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ANSWERING THE CALL OF SERVICE
THE IRISH CHAPLAINCY AT 65
WHILE THE NEEDS OF IMMIGRANTS HAVE CHANGED OVER THE DECADES, THE IRISH CHAPLAINCY LONDON STILL HAS A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY IN SUPPORTING VULNERABLE AND MARGINALISED PEOPLE IN BRITAIN
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Fr Gerry McFlynn
BY FR GERRY McFLYNN
This year, the Irish Chaplaincy celebrates its 65th birthday. Set up by the Irish bishops as the Irish Emigrant Chaplaincy in a very different social, political and cultural climate, it continues today to provide an outreach service to some of the most vulnerable Irish people in Britain.
Since 1957, successive teams of priests, religious and lay people have worked tirelessly to live the challenge of the Gospel – walking alongside and being a voice for the thousands of emigrants who left Ireland in search for a better life in Britain. The story of their labours, and the problems and prejudices they experienced, are well documented in Patricia Kennedy’s excellent social history Welcoming the Stranger: Irish Migrant Welfare in Britain since 1957 (Irish Academic Press, 2015).
The rollcall of these dedicated people, throughout the decades, is a long one and it would be unfair to single out individuals. Suffice it to say that the continued success of the chaplaincy owes everything to the pioneering work of these people at a time when it was anything but ‘cool’ to be Irish in Britain.
OUTREACH
When I joined the chaplaincy team in the early 1990s, there were some ten diocesan priests working in the London area alone in places like Camden, Hammersmith and Lewisham. Today, the chaplaincy provides an outreach service to three main groups: prisoners, Travellers and elderly Irish people.
Of these, the prisoners’ project is the oldest, dating back to 1985. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, some members of the chaplaincy were concerned about the problems facing Irish prisoners in England and Wales, particularly in relation to their families at home in Ireland. As a result of this concern, the Irish Commission for Prisoners Overseas (ICPO) was set up in 1985, with former Irish President Mary McAleese one of its founding members.
Today, there are around 1,200 Irish nationals in custody worldwide with the majority (some 950-plus) in England and Wales, where they constitute one of the largest ethnic groups. Indeed, there is scarcely a prison in England and Wales which doesn’t have an Irish prisoner!
The ICPO – now known as the Irish Council for Prisoners Overseas – is based in north London. It has a full-time London prison visitor/ caseworker, a full-time caseworker, a manager and an administrative assistant. With more than 40 per cent of Irish prisoners coming from
a Traveller background, it works closely with the Traveller Equality Project. This project has done sterling work in recent years in bringing Traveller issues to the attention of the Prison Service. Travellers have a very difficult time in prison. Most Travellers are used to living outside in the open which makes the confinement of imprisonment particularly difficult to cope with. In addition, many of them have learning difficulties which can cause added obstacles when dealing with a system that Many of these people, who came to runs on paper. England in the 1950s and 60s in search of employment and a better life, today The ICPO’s work is greatly appreciated not only by the prisoners themselves and their lead lives of quiet desperation, living families but also by a wide range of alone, often without the social benefits to which they are entitled. caring agencies. At our 25th anniversary celebrations, President McAleese had this to say about our work: “Over the past 25 years, as many people turned away from prisoners and washed their hands of them, it was your unexpected and reliable hand of friendship which let them know that they had an innate dignity that no system could overwhelm and no act of their own could obliterate.”
CHANGING NEEDS
Another project of the chaplaincy is the Older Persons Project which provides a visiting and support service to the many housebound elderly Irish living in the London area. At the last national census in 2011, it was estimated that
there were some 20,000 elderly Irish living in the London area alone. Many of these people, who came to England in the 1950s and 60s in search of employment and a better life, today lead lives of quiet desperation, living alone, often without the social benefits to which they are entitled. To visit and spend time with them is to realise how lonely life can be for them. This project has a team of dedicated volunteers who visit these people, offering help and support and making life as comfortable and easy for them as possible.
Much has changed about the chaplaincy since those heady days in the 1960s when Irish emigrants were met at Euston Station in London by a team of priests, nuns and lay people waiting to help with accommodation and work. The number of people emigrating to England and Wales has declined dramatically in recent years and their needs have also changed. Today’s emigrants are more likely to be young and well educated, looking to better their employment prospects. Nonetheless, there are still enough people ‘not making it’ here, and the number of Irish people in prison has not decreased in recent years. That’s why the chaplaincy’s outreach programme is now confined to serving the needs of the three most vulnerable groups of immigrants: prisoners, Travellers and elderly Irish.
BEING PRESENT
From time to time, I am asked why we do this work when there are secular agencies available to provide the same service. The question inevitably leads to others about the nature of the service we provide, and what makes it different from other agencies engaged in similar work. Such questioning can prompt a useful and timely reflection on the motivation and
A gathering held in a prison, July 2019
spiritual roots of the chaplaincy’s work. One answer to these and related questions can be found in a rather unlikely place.
The Old Testament Book of Ezekiel quotes the prophet as saying: “I sat where they sat” (Ez 3:15). The line refers to the Babylonian captivity experienced by the Chosen People during one of the most traumatic episodes in their long history. The prophet believed that the best way he could help people was by being close to them and sharing in some way their sense of desolation and near despair.
In many ways it is an accurate description of our outreach work in the chaplaincy, where the service often involves sitting with people, whether it is in a prison cell, a home or a caravan. Sitting in a cell with a prisoner listening to his/her story and maybe offering practical help, even a word of hope and encouragement, can make such a difference. It is similar with elderly people, especially those living alone; what a difference a visit can make for them, just to know that there are people who value them and are willing to befriend them and help them. I recall one elderly recipient of our service saying: “I would have gone downhill without the chaplaincy. Now I’m enjoying life again and getting out.” In the case of Travellers, a muchmaligned group in society today, their culture and way of life need to be better understood and valued.
This quiet, often hidden work is greatly understated but hugely important. It makes me think that the ‘smaller’ miracles Jesus worked – the unrecorded words of encouragement and hope he spoke to people – were just as important as the more spectacular ones of restoring sight, healing the lame, even raising the dead. I think this is ultimately what we are all called to do in life: to help one another to find our rightful place in the rich tapestry of life. There is surely no greater calling. It’s what Dorothy Day termed the ‘Call to Service’. As always, it takes a poet to express it best:
And so I always bear the cup
If, haply, mine might be the drop
Some pilgrim thirst to slake. - Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
