Westminster record june edition

Oscar Ardila – One of eight deacons being ordained this month Page 7

New Director of Caritas Page 3

June 2013

Migrants Mass celebrates London’s Diversity

Children from the Portugese Community form part of the banner procession into the Cathedral at the Mass for Migrants

By Ellen Teague More than 2,000 Catholic migrants living and working in London brought colour and international music to a special Mass for Migrants at Westminster Cathedral on Monday, 6 May. The annual Mass was celebrated this year by Archbishop Vincent Nichols, along with Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood, Bishop Pat Lynch, Auxiliary in Southwark, and more than 50 priests. It was organised jointly by the Archdiocese of Westminster, the Archdiocese of

Southwark and the Diocese of mayors from a number of London Brentwood, supported by their boroughs and ambassadors from the Justice and Peace Commissions.

EU and other countries. Particular While the Mass itself offered welcome was given to London’s traditional hymns, the prelude Slovakian community, chosen this reflected the diversity of London's year to bring up the Offertory Gifts Catholic community, as various to the singing of a Slovakian choir communities processed up the aisle and swathes of red ribbons. In his before Mass started, singing, homily Archbishop Nichols pointed drumming and dancing to their out that Pope Francis comes from an traditional music. In national dress immigrant family, and carrying multi-coloured banners, they joined a Continued on page 3 congregation which included More photographs on pages 10 & 11

Editorial

Westminster Record June 2013

Westminster Record – Contact us

Witnessing to the Faith

Editor Bishop John Arnold Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, SW1P 1QJ Deputy Editor Jo Siedlecka 020 7267 3616 jsiedlecka@gmail.com Managing Editor Barnaby Johns communications@rcdow.org.uk Inhouse writer Alexander Balzanella 020 7798 9178 Design Julian Game Proofing Michael Holmes Advertising Carol Malpass 01785 662685 To order copies contact Andrea Black 0161 214 1216 or email andrea.black@thecatholicuniverse.com Print Management and distribution by The Universe Media Group Ltd.

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Bishop John Arnold

The celebration of Easter saw the beginning of Confirmations throughout the Diocese. During the equivalent of the schools’ summer term bishops will confirm young people from just about every parish in the Diocese. In some there will be just a handful

of candidates, while the biggest of the parishes will present over a hundred candidates. Some parishes will come together to celebrate the Sacrament and many will travel to the Cathedral for the confirming of their young candidates. It is quite a moment for our Church in this Diocese – some 5,000 young people making a decision to take a mature ownership of their Faith. In one sense it is the moment when they are claiming a new independence and they will be making increasingly important decisions for themselves about their lives and their choices.

But we must remember, also, that while the Holy Spirit will be at work in their lives in new ways, we still have much responsibility in guiding and encouraging the newly confirmed and so much depends on the example that we give. The preparation for the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation finishes on the day they profess their Faith, and are confirmed through the laying on of hands and the anointing with Chrism. From that moment they must be learning to live the Sacrament and making it a reality in their lives. If they are to grow in their understanding of how they may deepen their Faith, and

put it into practice in their lives, they need us with our experience and wisdom. Whether you and I have family members of friends being confirmed this year or not, we are all carrying the responsibility of witnessing to the faith that we have, so that our example is clear and strong to those who are growing in their Faith.

Our congratulations and warm good wishes to Mgr Mark Langham on his appointment as the Roman Catholic Chaplain to Cambridge University. It means, of course, that we will lose his insights and news reporting from Rome. Our thanks to him for the wealth of information provided over the past five years which helped us to appreciate events like the Papal Visit in 2010 and the election of the Pope Francis from an alternative perspective. Our best wishes for his new ministry.

Bishop John Arnold Editor

The View from Rome: Coptic Pope Tawadros in Rome

One of the big events of late May was the visit of the new Coptic Pope, Tawadros, to Rome, marking the fortieth anniversary of the visit of his predecessor. As well as meeting Pope Francis, Pope Tawadros especially asked to see visit the Colosseum to honour the early Christians martyred there, as well as viewing the Egyptian antiquities in the Vatican museum.

Late May and June produce a clutch of religious festivals in Rome, as the religious calendar conspires with the weather to produce bright, warm days that are not too hot for processions and open air liturgies.

The exception is a very secular event on the second of the month, Republic Day, when one of the main thoroughfares in the historic heart of Page 2

the city is closed for a good old fashioned parade of tanks, guns, and other military hardware. Unless that is really your thing, I would advise you simply to take the day off and relax.

However, May this year went out with an early celebration of Corpus Christi, which is marked in especial fashion with a Papal Mass at Rome’s most important basilica – not St Peter’s, but St John Lateran, which claims precedence as the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome. From there, a Blessed Sacrament procession proceeds down the usually busy Via Merulana to another great Roman Basilica, that of St Mary Major, where Benediction is held. If you fancy something a little quieter, head just outside Rome, to the lovely town of Genzano in the Alban Hills, where since the eighteenth century the main street has been turned into a carpet of flowers for the festival.

A rather singular event takes place on 17 June, as bemused members of the Curia gather on the splendid terrace of the Rome Methodist Church to raise a glass to John Wesley. In a now well established tradition, the Methodist community welcomes ecumenical friends, and very definitely sets aside any qualms

it might have about consuming wine, to honour the founder of Methodism against the unforgettable backdrop of St Peter’s and the flaming evening sky. I am not quite sure this is what the great man meant when he said “The world is my parish” – rather more “The world is my parish club”.

Towards the end of June, the Feast of St John is celebrated at (where else) the Basilica of St John, but not necessarily as you might imagine. In ancient times, the eve of the feast was known as the “Night of Witches”, when the evil spirits might be warded off by eating snails and sounding horns, drums, and whistles.

I suspect I might prefer to take my chances with the witches. The claxons are gone, but the Cardinal Vicar of Rome still leads a torchlight procession, and stewed snails are still deemed a delicacy – at least in some people’s book. At the evening Mass, the Cardinal concelebrates with priests of the Diocese of Rome who are celebrating 25, 50 and 60 anniversaries of ordination.

Mgr Mark Langham has until now been working for the Vatican Department for Christian Unity.

Coptic Pope Tawadros, who visited Rome at the end of May

Westminster Record June 2013

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New Director of Caritas Diocese of Wesminster The Diocese has appointed John Coleby as the new Director of Caritas Diocese of Westminster which has been established to enable the Catholic community in the Diocese to identify and respond in charity to all forms of poverty and social exclusion.

John Coleby has previously worked in the government, private and voluntary sectors with a focus on social care services. He began his new role in May and will continue his responsibilities at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre providing services for people with learning disabilities in the Diocese where he has been Director since 2010.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols said: “I am delighted to welcome John Coleby as the new Director of Caritas here in the Diocese of Westminster. Caritas works with and through our parishes to reach out to and care for the most vulnerable in our community and will inspire and enable Catholic social action throughout the diocese. He brings with him many years of invaluable experience and expertise to a role that lies at the heart of the Gospel – faith in action through love of God John Coleby is the new Director of Caritas Diocese of Westminster. and love of neighbour.” that each and every person is of Caritas Westminster, I am looking John Coleby said: “Caritas Diocese inestimable dignity and worth. I forward to working closely with of Westminster is an organisation firmly believe in its objectives to parishes, diocesan agencies and that is very close to my heart alleviate social and economic Catholic charities to carry out this because it is rooted in the belief deprivation and, as the Director of pastoral mission of the Church.”

Competition to Find Best Church Architecture of Last 60 Years The search is on to find the Top 10 churches built in the United Kingdom since 1953 in a new architecture competition launched by the National Churches Trust.

Any new church building or significant extension to an existing building from any Christian denomination in the United Kingdom which opened for worship after 1 January 1953 and which is still open for worship today can be nominated for the competition. Judges will be looking for creative architecture which imaginatively expresses Christian religious belief and practice of the past 60 years.

Nominations for churches, chapels or meeting houses to be considered for inclusion in the Top 10 can be made by emailing the name and address of the church, chapel or meeting house to bestchurches@nationalchurchestr ust.org. before 31 July.

Pact’s BaCC Support Comes to Westminster Pact's Basic Caring Communities ("BaCC") resettlement project for ex-offenders is expanding into the Diocese of Westminster in June. The BaCC project offers the support of a group of four volunteers (motivated by their faith) to someone coming out of prison who has decided that he or she really wants to build a better life, stay out of prison and not re-offend.

Pact's President is Archbishop Vincent Nichols and after four years of working from HMPs Wandsworth and Brixton in Southwark Diocese, the project is expanding across London into Westminster Diocese. The first referrals are beginning from the Islington Integrated Offender Management team and will soon be giving support to its first ex-offender from HMP Pentonville, who is due for release on 10 June. Nationally, the BaCC project is also operating in Bristol and Manchester.

To support the work of Pact 14 people ran the London Marathon on Sunday 21 April raising £14,000. Pact volunteers along with friends and family cheered on the runners at Tower Bridge as they plodded along the 26.2 miles. At the end they had volunteer Sports Therapists to massage the runners. If you would like to volunteer to support an ex-offender in Westminster Diocese, or to donate to Pact's work please contact Monica Deane on 0207 735 9535 or monica.deane@prisonadvice.org.uk or go to www.prisonadvice.org.uk

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Mass for Migrants (Continued from page 1) His family travelled from Italy to Argentina in the 1920s and his choice of the name Francis reminds us of his concern for the poor and appreciation of the presence of God in the whole of creation and whose goodness can be seen in the diversity of the natural world and of humanity, said Archbishop Nichols. “London is a place of great diversity,” he said, “and a place where strangers become Londoners”. He praised London’s Catholic parishes and schools for welcoming newcomers. Yet he regretted that so many families of migrants are separated and said the Catholic Church has particular concern for the well-being of these families.

Bidding prayers at the Mass were spoken in a variety of languages, including Chinese and Portuguese. The English one prayed, “for people who do not welcome strangers and exploit them”. It added that, “we pray they see the face of God in the stranger.” Banners heading up the aisle at the end of the Mass included the Servite Parish in Fulham Road, Hounslow Parish, Syro-Malabar churches of India, and the London Chinese Catholic Association. Brazilians carried vivid green and yellow World Youth Day banners. Flags included the Irish, Zambian and Ghanaian. Kim from the Philippines said that the Mass was “very beautiful and so colourful and it really shows our unity. I really think we are very blessed.” Several Ambassadors, MPs and Councillors including the Lord Mayor of Westminster were also present. Simon Hughes MP said, “The Migrants Mass is a very important part of the calendar always carried out with great dignity. It is important that the Catholic Church continues to remind the wider community of the importance of immigration for the success of this country.”

