A Belgian visitor
André
Claessens, the Belgian provincial, visited the Cordate Community for a week
commencing Monday 15th February. He was unlucky in that the weather was
mostly cold and wet, the tail end of winter rather than the forerunner of
spring. Still, he was able to go around Aston, to see the displays Mark had
put up in Tesco and to visit one of the many mosques that can be found in
the Aston neighbourhood. He could see at first hand how children up to the
age of 15 were taught to recite and even to memorise the Qur’an in the
original Arabic, which only the older age groups are taught to understand.
Closer to home he met some of our neighbours and of course we had time to
share about our ministry of presence. It is not always easy as André could
witness for himself. On that particular Thursday our drop-in centre ‘Heart
of Welcome’ did not attract any of the priority people it is meant for.
South Africa
Prior
to André’s visit, Carl spent three weeks in South Africa, from January 23rd
to February 13th, on behalf of the Provincial Leadership Team of
the Irish Province. He attended the annual Assembly of the Southern Africa
Region and travelled thousands of miles to visit all the members of the
region in the places where they live and work; in the Northern Province
(bordering Zimbabwe) in the Rand area (Pretoria and Johannesburg) and in
Cape Town. While there he spent a day with the MSC Novices from across all
of Africa (pictured) and gave a presentation on the mission and experience
of the Cordate community. The novices were very interested in this new
experiment in mission in Western Europe and were full of questions and
enthusiasm. After three long weeks Carl came back satisfied but exhausted!
MSC Formation and JPIC
During Carl’s absence Mark attended the meeting of the
Formation Advisory Group of the Irish Province in Tamworth and both Mark
and Ton hosted the Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) Group
of the MSC of Ireland and England for a meeting in Aston. Alan Neville MSC
chaired the meeting. We had a guest from the Tamworth parish Justice and
Peace group in the person of Barbara Kelly who shared about the origin and
the activities of the JP group in her parish which has been active for over
ten years now. We identified ways of cooperating with one another, certainly
at the level of reflection and deepening our commitment.
Faith Leaders Meeting
On Thursday 18th February Carl and Ton attended a
meeting of the local faith leaders in Aston. This meeting is organised by
Aston Pride and the Birmingham Primary Health Care Trust a few times a year
to gather the leaders together to address issues of access to health and
social provision in the community of Aston. There has been a move in recent
months to establish this group as an independent entity and Carl and Ton
have been encouraging this initiative. In preparation for the meeting Ton
drafted a possible Constitution for the group and it is hoped that at the
next meeting the body will define its independence from Aston Pride and the
PCT, giving it the freedom and scope to address a whole range of issues
pertinent to the faith communities in the neighbourhood.
Mark’s role as Community Champion
Mark continues to develop his role as the Community Champion
for Tesco. He has spent much time over the last month or so developing his
links across the community. One of the recent initiatives has been a “Kick
and Cook” programme offered at Aston Villa Football Club whereby teenagers
have an opportunity to engage in exercise and learn about healthy cooking at
the same time. The network of contacts he is building up in the
neighbourhood is expanding on a weekly basis.
Day for Religious
Recently we received a visit from Con
O’Connell MSC and our MSC student, Michael O’Rourke on February 19. As a
member of the JPIC group Con’s primary purpose was to do some work with Mark
on environmental issues. Fortunately both were able to stay for a pleasant
dinner together that evening . Michael spent the night with us and the next
morning he accompanied Carl and Mark to St Chad’s Cathedral I Birmingham
where the annual mass was held for the Religious of the Archdiocese of
Birmingham. The new archbishop, Bernard Longley, presided at the
celebration. Before Mass he addressed the assembled 180 Religious in a very
warm and encouraging manner. After mass there was a sit-down hot lunch for
everyone, during which the new Archbishop was keen to take time to meet all
those present, even foregoing his own lunch in the process. Ton stayed
behind in Aston and substituted for the parish priest who as the diocesan
liturgist was in charge of the music of the celebration in the cathedral.
Week of Provincial Meetings
This last week Carl has been in Dublin for
a series of Provincial meetings, commencing with a meeting of the
Pre-Chapter Statutes Commission and then a three day Provincial Council
meeting. The Council are now addressing the recommendations of the
Consultative Body which has carried out a 12 month consultation of all the
MSCs in England and Ireland on the future of our ministerial commitments in
these islands.
