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Latest Summary News - 2011
In the midst of the regular pace of day to day life there are
always certain highlights. These are some of the more special things that
have been happening for us recently. (Click on the photos for larger
images)
February 4, 2012
The year end
Christmas was a joyful celebration. Mark and
Ton attended the carol service
in the Church of England before the three of us concelebrated with our own
parish priest in the Catholic Church. Christmas dinner- it has become a
tradition!- took place once more in Wappenbury, where six of us gathered to
celebrate the joy of God-with-us.
After Christmas Con and Mark went to Dublin
and Belgium respectively to celebrate the New Year with their relatives and
friends. Ton stayed behind in Birmingham to hold the fort and do some work
on papers he was supposed to write. A bad cold disturbed his concentration
but he managed to do some work.
Carl
In the first week of January Carl stayed with
us for two nights. He had flown in from Rome to Bristol, visited his parents
in Devon and managed to spend one full day with us in Birmingham. It was
very pleasant to see him again and hear him share his experiences.
Afterwards Ton went for a few days to Cambridge to visit a friend and enjoy
the exquisite centre of that beautiful town.
 On
January 8 Con and Ton attended the farewell party of Jenny Arnold, the
associate vicar of the parish of Aston and Nechells, Church of England. She
will be the next Rector of Christ Church, Quinton. Jenny was the prime mover
behind the Food Bank, in which Con is very much involved and which seemed to
be picking up more customers lately. A replacement for Jenny has been
announced but he will not arrive before July 2012.
Mark came back from Belgium on January 10,
just in time for the meeting of Aston Voice Residents Association, which is
still struggling to attract a good number of people. We are not the only
neighbourhood association faced with this problem. In Newtown and Lozells,
attendance is not much better. The exception seems to be the Perry-Aston
neighbourhood Association to the north of us, which has been in existence
for a long time.
Meetings
We had our other regular meetings: Con and
the Foodbank, Ton the St James Advisory Centre and Mark his many meetings in
his capacity as community champion of Tesco. We had a community meeting,
just the three of us, on January 17. We need those meetings on our own just
to sit back and pause for a while reflecting on what is happening and on
what we are doing.
Afterwards Ton went to the Netherlands for a
week having medical examinations in connection with the renewal of his
driver licence.
 He
missed the session of Restore, which Con attended, about CV writing for job
seekers, in particular refugees. On February 2 Mark and Ton attended a
one-day seminar on Engaging with Muslims, organised by the Christian-Muslim
Forum. Con was supposed to attend as well, but not feeling very well he
spent the day in bed hoping he could still leave for Dublin the next day,
which he did.
Mark continues his fundraising activities for
the Alzheimer Society. He had another Motown event in the Irish Centre on
February 4. He came back very pleased both with the attendance and the
collection.
Friday 23 December
The Aston Voice Residence Association (AVRA)
met again on the 22th of November. The important decisionwas made to ratify
the draft constitution and to postpone the election of officials until next
year. The committee that had prepared the meetings so far would continue to
do so. We also decided to have a fixed day for our monthly meetings,
starting in February 2012. It was hoped that this will improve the low
attendance.
 Interfaith
Week
Con and Ton took part in the Faith Walk
organised by the Broadway School, the biggest secondary school in Aston. Con
had arrived that morning from Dublin and was up and around again after only
a few hours sleep. Mark was supposed to participate in the walk as well, but
a migraine attack kept him at home. It was the second time that the Faith
Walk took place and the organisation had learned from experience. There were
less places to visit than last year and we had therefore more time to spend
in each place of worship. We visited a mosque and a Christian church in
Aston, a Hindu temple in Handsworth and a Sikh temple in Lozells. Hindus and
Sikhs are few in Aston and they do not have their own places of worship.
After a simple lunch of sandwiches there was a panel discussion in the
afternoon in which Con took place. A question was asked about the singing in
Christian churches and Con explained that Christianity is a joyful religion
and that the singing is an expression of that joy.
We went back to the Broadway School on
December 7, this time the three of us. The occasion was the official opening
of the new school building by the Duke of Kent.
 We
had to be early for security reasons and while waiting for the royal guest
to arrive, the School made use of the opportunity to show the progress the
School had made during the past few years and which was acknowledged by
Ofsted. In addition groups of students performed pieces of music and drama
and even demonstrated judo throws.
The Interfaith Week (November 21-27) was not
only celebrated by the Faith Walk. Con attended a conference in Moseley
about ‘Faith in Politics’ and Ton atttended the annual conference of the
Wolverhampton Inter-Faith and Regeneration Network. The theme of the
conference was: ‘Can the Big Society deliver social justice?’.
 In
the meantime Mark as community champion of Tesco kept himself busy with his
fundraising activities for the Alzheimer Society. There was another Motown
in the Irish Centre on November 25 and during the month of December various
collections took place in the Tesco store itself. At one such an occasion
Mark dressed up as Aladdin to give the fundraising campaign a more playful
appearance.
Advent
In preparation for Christmas Con prepared
four reflections on the theme of ‘waiting’ to be conducted with parishioners
on Monday evenings. The reflections explored ‘waiting’ from different
perspectives, that of our own and that of biblical personages, like Mary,
Joseph and the Magi. Mark did one of the reflections as Con and Ton
atttended the first of a series of meetings about gainful employment for
refugees.Unfortunately, the Advent reflections were no success in terms of
attendance, as only a handful of people showed up at each session.
More successful were the School Assemblies in
which Con was involved as well, taking the place of Mark who had done so in
the previous years. The School Assemblies attempt to explain to pupils of
primary schools in Aston and Nechells what Christmas means to Christians.
The chosen way to do so is by means of a short play especially written for
this purpose each year. The School Assemblies were held in eight schools
for overwhelmingly Muslim children.