Filipino migrant workers from the group ‘Justice for Domestic Workers’ (J4DW) used posters to highlight that 6 April 2013 marked the first anniversary of the removal of basic rights protections from migrant domestic workers in the UK, including the vital right to change employers, which allowed workers to escape abuse. Posters displayed outside the cathedral included ‘Right to change employer is the only protection’ and ‘Slavery is criminal’. The group was photographed with Columban Father Aodh O’Halpin and St Louis Sister Margaret Healy, who have long campaigned with migrants for better working conditions in the UK. The Mass for Migrants has been celebrated every May Bank Holiday since 2006 and reminds London of the invaluable contribution of so many migrants to the city’s society and economy. It offers a profound witness to the Church’s insistence that the dignity of the human person is Godgiven and never withdrawn and reminds us of the very deep resonance with refugee and asylum concerns

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Page 3

News

Westminster Record June 2013

Justice and Peace Commissions tackle difficulties faced by Immigrants

by Adelheid Smith, St Albans Justice and Peace Commissioner More than 40 Justice and Peace members and friends from Hertfordshire attended the Commission Open Meeting at the parish centre of Our Lady Queen of Apostles in Welwyn Garden City at the end of March.

Bishop John Sherrington delivered the keynote speech on ‘Solidarity and my Neighbour’, based on the parable of the Good Samaritan.

He said that Justice and Peace are at the heart of Catholic Social Teaching and that we must be prepared to cross boundaries and reach out to anyone in need in tenderness and mercy. His talk and his answers to questions were thought-provoking, motivating and encouraging.

The afternoon was devoted to talks and discussions on the difficulties immigrants face in this country. Puck de Raadt, from CTBI and representative of the Churches’ Refugee Network, spoke about the difficulties that affect both British citizens and immigrants who have permission to stay in this country when wishing to bring non-EU spouses and children into the Britain.

Frequently this policy has tragic consequences for them. The new government rules make family reunion impossible for all low income families, but refugees who cannot return to their home countries are more often affected than others.

The day was also very successful because of the hard work of Barbara Kentish, Tony Sheen, CWL (in aid of CAFOD) who provided lunch and John Fogarty with his J&P helpers. It was very encouraging to see a good representation from the east and centre of Hertfordshire: there were groups and individuals from Bishops Stortford, Hitchin, Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Borehamwood and St Albans, even some from North London. It was also particularly pleasing that we were joined by some of our friends from other Churches.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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Page 4

Catholic Activists hold mining companies to account

by Jo Siedlecka Christian campaigners from several denominations took part in vigils outside the annual general shareholder meetings of Rio Tinto and Anglo-American throughout April.

They supported a representative of Mongolian herders who claimed that a $5bn (£3.3bn) expansion of Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in the Gobi desert threatens the fresh water supply of hundreds of nomadic people and the area's unique ecology. They also supported Peter Bailey, representing the South African National Union of Mineworkers at Anglo-American’s AGM, who complained about the lack of company responsibility for the sickness and suffering of thousands of former mineworkers, dying a slow death from silicosis as a result of dust exposure in mines.

Among those present was Richard Solly, a Catholic who heads the London Mining Network, which focuses on multinational mining companies whose headquarters are in London. These have a poor record of damaging ecosystems, displace communities and disrupt local economies around the world.

Christian groups in the London Mining Network include the

Columban Missionary Society and the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility. “We have a duty to put pressure on these companies,” said Solly. He noted that “there are all manner of other companies” on the London Stock Exchange that raise concerns about human rights abuses - including weapons and petroleum industries - “but mining has been less visible than other sectors.”

At Anglo American’s AGM on 19 April, a visitor from Colombia complained about the Cerrejon open pit coal mine in Colombia, which exports nearly all its coal, including to England, for power plants.

Colombian local leader Julio Gomez explained that the mine has displaced villages, and locals feel they are getting little economic benefit and worry about air pollution and contaminated water. Additionally, the Colombian miners, who recently went on strike for a month, say they work in dangerous conditions for low pay.

Solly himself became concerned about the extractive industries while working with indigenous people affected by the oil industry and logging in Alberta, Canada. He has also visited the Cerrejon mine in Colombia and was involved in efforts

Protesters gather outside the Anglo American AGM. Photo: Amy Scaife/London Mining Network

to save the village of Tabaco, which was eventually engulfed by the Cerrejon mine.

In many cases, mines impact areas held sacred by indigenous groups, be they Native Alaskans near the proposed Anglo American-Rio Tinto Pebble Mine, tribal West Papuans near the Freeport McMoran-Rio Tinto Grasberg mine or Subannen tribal people protesting gold mining in the Southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Columban missionaries in Mindanao have long highlighted their experience of mining conflicts and the human and environmental abuses associated with mining.

“The mining work I do is a form of solidarity with the oppressed and with the suffering earth,” said Solly. “I do it because discipleship of Christ, as I understand it, demands that we exercise such solidarity.”

News

Westminster Record June 2013

Westminster Record September 2011

Eight Men to be Ordained as Priests in June On June 29, the Feast of St Peter and St Paul, Archbishop Vincent Nichols will ordain eight men at Westminster Cathedral as Priests of the Diocese. This is the largest number this millennium. Glies Pinnock, Jeffrey Steel, Mark Walker, Jeffrey Downie, Fortunato Pantisano, Martin Plunkett, Martin Tate and Oscar Ardila will all begin their journey in Priestly ministry. In addition there are four men who will be ordained as deacons on their way to Priesthood in June and July. Brian O’Mahony, Shaun Richards and Andy Chamiec in June and Stefan Kaminski in July.

The Diocese of Westminster currently has 40 men studying for the Priesthood, the highest number for many years, with four candidates accepted to join in September. Fr Richard Nesbitt, Vocations Director for the Diocese of Westminster, said: “This is a moment of great grace and celebration for the Diocese. Each of these men is giving himself fully to Christ and His Church and in the years to come will nourish the life of our Diocese in ways we can scarcely yet imagine. They give witness that God calls each one of us into an ever more loving relationship with Him so as to live lives of radical discipleship and service.”

Glies Pinnock and Jeffrey Steel pictured with Bishop John Arnold. (Picture to the right: Martin Tate)

The four men to be ordained to the diaconate in June and July: Brian O’Mahony and Andy Chamiec on Saturday 15 June in Westminster Cathedral and Shaun Richards and Stefan Kaminski in Rome in July

Bishop Richard Moth receives Freedom of the City of London

In a ceremony at the Guildhall on Wednesday, 1 May, the Catholic Bishop of the Forces, the Rt Rev Richard Moth, was granted the Freedom of the City of London.

Bishop Moth, who was admitted to the Freedom of the Skinners' Company in February, said: "The City Livery Companies are involved in a great deal of charitable work and have close links to the Armed Forces. It is an honour to receive the Freedom of the City and to be associated with the great historical traditions of the City of London."

The first Freedom was believed to have been presented in 1237.

Today it is largely a symbolic title, but it remains to be an important part of London history

From left to right: Mark Walker, Jeffrey Downie, Fortunato Pantisano, Martin Plunkett and Oscar Ardila

May Devotions at St Columba’s College, St Albans St Columba’s College in St Albans, a Brothers of the Sacred Heart school, celebrated the Month of May with its first Marian procession in some many years. The College has recently established weekly rosary devotions during May as well as an annual procession. It also coincided with the official blessing of the new outdoor Marian shine that has been dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, ‘Mater Boni Consillii’. The statue, showing the child Jesus in his mother’s arms, is hoped to act as a constant reminder of the grace and comfort that she imparts for students and staff.

Between reflections and readings on Mary the Mother of God the college

choristers provided musical interludes with a particularly moving rendition of Schubert’s Ave Maria. Miraculous Medals were also distributed to the boys and the story of St Catherine Labouré was retold.

Afterwards the procession made up of six new altar guild servers and 120 boys from year 8, made its way

outside to the new shrine. Mr Newman, a religion teacher at the school and organiser of the May Devotions, commented: “The example of Our Lady is a universal message, reaching well beyond our own Catholic tradition. It is a message of courage, trust in God and resolute faithfulness to ones beliefs.”

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Marriage and Family Life

Westminster Record June 2013

Christopher West:

Fill These Hearts - God, Sex, and the Universal Longing Best-selling author and popular theologian Christopher West spoke to more than 150 people at St Mary of the Angels in Bayswater on 11 May. He came to London as part of his organisation The Cor Project that is devoted to cultural renewal through the “new evangelisation.” West, who specialises in making the dense scholarship of the late Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body accessible to a wide audience, spoke about the vital powers of sexuality and spirituality that compel us to search for something. His new book Fill These Hearts lifts the lid off the idea of Christianity as a repressive, anti-sex religion and unveils the hidden truth of life – that the restless yearnings we feel in our bodies and spirits are the very cry of our hearts for God. One woman who attended the talk said, “This was the best talk I have ever heard in my life where everything fell into place and where the whole understanding of our sexuality made sense to me.” Christopher West’s talk is available on the diocesan website: www.rcdow.org.uk

We are all acutely aware these days of the need to devote ‘maximum pastoral attention to training couples preparing for marriage’ [Sacramentum Caritatis n.29] so it is important to have accurate information and build on the great work already being done for the thousands of couples getting married through our parishes every year.

The Diocese of Westminster Office for Marriage and Family Life is asking parishes to respond to the following three simple questions which can be found at the bottom of the poster on the left.

The Office for Marriage and Family Life is also inviting everyone who prepares engaged couples for marriage to attend a free in-service event “Matrimony: the next generation”. Married couples interested in becoming mentors to the engaged would also be welcome to attend. This is an opportunity to meet and share knowledge with others involved in Catholic Marriage Preparation and to be enthused and encouraged to develop this urgent ministry. Further details are on the poster to the left

Marriage Preparation Edmund Adamus explains how we can best support the crucial marriage preparation course This time of year used to be the main wedding season and throughout the summer months, Sunday morning Mass-goers would invariably be treading over remnants of confetti as they entered the church.