Christmas
We all had a very enjoyable Christmas and would like to thank all
those who sent Christmas cards and greetings. Mark very much enjoyed his
two weeks at home where the family gathered to celebrate his grandmother's 90th
birthday on Christmas Day. Back here in Aston Ton and Carl spent Christmas
Eve in the drop-in centre where we welcomed a few new faces. In the late
afternoon, while Carl cooked, Ton attended the Aston community carol service in
the Anglican Church before both concelebrated the Vigil and Christmas morning
masses with the parish community. In the early afternoon on Christmas Day
they both travelled to Princethorpe to join with the MSCs from the other
Midlands communities for Christmas dinner hosted by Teddy O'Brien MSC at the
parish house in the village of Wappenbury. As usual, it was a wonderful
evening of great food and company. We were especially pleased to welcome
Tony Horgan MSC who was home on a break from his mission in Fiji. The
following Day Ton returned to Aston and Carl drove to his parents in Devon for a
few nights, returning in time for the drop-in centre on New Year's Eve.
Resuming local activity
Despite the heavy snow falls during the first two or three weeks
of the New Year, life in Aston gradually began to return to normal, with our
regular involvement with the asylum seekers and refugees that we are supporting,
attendance at local meetings and some supply work in local parishes as our
neighbouring clergy tried to gat a bit of a post-Christmas break. Our
Heart of Welcome drop-in centre has suffered a bit from the bad weather.
The fact that it has been so cold and the pavements were covered in snow and ice
for so long undoubtedly put people off coming out. In the first few weeks
of the New Year we have only had a few callers each week, but we are currently
undertaking another publicity drive to try and get the word out to local people
that the facility is available.
A week ago we held
one of our regular meetings with Ray Collier, a Columban Priest, who is
working in another part of Birmingham city. Ray is living a ministry
of presence similar to ours and we very much welcome the opportunity to meet
regularly for sharing, pastoral/theological reflection and mutual support.
We concluded the morning meeting with a great Chinese meal just around the
corner from Ray's place in Chinatown.
Today Ton and Carl
met with Ray again and with Sr Margaret Walsh who is launching a new project
for destitute asylum seekers at the back of the Catholic Cathedral in the
city and in conjunction with the Salvation Army. We have known
Margaret since we first came to live in Princethorpe in 2005. At that
time she was running a project in the west of the city for the local
community, many of whom were refugees and other new migrants.
Evaluation of
our Cordate Community and mission
Over
the next five or six months we will be participating in an ongoing
evaluation process of our project. We are now into our third year in
Aston and it was agreed from the outset that during the third year there
would be a process of review and evaluation by the MSC European Provinces.
At last spring's meeting of the European Provincials a small evaluation team
was put in place. The members of that team will be visiting us over
the coming months to witness what we are doing in Aston, talk with us about
our experiences and meet with some of the people we live and work among.
This last week, on
Monday 18th January, we were delighted to welcome Fr Wahyudi, Assistant
Superior General from the MSC congregational leadership team in Rome.
After a period of orientation we shared a presentation on the life of this
project over the last four years. Then Wahyudi was able to participate
in some of our usual activity; attending the Tuesday Senior Citizens Lunch
Club and bingo session, visiting some of our neighbours, accompanying Carl
on a visit to a refugee family he supports, briefly attending Ton's English
Language class and taking a trip with Mark to Tesco supermarket!
On
his last evening Wahyudi visited Sr Breda Noonan, the Columban sister who
has been accompanying us and facilitating our own regular review and
planning meetings since we came to Aston.
He left us on
Thursday morning to fly to The Netherlands where he is meeting with the
Dutch Provincial, Fr Ben Verberne MSC, who is chair of the European
Provincials' Conference. Ben will be visiting us along with a member
of the Provincial Council of the South German-Austrian Province after
Easter. Between then and now we will also have a visit from the
Belgian Provincial.
Other Visitors
Since Christmas we
have had several visitors apart from Wahyudi. Carl's parents sensibly
escaped from Devon several days earlier than planned to drive up to
Birmingham where they were flying from the local airport on holiday.
Heavy snow had been forecast for their part of the country and they were
able to escape just before it fell. We were pleased to have them with
us for four nights before they flew to Cyprus.
A couple of days
later Paula Ryan Kavanagh, the secretary to the Irish Provincial was in
Dublin for a Basketball Tournament so stayed with us for a night and took
the opportunity to have a bit of a tour of Aston.
On Sunday 17th
January Tony Horgan cane and spent the afternoon and evening with us before
flying back to Fiji the following day. Tony is spending three years in
Fiji helping out in the mission there and brought some photos of his
experience of the last couple of years. Mark had done a two year
pastoral placement in Fiji as part of his formation so was keen to get all
the latest news and share experiences with Tony.
On Thursday 21st
January we were pleased to welcome Fr Michael White and a first year
diocesan seminarian to supper. Michael is a diocesan priest working in
one of the local parishes and has been a great support and encouragement to
us since we moved into Aston. He has recently completed the building
of a new parish centre, which is open as a cafe and community outreach
project to the whole of the neighbourhood.
