Pilqrimage to Durham, Newcastle and Jarrow. May 2007
The Ascent Movement, Our Lady of Victories Group, Kensington.

At 9.30 in the morning of 30th April at King's Cross, five Ascent members, together with Fr.Perry, our parish priest, climbed aboard our train for Durham; our travelling companions were to be Wilfrid, Aidan, Cuthbert, Hilde, Bede and Basil Hume. By one o'clock we were in Durham, had checked into our hotel rooms (inspected the bathroom, the bed, the view from the window), set out and crossed the high footbridge over the river Wear, and were having lunch at an excellent cafe on the Cathedral Green.

Durham Cathedral is impressive from wherever one views it; it is huge, and could be overpowering, but instead is untroubled and enduring where it stands on its high rock peninsular surrounded ,by the river Wear. It is St.Cuthbert's own place, designed fa house his tomb, built from faith with human hands, stone - and mathematics.

On that first visit we were unaware of the mathematics, only of its h eight, width, solidity, and peace. Next morning we met with a remarkable woman, Lilian Groves, the chief Cathedral guide. She sat us down and gave us an introductory lecture. We hung on her words. We followed her like sheep. She was more than knowledgeable, enthusiastic and scholarly; she was passionately involved with "the most beautiful building in the world." We went with her to St.Cuthbert's tomb, where we prayed; to the quire and reredos; to the chapel of the Nine Altars;  to the Galilee Chapel and Bede's tomb. We saw the modern stained glass windows, and standing at the crossing we became dizzy looking upwards into the height of the tower. Finally - an unforeseen extra - she took us into 1~iat was originally the monks' dormitory and is now the library, and is used by theological students of the University. She liked us: we wanted to know, and we listened; and it seemed to matter to her that we were Catholics.

That afternoon we caught the train for the short journey to Newcastle. Again we checked into our hotel quickly (bed ­bathroom - view) and then walked th~ short distance to the Cathedral - to be met first by Cardinal Basil Hume, OSB, whose native city this is. He stands on his plinth looking down on the railway station and the traffic and the city and the river beyond and all around, not as a city father nor industrial benefactor, but from his origin as a monk to his eminence as a Cardinal Archbishop;' his presence seems to resonate with his city's past and its present vitality and renewal.

From Basil, we went to visit the Pauline Sisters in their bookshop. They are perfectly placed, adjacent to the Cathedral, on the street but joined with another excellent cafe which in turn opens on to the courtyard beside the Cathedral; all can be entered from a common vestibule.

Newcastle Cathedral is not large, but calm and wide with the sun shining in and a feeling of comfort; squarish, and full of the detail and colour you expect in a pugin building. There are some remarkable modern stained glass windows, in particular the Tyne Industrial Heritage Window by Joseph Nuttgens, which depicts the great variety of Newcastle's industrial achievement, done in unusual and unemphatic colour.

Our days were punctuated by good meals (the best cakes to be found anywhere seem to be in the North-east), and here the Pauline Sisters told us where to find a good Italian supper: Pinocchio's, close by; and here our Itali;:tn member's convers:lt..ion with our waiter (regarding his wife, children.
and family history) produced attentive service and liqueurs on the house.

Next day we went to Jarrow by minibus. Surprisingly,
the Bede museum, Bede's World, is housed in an extensive (modern) Roman villa, which proves to be a perfect exhibition space. Bede was centuries ahead of his time in some aspects of science: he knew that the world was round; he knew how the moon and tides functioned together. Knowledge of stained glass technique was brought here to Jarrow by Benedict Biscop in the 8th century. The whole exhibition deserved many return visits. Among the most engrossing exhibits was a model of the monastery and its surrounding buildings, the farm and the river, peopled by craftsmen, shepherds, trades­men, animals, and all the commerce of the river crossing.

We walked down the hill to the existing church, and the remains of the monastery where Bede spent virtually his whole life. From there you could see across the fields to the huge hull of a ship being built in the Jarrow shipyards; you could smell the sea.

As in any pilgrimage into the past through the present day, the old and the new become closely connected and of equal concern. We are part of a river of history, faith, and the human spirit; history seems more parallel than past. All is one. And within these perceptions we had our personal ones: the grace of shared company, of the Masses celebrated for us by Fr.Perry in a hotel room; books and souvenirs bought; the fine weather that followed us every day; the zest and vitality of the two unlike cities, Durham and Newcastle. As we left Newcastle we glimpsed from the train the Angel of the North, the great modern sculpture by Anthony Gormley, watching over the city from his hilltop.

One last word about Lilian Groves. After our tour, she oa:ne over to our table in the Cathedral restaurant for a final word and farewell. I think we would know her and greet her if we met her again anywhere in the world, whether it was Jarrow, or Jerusalem.

