mosthallowed-space/.

I’d like to share with you two experiences I’ve had in the period since Article 50 was triggered which have brought home to me what it means to be Christian and European in a post-referendum UK. The first was to visit Ypres with 27 bishops from the EU member-nations at the time of the Armistice centenary. We went as members of COMECE, the Commission of Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union. It was deeply poignant to visit first of all the German cemetery and to be led in prayer by the German Bishop of the Forces for all those who had fallen in the First World War, before proceeding to Tyne Cot where we prayed in a similar spirit for all those British and Commonwealth heroes who made the supreme sacrifice in Flanders Fields. The other memorable experience occurred during a conference in Rome entitled ‘Re-thinking Europe’, marking 60 years since the Treaty of Rome. The organisers had been inspired to make a break in the programme for us to visit Sant’Egidio. More than any of the intellectual exchanges heard, it was being served my supper by a young man with intellectual disabilities which brought home to me what we should be focused on. His name was Paolo and he has Down’s Syndrome. ‘Paolo’s very precious to us,’ they told me, ‘because his mother was under great pressure to have him aborted. But we told her we would help her look after him; and she took us at our word. Now he’s the one who welcomes visitors in our name!’ I mention these two experiences because they speak to me so loudly of what I believe the churches in the UK

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Christian Unity

Westminster Record | February 2019

Christian Unity

Westminster Record | February 2019

What does it mean to be European and Christian in the UK in 2019?

London’s Most Hallowed Space

by Bishop Nicholas Hudson

by Fr Nicholas Schofield

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Catholic and Anglican bishops at their joint meeting on 14th January 2019

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Westminster Record | February 2019

Pope’s Message for the 27th World Day of the Sick 2019 ‘You received without payment; give without payment’ (Mt 10:8). These are the words spoken by Jesus when sending forth his apostles to spread the Gospel, so that his Kingdom might grow through acts of gratuitous love. On the XXVII World Day of the Sick, to be solemnly celebrated on 11th February 2019 in Calcutta, India, the Church, as a Mother to all her children, especially the infirm, reminds us that generous gestures like that of the Good Samaritan are the most credible means of evangelisation. Caring for the sick requires professionalism, tenderness, straightforward and simple gestures freely given, like a caress that makes others feel loved. Life is a gift from God. Saint Paul asks: ‘What do you have that you did not receive?’ (1 Cor 4:7). Precisely because it is a gift, human life cannot be reduced to a personal possession or private property, especially in the light of medical and biotechnological advances that could tempt us to manipulate the ‘tree of life’ (cf. Gen 3:24). Free Gift of Self Amid today’s culture of waste and indifference, I would point out that ‘gift’ is the category best suited to challenging today’s individualism and social fragmentation, while at the same time promoting new relationships and means of cooperation between peoples and cultures. Dialogue – the premise of gift – creates possibilities for human growth and development capable of breaking through established ways of exercising power in society. ‘Gift’ means more than simply giving presents: it involves the giving of oneself, and not simply a transfer of property or objects. ‘Gift’ differs from gift-giving because it entails the free gift of self and the desire to build a relationship. It is the acknowledgement of others, which is the basis of society. ‘Gift’ is a reflection of God’s love, which culminates in the incarnation of the Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Page 10

Each of us is poor, needy and destitute. When we are born, we require the care of our parents to survive, and at every stage of life we remain in some way dependent on the help of others. We will always be conscious of our limitations, as ‘creatures’, before other individuals and situations. A frank acknowledgement of this truth keeps us humble and spurs us to practice solidarity as an essential virtue in life. Solidarity for the Common Good Such an acknowledgement leads us to act responsibly to promote a good that is both personal and communal. Only if we see ourselves, not as a world apart, but in a fraternal relationship with others, can we develop a social practice of solidarity aimed at the common good. We should not be afraid to regard ourselves as needy or reliant on others, because individually and by our own efforts we cannot overcome our limitations. So we should not fear, then, to acknowledge those limitations, for God himself, in Jesus, has humbly stooped down to us (cf. Phil 2:8) and continues to do so; in our poverty, he comes to our aid and grants us gifts beyond our imagining. In light of the solemn celebration in India, I would like to recall, with joy and admiration, the figure of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a model of charity who made visible God’s love for the poor and sick. As I noted at her canonization, ‘Mother Teresa, in all aspects of her life, was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defence of human life, of those unborn and those abandoned and discarded… She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity; she made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognise their guilt for the crime – the crimes! – of poverty they created. For Mother Teresa, mercy was the “salt” which gave flavour to her work; it was the “light” that shone in the

darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering. Her mission to the urban and existential peripheries remains for us today an eloquent witness to God’s closeness to the poorest of the poor’ (Homily, 4th September 2016). Saint Mother Teresa helps us understand that our only criterion of action must be selfless love for every human being, without distinction of language, culture, ethnicity or religion. Her example continues to guide us by opening up horizons of joy and hope for all those in need of understanding and tender love, and especially for those who suffer. A Sign of the Church’s Presence Generosity inspires and sustains the work of the many volunteers who are so important in healthcare and who eloquently embody the spirituality of the Good Samaritan. I express my gratitude and offer my encouragement to all those associations of volunteers committed to the transport and assistance of patients, and all those who organise the donation of blood, tissues and organs. One particular area in which your presence expresses the Church’s care and concern is that of advocacy for the rights