MSC
On December 6 the three of us held a
community meeting in the morning. The purpose was to have a look at our
Mission in Aston and how to carry it out in the changing situation of Aston
and that of our community as Con has taken the place of Carl. We confirmed
that our Mission, however difficult, is an important one and we will
continue to carry it out in the new composition
On December 9 six of us gathered in Aston for
the annual celebration of our Foundation Day (1854). Until this year these
celebrations had always been held in Tamworth but since the parish was
given back to the Diocese of Birmingham we had to look for another place.
Ton was the chef of the day and prepared a meal that was greatly
appreciated.
We had another guest on December 14, a
Catholic student from Bangladesh, quite unusual for that Muslim country. It
was a return visit, she having invited us to her place some time ago. It was
Mark who prepared the meal and to judge by the leftovers he did very well.
Christmas
As they do every year the Sacred Heart
Primary School performed a nativity play, which Ton attended. It is amazing
how the teachers get the infants to sing and perform so well. They also sang
Christmas carolls in our Catholic church and for fundraising purposes both
in Tesco and in the One-Stop Shopping Centre. The collection was for the
homeless in Birmingham.
We attended at least three Christmas dinners
before December 25 and were busy for days writing Christmas cards to family,
friends and fellow MSC. We hope we did not forget anyone as we tell
ourselves time and again that ours is a mission of inclusivity, not leaving
anyone out. So please feel included as we wish you a Merry Christmas, in
the spirit of joy of Christmas, and many blessings in the Year to come.
Tuesday 22 November
 Intercultural
Mass
The second half of October was a busy time.
We had a visitor from Ireland, Siobhón who stayed with us for two days. She
is a friend of Con, whom he got to know from his days in the retreat centre
Grace Dieu in Waterford.
On October 22 Mark and Ton attended the
Intercultural Mass at St. Catherine’s Church in Bristol Road. This year it
was Archbishop Longley who presided at the Mass. As usual the church was
full with worshippers from every colour and culture, who all played their
musical or dancing part in the liturgical celebration. After the Mass the
lively celebration continued in the sharing of food and drink.
Cordate Community
On October 25 we had our Community Day,
meaning that we took time out for building our own community, Carl no longer
being there and having been replaced by Con. In the morning we told each
other our life stories and in the afternoon we discussed practical matters,
including the budget for 2012. The day left us optimistic. We are confident
that the three of us will form a true community living and working together
well.
During the rest of the week each one of us
had his own activities. Ton attended a meeting of Disc, a support group for
carers, especially for those who attend to relatives or friends who suffer
from various kinds of dementia. Mark had his Motown in the Irish Centre on
Friday. It was part of his work as Community
Champion of Tesco. The charity they sponsor this year is the Alzheimer
Society.
Mark had another event organised on their
behalf, an Irish night on November 11, which was much more successful than
the Motown.
Foodbank
On Saturday, October 29, Con attended a
training for Foodbank volunteers. The Foodbank is an initiative of Aston
Churches Together, with as primary mover Referend Jenny Arnold of the Church
of England. The project involves asking supermarket customers to donate
non-perishable foodstuffs for needy families. The foodstuffs are kept at a
secure storeroom and distributed as the need arises. Mark managed to get his
Tesco to allow Foodbank volunteers to ask for donations.
After the training Con left for Dublin by
coach to attend to his mother who was hospitalised for reasons that were not
immediately known and remained somewhat unclear. Con stayed with her for
nearly two weeks, returned to Birmingham for a number of days and left again
for Dublin. Thank God his mother has left the hospital in the meantime and
is home again trying to cope with her anxious experience.
On that same Saturday of October 29 Mark went
to Kirkby where he said two Masses, helping out Fintan O’Driscoll MSC. On
the next day he passed by at Michael O’Rourke’s house in Liverpool. Michael
was about to leave for Australia to start his second noviciate, his first
attempt in Ireland not being completed unfortunately because of illness.
Demonstration
Ton went that afternoon to the city centre
where both the EDL (English Defence League) and the UAF (Unite Against
Fascism) held separate rallies. Police were everywhere and thanks to their
massive presence the competing groups were kept apart. Faith leaders had
called for calm as had the Birmingham Citizens, an umbrella organisation
across faith groups, which regrettably does not seem to be strong in this
city.
On November 3 Ton attended an open meeting of
Restore, the refugees support group of Birmingham Churches Together. The
meeting was about helping refugees into work. Asylum seekers are still
denied the right of work, but those who have received their indefinite leave
to remain find it difficult to find employment. Jobs are scarce in the
West-Midlands and in addition refugees face peculiar problems of their own,
one of them being that they lack experience having been out of work for the
time that they were asylum seekers.
November 6 was Eid-Ul-Adha, the festival of
sacrifice, on which Muslims celebrate Ibrahim’s (Abraham’s) sacrifice of his
son substituted at the last moment by a ram. As usual we bought greeting
cards and took them to our Muslim neighbours.
MSC events
Carl spent the night with us on November 9.
The next morning he went back to Princethorpe to pack his things in order to
leave for Rome on following day. His Italian course is due to start on
Monday, November 14. During the duration of the course he will stay at the
house of the Italian MSC on Piazza Navona, perhaps the most beautiful square
in Rome.
Carl had been the superior of our small
community and it became necessary to appoint somebody else in his place. For
that purpose Alan Whelan and Dave Nixon, members of the provincial council
of the Irish MSC Province came to our house on November 12. It was not
difficult to agree on a new superior. In spite of the fact that Con had
recently arrived we elected him to be the next leader of the Cordate
Community.