Priesthood

This is our God, the Servant King, He calls us now to follow Him, to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship to the Servant King

The first time I heard Graham Kendrick’s hymn “The Servant King” was at Fr Javier’s leaving Mass. I have a vague recollection of Anita introducing it at the recessional as his favourite hymn. As I joined in the singing and followed the lyrics, I realised how appropriate it was. Like him, the tune catches you immediately, enticing you to join in. As you sing along, the lyrics hold on to you till the last verse: So let us learn how to serve and in our lives enthrone him, each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we’re serving.

So it was with “The Servant King” that we started the third of our Lentern Station Masses on Tuesday 13th March, with Fr Tony Dwyer delivering a talk on Priesthood.

He spoke of how it is a privilege for a priest to share the experience of the sacraments, how wonderful it is to share the joyful moments. He spoke also of how it is most challenging to be a priest at those moments dominated by an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Yet in those moments when there is nothing that we can do and no words are appropriate, simply being there is important. As a priest, being called to act In Persona Christi or in the person of Christ, by being there, Christ is also present in those most difficult times.

Throughout his talk, Fr Tony talked of the priest being asked to model his life on the mystery of the cross, and to give generously of himself. He spoke of how we have come to know God through his Son, and how the priest is called to try and live out Christ’s total self-giving to his people. He is asked to make a total gift of self to the Church. This total self-giving, Fr Tony said, quoting Pope John Paul II, is more than just what priests do. It is this gift that is the manifest of Christ’s love. This self-giving is constantly challenging, and part of it is a commitment to lead a celibate life. But the challenges, Fr Tony says, is also a blessing. With celibacy there is not the comfort and the blessing of a wife and family, but with celibacy the priest can whole heartedly live to his commitment to give.

The priest also gives of himself as he spends time with the people. He is called to be the shepherd of his community, and to do so he needs to be a man of communion. He needs to be open to make relationships with everyone, not just those that are comfortable to be with. He needs to build unity within the parish, so that our communion in the community reflects the communion in the Eucharist.

So accepting to model his life on the mystery of the cross through a total giving of himself, the priest is invited to make Christ present through the sacraments and in a whole variety of everyday situations, and to be a man who builds and maintains unity in the parish community. And as he strives to imitate Christ so he nourishes and is nourished by the community he serves.

Afterwards, several others and I went to a pub and chatted. We spoke briefly of the talk and of priests who influenced us. Later still, I met with a friend who is going through a difficult time. As we sat and talked, and drank our wine when there were no words, I longed for the presence of Christ. As I reflect back now on Fr Tony’s talk I am reminded of the mystery of the cross, that wholly alien act of total self-giving for the service of others. Our priests, through modelling their lives on this mystery, make real the manifest of Christ’s love and bring to us His presence as the Servant King.

Cardinal Hume Centre Visit

On Thursday 9th March a group of parishioners made a visit to the Cardinal Hume Centre in Pimlico, the confirmation group visiting the weekend before. It being one of the rare beautiful spring mornings all the rain we have been having, I was really quite ambivalent about the idea of spending the morning there. The visit was organised as one of the things to do over Lent. I hadn't thought the morning would beso perfect, with clear blue sky and a crisp fresh air. The thought of not showing up was really quite appealing. Still I feel I need to turn up, not least because I had made the contact with the centre and with the other parishioners.

I got to the site early and ma de a quick circle around, knowing little more about the place than the blurb I read on their web site. The sit occupies a corner of Arneway Street and Horseferry Road, juxtaposed between offices and residential flats. The description said they focus on providing support for homeless people, and also for badly housed families in the local area. For some reason I had a vision of queues of people with down looking face dirty clothes. Stereotypical images which somehow crept into my subconscious and became fixed. I didn't see any queues of course. I proached the visit shamefully like my ten year old daughter's class when they went to visit Dr Barnado's Ragged School Museum in the East End, established in Victorian are for the underpriviledged children.

My daughter's went there dressed down and scrubbed dirty, full of ideas of Victorian deprivation, and completely missing the point - the children who went to the school there dressed their best, and scrubbed themselves clean, because they and the people who worked there believed in being able to do better. So when I walked through the door and met with Dov Whittle, a lively young man who works at the centre and has just returned from a trekking holiday in Nepal, I was all the more struck by the confidence and warmth of the place.

Dov had the ability to engage you immediately into the centre, merely by being there you begin to feel the confidence they must have about the work they do. More so, they engage you with a welcoming warmness that's uniquely personal. It's not like the welcome you get when you enter a top restaurant, something you expext because of a service you deserve, more like the welcome you give when you meet someone you want to share something with, deserved or not. Perhaps that warmness is the most striking feature of the place. Later, when we were shown parts of the residential hostel, one of the group asked about the importance of faith in the center. The replied summarised the atmosphere there. The centre is a place that is there for those who need it and whom the centre is well suited to support, regardless of faith or creed, deserved or undeserved. That spirit openness and service for all, the centre of our Christian faith, is something of which Cardinal Hume would be proud.