of the sick, especially those affected by pathologies requiring special assistance. I would also mention the many efforts made to raise awareness and encourage prevention. Your volunteer work in medical facilities and in homes, which ranges from providing healthcare to offering spiritual support, is of primary importance. Countless persons who are ill, alone, elderly or frail in mind or body benefit from these services. I urge you to continue to be a sign of the Church’s presence in a secularised world. A volunteer is a good friend with whom one can share personal thoughts and emotions; by their patient listening, volunteers make it possible for the sick to pass from being passive recipients of care to being active participants in a relationship that can restore hope and inspire openness to further treatment. Volunteer work passes on values, behaviours and ways of living born of a deep desire to be generous. It is also a means of making health care more humane. Culture of Generosity A spirit of generosity ought especially to inspire Catholic healthcare institutions, whether in the more developed or the poorer areas of our world, since

they carry out their activity in the light of the Gospel. Catholic facilities are called to give an example of self-giving, generosity and solidarity in response to the mentality of profit at any price, of giving for the sake of getting, and of exploitation over concern for people. I urge everyone, at every level, to promote the culture of generosity and of gift, which is indispensable for overcoming the culture of profit and waste. Catholic healthcare institutions must not fall into the trap of simply running a business; they must be concerned with personal care more than profit. We know that health is relational, dependent on interaction with others, and requiring trust, friendship and solidarity. It is a treasure that can be enjoyed fully only when it is shared. The joy of generous giving is a barometer of the health of a Christian. I entrust all of you to Mary, Salus Infirmorum. May she help us to share the gifts we have received in the spirit of dialogue and mutual acceptance, to live as brothers and sisters attentive to each other’s needs, to give from a generous heart, and to learn the joy of selfless service to others. With great affection, I assure you of my closeness in prayer, and to all I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing.

Westminster Record | February 2019

Director’s Spotlight

Andrzej Wdowiak Director of Youth Ministry We all heard about the drones causing disruption to flights at Gatwick and Heathrow airports. For most of us this is something we hear about on the news. On one occasion I found myself on the plane to Gatwick when the pilot announced that we will be not landing at our intended destination but somewhere else for the very reason. Eventually we landed at Stanstead in the middle of the night with hundreds of other passengers trying to figure out our way back home. We formed our flight’s passenger group and we looked after each other, eventually figuring out the location of our luggage and the location of a mysterious coach that was meant to get us all to Gatwick. There are quite a few similarities between my flight

experience and the experience of Westminster Youth Ministry. We do know our intended destination; yet the way we are going to reach it is not always guaranteed. We trust that the plane taking us on our journey of faith will land safely by the One who pilots it. It is reassuring that we are not alone on that journey and, although we live our separate lives, we can support each other by identifying key elements that help us on our travels. Perhaps this is something we experience with every retreat or prayer group for young adults. We are well into the new year and the new liturgical year. In many ways so far it has been an exciting start of the year. We have welcomed our new SPEC Retreat Centre Manager, Maria West, who has keenly taken to running this wonderful diocesan resource for our schools and parishes. At the Centre for Youth Ministry (CYM), following the departure of Rebekah Curran, we have welcomed Phoebe Prendergast as our new CYM Manager. I would like to use this opportunity to thank Rebekah for her commitment and contribution to Westminster Youth Ministry over the many years; we wish her well in her new job and in her new home. Please keep them all in your prayers as they embark on their new ministries. At the start of the year there are also number of significant events taking place. Twenty-six young adults have represented Diocese of Westminster at the

World Youth Day in Panama at the end of January. This has been immediately followed by the post-Synod and post-World Youth Day reflections with Bishop Nicholas Hudson. You will read more about those events in the next edition of the Westminster Record, but in the meantime please follow us on our website and through social media. On 2nd March there is the long-anticipated Flame Congress, the largest national Catholic youth event in the country, at Wembley Arena. For the Diocese of Westminster we have reserved 600 passes and it is still not too late to get them at the discounted price. Finally, we have begun preparation for a review of the work of Westminster Youth Ministry in order to plan the future direction we might take. We ask you for your prayers and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this process. We hope that through all we do we can better assist our children and young people on their journey of faith. We strive to work with as many of you as possible in this mission in the coming months.

Chaplain’s Corner

Hearing the Call in Panama by Canon Stuart Wilson Last month there was an Army poster that caused a bit of kerfuffle. For a hundred years the Army has been famous for its call to service with the phrase ‘your country needs you.’ The latest version has not gone down well. It uses what many think is a negative word to describe the millennial generation. Let’s forget about the name they used but let’s remember the great message behind the poster. Not only does our country need its bright young adults but so does our Church. We are reminded of the importance of this at present. Over a hundred young adults have returned from their journey to Panama and World Youth Day. I am sure it was an amazing and life changing event for many of them. For us who stayed at home, we have much to do. We have to pray for them, for our Holy Father, and for all young people. We also need to prepare for the salutary effect that World Youth Day could well have on our Church in the UK. After previous World Youth Days, there has always been an increase in the number of young people answering the Lord’s call to dedicate themselves to the Church.