These days, weddings are not such frequent events in our parishes in the diocese of Westminster. Travel is easier, and though many young Catholics come here to study and find work, and meet, fall in love and get engaged here, they very often want to have the wedding back home with their family either elsewhere in GB or abroad. Yet wherever the wedding is to be held, the priest officiating will require the bride and groom to have completed a Catholic marriage preparation course of adequate content and length, in fact in some countries it is quite likely that he will insist on the couple producing a certificate of having attended such a course before proceeding further. Finding a course here where they live then becomes an urgent priority for them

Projects and Pilgrimages supporting families

TYBURN NUNS

For further details on all of the below contact the Office for Marriage and Family Life: Edmund Adamus edmundadamus@rcdow.org.uk 020 7798 9363 Explore! Educational charity promoting matrimony in schools We need married couples to consider volunteering to work with this innovative charity to help inspire our young people to view marriage and lifelong commitment with hope and trust. The Diocesan Office for Marriage and Family Life will be hosting information evenings on Monday 3 June or Monday 24 June. www.theexploreexperience.co.uk

Recovering Origins The marriage and family team is working with the Centre for Cultural & Pastoral Research, Washington and invites adults whose parents divorced to take part in a spiritual programme of reflection. This a pilot programme to aid research. http://www.centerforculturalandpastoralresearch.org/children_of_divorce/

Catholic Grandparents Association Pilgrimages 2013 Two pilgrimages to choose from: Aylesford Priory on Saturday 13 July and Walsingham on Saturday 28 July. This is a day for grandparents to gather with their families for a day of faith and fun. The programme includes Holy Mass, Rosary and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and workshops for grandparents as well as games and activities for children. Make your own way to the shrines or why not organise a minibus or parishes group.

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LIFE OF PRAYER • • • •

Contemplative Monastic Eucharistic Ecclesial

if they want to start planning their wedding.

Who provides the courses?

Preferably the parish within whose boundaries the couple live. Here they will be introduced to other couples, be supported and encouraged in their marriage and drawn into the life of the Church.

Parish course presenters are volunteer married couples, catechists and priests.

Nationwide Survey During 2010 the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in England and Wales conducted a nationwide survey of all marriage preparation across the dioceses; this was useful in building on data we already held on courses in the Diocese of Westminster. As with all data, there is constant need to refresh and update the information in order more effectively to help engaged couples find a course and to support the course providers.

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Vocations

Westminster Record June 2013

Called to act in the person of Christ Deacon Oscar Ardila refects on his call to priesthood from the time that he arrived in London to begin a career in acting Vincent Nichols in Westminster Cathedral. Soon afterwards, the Lord granted me the grace of being appointed to serve at Westminster Cathedral for my year as a deacon and so to receive a unique experience of the great richness of our faith and Catholic heritage.

It was the year 2001. I was 24 years old. After seven years training and working as an actor in Colombia (where I was born and raised) I came to London to further my career. An actor lends his body to impersonate characters who speak words written by playwrights. I had hoped that by doing this I could move people to feel or reflect on meaningful things: the beauty of being human or the marvel of being alive. But in London, providence led me to a place where I discovered that this role could be taken to a deeper realm. It was not to be a play: it was the Mass. There Christ was calling me to lend my body to the Church in order to act in His own person; to proclaim His Word and to see how the Holy Spirit worked renewing humanity, moving it to experience a beauty so profound that not even sin can disfigure it, a life so marvellous that not even death can take away any of its fullness.

Through this revelation God helped me to understand that He was calling me to train for the priesthood – a journey which reached a moment of particular grace on 23 June last year when I was one of the five men ordained to the diaconate by Archbishop

At the Cathedral you meet the lapsed, the staunch, the traditionalist, the tourist, the moderate, the indifferent, the sick, the Muslim, the politician, the elderly, the migrant, the rich, the homeless, the clergy, the intellectual, the nun, the mentally ill, the student, the artist, the children, the pilgrim, the penitent, the journalist, the hermit… in other words, every possible walk of life at every possible stage of life, in every possible kind of relationship to the Church.

“I look forward to the journey ahead of, God willing, ever deeper discipleship as a priest in the Church.”

And these different encounters take place in equally varied contexts: the breathtaking splendour of a high solemn liturgy, a quiet conversation on the piazza, in the schools next door or on a visit to ‘The Passage’, the nursing home or the home of a parishioner. All of this takes you to the heart of what we call ‘the Church’: striking in its beauty, paradoxical in its impossible contrasts and most fittingly described as a mystery.

The Cathedral has taught me to understand better the mysterious character of the Church as a true ‘sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race’ as the Second Vatican Council taught in Lumen Gentium. On the other hand, it has also helped me to understand more clearly that this sign will be rejected, misunderstood and at times buried under the

clamour of scandals which allow the worst diseases of our world to overshadow that brilliant reflection of Christ which, even if clouded, never stops shining on His body, the Church.

After this extraordinary year of service as a deacon, my thoughts are now beginning to turn to Saturday 29 June when I and seven other men will be ordained as priests by Archbishop Vincent here in the Cathedral. As priestly ordination approaches and in the face of the challenges that such a step represents, I thank the Lord for having called me to serve Him and to share in His wonderful mission!

But gratitude mingles with nervousness. Although He does not call us servants any longer but friends (John 15:15), questions about one’s worthiness and suitability do not, and perhaps should not, disappear. How can one really expect to be a reliable friend to such an infallible companion?

How can one aptly respond to the gift of His divine friendship? These years of preparation have taught me this: only the Lord Himself can teach me to be His friend. My part is to allow the greatest of loves, His own good faithful love for me, to take over my life so radically as to

“I thank the Lord for having called me to serve him and to share in his wonderful mission.” enable me to magnify – in whatever way I can - the name of love: “not our love for God, but God’s love for us when He sent His Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away” (1 John 4:10).

As servant and friend, as priest and as Christian, as disciple and as man, I look forward to the journey ahead of, God willing, ever deeper discipleship as a

Oscar holding the Paschal Candle at the Easter Vigil

priest in the Church. And I shall keep before me on that journey the prayer which hangs over the door of Westminster Cathedral - a prayer

which, in my view, is the key to unlock the Church’s deepest mystery: ‘Lord Jesus, King and Redeemer, Save us by Thy Blood’.

Joys and Challenges but the Peace Remains Andy Chamiec writes about his journey to and through the seminary as he prepares for ordination to the diaconate this month I was brought up in a Catholic family. Growing up I was blessed with an inspiring parish priest. At 13 I became seriously ill. It was the first time that I had questioned my faith.

Fortunately I had a profound experience in hospital and my faith became very real. After school I worked for a year during which I joined a Catholic band called Revelation. They gave retreats in schools, evangelising through music. It was my first experience of community life and living away from home. I then decided to pursue studies in music.

I also spent some time with the Youth 2000 mission team. All this time the idea of priesthood was there - a gentle nagging feeling whenever I went to Mass. I approached the Diocesan Vocations Director and after several months he asked ‘Why not priesthood?’

I wrote a list of pros and cons and there were more pros than cons!

I decided to apply and immediately felt at peace. I was accepted for the diocese in 2008.

I can’t believe how quickly these last five years have gone by at seminary. There have been joys and challenges but the peace has remained. I am looking forward with a mixture of fear and excitement to being a deacon.

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

WESTMINSTER PRIESTS To explore if the Lord is calling YOU to join us contact the Vocations Director Fr Richard Nesbitt: Tel: 020 7349 5624 Email: richardnesbitt@rcdow.org.uk Page 7

School News

Westminster Record June 2013

St Mary’s attains Excellence

New Hall School Celebrate Anniversary

Headteacher Angela Rawlinson (centre) and Maddie Campbell, deputy Head (left) with pupils from St Mary’s

St Mary’s School in Hampstead have announced that their recent inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate found the school to be excellent under every heading, including achievement and learning, quality of teaching, curricular and extra-curricular provision, spiritual, moral social and cultural awareness, leadership and management and governance. The Early Years Foundation Stage department was also judged excellent across the board.

The inspectors noted that the girls’ excellent cultural awareness was strongly influenced by the Catholic faith, which is threaded through everyday life at the school, while at the same time knowledge of and respect for other faiths and cultures is developed strongly through the school curriculum.

St Joseph’s High Standards St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Willesden was inspected

by Ofsted on 16 to 17 January and achieved ‘outstanding’ in all four categories and was therefore judged to be ‘outstanding’ overall. The judgement is all the more remarkable when it is taken into account that the school was deemed to be ‘satisfactory’ two years ago. The Report said, “Pupils achieve highly in their academic and personal skills. They make excellent progress, often from very low starting points.” St Joseph’s report is a reflection of the high standards in Catholic schools, particularly in communities of high deprivation.

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Students, staff and friends of New Hall School, Chelmsford joined with their Religious Community to celebrate the 370th year since the Foundation of the Community and School, at a special Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday 27 April.

The Religious Community and School were founded in 1642 in Liege. New Hall School moved to its present location,

occupying a magnificent former Tudor palace, on the outskirts of Chelmsford, Essex, in 1799. The Westminster Cathedral Mass was attended by hundreds of current and former students and staff, members of the Religious Community and friends of the Community and School.

Music was provided by the talented choir of New Hall School.

Principal, Katherine Jeffrey, said: "This wonderful occasion has allowed us to celebrate our rich history with many

of the people for whom New Hall School has a special place in their heart. Faith has always been at the centre of our school so it was fitting for us to celebrate our 370th anniversary with this special service at Westminster Cathedral.

We were also able to look forward and pray for the future staff and students who will enjoy the unique learning environment that so many have enjoyed to date."

Cardinal Pole school shortlisted for major award Just last year, Archbishop Vincent Nichols gave his official blessing the new buildings at Cardinal Pole Catholic School in Hackney. The school has now been shortlisted for the prestigious RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) London Awards 2013. This recognises the school as a cutting edge innovative new building in the capital and an enhancement to the local community.

A spokesman for the school said: "We are delighted that our new home has been shortlisted for the prestigious RIBA London Awards 2013. We feel that this recognises not only the aesthetic qualities of the building, but also a reflection of the school's objective to develop a positive impact on the local community. Recent OFSTED comments have supported our view that the combination of the building and ethos of the school are making a tangibly positive impact on the lives and prospects for local children. It is our intention to build on this success and utilise our splendid resources at Cardinal Pole Catholic School to raise standards further for local children."

Students outside the new Cardinal Pole School in Hackney

St Mary’s Bake Sale The 18-strong confirmation group at St Mary's, Hampstead, mounted a huge bake sale in April and raised over £500 for the Blessed Sacrament school in Kings Cross which has strong links with the parish. Inspired by a sermon given by Mgr Phelim Rowland, the group decided they would like to 'give something back' to the community.

The Group with Mgr Rowland.

They received the Sacrament of Confirmation on Sunday 19 May

Parish Profile

Westminster Record June 2013

Somers Town: A History of Change

By Alex Balzanella

been made to build an entirely new church just a short distance away.