The site, Dov explained as he led us into the chapel, is a bit of a Tardis. My walk round had shown me it's reasonably sized, but nothing spectacular. We had come on a busy day, and all the room were occupied. Tardis seems to be the right description. The chapel certainly feels too large to be physically possible from the outside. The huge variety of activities and the number of people in it is simply incongruous with the calm and peacefulness given the physical size. Stefan Banach and Alfred Tarski managed to prove mathematically that you can take a solid ball, split it, and with a bit of mathematical sleight of hand rebuild it into two solid balls the same size as the original one. They seem to have done the same with the building. If the formula is up sale no doubt it would be used to turn more small, overpriced Kensington properties into a luxury apartmer multiplex, and probably still find room for that coveted communal square. At any time, the site functions as drop-in centre for young people, a medical unit, a residential hostel for over 30 youths with all the social service support attached, a training centre for English, computers and technology teaching, an internet point for the local community. and, as one of our group described, simply the best nursery you can imagine. There is even a separate hostel for people recovering from substance abuse.

The drop-in centre had about ten people in it at the time when we visited. It's a drop in centre, they go in to hang out. They have access to computers, to a music mixing room, and other resources. All the funtional units have their own entrances. The people there weren't doing much, seemed like a school common room and a social club. Dov recounted a story of someone who turned up there daily, was silent for a long while before eventually opening up her story of horrors to the workers there. In our cities today there really are very few places where you can go and spend time in peace, wthout the pressure to spend money you don't have on designer coffes and be moved on.

The next point of visit was the family centre for parents with pre-school children - the best nursery possible as one of the group described it. Despite being in the centre of Victoria, only down the road from Westminster Cathedral, many young families live in isolation, or in difficult circumstances, or simply be in a top floor flat that you can not easily manage with a baby and pram. The centre offers a place for them. There's a playground, activities for the children, tea, coffee for the adults. The idea is to allow the family groups to develop their own community, a support for each other.

On the way back through the building, we passed the drop-i n medical centre before going to the residential hostels. Th e medical centre is open full time, with two full-time doctors, a practice nurse, a mental health nurse, and cousellors. We were not able to go into the rooms as they were being used, but through the glass door you got the same impression as the rest of the centre, bright, very professional, and at the same time warm and welcoming.

The residential hostels is on the upper floors. There is capacity to house 32 youths there, who are there through referrals. Each are allowed to stay up to one year. Many are young people who have left home for various reasons, some are migrants. There is a care worker to every four residents. They help them to develop independence, prepare them with life skills, money skills, and sensible expectations of what is possible when they leave. During the day, as Gerry, one the workers there told us, there shouldn't be many of them in the place if they're doing their job right. Many would go to courses, to develop skills. At night, the place is a buzz. They do have rules, and on the rare occasions there are evictions. But what makes the place different is again that warmness, the pictures of the Christmas party or the planned trip to Thorp Park. Without knowing better one might imagine a version of Tracy Beaker's Dumping Ground, older and more serious, yet maintaining the same idea of community and support.

The English as a Second Language lessons were finishing as we were finishing the tour. The lessons were for anyone who needed it, most were adults from the local communities there. And we wound up back in the chapel to collect our things, and Dov answered our remaining questions. The visit turned out to have been a surprise. The obvious surprise is the positive energy of the place and the people there. We were all touched by the work that was done there, and more by the warmth and openess which characterises our faith. The more subtle surprise is that in giving up the lovely morning I managed to discover a much more enrichening experience, something that brings out the spirit of abstinence in Lent, the period of conversion to a new life. Like the Tardis, the sleight of hand, or the Banach-Tarski paradox, the simple abstinence opens up much more room in our lives for things that never fitted before, it opens to us a new life.

 

Amy is a dance student from Canada

Hello to everyone in the Parish! My name is Amy Meyers and I join you from Canada. I am here in London to study for my Masters while exploring the fabulous sights and experiencing all that London has to offer. The first Sunday that I attended Our Lady of Victories happened to be the last Mass that Fr. Javier celebrated……it was obvious to me that this was a special Parish as I witnessed the outpouring of love for Fr. Javier (I had never even met him and somehow I felt like I would miss him too).

Since my arrival I have joined the Young Adults group for spiritual growth as well as fellowship where I have been welcomed with open arms. I have also joined the St. Vincent de Paul group to continue the work that I have done with SVP in Victoria and Calgary. The St. Vincent de Paul Society is a worldwide charitable organization working to make a difference in the lives of the many suffering, lonely, and underprivileged (www.svp.org.uk). Some of you may already know how blessed Our Lady of Victories is to have such a dedicated group of SVP right here in the Parish. Please remember to keep the SVP in your prayers for the work they do, the people they serve, and also for the financial support necessary to continue this crucial ministry.

At times I miss my family and friends back home and so I am very grateful for my Parish family here in London. One of the beautiful things about our Catholic Faith is that we are part of a universal Catholic family….everywhere around the world, in different cultures and many languages, we are all together praising and thanking God for His everlasting love as we participate in the Holy Eucharist together as one family.

I look forward to meeting many more of you throughout the coming year!

God bless,

Amy