New vocations are vital. They need to come from all age groups, but especially from that dynamic group in their late teens and early twenties. The Vocations Promotion Team is beginning a new group called Young Seekers. Led by Fr Mike Maguire, the Assistant Vocations Promoter, this group hopefully will attract men in their late teens and early twenties to meet regularly and share their hopes and maybe their uncertainties about the call of the Lord. At present we have six men interested but we would like to welcome many more. The meetings will take place at the Cathedral at 7pm, usually on the last Thursday of the month. Please get in touch with Fr Mike at vocations@rcdow.org.uk for more details. And if you are free on Saturday 16th February at 6pm, then come along to Mass at St Pius X Church, St Charles Square W10 6EB and hear our Vocations Presentation Team talk about the call to the priesthood. Alternatively, join us on Sunday 24th March at 6pm at St Joseph’s Church, Bedwell, Stevenage SG1 1NJ. It would be great to see you

Permanent Diaconate Come and See: Men wanting to know more about the permanent diaconate are invited to a two-hour meeting, 10am to12noon, Vaughan House, Victoria on Saturday 2nd March, St Edward the Confessor, Golders Green on 6th April, or Our Lady and St Vincent, Potters Bar on 11th May. No booking needed, wives welcome. For details, contact Deacon Adrian Cullen 07961 594725 or Deacon Anthony Clark 07545 373548. Fr Mark Walker, Youth Chaplain As I write this, Westminster Youth Ministry is busily preparing for our pilgrimage to Panama to join Pope Francis and a few million other young people for World Youth Day. Twenty-five young people will be heading off early on 19th January to Panama via Costa Rica. Hopefully by the time you read this, we’ll have returned safely (we’re due back 30th January) and enriched in our faith. World Youth Day is always a special moment in the life of the Church. It’s an occasion when young people, whose experience of their faith may be based solely on their time in parishes and schools, become deeply Follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/diocese.westminster

aware of the catholicity (i.e., universality) of their faith and the Church, as we gather with the Holy Father, our principal shepherd. Being a young Catholic is not, in fact, odd or unusual, as our culture often implies. Expressing one’s faith with joy, passion and verve is encouraged, not frowned upon. Millions of young people share in their witness to Jesus Christ. It’s extraordinary to reflect how millions of young people can gather in one city of the world for over a week and for there to be no bother, unrest or violence. At least, I hope that will be in the case in Panama as it has been at previous World Youth Days! Follow us on Instagram at: @rcwestminster

At a time when the disagreements between people often spill over into accusation, judgment and contempt, World Youth Day exemplifies how Jesus Christ is able to unite so many young people, with all their fire and determination, in peace, charity and appreciation for each other. I’m sure this World Youth Day will be the same and our young people will return with a new and richer perspective on the importance of Jesus Christ and our Holy Mother, the Church, in their lives. May God bless our pilgrimage and I look forward to telling you how it went on our return! Page 11

Westminster Record | February 2019

For this coming Lent, the Agency for Evangelisation is pleased to offer to small communities and parish faithsharing groups a new resource written by Monsignor Keith Barltrop of Bayswater Parish called ‘Rejoice and Be Glad’, which focuses on the joy of being a missionary disciple. Mgr Keith brings a wealth of missionary and pastoral experience gained through his ministry as a priest, Rector of Allen Hall Seminary, Episcopal Vicar, Director of the Catholic Missionary Society and the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation. In ‘Rejoice and Be Glad’ Monsignor Keith explores the themes of joyful evangelisation of recent Popes, bringing a new sense of missionary purpose to small communities in parishes. Your parish may already have well-established small communities and faith-sharing groups, but if not then Lent is an ideal time to set up new ones, bringing parishioners together, reaching out to new people, and encouraging a more missionary discipleship in the parish. Each week during Lent ‘Rejoice and be Glad’ invites us through listening, discussion and prayer to re-discover a profound and personal sense of being loved and of being called to love as joyful missionary disciples of Jesus Christ. Lenten faith-sharing discussion groups present an opportunity to imitate Jesus’ own approach to growing missionary disciples. Jesus did not take on his mission alone, but brought together his twelve disciples, with whom he shared his mission, teaching them and forming them as missionaries to take the Good News to the whole world. This model has stood the test of time: we might think of St Francis of Assisi and his band of brothers, or Mother Teresa and her sisters with their distinctive habits who serve the poor across the world. And just as the disciples in their ongoing mission grew as a community, and set up the new faith communities of the early Church, so too can we, in our ongoing Page 12

Growth in holiness is a journey in community, side by side with others.