The new church was one of the first built after the Second Vatican Council, meaning that the spirit of the Council was very much represented in the church. Fr Michael explained that “it achieves what the Second Vatican Council set out to achieve. When Mass is being celebrated the altar is very much the

With the official opening of the new Diocesan Centre for Youth Ministry by Archbishop Vincent Nichols on 14 May, I went down to join the young people at its base at St Aloysius, Somers Town. The evening held a catechesis on sex and sexuality delivered by the Archbishop and included performances by musician Edwin Fawcett who has been invited to perform at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro this summer. Here he profiles the many changes at the parish and centre.

Prior to my visit to St Aloysius I investigated the history of the parish and discovered that it is one of the oldest in the diocese, founded in 1808. As a result I was somewhat shocked at the modernist architecture of the church. Parish Priest Fr Michael O’Boy explained that the previous focal point and the Blessed church had been too small and had Sacrament, while still central, is to become dilapidated. A decision had the side.”

What is true of the building development is also true of the church community. Fr Michael said that, “The parish has always been well attended but it also reflects the transitional nature of life in London – many come who are on the move and starting out with new lives in the city.” This is in part because the parish has traditionally served migrant communities: French, Spanish, Irish and African communities have been worshipping here at different times.

Furthermore its close proximity to Euston, King’s Cross and St Pancras railway stations means that the parish also serves a community of commuters.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols & Fr Michael O’Boy

As well as three railway stations the parish also plays a unique host to three religious communities: Faithful Companions of Jesus, Poor Servants of the Mother of God and Consolata Missionary Sisters. “These sisters are an important and vibrant part of life of the parish and witness to the value of religious life, prayer and fidelity.”

new hall our Sunday morning coffee has really come to life. Catechesis is now able to be based in the parish and the Ghanaian chaplaincy has used it for day retreats. Our hope is that with this new facility more and more groups will be able to take

advantage of it and flourish as a result.”

“What this partnership did was enable the parish to give the space a new lease of life.”

As well as being parish priest Fr Michael is responsible for overseeing diocesan youth provision. This means he has a particular belief in the importance of the work being done by the Youth Ministry: “Central to the life of our parishes are our young people, so developing parish based youth ministry is an important part of helping our young people reach full Christian maturity and become meaningfully involved in the life of the parish.”

For the catechesis delivered by Archbishop Vincent Nichols go to: http://wym.rcdow.org.uk/news/ you-believe-with-thearchbishop/

A New Lease of Life Over the last few years not only the parish but the church buildings themselves have been witnessing change and transformation. In November 2010 the Diocese of Westminster announced that St Aloysius would be the base of the new Centre for Youth Ministry. The organisation and rebuilding of the parish hall as the new youth ministry was a mammoth undertaking with the work being completed in 2012.

Fr Michael spoke about the benefits of the investment in the new centre to the parish community: “With the

The parish’s stain glass windows & font

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In Pictures

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Westminster Record June 2013

Migrants Mass at Westminster Cathedral - 6 May 2013

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Westminster Record June 2013

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In Pictures

©Diocese of Westminster

“As we look around this Cathedral this morning we see indeed that the work of God's hand is very good, in all our diversity and talent, in our joy and striving, in our rejoicing and praise.”

Archbishop Nichols in his homily

©Diocese of Westminster

Clockwise from top right: Representatives from the Ghanaian community were very enthusiastic in their singing and drumming; Mayors and Councillors came from across London along with Ambassadors and MPs; Ladies from Eritrea enjoyed the festivities outside the Cathedral following the Mass; a Vietnamese girl finds a moment of reflection in the Lady Chapel with her Grandmother; There were numerous Philippine groups from around London; Representatives from the Indian community included the Syro-Malaba Church; The Cathedral on the day was full of colour; the Slovakian community brought the offertory gifts and their choir sang a beautiful Slavonic version of the Our Father. This year they celebrate over a 1000 years of Christianity coming to the country. For the Archbishop’s homily go to http://rcdow.org.uk/archbishop/homilies/ Page 11

CAFOD News

Westminster Record June 2013

Gifts that make a difference Thank you to everyone who has given their time and effort to help CAFOD continue to respond to the crisis in Syria. CAFOD is one of only a handful of UK aid agencies that is able to work in Syria itself. For more than a year, CAFOD has helped Church partners inside the country to provide food, shelter and medical supplies. The generosity of donations to the Syria Crisis appeal means that CAFOD can rapidly scale up this work.

Parish groups, schools and individuals around Westminster have responded with huge generosity and compassion.

Numerous parishes, including St Edward the Confessor, Golders Green, Holy Trinity & St Augustine of Canterbury, Baldock, St Lawrence, Feltham, The Most

This at month CAFOD

Thank you for supporting CAFOD’s response to the Syria Crisis Students from St Columbas College, St Albans, collecting change to support

Precious Blood and St Edmund, Edmonton and many others have offered their prayers and support for the more than 5.5 million people affected by the fighting.

Schools have also been taking action to help CAFOD respond to the crisis. The first form boys at St Columba’s College, St Albans,

raised awareness of the crisis as well as collecting over £500 in change for the appeal.

For the latest on how CAFOD is responding to the crisis in Syria, visit http://blog.cafod.org.uk/ category/syria/.

Over to you: Take action with CAFOD On Saturday 8 June you’re invited to join CAFOD in Hyde Park for the Big IF London event. CAFOD supporters from all over England and Wales will join with tens of thousands of others from the Enough Food for Everyone IF coalition to call on G8 leaders to unite to end the scandal of global hunger. The day will begin with an ecumenical service at Westminster Central Hall at 11:30, followed by a “Walk of Witness” to the main rally at Hyde Park from 2pm to 5pm. The event is suitable for people of all ages, so bring your family and friends with you!

To sign up, visit cafod.org.uk/g8rally

Our thanks to St Michael and St Martin RC Primary School, Hounslow, for their excellent work raising money and donating to CAFOD through the World Gifts catalogue. The children were inspired to take action following a visit from CAFOD schools volunteer Alana in October last year. Alana spoke to the youngsters about the problems faced by those who do not have access to basic necessities such as water and food, and how supporting CAFOD through World Gifts can help people to beat these problems.

Led by the school’s student council, the pupils and staff have worked hard to organise fund raising events ranging from cake sales and nonuniform days to a huge raffle for donated Easter eggs.

“The school has long been a CAFOD supporter,” said Assistant Headteacher Mrs Mary Kate Allister. “The whole school community are incredibly generous, especially in response to emergencies, but we decided we wanted to do something a bit more sustained.”

The school have been donating the money they raise through CAFOD’s World Gifts catalogue.

The pupils began by creating their own ‘virtual village’ – a model village, which they add to as they donate, as a visual Students at SS Michael and Martin Primary representation of the School, Hounslow, show their support for CAFOD. difference they are making to real-life communities. They then decided to focus on five main areas: water, crops, livestock, education and health. Their efforts have already raised enough money to pay for clean water sources, hygienic toilets, various types of livestock and a vet to look after them, medical help and facilities including a community health team, and a day of games, dancing and music for vulnerable children who have lost parents and family members to AIDS. World Gifts aren’t just for Christmas! If you’re looking for a unique present for a birthday, anniversary, or other special occasion, why not give a gift that can make a difference in the lives of some of the world’s poorest communities. To see all of the gifts available, visit worldgifts.cafod.org.uk.

Pedal Against Poverty On Sunday 23 June you can make a difference simply by getting on your bike with CAFOD’s Pedal Against Poverty sponsored cycle ride. Riders of all ages and skill levels are welcome to join us for a leisurely ride on the wide, flat towpaths in the Lee Valley Country Park, following either an 18 mile return route from Ponders End, North London or a shorter 10 mile return route from Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Both converge in Broxbourne, where all are welcome to join in a community picnic.

What’s more, any money you raise will go directly to help CAFOD’s work in ending hunger, poverty, and injustice around the world. Last year over 200 people took part, and this year we are hoping every parish in the diocese will send a team of riders along. Why not organise a team from your parish or school this year for a fun day out that makes a tremendous difference?

There’s a registration fee of £6 per rider, which covers all of the event’s administrative costs as well as a cycling vest. Helmets are required for all riders, and we ask that riders under 18 be accompanied by a responsible adult.

For more information and a registration form, visit cafod.org.uk/pedalagainstpoverty.

Over £1,400 Raised Pupils from St Anne’s Catholic High School, Palmers Green and Chaplain John Ravi present the results of their Lenten fundraising to CAFOD’s Tony Sheen.

The school raised £1,418 through soup lunches and off-uniform days during Lent.

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Bunhill Row - Parishioners at St Joseph’s, Bunhill Row, display their prayers and thoughts on global hunger.

Parishes and schools all over the Diocese of Westminster have been taking action in their own communities to demonstrate how hungry they are for changes in the global food system.

Parishioners at St Joseph’s, Bunhill Row were among the first in the diocese to set up their own “Big IF” display in their parish hall, sharing their thoughts on global hunger and prayers on making a difference for those who go to bed without enough food to eat written on images of loaves and fishes.

Many schools are also sending their own messages to David Cameron.

Following on from a successful Lenten fundraising project, St Anne’s Catholic High School, Palmers Green invited a team of CAFOD volunteers to the school to speak about how CAFOD is working to make a fairer

global food system. They took action as well by sending their own messages to David Cameron and sharing the action cards with their parents so that they, too, can take action for a fairer food system.

If your community would like to learn more about the Hungry for Change campaign, why not invite a CAFOD volunteer to teach you more? CAFOD volunteers can speak as part of Mass, to a parish group in an evening, present an assembly to your school, or host a classroom workshop to teach your group more about the unfairness of the way food is distributed, and the actions we can take to make a fairer world for all.

To order campaign cards, arrange for a speaker for your school, parish, or group, or for any other information about the campaign, contact CAFOD Westminster: 0208 449 6970 or westminster@cafod.org.uk.

Justice and Peace

Westminster Record June 2013

How Westminster Welcomes the Stranger ACT SEE The Mass for Migrants 6 May The Mass on the feast of St Joseph the Worker was a valuable opportunity to show solidarity with vulnerable newcomers and strangers to Britain. We celebrated the wonderful diversity of nationalities among migrant workers as Slovakians, Poles, Brazilians, to name a few, shared the vibrancy of their cultures.