 Justice
and Peace and the Integrity of Creation (JPIC) is an essential part of our
presence in Aston. Mark and Ton attended a meeting in St Albans of the MSC
JPIC. Scott of the Catholic Worker movement gave a challenging talk about
radical Christian discipleship, contrasting the Works of Mercy with the
Works of War. It is humbling to be in the presence of someone who does not
just preach but puts his body on the line. For more about the Catholic
Worker see
www.thecatholicworkerfarm.org
Friday 14th October
 General Chapter
In the early days of September Carl and
Ton went their separate ways to Spain to attend the General Chapter of the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in El Escorial, near Madrid, where King
Philip II had his mighty palace. Carl went there as a representative of the
Irish MSC Province and Ton of the Dutch MSC Province. During the Chapter,
Carl was chosen as a member of the international leadership of the
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, which means that he will no longer take up
his post as vice-provincial of the Irish Province in Dublin, but that he
will move to Rome where the overall headquarters of the MSC is located. It
will be a big challenge for him working much more on a global scale than he
would have as vice-provincial, producing in him the mixed feelings of
anxiety and excitement.
Carl and Ton were absent for 3-4 weeks,
leaving Mark on his own in Aston. Fortunately, his relatives and friends in
Belgium, showed their concern by joining him at least part of the time, in
so far as his job in Tesco and his other commitments allowed. Mark said
weekend Masses in Perry Common and helped in the organisation of the third
meeting of the Aston Voice Residents’ Association. The attendance, as
expected, was less than the second time, but enough to continue planning for
a fourth meeting.
Celebrations
 After the General Chapter Ton went for a
week of celebrations to the Netherlands, where he celebrated his 50 years as
a religious, first together with his confreres and then with his relatives.
He had two other celebrations as well, the robin anniversary of one his
sister’s marriage and a large family reunion organised by nephews and
nieces.
The celebratory mood did not change
after his return to Aston. This time the celebrations focused on Carl and
his departure for Rome. On October 9 Carl presided at the 10:30 Mass in the
Roman Catholic parish church, followed by a lunch party at the Sacred Heart
Primary School. The party came as a surprise to him as the conspiratorial
parishioners proved capable to keep a secret, even though hundreds of people
were in the know. The big party was followed in the following days by
smaller parties in houses of friends who invited Carl and his community to a
farewell dinner. For Con, the newly arrived member of the Cordate
community, who takes the place of Carl, it was a highly pleasant
introduction to his life in Aston, even though not exactly indicative of
what it is going to be.
Christian Muslim Forum
 On Tuesday the 11th of October Con and Mark attended a day in Leeds
organised by the Christian Muslim Forum entitled Christian Engagement with
Islam: Context and Developments in England. The day was designed as an
introduction to the area of Christian/Muslim dialogue and as such it was
very helpful to Con who is just settling into Aston and beginning to learn
something of the complex tapestry that makes up the people of Aston. Mark
also found it helpful for making new contacts some outside Aston and some
within.
The day consisted of some input sessions with questions and some workshops.
Bishop Tom Butler remarked on the developments in Christian Muslim relations
over the last 40 years. Helen Reid pointed out where England’s Muslims have
come from and the importance of understanding their differing cultures of
origin. The onerous task of outlining the varied responses of the Christian
Churches to Islam in England fell to Richard McCallum. We got practical
insights into what Christian Muslim dialogue actually looks like from Phil
Lewis and Anjum Anwar. Finally, we reflected on ten guiding principles of
Christian Muslim interaction with Julin Bond and Ibrahim Mogra.
It is impossible to distil all these varied inputs into a line or two but
one very important thread was that Christian Muslim dialogue creates a safe
place where unsafe questions can be addressed. It is not about agreeing on
everything but it is about disagreeing as friends. We have to live on this
island, this world together, we are different, but we must find a way of
discovering what we have in common so that we can respectfully disagree as
well.
There were four workshops. One was on social action, another on women in
interfaith dialogue, a third looked more closely on the English context and
finally the political and international aspects were discussed. Mark
attended the workshop on social action and Con the one on women in
interfaith dialogue. The role of Mary seems to be a bridge between
Christianity and Islam, especially for women. Muslim women are very powerful
in their homes and local communities and can form powerful links with
Christian women.
This is just a very short synopsis of a powerful day. If you were interested
in further reading we could recommend Between Naivety and Hostility by Steve
Bell and Colin Chapman (Authentic 2011)
Other developments
An absence of a month is not good for
the continuation of previous activities. Ton experienced this with his
English classes both for Bangladeshi men and Eritrean women. It is not easy
to contact learners with limited English abilities. Misunderstandings can
easily happen and people may have found what they are looking for somewhere
else or give up altogether on learning a difficult new language. As of now
it is not clear whether classes will continue in one form or another.
Ton has been appointed officially to the
Diocesan Commission for Interreligious Dialogue. What it meant so far is
that he has been added to a new network with many e-mails coming his way.
Ton attended a few meetings as well: the meeting of the deanery where the
topic of restructuring of the diocese received much attention and another
one about the destitution of asylum seekers. It was shown that the
treatment of asylum seekers often is inhumane and that it does not work as a
deterrent. One action called for was that asylum seekers be given the right
to work, so that their skills do not get lost and they experience the
dignity of earning their own living.
Cordate Community
The four of us had a meeting with Sister
Breda Noonan, a Columban sister who has been our mentor in the past,
especially during our early days in Aston. She came back this time to help
us to cope with the new situation that has arisen due to the impending
departure of Carl and the arrival of Con. It is important to think and feel
through the ending of one phase and the beginning of a new one. This work
will continue in the month ahead.
Friday 26th August
Riots
By far the most important news is the
two-days rioting in Birmingham, sadly resulting in the deaths of three young
men in Winson Green on August 10. They defended the neighbourhood shops
against looting, when a car drove in on them and mercilessly mowed them
down. It could have been the beginning of even more serious disturbances, if
not for Tariq Jahan, the father of one of those killed, who made an
impressive plea that "No one else must die". By speaking out courageously he
prevented singlehandedly a deterioration of the riots into revenge killings
and racial clashes.
