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Westminster Record | November 2016

Proclaim in Bethnal Green

Proclaim is alive and active in Bethnal Green as the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption has risen to the challenge and identified aspects of parish life to be improved. It is very much work in progress, but a good start has been made so far. Following the Westminster Proclaim ’15 conference, the parish formed an evangelisation team which meets monthly in the Priory. The three areas of parish life that have been identified for

improvement are prayer, outreach and children’s spiritual development. Currently, the team are exploring ways to improve the prayer life of the parish. Indeed, prayer is fundamental to the success of this initiative, as Bishop Williams pointed out in his keynote address at the inaugural conference in Birmingham. Parishioners were offered an opportunity to participate in

On Thursday 29th September Bishop John Sherrington and Fr. Dermot O’Neill from All Saints celebrated a Thanksgiving Mass for the 60th Anniversary of St Gregory’s Catholic Science College. It was a moving ceremony with film shown from the opening of the school in September 1956. Mayor Councillor Ahmed, Governors, Former Staff, Catholic Headteachers from Brent and Harrow, present staff and students were all united in expressing their gratitude for 60 years of Catholic education in Harrow. The Headteacher, Mr Andrew Prindiville spoke about when he was appointed in 2008 and found an old school log written by the founding Headteacher Follow us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/diocese.westminster

different kinds of prayer, e.g., Lectio Divina or the Rosary. A member of the evangelisation team offered her home as a place to host these prayer meetings and the invitation was gladly accepted by many. Further initiatives are in the pipeline. For example, a guided prayer retreat for busy people led by trained prayer guides, and a weekly Gospel reflection (for the following Sunday) between the Sunday Masses.

Inside the Hospice: Time Travel by Fr Peter Michael Scott The other day as I left the tube I heard a man with a microphone yell out ‘repent sinners, you cannot change the past’. My local tube station is a lively place. It tends to be the venue for preachers, singers, trumpet players and even the occasional dancing dog (called Ricky). As I walked away and mulled over his message I realised that I am a daily time traveller. Working in the hospice means I am privileged to hear the most amazing memories. Sometimes I might accompany a patient as they remember what happened to them last week, or I might be walking with them as they remember the blitz, the swinging sixties or being a new romantic in the 1980s. All my journeys into the past tend to be about regrets, failures or sins. Patients allow me the chance to time travel because they desperately want to feel God’s mercy acknowledge and heal their misdemeanours. True, you

John Drum. His entry for the first day reads: The school opened today with 218 pupils and 11 members of staff, in addition to the Headmaster. The school is in a partially finished condition. The builders have made over to us nine rooms in which classes can be carried on. The life of the school centres on the top corridor. School lunches were brought in by container, from Fryent school and were served in the laboratory and in the Art room. This arrangement will probably continue for some months. The middle corridor is unpainted and the ground floor almost entirely unplastered. There are no playgrounds and the children are escorted to and from Woodcock Park at morning and afternoon break and after dinner. The playgrounds are to be finished after Christmas. The children assembled in the Hall and the Headmaster made an address. The Reverend Fr. J Williams, Clerk to the School Governors and Parish Priest of Kenton spoke from the platform and gave his blessing on the children, the staff and the school. The list of forms was read out and the children proceeded to the form rooms, in the charge of the appropriate form teachers. The first lesson Religious Knowledge commenced at 9.45am. The children are keenly interested in their new school and enjoy the unusual conditions which are created by the unfinished condition of the building. The children made a very good impression on staff and Headmaster. Clearly many things have changed in the six decades that have passed since the school opened. However when the school opened in 1956, its objectives were to educate pupils and improve their life chances. Those are simple aims, but what Follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/RCWestminster

cannot change the past, but you can repent, say sorry and allow yourself to forget. Over the past year I have been struck by a very profound characteristic that most patients share – they are all excellent listeners. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis says: ‘We need to practise the art of listening, which is more than simply hearing. Listening...is an openness of heart.’ Hospice patients often display a breadth of self-awareness and openness of heart which is breathtaking. They readily time travel, repent, and hungrily desire God’s mercy and love. So in these last few days of the Year of Mercy, do not forget to go to your parish church and enter the confessional as if it is Dr Who’s Tardis and allow yourself to time travel, ready to encounter the God of love who is in every age. Please pray for the patients, staff and volunteers of St Joseph’s Hospice.

wholehearted rewards they imply! And the school has continued on that same enriching path, through all of the decades since; as we have endeavoured to live out on the daily basis our mission statement: PRODEO For God the best and the greatest! After the Thanksgiving mass, the afternoon closed with a buﬀet in St Catherine of Siena Sixth Form Centre. A wonderful celebration of 60 years!

St Gregory’s Catholic Science College Headteacher: Mr A Prindiville Donnington Road, Kenton, Harrow, Middlesex, HA3 0NB. T: 020 8907 8828. E: schooloﬃce@stgregorys.harrow.sch.uk