Our Prayers Our bidding prayers read in six different languages were for migrants and all newly arrived vulnerable people, as well as those involved in outreach to asylum seekers. We also prayed that the work they found would be fair, legal, and suited to their talents and abilities. We also remembered at the Mass those who came seeking sanctuary because of persecution or war in their home country. We remembered those who try to work without documentation because they have to support themselves and families, unable to go back to dangerous situations, and yet not able to obtain legal status in this country. And then there are the overstayers who cannot afford to repay the debts they incurred to get here.

We prayed for those bought and sold in the human trafficking trade. The Catholic Bishops’ Office for Migration Policy has been running training for people who wish to find out more, and how to oppose this injustice.

- Wasted NHS resources, as midwives were not always informed when their patients were moved and spent time searching for them, and scans and tests were often repeated in their new area.

And then we prayed for those most at risk, such as the asylum seeker mothers who do not have continuity of maternity care.

The Refugee Council recently carried out research which showed that they were at risk because of being moved around the country during their pregnancies.

The ‘Strangers into Citizens’ campaign run by London Citizens a few years ago is still very relevant. And Puck de Raadt, from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, speaking at the Hertfordshire Justice and Peace day in March (see article on page 4) estimated there are over 100,000 asylum seekers in the UK without any access to public funds, and still waiting to be dealt with by the Home Office. Not surprisingly, they originate from countries with recent or current wars: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and so on. Many projects in the diocese cater for such people, often without recourse to public funds: the Jesuit Refugee Service, the London Catholic Worker, the Notre Dame Refugee Centre, the Cardinal Hume Centre, and so on. The current economic difficulties experienced by the UK will almost certainly breed more xenophobia.

All the more reason for us to live out our vocation to welcome strangers, and to work for their well-being.

Midwives and women seeking asylum were interviewed for the report, 'When Maternity Doesn't Matter: Dispersing Pregnant Women Seeking Asylum' commissioned by the Refugee Council.

The report shows: - Pregnant women being moved to new accommodation multiple times - Women being moved against medical advice and too close to their due date - Women being separated from the father of their baby - Women giving birth alone, without a birth partner, and with no access to an interpreter

• Celebrate Refugee Week 17 – 23 June ‘Different Pasts, Shared Future.’ This is a UK-wide programme of arts, cultural and educational events and activities that celebrates the contribution of refugees to the UK and promotes better understanding of why people seek sanctuary. Anyone can take part by organising, attending or taking part in activities.

• Find out more about refugee maternity care: You can download the full report or a summary at www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/maternity and sign the petition for better maternity care for women asylum seekers.

• Contact the Bishops’ Office for Migration Policy for further information about training on Human Trafficking at www.cbcew.org.uk/trafficking or write to the Coordinator at cecilia.taylor-camara@cbcew.org.uk • Donate dried foods, toiletries, tools, time, money to the Catholic Worker or other refugee centres: - www.catholicworkerfarm.org in Rickmansworth - www.londoncatholicworker.org in Haringey - www.notredamerc.org.uk in Leicester Square etc.

• Volunteer for ESOL language teaching at the Cardinal Hume Centre in Westminster or centres near you.

JUDGE Scripture • The Old Testament teaches powerfully that the stranger should be welcomed, as we read in Leviticus 19:34-36 “The foreigner who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the foreigner as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God. You shall not cheat in measuring length, weight or quantity. You shall have honest balances and honest weights.”

• In the New Testament we have the Parable of the Kingdom in Matthew 25 that reminds us that in welcoming the stranger we welcome Christ himself.

Catholic Social Teaching • Finally, the Catholic Bishops’ excellent pamphlet, Mission of the Church to Migrants in England and Wales (2008 CTS), is an excellent example of Catholic Social Teaching and a stirring call to action, as Bishop Patrick Lynch concludes: “We firmly believe that our Church can realise a part of its prophetic mission in the world by fundamentally committing ourselves to welcoming the stranger – the migrant, the refugee, the victim of human trafficking – and to promoting justice, peace and reconciliation.”

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Youth

Westminster Record June 2013

News

Director’s Spotlight With everything happening in this and in coming months we have had to keep reminding ourselves about the vision for Westminster Youth Ministry - “Enabling parishes to accompany young people in their journey towards Christian maturity through the delivery of a focused and co-ordinated Youth Service”.

We are here to offer practical spiritual support and life advice in a welcoming and caring way and our prayers go out as well to all our young people. In a real sense our mission takes place within the deaneries and parishes of the Diocese and this means our Youth Ministry team gets out of the office, on its bike and rides out into the field. Of late we have begun work in parishes in Hemel Hempstead, Edmonton, Harpenden, Palmers Green, to name but a few. If any parish is looking to develop a Youth Community then please don’t wait for us to call you – pick up the phone and we’ll be over to you!

Phil Phil Ross is Director of Youth Ministry for the Diocese of Westminster philross@rcdow.org.uk

Official Opening

DATE: JUNE 2013 Fr David Reilly, Diocesan Youth Chaplain

Pope Francis is now well and truly into his new ministry as Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church.

There are most certainly challenges which still lie ahead for him, and he has an immense task to lead the Church along the path of renewal which it walks in every age. Of course, we all put our trust in the Holy Father; many people are already expecting great things of him.

However, this reflection comes with a word of caution for each of us: the Church can only be renewed if our own faith is renewed. The Church will only be equipped for the mighty task of the New Evangelisation if you and I, not just the Pope, step up to the plate and respond generously to the Lord’s call. It is not Francis’s job alone to rebuild

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the Church: it is our own project too. It begins not in Rome or any other external place - it begins in my heart and in your heart.

Who were the great reformers of the Church throughout history? Answer: the saints!

The ones who have renewed and strengthened the Church were actually those people who realised and renewed their own faith from the inside outwards. It was Benedict of Nursia, Francis of Assisi; it was Catherine of Siena and Teresa of Avila; Therese of Lisieux, John Bosco, and so on; these were not the popes or bishops of their age. They were faithful Christian people.

As we journey through the very heart of the Year of Faith, we thank God for the wonderful gift of Pope Francis. But let us also open our own hearts and ask the Lord to renew our own faith, for the sake of the future of our world.

Fr David Reilly is Diocesan Youth Chaplain

On 14 May the Centre for Youth Ministry was officially opened by Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

There was a ribbon cutting ceremony, an official blessing, and a thought provoking talk entitled “Living Life to the Full”. The Centre is therefore open and we would love to welcome you, show you around as well as introduce you to the team. (see Parish Profile on page 9)

New Readers On 20 April the Centre for Youth Ministry hosted its first of a series of training aimed at young people wanting to become readers and bidding prayer ministers in their local parishes. Tish Nichol, a confidence building and public speaking specialist, took the young people through their paces in voice control, body language and breathing exercises. The day was a great success with those attending thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. One of the attendees stated that “Tish really did help me to lose my nerves”. The next young adults training day on 9 November will focus on music ministry.

New Staff We would like to introduce and welcome Frank Van Velzen who is our newest member of the Youth Ministry Support Team.

Frank is a 25 year old South African who has experience in communications, events management and youth work having previously worked for the Catholic 2012 office of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales in the lead up to and for the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mary Meals @ Spirit in the City 12- 15 June Magnus McFarlene-Barrow, founder of Mary’s Meals, will be speaking at 7pm on Thursday 13 June at St Patrick’s in Soho Square at the Spirit in the City festival in the West End as well as launching the new Grassroots film called Child 31.

Mary’s Meals is a non-denominational charity that feeds more than 600,000 children every school day around the globe where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education. The availability of a decent meal has dramatically helped attendance levels in schools where it has been introduced, as young people no longer need to miss classes to go out and search for a meal. The boost to meeting daily nutrition requirement through a decent meal can mean so much to a child in less developed countries, where they may already be fighting off diseases and sicknesses.

Magnus is a practising Catholic and felt inspired by the Virgin Mary to set Mary Meals so named the movement in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary who brought up the child Jesus through ‘humble means’.

Spirit in the City Wednesday 12 June till Saturday 15 June www.spiritinthecity.org Spirit in the City is an annual celebration of the Catholic faith in and around central London. There is a range of events and well known speakers who will be gathering for the duration of the four days.

Get involved and keep in touch!

You can find out more about the Diocesan Youth Service and the experiences of our young people by going to www.rcdow.org.uk/youth The site includes coverage of events, interviews and photos.

You can also keep in touch online with the latest youth activities at http://on.fb.me/15fzuXE

twitter.com/ RCWestminster or WestminsterWYM See photos of youth events at http://tinyurl.com/5vqohvo If you have a story for the blog or for Westminster Record email us at: communications@rcdow.org.uk

Events 29 June Youth Event and Ooberfuse The Enfield Deanery are hosting a Youth Evening at St Monica’s Catholic Church in Palmers Green with Ooberfuse headlining.

23 – 28 July World Youth Day in Rio, Brazil Pilgrims will be meeting each other for a debrief about the event and its history, and to start finalising our itinerary. We are very pleased to announce that both Ooberfuse and Edwin Fawcett will be performing at this year’s festival.

World Youth Day at Home For those staying at home here are two events well worth looking into: • Brightlights Festival “World Youth Day at Home” @ Aylesford Priory. It will have a South American theme (see www.brightlights.org.uk for further details).

• “World Youth Day in Chelsea” organized by Kensington and Chelsea youth worker Dan McNamara. Please keep your eyes on our website and Facebook page for further details.

Youth

Westminster Record June 2013

The Inspiration of Hemel Hempstead Youth “We encourage young people to reach out to the wider community and use their God given talents to serve others” The Hemel Initiative for Youth Action (HIYA) was recently established to bring together the four diocesan parishes of Ss Mary and Joseph, Our Lady of All Creation, St Mark’s and the Church of the Resurrection in the Hemel Hempstead area. The initiative, which aims to support and nurture the Catholic faith in the area’s young people, is proving invaluable in building a true sense of community with a great amount of energy, group sharing and fellowship taking place. Catholic youth worker Anne Howard for HIYA said “We recognise that young people should feel they belong to their Church community, as a sense of belonging often comes before belief.”

The group are encouraged to get involved in the life of their church community, by taking part in the liturgy through active participation in music ministry and reading at Mass. They have also been involved with various community and charitable outreach ventures, such as redecorating the church hall, sleeping outside in makeshift cardboard dens to raise money for a homeless charity and filling shoeboxes with Christmas gifts for children who wouldn't have received a gift this year. Anne stated that

Anne Howard, Catholic youth worker for HIYA

“One of the key aspects at HIYA is that of service. We encourage young people to reach out to the wider community and use their God given talents to serve others.” Their fundraising initiatives proved incredibly fruitful as collectively the four parishes managed to raise a total of £1,862 for the local homeless charity DENS. They also recently had an outdoor fellowship day trip where they all went rock climbing, and explored the beauty of the natural environment.