Aston luckily escaped the worst of the riots
(see the blog of Ton), but the Thai managers of our favourite pub in Newtown
got the scare of their lives. Rioters smashed several windows of the
beautiful Victorian pub, helped themselves to drinks and attempted arson. It
was only the arrival of the police that prevented worse to happen. The pub
has been repaired by now, but that was not yet the case when the parents of
Carl visited us on August 10-12 and so we went somewhere else for eating
out. Luckily for Carl and his father the cricket test match between England
and India was not affected by the riots at all and they enjoyed a tremendous
day in Edgbaston seeing the English team come out on top.
 Peace
rally
Mark and Ton attended a peace rally in
Summerfield Park on August 14. Tariq Jahan was one of the speakers and he
spoke in the same vein as he had done at the heights of the riots. "It is
Ramadan and we, Muslims believe that during Ramadan the heavens are open and
hell is closed." His son and the two brothers who were killed with him died
during Ramadan and he firmly believed they were in paradise. He asked the crowd
of about 3000 people to remember them always so that they would not have
died in vain.
Apart from Tariq Jahan there were many other
speakers from the different faith communities in Birmingham, from young
people, the Police and from City Councillors. They all called for unity,
mutual respect and for turning the tragedy into an opportunity for closer
togetherness.
Holidays
July and August were the holiday months for
both Mark (July 20-August 7) and Carl (August 10-23). It was also the time
of much supply work as many parish priests took some weekends off. We were
in Kingstanding and Quinton, Wappenbury and Perry Barr, Balsall Heath and
Nechells. We had even more requests than we could handle.
On August 25 the members of the senior
citizens club had lunch at our house. During school days we have lunch
together once a week at the Sacred Heart Primary School. The dinner ladies
prepare the meal and pupils serve it to the seniors. During summer we take
over this role, at least for one meal, a gesture which has become a much
appreciated tradition by now.
 New Member
It is official
now: Con O’Connell will replace
Carl Tranter as a member of the Cordate
CommIunity. Con belongs
currently to the parish team of Tamworth, the parish that is to be returned
to the Diocese of Birmingham at the end of August. After some time off, Con
is expected to move to Aston towards the end of September.
Novices
On June 19-20 the four European MSC novices
together with their novice master, Tom Mulcahy, visited Aston. Unfortunately
Michael O’Rourke could not stay for the whole vis it as he was seeking a cure
for his back ailment in his hometown Liverpool, it being difficult for him
to get a timely operation in Cork, Ireland, where the noviciate is located.
The other novices, two from Italy and one from Germany were treated
not only
to a copious meal prepared by Mark but also to a presentation of the Aston
mission and a walk around the neighbourhood. We trust it was the right
combination between seriousness and pleasure.
Travels
Mark left for Belgium on June 22. His uncle,
who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, had as one of his last wishes
that he could see Mark once more, the two having been close throughout their
lives. The encounter was emotional but it did both of them a lot of good.
While Mark was over in Belgium his mother was hospitalised as well. So Mark
extended his stay until his mother was out of danger and he came only back
to Birmingham on July 5. His uncle was still alive at that time but he died
not long afterwards.
In the meantime Carl had been to Rome. He
left on June 26 and his was an unlucky journey, at least the end of it. The
bus he was advised to take in order to get to the MSC house in Rome did not
ply its route on Sunday, as he found out after waiting in vain. Even worse,
his luggage got lost and was only delivered to him on the day before he left
again for Birmingham. Carl needed all his concentration to do the job for
which he went to Rome in the first place: the preparation of the General
Chapter of the MSC, which will be held in Madrid later in the year.
Festivities
Sunday, June 26, was First Communion Day in
the RC parish of Aston. It is a sign of the changing population of our
neighbourhood that all eight children were born of migrant parents. Two of
the children are close to us, one from a Sri Lanka family and the other, our
neighbour, from the Gambia. A first communion is a big affair in the Gambia
and our neighbours held on to this tradition by hiring Ruskin’s Hall for a
huge party, to which family and friends from all over England were invited.
It was a true African celebration.
Monday and Tuesday, June 26 and 27, Aston saw
the invasion of two times 48 000 fans of Take That, a well-known vocal pop
group. For more about these concerts see the blog of Ton.
July 1 was the Feast of the Sacred Heart. It
was a quiet day for Ton who happened to be on his own in Aston, Carl and
Mark still being away. He just joined the parish priest for Mass in the
Sacred Heart church on the day itself, while the community celebration took
place on July 10, when also Alan Whelan and Con O’Connell joined us for
supper. Con brought already some boxes of personal belongings anticipating
his move to Aston in September.
 Ton
celebrated his 69th birthday on July 4. His birthday coincided with the
arrival of André Claessens, the Belgian provincial, who stayed with us for a
short holiday. We went out for supper to the city centre. The next day we
showed André around Birmingham, in particular the canals, the ways of
transport during the industrial revolution, which have been repaired and
cleaned up and are now for tourists and vacationers.
On July 6, Carl went to Cork for the
celebration of the MSC jubilees in Cork. He came back almost immediately on
Friday.
Activities
On July 9 Ton attended a seminar about
immigration which was held in the Holy Trinity Church, which belongs to the
Church of England. The seminar was organised by a group of Jamaican
migrants. For more about it see Ton’s blog.
On July 13 Ton went to the Hamza Mosque in
Mosely, where an Interfaith meeting took place. The participants came from
nine different religions. Some of them had been asked to share what their
particular faith meant to them, so that the others may understand better how
faiths are actually lived. After each sharing a prayerful silence was
observed to in an attempt to absorb what had been said.
All three of us attended the farewell mass in
Tamworth, on July 16, presided over by the archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard
Longley, and assisted by his auxiliary, David McGough, the MSC provincial,
Pat Courtney, and John Finn, the parish priest. The Mass lasted for two
hours but did not feel to have taken that long. There was much appreciation
for what the MSC’s had done in the parish for 36 years, not just in the
words said during the Mass but also afterwards in the get-together in the
parish club.