mission, form small communities within the parish and under the guidance of the parish priest to offer a practical environment for friendship and support, not just for us as missionary disciples, but also as individuals with our own gifts to share and needs to meet. Pope Francis, in Gaudete et Exsultate highlights the importance of such communities: ‘Growth in holiness is a journey in community, side by side with others.’ The launch evening for ‘Rejoice and Be Glad’ is on 27th February, 7pm at Vaughan House, 46 Francis St SW1P 1QN. All leaders and group members are invited to attend. For more information on ‘Rejoice and Be Glad’ and to order booklets £3 each, please contact smallgroups@rcdow.org.uk

by Deacon Roger Carr-Jones Marriage and Family Life Coordinator

February is sometimes viewed as a time of extended gloom and despondency as winter begins to strengthen its grip. In the natural world the familiar beauty of the landscape and the garden has departed and all seems stark. When we remind ourselves that the seasons follow a cycle and that each contains an element of the others we gain a better perspective. Winter is filled with the anticipation of spring, and contains within it the spark needed for the new growth. Marriages and family life can go through a similar pattern of the seasons, moving from times when life together is joyful, beautiful and rich, to those times when it is difficult, painful and disconnected. This is a natural, if unwelcome process, as it is through change that we all grow and develop. The winter can be a time when we feel a little out-of-sorts in our relationships, or become

conscious of the need to feed our marriages and family life. Whilst many of us continue to detox our bodies from the excesses of food and wine, this is also an opportune moment to reflect more deeply upon our relationships. The fact that we need to cultivate, nourish and heal our relationships often comes as a surprise, even though we are not so passive over other aspects of our lives. Our diocesan web-pages have links to lots of organisations who understand the dynamic of marriage and family life, and all you need to do is click on the link. Over Christmas I began Christopher Chapman’s Seeing in the Dark, which explores the part suffering plays within human growth and our experience of God. It is well worth dipping into, as Christopher draws on the themes of the seasons and tending of an allotment as analogies of our lives. It is a

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by Deacon Adrian Cullen Evangelisation Coordinator

The seasons of marriage and family life: cultivating new growth

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Small Communities for Mission

very practical reminder that good pastoral care makes all the difference in times of struggle and conflict, which is why cultivating the healthy soil of the parish community is so important. We all have a role to play. Can you recall when you benefited from someone in the parish walking alongside you in times of difficulty, or was simply there to share in the moments of joy: marriage, new life and baptism?

Westminster Record | February 2019

Inside the Hospice: Destination Heaven

by Fr Peter Michael Scott When you wear the ring of confidence (the clerical collar) you are instantly recognised as a walking catechism. This goes for hospice ministry as well as parish, hospital, school or prison. The wonderful and challenging aspect is that you never know what sort of catechetical question is going to be asked. In my hospice ministry, there is one I am asked more frequently than others: ‘Why does no one come back from heaven to tell us what it is like?’ It is a brilliant question and one that tantalises me. I immediately think of travel brochures, and how they might describe ‘destination heaven’. It is perhaps a place of mountains, with fresh green pastures, and restful waters. There are banquets where cups overflow and all are anointed. The virtues of goodness and kindness are celebrated and everyone lives in God’s own house (Psalm 22). The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that it is ‘this perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity — this communion of life and love

with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness’ (1024). St John Paul II says it is ‘a living, personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. It is our meeting with the Father which takes place in the risen Christ through the communion of the Holy Spirit’ (General Audience, July 21st, 1999). Finally let us not forget Jesus on the cross saying to the repentant thief ‘today you will be with me in paradise’ (Luke 23:43). The ‘Heaven destination’ is therefore immediate, where we will rest totally, utterly and peacefully in God. It sounds bliss. Surely you would not give relatives and friends in ‘destination heaven’ the task of sending a postcard? Let them rest and enjoy peace. After all, given the journey some of them have made, they deserve it. Please pray for the patients, staff, volunteers and staff of St Joseph’s Hospice.

St Peter Damian was born to a poor family in Ravenna, Italy in 1007. He lost his parents early in his childhood. An older brother took him into his household but treated him poorly. Seeing Peter’s remarkable piety and intellectual gifts, another of his brothers, who was Archpriest at Ravenna, felt deeply for him and helped provide for his education, sending him to school at Faenza and then at Parma, eventually leading to Peter becoming a professor of rhetoric at Ravenna. In gratitude for the mercy shown him, he took his brother’s name, Damian, as his last name. St Peter is known to have taken to different forms of asceticism: wearing a hair shirt, fasting and spending hours in prayer, drawing strength from the recitation of Psalms. He always shared a meal with the less privileged at the table, giving away so much of his money in alms that he was left with very little for himself. It was his way of meeting Christ in people. After a while, he started pondering leaving the worldly way of living, embracing a monastic life. Just then, two religious of St Benedict, belonging to Fonte Avellana of the Reform of St Romuald, happened to stop by at the house where he lived, learning from them about the Order and the hermits’ way of life. This helped him gain clarity of vision and he joined their hermitage community in 1035, leaving behind his teaching career of five years. The hermits lived in pairs in separate cells, living on bread and water, praying 150 Psalms daily. St Peter was so eager to pray that he slept very little and started suffering from insomnia. He was advised by his superior to be more prudent in taking care of his health. When he was not praying, he used to study the Bible and became a skilled preacher. He was sought after by other monasteries to help monks grow in holiness. In 1043 he was chosen as the prior of the Benedictine community. During this time, he expanded the