For more information about when the groups meet and how to get involved, please go to www.hiya.org.uk

The Birth of Catholic Fusion Catholic Fusion, a social and fellowship initiative for young adults, will be launched at St Augustine’s Catholic Church in Hammersmith on Saturday 15 June. It will provide a platform for the church to be at the forefront of mainstream culture aiming to unite and celebrate the Catholic Faith in all its fullness and diversity fusing together the spiritual and social, work and play, ancient and contemporary, dance and chill-out.

This brand new lay led initiative is based on the four pillars of Networking & Friendship, Evangelisation & Spirituality, Socialising, and Fundraising. It is inspired by Blessed John Paul II who said, “The Gospel lives always in conversation with culture, for the Eternal Word never ceases to be present to the Church and to humanity. If the Church holds back from culture, the Gospel itself falls silent. Therefore, we must be fearless in crossing the cultural threshold of the communications and information revolution now taking place. Like the new frontiers of other times, this one too is full of the interplay of danger and promise, and not without the sense of adventure which marked other great periods of change”.

Please see www.catholicfusion.org for further details

Spirit in the City Festival 12-15 June With around 250,000 people flocking to the West End every day seeking entertainment, company and a host of other activities, encountering an impressive Catholic Festival with dynamic speakers, processions is hardly what the majority of people would associate with the heart of the capital. It may be a surprise to some, therefore, to discover that for the last seven years, the West End has hosted - with the support of Archbishop Vincent Nichols and his predecessor London’s biggest Catholic evangelisation festival Spirit in the City. Spirit in the City is a unique initiative of the West End Catholic churches with an aim to bring together different communities, movements and Catholics from all walks of life to celebrate the faith, pray and evangelise. This year, up to 30,000 people are expected to encounter the festival where they will be exposed to the public witnessing of the Catholic faith in the busy streets of the West End from Wednesday 12 June to Saturday 15 June.

This year’s festival which will include street events, processions, festival in Leicester Square with live music from

the likes of Noel Robinson, Ooberfuse and Paul J. Kim, workshops and reconciliation tent - is highly anticipated.

‘Awakening’, the dazzling opening show will kick off the programme on Wednesday in the Leicester Square Theatre, speakers such as Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow (the founder of Mary’s Meals) and Mgr. John Armitage provide food for thought. Where modern life can often be hectic and busy, Spirit in the City will also allow for some quiet time, reflection and Eucharistic Adoration in the West End churches. Fr Paul Walsh of Notre Dame de France, Leicester Square states that: “The diversity and energy of the West End makes it an ideal place to hold a festival of this sort. Spirit in the City is testament to the fact that the Church is alive and that the Holy Spirit is working in the lives of many.

Catholics who attend the festival realise that even though faith in Christ is personal, it cannot be a private affair. We are called to share the Good News”.

Love in the Heart of London The vision of Spirit in the City, apart from shattering the misconceptions of Catholicism as a private faith, is

to encourage Catholics to share the beauty and dynamism of the faith in a society which often perceives Catholicism as being too full of burdensome and restrictive “rules” and out of touch with the modern world. For those who desire to share the faith with others and communicate its relevance and necessity in contemporary life but do not know how to begin, Spirit in the City provides an invaluable opportunity. Armel Yoro, who attended the festival in the last years, explains: “I have always wanted the opportunity to evangelise others and to share with them something of Christ’s love.

Spirit in the City has re-energised me in the faith and has given me the courage to try and bring others to Christ”.

FOR MORE INFORMATION For full details about Spirit in the City Festival and the programme please visit www.spiritinthecity.org or contact the team T: 020 7440 2663 E: info@spiritinthecity.org Page 15

Evangelisation

Westminster Record June 2013

Faith Sharing: Vatican II Survey on sessions for parents in First Reconciliation & Communion Preparation programmes in Westminster Diocese

by A. Karaliute STL For centuries, preparing children to celebrate the sacraments has been an important task to mark an important moment. Every year, hundreds of people prepare thousands of children, in various programmes, ahead of their first reconciliation and their reception of Holy Communion for the very first time. The Agency for Evangelisation, which supports parish catechists, and the Office for Marriage and Family Life recently conducted a survey to look at the provision offered to the parents of children in these programmes. Here are the results: Why was the survey conducted?

The purpose of the survey was to find out what parishes are doing, identify good practice and see how, in the future, we can assist parishes in improving what they do.

Who took part?

Of the 214 parishes in the diocese, so far 40 have responded (about 19 % of the total). However, the parishes which responded represent a good cross-section of different locations, varied socioeconomic and ethnically diverse settings as well as varied levels of Catholic population and Sunday Mass attendance.

What sorts of questions were asked?

The questions, for the most part, were multiple-choice and asked who delivers the sessions for children, what topics are explored with parents, which resources are used and, importantly, what happens after the programme finishes.

So, who does deliver the sessions for children?

In the vast majority of places catechesis is delivered either by catechists alone or jointly with the parish priest. A quarter said that catechesis is delivered jointly by parents and catechists.

Parental delivery alone accounted for just 4 %.

Page 16

What is the frequency and type of the sessions?

What resources are used with the children?

Again this varies. Only one fifth of the parishes who responded had fewer than four sessions for parents and a similar number had as many as 12. Regarding their type, some parishes ‘combine’ small group meetings with the parents’ sessions, while other parishes have up to seven separate sessions for parents and have meditation evenings every week or some invite parents for a prayer after each children’s session.

While some parishes use published materials, about 10 have developed their own ‘bespoke’ programmes.

Some examples of resources used include: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying the Mass by Fr Allen Morris, CaFE resources on Reconciliation and First Communion, the ‘Catholicism’ video course by Fr Robert Barron), ‘I belong’, ‘God's Greatest Gift’, ‘We Believe and Celebrate’ and ‘lots of things drawn from the internet’.

What are the main topics/themes explored with parents?

A post-communion programme and on-going support

Fewer sessions (e.g. 1-2) often only allow the time to cover ‘practical points’. Some parishes follow the same themes as children but in an adult appropriate way, and some do not have ‘a set agenda’, but ‘discuss what [parents] want to discuss along with the [children’s] themes’. However, a majority of the respondents have developed their own ‘bespoke’ programmes with topics including: the parents’ role in handing on faith, faith at home, how children and adults believe, prayer, Scripture, Sacraments, Reconciliation and forgiveness, the Commandments and Virtues, Eucharist and Mass, the Church and Mission. There are also examples where ‘children and parents are encouraged to talk to each other about the faith’ for example through the use of the ‘Emmaus Walk’.

What style is used for parents’ sessions?

One fifth currently use lecturestyle presentation. However, they also sometimes use ‘buzz’ questions, table discussions and ‘sharing points’. One parish has a printed ‘Parents’ Guide’ and a few start their programme with ‘a guided tour of the church’. The majority use a ‘mixture of lecture/questions and answer and discussion groups’ and ‘there are often hand-outs to take away and follow up’.

Almost one quarter of the parishes who responded do not have a postcommunion programme for children or for parents, while the majority have initiatives in place for children. A few parishes have ‘workshops for children not at Catholic schools’, home visits and run ‘Children's Liturgy’. After First Communion children are often invited to train as altar servers or readers and one parish has postFirst Communion catechism classes twice a month.

Some parishes have started an adult faith formation postcommunion programme including ‘a day for dads and a day for mums’, some started to try ‘occasional group for men’ and also faith-sharing groups open to parents twice a year.

What will be done as a result of this survey?

Firstly, the parishes who have not yet shared will be invited again to do so. Thereafter, starting in September, the Agency for Evangelisation and the Office for Marriage and Family Life will offer resource evenings to help parishes in their work with parents. A dedicated webpage for the faith formation of parents and the sharing of good practice, good resources and activities is being set up (and will be located in the ‘Faith’ section of the diocesan website).

©Picture: Weenson Oo

Mary Colwell speaking at Faith Matters

“A Catholic Conversation with the Earth” Catholic Social Teaching calls us to cherish our relationship with Nature

by Dominic Robinson, SJ On Thursday 9 May Mary Colwell, the experienced radio and TV producer for the BBC Natural History Unit, gave the opening Faith Matters talk of our summer series on ‘A Catholic Conversation with the Earth’.

In a wide-ranging and inspiring talk we were challenged to wonder if this point in history represents a crisis in our relationship with the earth.

Is this a ‘kairos’, a breaking point on the scale of those moments of upheaval in biblical history? Is this a make or break time for us to reconstrue our attitude to the sacredness of the earth we inhabit?

A “paradigm shift” is needed, said Colwell, to develop “a spiritual and cultural transformation” which treats the earth with the “respect and reverence” it deserves.

This, said Colwell, requires a “dialogue with the earth”, so that, in the words of Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton: “we should be a people that have eyes to see, ears to hear, a mind to understand and a heart to care”.

As St Benedict urged, we should “listen with our hearts.”

For Christians the challenge is clear. And the Church has a key role to play in forming our conscience on environmental issues. The Scriptures, from the Creation narrative in Genesis through to the New Testament, invite us to be faithful stewards of Creation. So Catholic Social Teaching calls us to cherish our relationship with Nature so we can recover a meaningful, joyful conversation with the planet. As more and more people demand a higher standard of living we need to listen to the wisdom of generations to rediscover the love and respect for the face of the Creator that is seen in all of life.

Arts

Westminster Record June 2013

Drama

EXHIBITION

A Student for the Muppets

Christ Rests in Peace Exhibition by sculptor Nic Fiddian-Green An exhibition of work by sculptor Nic Fiddian-Green is due to take place from 5 June - 26 July at The Sladmore Galleries in Jermyn Street and Bruton Place, Mayfair.

His ‘Christ Rests in Peace’ commissioned for Southwark Cathedral, was shown in front of the High Altar during Lent and Holy Week. The noble head, eight feet high, cast in lead, with savage crown of thorns, 18 inches high, finished in gold leaf will make a compelling impact in the window of the Jermyn Street gallery.

Nic Fiddian-Green said: "I have been working on the subject of the face of Christ for over 20 years, with no place in mind."

The Dean of Southwark wrote: "Nic

Fiddian-Green’s head of Jesus is powerful, not just because of its sheer size, but beyond the thorns you see the humanity in the face of Christ."