On July 19 we made our second attempt to get
a neighbourhood association going. After the very small turn-out the first
time, we did not dare to expect a much bigger attendance at our second
attempt, but over 20 people showed up and we had a few apologies as well.
This second meeting was not just a relief to the organising committee but
much more: a great encouragement to continue the good work.
-
Wednesday 15th June
Up to now Carl has been the reporter of this
news column. As the first news item will make clear he is no longer in a
position to continue this service. Ton will take over and is presently
learning with the help of Carl how to maintain the website.
Deputy Provincial
 The
most important piece of news has been the announcement on June 10 that Carl
has accepted the role of Deputy Provincial of the Irish MSC Province. It
means that in the latter part of the year he will move to Dublin, as his new
function is a full-time engagement. Carl publicly announced his new
assignment during the Sunday Mass of Pentecost. To his surprise the
announcement was greeted by applause, but it is fair to say that some tears
followed as well.
Irish Chapter
Carl’s new role is an offshoot of the Irish
Chapter which took place in Waterford, Ireland, from May 9-20. It was
during this Chapter that Carl was elected 1st councillor of the new
provincial leadership team. Joe McGee, the provincial elect, asked Carl
subsequently to become his deputy. Of course, a Chapter is much more than an
election. It is a prayerful evaluation of how matters stand in the province
as a whole, including the work being done in South-Africa, Venezuela, U.S.A.
and Russia, and how to cope with the changes that are taking place. For
more about the Chapter, please follow the link to the
Irish Province.
Liverpool
The three of us attended the farewell Mass at
the Liverpool parish of St Albert’s. After 45 years of service the MSC
returns the parish to the Diocese. It was the more painful, as the
MSC founded the parish in 1966.
Absences
Ton and Mark have been away as well. Mark
went to Belgium for a few days to attend the confirmation of his nephew and
Ton went to Rome for a whole week as a member of the Financial Advisory
Board. Because of the absences, also of Carl in Dublin, both Mark and Ton
spent a few days in Aston on their own.
Faith Leaders’ Forum and Residents
Association
At May 10 a core group of the Aston
Multifaith Forum was supposed to meet at the Fire Station, which allows
community meetings on its premises. Fourteen people in all had received the
invitation, but only three showed up and none of them was a mosque leader.
Some mosque leaders sent their apologies, as they have done in the past.
Since the group has great difficulty to meet, it is necessary to pause for a
while and to rethink the establishment of the Forum.
The core group of the Aston Voice Residents’
Association did better and managed to meet on May 26. The meeting took place
in our house and it accomplished a lot. We decided to print flyers and
bring them around in the area proposed for the new Residents’ Association.
More than 1,400 flyers were distributed in a door-to-door campaign.
Unfortunately, the efforts of the core group did not bring the result we
hoped for: on June 6, the day of the first Residents’ Association’s
Assembly, only three other people were there apart from the core group. A
fourth person called later expressing her regret of not having been able to
attend. However, with this small group we will continue and see how
personal contacts may make a change.
Tesco Motown & Soul Night
Mark, as community champion of Tesco, has
been busy for weeks, together with a colleague, in organising a fund-raising
event for the British Alzheimer Society. The event, which was called Tesco
Motown & Soul Night, took place at the Irish Centre in Birmingham on the
evening of June 10 and lasted until the small hours of June 11. More than
200 people bought the tickets which gave them access to the Centre and over
£2000 was raised for the Alzheimer Society. The amount is likely to grow as
not all money has been counted yet. In all respects the event was a great
success.
JPIC
 The
following morning, in spite of his lack of sleep, Mark showed up for the
Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) meeting which took place
in Tamworth. Also Carl and Ton were there, as well as lay representatives
from the MSC parishes of St. Albans and Tamworth in England and of Cork in
Ireland. The MSC was further represented by Alan Neville and Liam O’Brien
from Dublin and Con O’Connell from Tamworth. Moreover it was Diarmuid
ÓMurchú who facilitated the meeting. The JPIC theme we had chosen for this
year was homelessness. We shared what we had tried to do and supported one
another in working for justice and peace, a work that may easily lead to
discouragement because of the enormity of the problems.
ESOL
Ton has started with English classes again in
the undercroft of the Catholic Church. In January we had decided to close
our drop-in centre for lack of visitors. The English classes for Eritrean
women that began last week, is a way to make a restart. Three women have so
far showed up and they asked for more than just one afternoon, on Thursdays,
so it was agreed to include the Monday afternoons as well.
- Friday 6th May
It has been over a month since our last update to this page,
due principally to all the activity before Easter and a bit of holiday
afterwards! So as May begins lets bring the page up to date. Space won’t
allow for a blow-by-blow account, but here are some of the more significant
things that have happened over the last six weeks.
Friday Lenten Gospel reflections
These continued each Friday of Lent in the Undercroft of
Sacred Heart Church with a really lovely group of between 10 and 15 people.
Carl and Mark led the sessions. Each Friday the group read, studied, shared
and reflected on the following Sunday’s Gospel reading – the powerful
catechumenal Gospels for Lent from Cycle A. Everyone who attended
appreciated the evenings and it was agreed that similar sessions would be
organised later in the year.
School Lenten Assemblies
After several weeks of writing and rehearsing Mark, together
with a team from many of the Christian Churches in Aston, performed a drama
telling the Easter story in all eight of the Primary Schools of the
neighbourhood. This has been a tradition for some years now, but this is
the first year that the team has been invited into all of the schools. The
drama was very well received. It is a great way to share the Easter story
with the local population, the majority of whom are Muslim.
