|
• Up • News 2010 • News 2009 • News 2008 • News 2007 • News 2006 • News 2005 • Letter - May 2005 • Letter - Nov 2005 • Letter - March 2006 •
Archived News from 2009
For current news from 2010 click here.
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
happened for us in 2009. Events are listed in reverse order.
Heart of
Welcome Drop-In Centre
 The
highlight of the last month has been the opening of our Heart of Welcome
Drop-In Centre in the Undercroft of Sacred Heart Church. In late
November Mark, Carl and one of our parishioners attended a similar project
in Handsworth Wood on the west side of Birmingham to learn from their
two-year experience of running a welcome centre. It was a very useful
visit and we picked up some great advice. We launched our own Drop-In
on December 10th (which was also Carl's birthday) after a good deal of
publicity across the many networks we are associated with (Aston Churches
Together, Aston Pride Adult Learning Network, Restore Refugee Befriending,
local Doctors' Surgeries, the local refugee centre, Tesco supermarket, the
local Catholic parishes and local ESOL classes). We were realistic
enough not to expect a large number of callers for the first few weeks until
our presence becomes established and well-known, but we have been very happy
with eight people the first week and six the following week (despite the
snow!). Along with some of the newcomers to our own Catholic parish
who have dropped in, we have met other asylum seekers from Pakistan and
Zimbabwe. We have been delighted at the response of the parish which
is very supportive of the project. A small team of parishioners have
volunteered to be present each week during the opening hours of the drop-in.
At the moment we are simply offering a welcome, some chat, hot drinks and
soup/bread. After a few months we will be in a better position to know
if there are other needs we might be able to meet. Consistency and
regularity will be key in establishing our presence, so we will be open on
both Christmas Eve and on New Year's Eve.
Community
Champion at Tesco
We reported
last month that Mark had begun a new job at Tesco as the "Community
Champion" for the Aston store. So far the new role is proving to be a
great asset. Mark is really enjoying the role and has already had the
opportunity to attend several community events and meetings, all the time
expanding our network of contacts. He has also been able to arrange
for some local community groups and schools to gain support from Tesco for
their fund-raising efforts.
School
Inter-Faith and community cohesion initiative
As a result of
some contacts through Mark's role at Tesco we were invited to attend a
special cohesion meeting at Broadway School (the largest secondary school in
Aston with about 1300 students) to explore inter-faith issues. The
meeting was confined to invited guests and a selected number of students.
Mark and Ton received their invitations thanks to Joe Cahill, a long-serving
police officer in Aston who is very much concerned about educational and
leisure opportunities for young people. He is also the chair of governors of
the school. The head teacher and other staff welcomed the guests and
explained the school’s vision and activities. Schools have to work in
partnership with the community in which they are located. Students need to
widen their horizons and become acquainted with different groups and
organisations in the community, including different religious identities.
Imam Saeed-Ur-Rahman from Walsall shared his insights about two basic
institutions of society: the family and the faith. He acknowledged the
differences of the faith communities but emphasised as well that all human
beings descended from one single parent. He believed that the human being
was God’s best creation. Bishop Andrew Watson, Church of England, concurred.
All people are created in the image of God, he said. Differences are
certainly there and historically Christians and Muslims have a long
tradition of conflict. But we need to take down the walls. This is
easier to do when you have your own roots well planted. Next came the
students. They had many questions: about tolerance, about how to break down
barriers, about terrorism and fear. Time was too short for taking on all the
issues, but the promise was there for a follow-up. After this first
experience, and with several new and important contacts in the school, we
hope for further involvement.
Primary
School Advent Assemblies
 Following
the success of the Aston Churches Together Schools' Assembly Team which led
Easter-related assemblies during Lent, a decision was made to repeat the
effort during Advent. A team of eight from across various Christian
Churches in Aston (including Mark) wrote, rehearsed and dramatised the
assemblies in most of the primary schools in Aston over the last three
weeks. The Assemblies told the central message of the Christmas story
through the medium of an "X-Factor" style search for a Christmas song - the
right sort of Christmas song!
Asylum
Seeker befriending
In conjunction
with Restore, our befriending and
support work with allocated asylum seekers continues; Carl with a single
mother and her four children from Sri Lanka, Mark with a single man from
Iraq and Ton with a single man from Eritrea. on Sunday 5th December
Restore hosted a special Carol Service for refugees and their befrienders at
the Church of St Martin's in the Bullring in the city centre.