Saint of the Month: St Peter Damian

monastery and extensively worked on improving the library. Five other hermitages were established under his leadership. During Peter’s lifetime severe corruption troubled the Church, including the sale of religious offices and immorality among many of the clergy. As the Prior, and through his writings and preaching, he called on members of the hierarchy and other religious orders, to live out their commitment to Christ in earnest and strive for holiness. He was kind in his teaching, always asking for reformation of flesh and spirit from the clergy. However, he did not shy away from reprimanding wandering monks and clergy. Follow us on Instagram at: @rcwestminster

In November 1057, he was consecrated as Bishop of Ostia by Pope Stephen IX. He also joined the College of Cardinals and wrote a letter encouraging members to set an example for the whole Church. Wishing to restore discipline among religious and priests, he warned them against needless travel and too much comfortable living. He was a gifted writer who wrote some 170 letters as well as 53 sermons and seven biographies (including one of St Romuald). He made use of examples and anecdotes in his writing, making it easier for the ordinary reader to understand. With Pope Stephen’s death in 1058, Nicholas II was elected as his successor. St Peter Damian supported Pope Nicholas against a rival claimant to the papacy and was the Pope’s representative when a crisis broke out over canonical and moral issues. He had to confront rioters who rejected papal authority. St Peter wished to retire from all these controversies. With Pope Nicholas’ death in 1061, there was another papal succession crisis which St Peter helped to resolve in favour of Alexander II. The Pope kept St Peter occupied with a series of negotiations for the next six years. In 1067, Pope Alexander II consented to his resignation request after which he returned to the monastery at Fonte Avellana. Even in retirement, he was called to serve as a papal legate for two years. In 1071, he made a pilgrimage to Monte Cassino, the first abbey of the Benedictine order. On his return journey to Ravenna he contracted a fever. On the eighth day of illness, 22nd February 1072, he succumbed to it in the presence of his fellow monks who were saying the Divine Office. He was never formally canonized, he was celebrated as a saint after his death. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1828 by Pope Leo XII. He is the patron saint of Faenza, Italy. His feast day is celebrated on 21st February. Page 13

Westminster Record | February 2019

Fr James Seamus Noctor RIP Fr Seamus Noctor was born on 2nd September 1928 in Dublin, Ireland. He was ordained to the priesthood at Holy Cross College, Dublin on 16th March 1957. Fr Seamus was appointed Assistant Priest to Blessed Sacrament Church, Copenhagen Street in 1957 before moving to St Joseph’s Church, Wembley as Assistant

Page 14

Priest in 1972. He then served as Parish Priest at St Augustine of Canterbury, Haringey in 1974. He retired in 2009 and lived in St Anne’s Nursing Home, Stoke Newington until June 2015. He then moved to Glenashling Nursing Home in County Kildare, Ireland where he died on 16th January 2019, aged 91. May he rest in peace.

Fr Robert Joseph Barry RIP Robert Joseph Barry will be remembered by relatives, friends and colleagues in the priesthood as a truly holy man. Bob was born on 26th January 1943 in Ballybunion, County Kerry in Ireland. He left Ireland at the age of 17 to come to London in search of work. Bob was determined to become a priest in response to God’s call, and with the encouragement of those who knew him he applied to and was accepted as a student for the Diocese of Westminster and sent to Campion House, Osterley for studies in preparation for seminary formation. After two years at Campion House Bob was sent to Allen Hall Seminary in Ware, Hertfordshire. He was ordained to the priesthood on 10th July 1976 at Eden Grove, Holloway by Bishop Victor Guazzelli following ministry in the parish as a deacon in formation for priesthood. Fr Bob’s first appointment was to the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes, Acton where he served from 1976 to 1978. He was then appointed as Assistant Priest at Hertford until 1980. Fr Bob had a deeply contemplative spirit and asked permission to try his vocation with the Carthusians at St Hugh’s Charterhouse, Parkminster in West Sussex. In April 1980 Cardinal Hume wrote to Fr Bob granting permission. Fr Bob became Dom Joseph and lived a radical life of prayer and contemplation, sharing in the silence and work of the community.