Good Friday Walk of Witness
 As
we have done in each of the previous years since we have been here in Aston,
we joined again in the Good Friday Walk of Witness. This year the walk was
organised on behalf of Aston Churches Together by Ton. Over 100 people from
many of the Christian Churches in Aston gathered at the United Reformed
Church for the opening prayer. From there we walked a two-hour route which
took us to the Baptist Church, the Church of God of Prophecy, Sacred Heart
Catholic Church, the local Gospel Hall and finished at St James Anglican
Church. Outside each Church one of the ministers from another Church did a
reading from St John’s passion narrative and preached for five minutes or
so. After a time of prayer and a hymn the walk continued to the next
station. The weather was glorious and we were very well received by the
people of the neighbourhood as we walked the streets with a large cross and
Aston Churches Together banners. Ton has written about the Walk of Witness
in his latest Blog entry.
Baptismal Catechesis and Easter Baptism
 We
reported last time that Carl had been giving baptismal catechesis to Nirosha,
a Buddhist refugee from Sri Lanka whom he has been supporting for the last
three years. The preparation continued in a more intense way throughout
Lent. On the First Sunday of Lent Carl accompanied her to the Cathedral for
the Rite of Election together with hundreds from across the diocese who
would be baptised or received into the Church at Easter. On the remaining
Sundays in the parish mass Fr Peter Jones (the Parish Priest) celebrated the
Scrutinies and Presentations of the Lord’s Prayer and Creed. Finally, at
the Easter Vigil, she was baptised together with her two youngest children,
then confirmed and received her First Holy Communion in a wonderfully joyous
celebration. Afterwards, many of the congregation came down into the
Undercroft of the Church to celebrate with her and her family. Her two
youngest children are in the local Catholic Primary School and will
celebrate the Sacraments of First Holy Communion and Confirmation with their
classmates in due course. Her husband (now deceased) was a Catholic and the
two eldest children had been baptised when they were infants. We continue
to pray for Nirosha and all her family, now united in the Catholic faith,
that they may find a home not only in the UK, but in Christ and in the
parish community here in Aston.
The future of the Cordate Community - Carl attends a meeting
of European MSC Provincials
 At
the end of March Carl travelled to Rome for the annual meeting of the MSC
European Provincials’ Conference (PEC). Carl is the permanent secretary of
the Conference but also each year gives an update on the Cordate Community,
which is a project of all eight European Provinces. This year the
Provincials had been presented with a report following the evaluation of our
project which was carried out during 2010. The report was very positive and
recommended the continuation of the Project into the future. The
Provincials were in agreement that it was indeed desirable that the Cordate
mission in Aston continues. However, this is a year of Provincial Chapters
and the General Chapter which will be held in Madrid in September. These
are occasions for major decision-making in the life of the Congregation and
occur every six years. Personnel in our European Provinces are becoming
thinner on the ground and there are always pressures to find MSCs to
undertake various ministries. It was agreed to suspend making concrete
decisions about the future of the Cordate Community until the end of the
General Chapter in Madrid, when the eight newly elected European Provincials
will be in a better position to plan for the next six years. So we continue
to wait and hope and pray that the mission here in Aston can indeed continue
for several years to come.
Ton attends the Dutch Provincial Chapter
While Carl was in Rome for the PEC meeting Ton was in
Holland, first for a few days holiday with his family, then to attend the
Dutch Provincial Chapter. He reports that it was a really good Chapter with
great serenity, realism, brotherhood and hope for the future, despite an
ageing membership and no vocations in the province for many years. The
Chapter elected a new Provincial Superior and also elected Ton to be a
delegate to the General Chapter in Madrid in September. Carl will also be
at the General Chapter in the role of Moderator (or chairperson).
Carl attends Inter-faith Seminar
On April 9th Carl attended a one day Inter-Faith Seminar at
Mount Zion Christian Centre in Aston. The day was organised by Churches
Together in England and Wales and the keynote speakers were Bishop ??
(bishop of the Church of God of Prophecy) and Archbishop Bernard Longley
(Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham). After the keynote addresses and a time
for questions and answers the remainder of the day was run in workshop
format. Carl attended two workshops: one exploring the faith, culture and
traditions of the Asian population in Birmingham, and the other looking at
our theological and ecclesiological assumptions and how they influence the
way we engage in inter-faith dialogue.
Faith Leaders’ Forum and Residents’ Association
You will know that these are two projects very dear to our
heart and in which we have invested a considerable amount of time and
energy. Ton held an initial meeting of a core group to begin a regular
Faith Leaders’ Forum. The attendance at the meeting was disappointing, but
not easily discouraged, those who were in attendance are determined to carry
on and prepare for a launch meeting.
Likewise with the core group that has been meeting for the
last few months trying to plan for the re-launch of our local Residents’
Association. The numbers attending the meetings have been small and
inconsistent, but following a very productive gathering of the steering
committee at our house this week we are planning for a launch of the
Association on June 7th.
A reprieve for the St James Advice Centre?
In February we reported the imminent demise of the local St
James Advice Centre (operated from the local Anglican Church and mainly
offering immigration advice). Ton has been a member of the management
Committee for the last couple of years. After the decision of Birmingham
City Council to withdraw funding for the Centre a decision was made to apply
for a judicial review of the decision. The Review took place a few weeks
ago and held in favour of the Advice Centre that the correct consultation
procedures were not followed by Birmingham City Council. The Council has
been ordered to reinstate funding until the end of July. The Management
Committee has been able to engage (or re-engage) staff members and is now
frantically trying to seek alternative funding for August onwards. It is
hoped that the Centre can continue to operate in a slimmed-down capacity,
staffed by fewer paid workers and some volunteers. It remains to be seen if
other funding will be available to continue the work of the Advice Centre
into the future.