The gallery in Jermyn Street will also show smaller studies for the Christ head and neo-classical horses’ heads, inspired by the

An exciting new venture is being launched in Arundel, West Sussex. An elegant and spacious 19th century country house is being completely refurbished and will open in June 2013 as the Sussex Heritage Centre. Situated in the village of Warningcamp in the beautiful South Downs National Park, it will specialise in pilgrimages following in the steps of the Sussex Saints such as St Wilfrid, St Richard of Chichester and St Philip Howard. The centre will provide specialist holidays exploring many aspects of the cultural and natural history of Sussex complemented by comfortable accommodation in the generously-proportioned house which dates back to the 1800s, set amid an acre of gardens.

It’s ideal for groups seeking a venue for conferences, meetings, celebrations or some time away together.

Sussex Heritage Centre is being set up by Maria and Dominic Whitehouse. The idea came after the success of several pilgrimages they organised for St Richard’s Parish in Chichester and for their extended family. They have found that the experience of pilgrimage often promotes a revitalisation of people's ability to connect with their faith and with other people.

Maria says, “We hope that the Sussex Heritage Centre will contribute to evangelisation in this area by making knowledge of the lives of the local saints and our Christian heritage in general more accessible. We really want to encourage contemplation, prayer and visits to holy places. The Year of Faith seems a good time to start such a venture, and we’ll be offering religious pilgrimages alongside ‘lay pilgrimages’, which are a wonderful opportunity to take time out of everyday bustle to focus on the deeper meaning of life. Arising from our experience of going on pilgrimage with sick and disabled people, we wanted to provide welcoming and exceptional-quality accommodation suitable for people with disabilities.”

Greek ideal, cast in bronze or lead by long, and 12 feet high in the ancient ‘lost wax’ method.

Economist Plaza, St James’s and At The Sladmore Gallery in Bruton the 10 ft high ‘Fire’ in Mount Place there will be marble carvings, Street Gardens, Mayfair. drawings and a small collection of The Sladmore Galleries are at: 32 new bronzes.

Bruton Place W1J 6NW and 57 Two monumental new pieces by Jermyn Street SW1Y 6LX Fiddian-Green can be seen near For more information both galleries: ‘Copper Head’ 16 feet www.sladmore.com

see:

A drama student from St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, has recently spent time playing a small part in the new Disney film, The Muppets...Again! which is due to be released next year.

Second year Drama and Theatre Arts student Brónagh McAuley auditioned for the role earlier this year and, after being cast as an Irish audience member, spent a day filming in Pinewood Studios and a day on location in Richmond Theatre.

For the part, Brónagh had to wear the traditional Irish colours of green, orange and white. Her part saw her acting as an audience member for a theatre production with the Muppets.

Brónagh has already appeared in a number of theatre shows including Yerma which recently ran at the Drama St Mary’s Theatre, but this is her first film experience.

She commented: “I grew up watching Disney films, including the Muppets, so I was absolutely over the moon when I found out I got the part in this new film. I was so excited I nearly knocked Miss Piggy over, it was great fun, I just couldn’t stop smiling.”

Explore the diverse Christian, cultural and natural heritage of Sussex

“A wonderful sense of peace and tranquility”

The centre will be blessed by Bishop Kieran Conry on 17 June. It will have 11 en-suite bedrooms including two ground floor rooms suitable for people with limited mobility and three family rooms. It can accommodate up to 30 people. There is a large reception hall, a drawing room with bar and French windows opening onto the veranda, a quiet room where morning and evening prayer are said daily and spacious dining room.

Bookings and enquiries are now welcome for Summer 2013 and onwards.

Sussex Heritage Centre, Sefton Place, Warningcamp, Arundel, West Sussex BN18 9QY. www.sussexheritage.co.uk Tel: 01903 884971 Email: info@sussexheritage.co.uk Page 17

Obituaries

Westminster Record June 2013

June Feast Days St Alban 20 June

Spy Commemorated Polish-born secret agent Krystyna Skarbek (1908–1952) who supported the British military campaign in World War II, risking death on multiple occasions, was commemorated at a memorial service in St Mary’s Church Kensal Green celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes on Friday 10 May.

suffering from tuberculosis. She was then smuggled out of Hungary in the trunk of a Chrysler car belonging to British ambassador Sir Owen O'Malley, crossing successfully into Yugoslavia. O'Malley, according to Davies, remarked that Skarbek was "the bravest person I ever knew. She could do anything with dynamite— except eat it." As well as her work in Poland Skarbek was stationed in numerous countries as part of the war effort including Syria, Hungary and Vichy France.

Skarbek’s work in the underground movement began after the German forces invaded Poland in September 1939 while she was stationed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with her then husband and Polish consul, Karol After the war, Skarbek was awarded Getlich. the French Croix de Guerre and the After the invasion Skarbek and her British George Medal, and was husband came to London, where she appointed to the Order of the British volunteered to work as a spy. Her Empire (OBE). She became first objective, which she had romantically linked to a number of planned herself, involved printing men including the novelist, former propaganda leaflets in Hungary and British spy, and future James Bond skiing into Poland across the Tatra creator Ian Fleming. The two dated mountain range; after which she for a year, and Fleming, according to would undertake intelligence Davies, told a friend that Skarbek missions and assist Polish resistance "literally shines with all the qualities fighters in escaping from the and splendours of a fictitious character." Fleming gave the name country.

Vesper Lynd to the double-agent Skarbek's intelligence activities in "Bond girl" of his first James Bond Warsaw were successful enough novel, Casino Royale (1953). Vesper that posters advertising a large had been a nickname given to reward for her capture were put up Skarbek by her father when she was in every railroad station in Poland. a child.

Working with spies for the Polish resistance, she assembled a dossier The service at St Mary’s Cemetary in with photos of German troops Kensal Green was attended in the massing on the borders of the Soviet presence of Countess Skarbek’s Union, even though the two close friend, Izabella Muszkowska, countries had signed a Poland’s Ambassador to the UK, the Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, nonaggression pact. and the chair of the Polish Heritage In 1941 Skarbek was arrested and Society. As part of the service interrogated by the Gestapo in early Skarbek’s renovated gravestone and 1941. During her questioning, she a new accompanying plaque was bit her own tongue hard enough to unveiled. The project was part of a draw blood, coughed hard, and joint initiative project of the Polish succeeded in convincing a Heritage Society and the Embassy of Hungarian doctor that she was the Republic of Poland in London.

Our prayers go out for Mrs Priscilla Leonard who died on 29 April. She was the wife of the late Mgr Graham Leonard, the senior Anglican churchman who converted to the Roman Catholic Church.

Page 18

The first martyr of Britain.

This early saint was a Romano-Briton, living in Verulamium (now the city of St Albans). During the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian he is said to have sheltered a Christian priest, St Amphilbalus, who baptised him. When soldiers came looking for the priest, Alban dressed in his clothes to help him escape. He was arrested and after refusing to offer sacrifice, was killed by beheading in 209. One executioner was converted.

Alban was beheaded by another - whose eyes are said to have fallen out after the event.

The cult of St Alban extended all over England and parts of France.

Many churches were dedicated to him. Several shrines were built to him through the ages, making the city of St Albans a great pilgrimage centre.

His last shrine in the cathedral was partly destroyed during the Reformation, but has been painstakingly restored. The ancient shrine of St Amphilbalus, said to have evangelised St Alban, is also in the cathedral.

Saint Aloysius Gonzago 21 June Seminarian. Patron of youth. Born in 1568, Aloysius was a son of the Marquis of Castignlione. His mother was lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Spain. His parents wanted him to be a solder and as a young boy he used to take part in military parades. Once he set off a cannon without permission.

Aloysius became a page in the court, but during a long illness he began to pray and read the lives of the saints. To his parents' indignation, he then announced to the court that he wanted to become a Jesuit. He entered the novitiate in 1585, but suffered from several bouts of ill health. In 1591, after nursing the sick in a plague hospital, he caught the illness himself and died on this day in 1591.

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In Memoriam: June Fr Raleigh Addington (1980) Fr William Anderson (1972) Fr Christopher John Charles Bedford (2008) Fr Cuthbert Boddy (1970) Fr J Brian Campbell (1983) Fr Philip Carpenter (1992) Fr Michael Connor (2007) Canon Denis Crowley (1980) Fr Francis Davis (2003) Fr Stephen Finnegan (1993) Fr Richard Fitzbibbon (2006) Bishop Victor Guazzelli (2004) Fr John Harrington (2007) Fr Edmund R J Henry (1971) Cardinal Basil Hume OSB (1999) Fr George Lee (1987) Fr Vincent McCarthy (1974) Fr William McConalogue (2009) Fr Damien McManus (1997) Fr John Moran (1988) Fr David Norris (2010) Fr John O’Connell (1970) Fr Joseph Rees (2007) Mgr Canon Roderick More O’Ferrall (1991) Fr Anthony Turbett (2000) Cardinal Herbert Vaughan (1903) Canon Alfonso de Zulueta (1980)

Liturgical Calendar 1 June St Justin, Martyr 2 June The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) 3 June SS Charles Lwanga & Comanions, Martyrs (Uganda) 5 June St Boniface, Bishop & Martyr 7 June The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus 11 June St Barnabas, Apostle 13 June St Anthony of Padua, Priest & Doctor 16 June St Richard of Chichester, Bishop 19 June St Romuald, Abbot 20 June St Alban, Protomartyr of Britain 21 June St Aloysius Gonzaga, Religious 22 June SS John Fisher, Bishop & Thomas More, Martyrs 24 June Nativity of St John the 27 June St John Southworth, Priest & Martyr 28 June St Irenaeus, Bishop & Martyr 29 June SS Peter and Paul

Westminster Record June 2013

Diary

REGULAR EVENTS If you have an event, please email us at communications@rcdow.org.uk SUNDAYS

Taizé at St James’s Piccadilly Every third Sunday 5pm. Call 020 7503 5128 for details.

Ceilidh at Camden Irish Centre Real Ceilidh dancing every Sunday from 8pm, with lessons for newcomers until 8.30pm then on with the dance!

All are welcome. £4 per session with great music from Tony Kearny. Partners not needed. Contact 020 7272 5815 Tyburn Benedictines Monastic afternoon First Sunday of the month 2pm-5pm Martyrs’ Crypt, Tyburn Convent, Bayswater Road near Marble Arch.

Westminster Cathedral Young Adults Young adults meet socially after the 5.30 and 7pm Masses on Sundays. on the steps of the Cathedral, then a pub.

Deaf Community Mass First Sunday of the month 4.30pm in Westminster Cathedral Hall Ambrosden Ave. SW1P 1QW

Catholic tours in London Qualified Catholic tour guide leads ‘Saints and Scholars’ walk every Sunday including Mass.