Dom Joseph embraced the monastic life in response to God’s call. However, he was diagnosed with a serious illness, Multiple Sclerosis, necessitating his departure from the monastic life in October 1987. He moved to the Cheshire Home in Cavendish, Suffolk as resident Chaplain. Fr Bob was happy and content at Cavendish, but declining health meant another change in 1990, this time to the diocesan Pastoral Centre at London Colney for four years. Fr Bob’s next move was to the parish of Southall, with the presbytery adapted for his needs. Fr Bob was pleased to give assistance to the Parish Priest in the sacramental and pastoral life of the parish. He had a particular gift as a confessor and counsellor, able to listen to people’s concerns and burdens and showing them understanding, kindness and mercy. But deteriorating health meant another move, in 2000, to Nazareth House. After a few years Fr Bob moved to the new St Vincent’s Nursing Home in Eastcote where he remained a resident until his death at Northwick Park Hospital on 15th December 2018 with members of his family at his bedside. Since his departure from the monastery, Fr Bob continued to live a monastic life in other places and circumstances. He was respected by all with whom he came into contact. His faithfulness to prayer and to God’s will, with its challenges, inspired members of his family and his friends. He modelled courage and dedication to his vocation, living a life of quiet simplicity and evident joy without complaint about his personal cross of illness and suffering. Fr Bob seems to have made his own the motto of the Carthusian Order: Stat crux dum volitur, the Cross is steady while the world is changing. He readily saw the good in others, and was unfailingly complimentary about people that others may have found difficult. He was always grateful for the understanding, support and friendship given by his family, friends and brother priests, and by the diocese. He, in turn, gave to all an example of faithful service to God and to the Church. May this holy man and priest of God rest in peace.

In Memoriam: February 1 Fr Harold Gadsden (1972) Mgr Edward Dunderdale (2001) 2 Fr Charles Lowe (1978) Bishop Philip Harvey (2003) Fr James McCormick (2009) 3 Fr Hugh Bishop (1984) 6 Fr Patrick McEvoy (1974) Canon William Ward (1993) Canon Daniel Kay (2003) Fr Kenneth McCabe (2013) 7 Fr Bernard Ferry (1970) Fr George Haines (2000) Fr Michael John Groarke (2008) 9 Canon George Groves (1997) 11 Fr Alan Body (1988) 12 Fr Joseph Francis (1984) Canon Edward Armitage (1987) Mgr Canon Francis Bartlett (1992) 13 Fr Patrick O’Callaghan (1970) Mgr Canon Maurice Kelleher (1994) 15 Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman (1865) Fr Richard Wakeling (1988) Fr Leo Straub (2000) Mgr Canon Adrian Arrowsmith (2014) 16 Mgr Bernard Chapman (1999) Fr John Kirwin (2003) Canon Patrick Davies (2010) 19 Fr Ronald Aylward (2010) 20 Fr Joseph Scholles (1983) 21 Fr Michael Hollings (1997) Canon Peter Bourne (2001) Fr Cathal McGonagle (2010) 22 Deacon James Richards (2014) 23 Canon John O’Callaghan (1981) 24 Canon Thomas FitzGerald (1968) Mgr Canon Arthur Rivers (1978) 25 Fr Charles McMenemy (1976) Fr Archibald Bardney (1985) Fr Andrew Clancy (1986) 26 Fr Brian Heaney (2013) 27 Fr Nicholas Lambert (1976) Canon Michael Richards (1997) Canon Charles McGowan (2006) Canon Peter Moore (2006) 28 Fr Joseph Gilligan (1990) Fr John Taylor (2005) 29 Fr Frank Rochla (1992) Fr John McCoy (2012)

Events & Calendar

Westminster Record | February 2019

REGuLAR EVENTS

Liturgical Calendar – February

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

Prayer Groups SuNDAYS

ThuRSDAYS

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

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for young professionals at St Thomas More, Swiss Cottage. Begins at 7.30pm, with Confession from 7pm to 8.30pm. The next date is 24th January. Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament first Thursday of the month, Mass 6:30pm at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane WC2E 7NB followed by Adoration and Benediction. www.sodality.co.uk Jesus Christ the Fullness of Life (JCFL) provides a space for Christians of different traditions to join together in prayer and friendship. For further details please visit www.jcfl.org.uk.

MONDAYS Mothers’ Prayers at St Dominic’s Priory, haverstock hill NW5 4LB Mondays 2.30-3.30pm 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. Our Lady of Walsingham Prayer Group First Tuesday of the month 2.30pm to 4.15pm in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs in Westminster Cathedral. Details: antonia@walsingham.org.uk Vocations Prayer Group Second Tuesday of the month 8pm at 47C Gaisford Street NW5 2EB. Taizé at St James’, Spanish Place W1V 3QY every first Tuesday of the month at 7pm. Email: penny28hb@aol.com or just come along. NFG Prayer Group weekly at 8pm for praise & worship followed by a social. Held in St Mark’s Room, Christ the King Church, Cockfosters N14 4HE. Contact Fr Christophe: christophe.brunet@cheminneuf.org.