Street Pastors
Both Mark and Ton have been out on the streets several times
since we last updated this page. Street Pastors in Birmingham has been
going through a difficult organisational time of late with changes in
leadership and sickness causing some instability. Despite this, the
relatively small, but enthusiastic band of Street Pastors continue to patrol
the streets of Aston at weekends on a rota basis. It is hoped that a new
co-ordinator will be in place soon and that a new training programme will
begin to recruit new pastors.
Carl invited to a Muslim wedding
On the evening of Palm Sunday Carl, together with the Parish
Priest from the next parish, were invited to the evening wedding
celebrations of a local businessman. Kaliq runs a barbershop in Aston and
has been cutting Carl’s hair for almost four years. He is a devout Muslim
and always enjoys good conversation with Carl about faith, prayer, religion,
world events and life in the Aston neighbourhood. He also lives next door
to Fr. Simon Hall, the Parish Priest of Perry Barr. Both Carl and Simon
were delighted to have been invited and were very warmly received the family
and friends for a superb evening banquet. We wish Kal and his new wife,
Ferhana, every peace and happiness together.
Aston Churches Together Fun Day
 Each
year Aston Churches Together host a Fun Day for the people of Aston in the
grounds of one of the local Primary Schools. We choose a different school
each year so that we can hold the Fun Day in various parts of the
neighbourhood. The Fun Day this year was held the day after the Royal
Wedding (30th April). The weather was fantastic and over 700 people (mostly
Asian and Muslim) came along and enjoyed the free food and drink, the bouncy
castles, children’s games, face painting, etc. The day provides another way
to witness to our Christian faith and to offer service and blessing to the
neighbourhood. Both Carl and Ton worked as volunteers during the Day and
Mark had a stand at the event in his role as Tesco’s Community Champion.
Residents
Forum
We are
delighted to report that we have been able to hold two meetings of a small
core group that is planning the re-establishment of the Mansfield Green
Residents Association. We succeeded in getting a group together that
represents the diversity of the neighbourhood; Asian, White, African and
Afro-Caribbean. Our corner shop-keeper (originally from Bangladesh) is
chair of the group and Carl is vice-chair. Significant work has been
done on drafting a Constitution and planning a strategy of encouraging
membership. Another meeting is planned for the beginning of April and
it is hoped to launch the new Association in the early summer.
Faith
Leaders' Forum
After a lot of
hard work put in by Ton in visiting many of the local Mosque leaders, a
first meeting of a core group will be held in Aston Fire Station on Monday
21st March. It is hoped that there will be three or four Muslim
leaders and three of four Christian leaders and that this core group will
work to plan a larger and more regular gathering of the various faith
leaders in Aston.
Fire
service Chaplaincy
Carl continues
to visit Aston Fire Station every Friday morning as their ecumenical
chaplain. Some mornings the visit is prematurely cut short by an alarm
call but on other weeks Carl is able to stay for an hour or two and get to
know the fire-fighters and join them for breakfast or tea/coffee.
There are many changes in the Fire Service at the moment, not least due to
the Government's spending cuts which are biting deep into the public
services. This creates lots of anxiety about job and pension security.
This is coupled with a recruitment freeze and a slow-down in promotion
opportunities. The conversations on Friday mornings may not be
explicitly about faith matters, but are very much about meaning-making and
are good ways of getting to know both the individual members of the Station
team and the culture of the Fire service. If ecumenical chaplaincy in
a workplace setting such as this is to work, it will be based on good
relationships between the chaplain and the workforce.
Celebration
of the Sacrament of Confirmation
On February
15th the parish community celebrated the Confirmation of its year 5 and 6
children in Sacred Heart School and some other parishioners, both children
and adults. Carl was sponsor to the son of a refugee he has been
supporting for the last three years and Mark was sponsor to two children of
economic migrants from Sri Lanka whom we have come to know and support over
the last year or so. In gratitude, they invited them to join us for a
wonderful home-cooked meal of traditional Sri-Lankan food last week.
Masses at
Birmingham University Chaplaincy
The
priest-chaplain to Birmingham University was recently re-assigned to pursue
doctoral studies and the assistant chaplain, Sister Anna O'Connor, was made
chaplain. Anna very soon asked us if we would be able to help out with
providing supply cover for Sunday Masses at the chaplaincy. We readily
agreed and all three of us have covered weekends recently and will be doing
so again between now and the summer. It has been a great experience of
meeting enthusiastic and faith-filled young adults and we look forward to
deepening our contact with the university chaplaincy. Following on
from our recent Sunday supply, Dave Nixon MSC, our vocation director, is
this week leading a "Busy Person's" directed retreat at the chaplaincy and
the students have spoken warmly of our presence among them.
Preparation
for Baptism
Over the last
five months Carl has been giving weekly catechesis to one of the refugees he
has been accompanying for the last three years. Originally a Buddhist
from Sri Lanka, she married a Catholic and had her first two children
baptised Catholics. After her husband's murder she fled to the UK,
then with three children and pregnant with a fourth. We eventually
succeeded in getting all four of the children into local Catholic Schools
and the whole family has been warmly welcomed by the parish community.
This Easter she will be baptised together with her two youngest children.
Last Sunday Carl accompanied her to the Rite of Election at the Cathedral
where, together with hundreds of other adults who will be baptised or
received into full communion with the Church at Easter, she was welcomed by
the Archbishop and numbered among the "elect", those called to receive
Easter sacraments.
Street
Pastors
Mark and Ton
continue to go out on patrol at weekends with Street Pastors. There
have been some problems with the organisation and administration of Street
Pastors recently and there is a need to recruit new pastors. There is
a meeting this coming weekend to discuss plans for the future.
English
language Teaching
While Ton
continues to teach English on Wednesday lunch times, we have stopped our
regular class in the Undercroft of the parish church with the temporary
suspension of the drop-in centre. After Easter many of the
Council-funded English classes will cease due to the public spending cuts.