Contact Peter on 07913904997 or circlingthesquaretours@ hotmail.co.uk

Young Adults Mass - First Sunday of the month At Mount Street 7pm. Quiet prayer at 7.15pm, Mass at 7.30pm. Social gathering afterward. Contact: team@ fsplus.info or visit www.fsplus.info.

Young Adults Mass - Third Sunday of the month At Mount Street. A quieter version of First Sunday. Contact team@fsplus.info St Francis of Assisi Catholic Ramblers’ Club Every Sunday throughout the year walkers meet for a ramble in the Home Counties. Contact Antoinette 020 8769 3643 or visit www.stfrancisramblers.org.uk.

MONDAYS Mothers’ Prayers at St Dominic’s Priory, Haverstock Hill Every Monday 2.30-3.30pm in the Lourdes chapel. All are welcome.

Prayer Event for people in the arts and media Third Monday of each month 6.30pm. For more information see www.artisaninitiatives.org

TUESDAYS Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament Tuesdays 6-9pm concluding with Benediction at Newman House, 111 Gower Street. Details 020 7731 3367 Mass at Canary Wharf Tuesdays 12.30pm at 2 Churchill Place E14. Organised by Mgr Vladimir Felzmann, Chaplain to Canary Wharf Communities. Details www.cwcc.org.uk

Prayers for London at the Shrine of Our Lady of Willesden Tuesdays 7.30pm Organised by the Guild of Our Lady of Willesden, Nicholl Road, London NW10 9AX Vocations Prayer Group Second Tuesday of the month 8pm at 47C Gaisford Street, Kentish Town, NW5

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

Youth 2000 prayer group Wednesdays 7.30pm at Corpus Christi Church, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.

THURSDAYS

Jesus Christ the Fullness of Life JCFL First Thursday of the month.

Young adults from all Christian denominations pray and share a meal. Details www.jcfl.org.uk.

Soul Food A Catholic charismatic prayer group for young adults meets from 7 to 9pm at St Charles Borromeo, Ogle Street, W1W 6HS Details www.soulfoodgroup.org info@soulfoodgroup.org

FRIDAYS

Association of Divorced and Separated Catholics Third Friday of the month.

All divorced and separated Catholics, are welcome. Call Frank or Christine 020 8422 1591

Divine Mercy Prayers and Mass First Fridays 2.30-4.30pm at the Church of Our Lady, Mother of the Church, 2 Windsor Road, Ealing.

St Albans Fridays at 12 noon. Mass is celebrated every week at St Alban’s Abbey, one of the oldest Christian churches in England.

Westminster Cathedral Charismatic Prayer Group 7.30pm Prayer, praise and teaching.

First Friday is a healing Mass. Details 020 8748 2632 Vocations Discernment Group 7pm, Hinsley Room, Westminster Cathedral. Meetings for young adults aged 18-38. Visit www.free2become.org or call 01277 373 848

SATURDAYS Aylesford Friary - All night vigils First Saturdays 10pm - 6am.

Night vigils take place May-October on the first Saturday of each month.

Call Mrs Tugadi 020 7352 4478 or Miss Ogbeni 07847 532199 or 01733 553762.

Taizé at Notre Dame Church Leicester Square 7.15pm.

Call 020 7437 9363 Catholic Under 35s Catholic Under 35s aims to help young Catholic adults in London meet like minded people via regular social events, such as meals and days out. For further info please email Elroy at elroyf@gmail.com or visit our Facebook group: http://catholicunder35s.com

EXTRAORDINARY FORM MASS Sundays Low Mass 9.30am, St James’s Spanish Place, W1 Low Mass 9am, High Altar, the Oratory, Brompton Road, SW7 Sung Mass 10.45, St Bede, Thornton Road, SW12 Low Mass 6pm St Thomas Aquinas, Ham Common, TW3 Mondays Sung Mass 6.30pm Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, WC2 Low Mass 7am, St Bede, Thornton Road, SW12 Low Mass 8am The Oratory, Brompton Rd SW7 Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays Low Mass 7am, St Bede, Thornton Road, SW12 Low Mass 8am The Oratory, Brompton Rd SW7 Low Mass 12.30pm, St Bede, Thornton Road, SW12 Fridays Low Mass 6pm St Etheldreda, Ely Place EC1 First Fridays only.

Low Mass 7am, St Bede, Thornton Road, SW12 Sung Mass 6.30pm St Mary Magdalen, East Hill, SW18 Low Mass 8am The Oratory, Brompton Rd SW7 Mass St John the Baptist Church, King Edward's Rd Hackney E9 at 6pm.

Every Second Friday Low Mass 6.30pm, Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, WC2 Saturdays Second Saturdays at 4.30pm, Low Mass Side Chapel Westminster Cathedral Low Mass 12.15 St Wilfrid’s Chapel, The Oratory, Brompton Rd SW7

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 8

June

‘Living in Faith’ with Sr Maria Natella OP A retreat day in this Year of Faith for prayer and reflection from 9am – 5pm.

Mass at 12 noon Contacts - Patricia Lee, 07918128248, Elizabeth Duggan, 07948311339

18

June

The Catholic Association of Performing Arts (CAPA) will be holding their Annual Mass at 6.30pm in Corpus Christi church, Maiden Lane, Covent Garden.

Reception follows in the Arts and Actors Club, 20 Bedford Street, Covent Garden. Past members include Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Finch.

The Westminster Cathedral Grand Organ Festival series takes place once a month between April and November, every year. It features eight concerts from some of the greatest artists in the UK and Europe. The concerts take place on Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm and are free of charge.

Upcoming dates are:

Individual subsription costs include postage and packing and are valid for one year. £10 per annum.

Europe - £12 per annum.

You can subscribe online at http://bit.ly/cePGGE Otherwise please fill in the coupon below.

Please send a cheque made payable to 'The Universe Media Group Ltd.' to Andrea Black, Westminster Record, The Universe Media Group Ltd. Alberton House, Ground Floor, St Mary's Parsonage, Manchester M3 2WJ. Alternatively please telephone 0161 214 1216 or email andrea.black@thecatholicuniverse.com

Page 19

Spotlight

Westminster Record June 2013

Bonding with the Poorest of the Poor St Joan of Arc School

By Barnaby Johns

home, their village, even the slums.

They are marginalised onto the streets and into destitution. But no matter how badly ravaged their bodies become, lepers never cease being people with hearts that are made for love. So when babies are born into this extreme poverty and survive their earliest years, they are forbidden to attend school, regardless of whether they themselves have leprosy, simply by virtue of their parents having the disease. Denied an education, these children are condemned to a life of hopelessness and grinding poverty.

In March 2004 Business Studies teacher Caroline Wheldon gave a talk about a project in India to the sixth formers at morning assembly at St Joan of Arc in Rickmansworth. ‘Would you open your hearts” she asked, “to the children in Udayan?” The answer was a resounding “Yes!” Udayan (a Bengali word meaning dawn, new beginnings) is a home, a school and a medical centre just outside Calcutta for the children of leprosy sufferers. It was started in Medical care 1970 by Englishman Rev James Udayan provides the medical care and Stevens OBE who still runs it. high-vitamin diet and nutrition needed to cure children, and it can do History of Udayan this in sometimes just six months. It James Stevens was in India working also provides the children with a new among the poor and went to Mother life in an environment free of the Teresa for guidance asking her, “who dreadful stigma still associated with among the poorest of the poor is at leprosy in India that results in harsh the bottom?” And Mother Teresa, social injustices for those suffering without a moment’s hesitation, from the disease. They are given an answered, “The children of lepers: education, play cricket, learn yoga, nothing is being done for the children dance or play a musical instrument. of lepers.” James got a property, and They are also given vocational borrowing Mother’s broken down old training. Mechanical engineering, van, went in search of some of these computer skills, poultry farming, kiddies and began Udayan with nine tailoring, batik, embroidery and little boys. pisciculture are just some of their Freedom from Stigma options. The aim is that the children Today there are over 300 children leave Udayan with the education, from toddlers up to 18, most of whom skills and self-confidence they need were born in leper colonies and have to support themselves and parents who suffer from the disease. their families.

About 5% have leprosy but the St Joan of Arc majority suffer from worm St Joan of Arc have offered huge infestations, tuberculosis, malaria, support to Udayan. From hearing amoebiasis, rickets and other diseases about the project the sixth formers associated with malnutrition. It is did indeed open up their hearts first certainly a traumatic reality. with a sponsored all-day Leprosy is hugely feared in India and ‘cacophonous' karaoke. Then each anyone showing signs of it is hounded new generation of students continues from their job, their family, their to raise funds and have generated

Luke Allen, Rachel Ashton, Lucy Moran and Eve McMillan were on the 2013 Pilgrimage

to fill a matchbox with as many items as possible. A strand of hair and a grain of rice were found in the winner’s box, along with 98 other things! Most recently the head teacher, chaplain and a team of teachers and parents underwent a sponsored 250-mile cycle ride to more than £50,000 for the well being Rouen in France. of the Udayan children. Their Pilgrimage sponsorship ideas have always been However another major part of their inventive: Two girls spent a full day support has been in students going to handcuffed to each other, another Udayan on pilgrimage. 41 sixth pair walked around together as if on formers have been out over five trips three legs. Sponsored fancy dress days to offer help by teaching the children have been favoured too, with pirates computer skills, literacy and and even a couple of cows spotted numeracy. They spend a lot of time sauntering through the town on their playing with the younger children and way to school. One 18 year old had enjoying soccer and cricket with the his hair cut off that he had grown older boys. Liz O’Grady who went in since the age of 11. A popular 2007 said “It was awe-inspiring to see challenge for the junior students was what the fundraising, combined with

This has contributed to the community spirit within the school and the bonding with children many miles away.

the hard work of the people of Udayan, had achieved. Each child was offered an education, food and a bed to sleep in.” Emma Ridley from the 2009 trip said “Through helping out in classrooms and playing with the children after school we were able to begin to get to know them more closely and from this time I found that every child I met was so generous, charming and loving.”

More recently the students have been involved in Leprosy Awareness rallies and marches to combat the ignorance in society about the disease. This then is the importance of Udayan, for it provides its children with a childhood, one free from poverty and disease, an education, and hope. And it does it on donated funds. For more information: http://www.joaudayan. co.uk/

Students from St Joan of Arc help by teaching the children at Udayan literacy and numeracy in the class room and spend a lot of time playing with the children Page 20 Published by The Diocese of Westminster, Archbishop’s House, Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1P 1QJ. Printed by NWN Media Limited, Mold, Flintshire. All rights reserved.