WEDNESDAYS Corpus Christi Contemplative Prayer Group for Young Adults Wednesdays from 7pm at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane WC2E 7NB. Contact ccpguk@gmail.com Our Lady, Untier of Knots, Prayer Group of Intercession every third Wednesday at St Anselm & St Cecilia, Lincoln’s Inn Fields WC2A 3JA. Mass at 6pm followed by Prayer Group. Rosary, Adoration, silent prayer and Divine Mercy Chaplet. Email Antonia antonia4161@gmail.com. Gregorian Chant Explore the riches of the Gregorian chant tradition every Wednesday 6.30pm to 8pm, Bulbeck room, Ealing Abbey parish centre. New members welcome. For details, email gregorianchantealing@gmail.com

Soul Food A Catholic charismatic prayer group for young adults Thursdays 7-9pm at St Charles Borromeo, Ogle Street W1W 6HS. Details www.soulfoodgroup.org. St John Paul II Prayer Group Every second Thursday of the month 7-8pm, Mass, Adoration and prayer at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane WC2E 7NB

FRIDAYS 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 Friday 7.30pm Prayer, praise and teaching. First Friday is a healing call 020 8748 2632.

1 Fri

Feria

Friday abstinence

2 Sat

THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

3 Sun

+ 4th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

4 Mon

Feria, Fourth Week of Year 1

5 Tue

St Agatha, Virgin & Martyr

6 Wed

St Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs

7 Thu

Feria

8 Fri

Feria, St Jerome Emiliani or St Josephine Bakhita

Every Sunday at 7pm. Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street Contact: yam@mountstreet.info or visit www.pathwaystogood.org

Friday abstinence 9 Sat

Feria

10 Sun

+ 5th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

11 Mon

Feria, Fifth Week of Year 1 or Our Lady of Lourdes

12 Tue

Feria

13 Wed

Feria

14 Thu

Ss Cyril, Monk and Methodius Bishop, Patrons of Europe

15 Fri

Feria

16 Sat

Feria

17 Sun

+ 6th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18 Mon

Feria, Sixth Week of Year 1

19 Tue

Feria

20 Wed

Feria

21 Thu

St Peter Damian, Bishop & Doctor

22 Fri

THE CHAIR OF ST PETER THE APOSTLE Friday abstinence

23 Sat

St Polycarp, Bishop & Martyr

24 Sun

+ 7th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

25 Mon

Feria, Seventh Week of Year 1

26 Tue

Feria

27 Wed

Feria

28 Thu

Feria

Friday abstinence

Mass at Canary Wharf Held Tuesdays at 12.30pm at 2 Churchill Place E14 5RB. Organised by Mgr Vladimir Felzmann, Chaplain to Canary Wharf Communities. Details at www.cwcc.org.uk. St Alban’s Abbey Fridays at 12 noon. Mass in the Lady Chapel of St Albans Abbey AL1 1BY. Members of the Westminster LGBT Catholic Community are specially welcomed on 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month for Mass at the Immaculate Conception Church, Farm Street at 5.30pm, and invited to the parish hall afterwards for tea/coffee, where there is anopportunity to learn of pastoral help available. 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.

Friday prayer meeting 1:30pm to 3pm with Adoration in St Matthew's Hall, Northwood, Middx HA6 1DW except 1st Friday. Summer break- August. Contact Patricia 07918128248

Fridays: Low Mass 8am The Oratory, Brompton Road SW7 2RP. Low Mass 6pm St Etheldreda, Ely Place EC1N 6RY. First Friday only.

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

Low Mass 6pm St John the Baptist Church, King Edward's Road E9 7SF. First Friday only.

Carmelite Spirituality Group meet first Saturday at St Joseph’s Church, Bunhill Row EC1Y 8LE. 11.30-15.30 for prayer and reflection. Enquiries: Sylvia Lucas 07889436165.

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.

holy Cross, Parsons Green first Saturday of every month. Mass at 9.30am followed by Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for one hour concluding with Benediction.

Deaf Community Mass First Sunday of the month 4.30pm at Westminster Cathedral Hall, Ambrosden Avenue Young Adults Mass with an Ignatian twist

Queen of Peace Prayer Group at Our Lady of Lourdes, Acton W3 8AA. After 7pm Mass, Exposition, a homily, Holy Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy.

Other regular Masses

Low Mass 4pm, Lady Chapel, Westminster Cathedral SW1P 1QW. Second Saturday only.

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Westminster Record | February 2019

Pope’s Prayer Intention by Fr David Stewart SJ The monthly Intention, that Pope Francis shares with us all through his personal Prayer Network, reflects the challenges that face humanity and the mission of the Church. The Holy Father asks this month that we pray with him, ‘that all may welcome the victims of human trafficking, of enforced prostitution and of violence’. Our prayer, especially our daily Morning Offering, places us on a pathway, with Jesus, that mobilises us and increases our apostolic readiness according to our individual circumstances. The Morning Offering, that has been at the heart of this ministry since its very beginning, has been described as ‘a great way to start our day before we get too busy, too distracted — to offer every waking moment to the Lord,’ in the words of Fr William Blazek SJ, the regional head of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer NetworkApostleship of Prayer for Canada and the USA. We can, by praying in this way, make ourselves more available for this essential part of the Church’s mission, which is to humanise the world, or, in other words, to resist dehumanisation. The Latin American theologian Jon Sobrino has written that a core message of Christianity is that ‘it is possible to be human’; ours is a deeply humanist faith! All of us (and the Church is all of us) need to recognise dehumanisation, when persons, individuals who are in reality just like us are robbed of their humanity. Another way of putting this is to use the language of respect for life, all human life. People trafficking is a horrid contemporary example of this disregard for human life, as are enforced prostitution and violence. Enforced prostitution is often a result of human trafficking and is commonly the reason for it; it is imposed by violence, usually against people least able to defend themselves. The Pope describes trafficking as ‘an open wound on the body of contemporary society’. Page 16