We will re-assess the situation then and will try to discern how we can best
help local people who need to improve their English. As Aston Pride
(the 10 year Aston redevelopment programme) comes to an end, we have become
the surprise but grateful beneficiaries of some resources for English
language teaching - a portable interactive white-board and computer and a
lockable metal cabinet filled with language books. We hope to be able
to put these to good use in the very near future.
Friday
Lenten Gospel Reflections
As part of our
support for the parish community we decided to offer some reflection
evenings during Lent. Carl is leading a weekly Friday sharing and
discussion on the following Sunday's gospel reading. The first session was
last week and there were 12 participants. We are hoping for a few more
tonight. The group is enthusiastic and comfortable sharing together
their insights and questions.
MSC
Assembly
All three of
us attended the MSC Spring Assembly which was held from 6th - 8th March in
the Oblate Retreat Centre in Crewe, Cheshire. Our Spring meetings are
an opportunity to come together for prayer and social time together without
any business and are always really nice occasions. The weather was
really kind to us and on the Monday some went together for a long
countryside walk, others went for a shorter walk and some ten-pin bowling,
while a third group got the train to the nearby ancient city of Chester.
We all gathered together again for a leisurely evening meal and finished
with a Eucharist on the Tuesday morning. We were joined at the
Assembly by Fr Paulino Rodriguez MSC from Peru who has been studying English
in Dublin since last October. Paulino was taking the opportunity
to visit England and we were delighted to be able welcome him to Aston for a
few days this last week.
Visit of
Mark's family
When we
returned from Crew Mark immediately joined his brother, sister-in-law and
nephew in the Cottage in Princethorpe for the remainder of the week while
they were visiting the UK during the Belgian half-term holidays. The
weather was good to them (as it always seems to be for Marks' brother!) and
they very much enjoyed their trips to the Cotswolds, Oxford,
Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham, Coventry, Leamington, Warwick and
Shropshire.
Christmas
and holidays
Christmas in
Aston was really good - very nice celebrations in the Parish preceded by the
usual round of nativity plays and carol singing. After the Christmas
morning mass and a light lunch we travelled to Princethorpe to join quite a
small gathering of MSCs for our annual Christmas day meal at Teddy O'Brien's
presbytery in Wappenbury. The weather over the Christmas period was
particularly bad and several MSCs who usually attend the Christmas Day meal
were unable to travel because of the heavy snowfalls. After a
wonderful meal and relaxing evening the three of us stayed the night in the
Guest Cottage at Princethorpe before parting company the following morning.
Carl dropped Ton back to Aston and then drove down to his parents home in
Devon where he spent the following ten days. Mark visited some friends
in the Coventry area for a couple of days before flying to Belgium to spend
two weeks with his family. Ton kept the fort back in Aston. it
is now a month since we have been back together again.
Closure of
St James Advice Centre
For over a
year now, Ton has been on the management committee of the local St James
Advice Centre. This has existed in Aston for over 30 years as an
initiative of the Anglican Church and located in the nearby St James Church.
It has become, over the decades, a vital source of independent, free advice
for the whole local population, specialising on immigration, visa and
benefits advice. It has been particularly well used by the local Asian
population and, in recent years, by the new waves of immigrants.
Following a very hard round of central and local Government funding cuts,
the Advice Centre was informed towards the end of last year that a
substantial part of its budget from the City Council would be cut.
While it could apply for new funding it became apparent that there would be
a gap of several months when no funding would be available. With no
money to pay salaries the Centre has had no choice but to issue redundancy
notices to its staff and prepare for closure. Some of the staff are
willing to continue in a voluntary capacity, but it is not yet clear what
sources of funding will be available for operating overheads. This is
but one example of many similar situations we are aware of across the city,
where local charitable initiatives are ceasing to operate because of cuts to
their funding. Despite the "Big Society" rhetoric coming from the
Government, many poor neighbourhoods like Aston will be the most affected by
the shrinking of local services and projects. You can read more about
the St James Advice Centre and its imminent closure in Ton's latest posting
on the Cordate Blog.
Residents'
Forum
We have
written over the last few months of our desire to see the local residents'
Forum re-established in our part of Aston. Next month Aston Pride, the
10 year regeneration Project in Aston, will come to an end, and with it much
of the funding for local initiatives. It is timely, then, that when
opportunities for the local residents are diminishing, there be some forum
where residents can come together, share their concerns and have their voice
heard. We have been working with some of our neighbours over the last
few weeks to try and identify other locals who would be enthusiastic to see
the Forum re-established. Mark has various contacts with local
neighbourhood projects through his work at Tesco and some of them are very
supportive of the establishment of the forum. One of the things we are
looking for is the free use of a local venue for the meetings. It is
planned to hold an initial meeting for a core group towards the end of this
month and then move towards holding an open meeting very soon.
Faith
Leaders' Forum
Following a
couple of meetings between Ton, the Minister of the local United Reformed
Church and one of the local Mosque leaders, Ton is currently working hard at
establishing personal links with the local mosques to try and encourage
participation in the establishment of the Faith Leaders' Forum for Aston.
Fire
Service Chaplaincy
Carl has been
visiting Aston Fire Station on Friday mornings since the New Year and has
now met all of the four "watches" on the Station. Reception to the
idea of chaplaincy has been very encouraging and each watch has warmly
welcomed Carl.
Birmingham
University Masses
Recently the
priest chaplain to Birmingham University has moved to another appointment in
the diocese. The assistant chaplain, Sr Anna O'Connor, has been given
full responsibility for the university chaplaincy and has been on the look
out for priests who are willing to go on a rota to cover the Sunday masses
at the chaplaincy. All three of us are signed up and Ton was the first
to celebrate mass there a couple of weeks ago. He came home very
encouraged by the number of young people present at the mass and their
enthusiastic engagement with the liturgy. Carl is celebrating mass at
the chaplaincy this weekend and Mark next weekend.
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