Here in Europe, at least, sadly it is easy to point to so many examples of exploitation and dehumanisation. Our attentiveness and concern for refugees can wane as news fatigue takes over. Except for recent instances of certain politicians cynically and opportunistically using the arrivals of some refugees on our southern shores, we fail to realise how much human distress there still is. Unborn life in the womb is not respected; indeed, there are dehumanising forces in our society actively seeking to extend both abortion and socalled euthanasia. In many ways, society grows more unequal and the poor blamed for the sickness in society. But the Intention proposed to us this month has a particular emphasis. It takes for granted that we understand that human trafficking, enforced prostitution and violence are wrong, and that we know why these are wrong. That’s assumed, in people of good will. The Pope is praying ‘that all may welcome the victims’ of these wrongs. So he is not just asking us to deplore these evils nor is he even encouraging us to campaign against these abuses. We can do that, we already know how to, and many good people do so, with great conviction, even passion. This gets even more personal. The challenge is to welcome these brothers and sisters. And if we do so we will have to set aside prejudices, both in ourselves and in our communities and societies, not least the xenophobic and downright racist response we often hear. We need to be ready to risk confrontation with those who spread hatred and lies and we should refuse to look the other way when desperate refugees risk dangerous journeys to reach our shores and safety. When a refugee is called a migrant, we should be ready to enquire if such language is intended to suggest that they are suspect, or even criminals; nobody has any warrant for saying that without good evidence. If we hear

judgemental language used about victims of human trafficking or of violence, or even feel tempted to use it ourselves, we should stand ready to oppose it. Then, we will have begun to welcome these, our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Can we welcome people who do not look like us and who see the world differently from us? The biblical injunction to ‘welcome the stranger’ runs deep in the veins of our tradition; we shouldn’t forget it or let selfishness block it. CHALLENGES: 1: learn about the work of the Santa Marta Group (santamartagroup.com), an alliance of international police chiefs and bishops from around the world working together with civil society to eradicate human trafficking and modern slavery. Pope Francis and our own Cardinal Vincent are closely involved in this work.

A suggested Morning Offering prayer, to begin each day: Heavenly Father, I begin this day aware of your loving presence. Guide me along the right path today, always finding ways to cooperate in your mission of love and compassion in the concrete choices I make. I offer you my thoughts, prayers and all my works for the Pope’s intention this month. Our Father … DOWNLOAD: Download the latest version of the Click-to-Pray app (on App Store, iTunes and Google Play) or visit clicktopray.org to pray with the Pope, and hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world.

This app connects you with all who pray with the Pope in a quick, easy and creative way. Each day, the app offers a different set of short and accessible prayers including a fresh Morning Offering. There’s a Prayer Wall on which you can post intentions, anonymously if you wish, for others to pray with you. PURCHASE: A few of our Living Prayer 2019 booklets are still available to order (U.K. nations only) for £1.75 + £1.20 P&P from our London office. The 2019 Sacred Heart wall calendar is sold out. Order with your delivery details from prayernetwork@jesuit.org.uk or by text/voicemail to 074 3259 1117.

2: Listen for examples of prejudiced language being used of victims of human trafficking, enforced prostitution and violence, who come to our communities or our countries looking for help. Reflect on how to ask people who use such language to think again. 3: In your parish, chaplaincy or other community, propose that the Pope’s Intention be prayed together, at liturgies or other gatherings and look together for opportunities to show that Christian welcome that the Pope asks us to offer. PRAYER MOMENT: Prayer is God’s gift to us and, as St Paul noted, it’s God’s Holy Spirit who prays within us, if we’re open to that gift. Prayer changes us and, in that process of inner change, we become more ready to act; prayer mobilises us. Most of us, a lot of the time, make the understandable mistake of thinking that we say prayers to change a situation or to change a person. We pray to be changed and then to work for change, for the sake of the Gospel and of humanity.

INTRODUCING a new and exciting formation programme, ‘Learn from Me’, for all involved in parish ministry or who want a deeper understanding of the Catholic Faith. The programme is the result of a partnership between the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham and the Agency for Evangelisation of Westminster Diocese. • Certificate in Parish Ministry and Mission – 1 year, cost £675 plus £25 registration fee • Certificate in Catechesis – 2 year, cost £675 plus £25 registration fee • A Catechesis on Marriage and Family – 6 months, cost £455 plus £25 registration fee All courses are part-time and include Study Days at Vaughan House Westminster, with tutors from Maryvale. Launch Day is 9th March 2019 For further information please contact and registration please contact: livingfaith@rcdow.org.uk or Tel: 020 793 16078