More Carol
Singing, Nativity Plays and Christmas parties!
 In addition to
the Restore Carol Service, we attended the community carol service for local
Primary Schools in Aston Parish Church (Anglican) and the Carol Service of
our own Sacred Heart Primary School in Sacred Heart Church. Both were
really lovely events. While Carl
was in Ireland for Provincial meetings Ton and Mark enjoyed the infants'
Nativity Play at Sacred Heart School, which as usual was very impressive.
They also attended the special Christmas Lunch at the
Senior Citizen's lunch club. On the same day, later in the afternoon,
the priests of the city Cathedral deanery had their own Christmas meal - two Christmas
lunches in one day ... ouch! The new Archbishop (see below) joined the
clergy for the lunch so it gave Mark and Ton a further opportunity to meet
him and tell him something about what we are doing here in Aston.
Installation of the new Archbishop of Birmingham
The new
Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, was installed on December 8th,
the patronal feast of the Archdiocese.
The previous evening there was a special Evening Prayer in the Cathedral,
offering an opportunity for the new Archbishop to meet with the Religious of
the diocese. This was attended by Ton and Mark while Carl attended a
Trustees meeting at Princethorpe College. Carl attended the
Installation Mass the following morning which was a great celebration of
faith and church as all of the Bishops of England and Wales gathered with
some 350 priests and hundreds of laity from all across the diocese to
welcome Archbishop Bernard and mark the beginning of another chapter in the
life of the Catholic community of Birmingham.
MSC
Foundation Day
With our
Foundation Day (8th December) falling mid-week this year, and on the same
day as the installation of the Archbishop, we celebrated as MSCs in the
midlands area on the evening of Sunday 5th December. The MSC community
in Tamworth hosted eight of us to a lovely evening prayer and supper.
We will all be meeting again this coming week when 10 of us will gather in
Wappenbury, near Princethorpe, on Christmas Day for an evening meal.
These celebrations and occasions to come together are really important for
us and are a great source of support, friendship and larger MSC community
life.
MSC
Meetings and events
At the end of
November Ton travelled to Rome for one of his twice-yearly meetings of our
MSC Congregation's Finance Advisory Board. At the same time Mark was
in St Alban's for a one-day meeting of the Irish Province Formation Advisory
Group. And in mid-December Carl travelled to Dublin for a meeting of
the Provincial Council. A few weeks earlier Carl had been in Tamworth
to give a talk on the Holy Trinity to the RCIA group (adults preparing for
reception or baptism in the Catholic Church). On December 21st Carl
and Ton were back in Tamworth to assist with the Advent Reconciliation
service.
Holidays
and time off
The weeks seem
to fly by so quickly and often there is very little space for time off, but
in mid-November Mark enjoyed a day trip to Dublin with a few other priests
of our local Deanery (with a very early start and late return!). The
weekend after his birthday, Carl travelled to Dundee in Scotland to visit
his good friends Mike and Eleanor and their young daughter Róisín.
Yesterday Mark travelled home to Belgium where he will stay for the next two
weeks to celebrate Christmas with his family, and especially his grandmother
who will be 90 on Christmas Day! He nearly didn't make it as he had a
ticket for travel on Eurostar to Brussels - the service which was suspended
for three days following several of the trains breaking down in the Channel
Tunnel. Fortunately, while many ended up completely stranded, Mark was
able to get a flight out of Birmingham airport and only had to suffer about
a five-hour delay caused by bad weather. He telephoned last night as
was very glad to be home! After Christmas Carl will spend a few days
at home with his parents and Ton hopes to take the opportunity of doing a
few long walks in the midlands countryside.
Happy
Christmas
May all three
of us take this opportunity to wish all of our friends, family members,
fellow MSCs and supporters a very happy Christmas, wherever and however you
will spend it. This year more than perhaps any other, as a result of
so much support work we have been doing with asylum seekers and refugees, we
are acutely aware of the great pain, difficulty and heartache caused by
having to flee one's home, country, culture, language and family. May
Jesus, who was born into that very experience of flight and exile, be a
strength and comfort to all who are lonely, vulnerable, destitute and far
from home this Christmas time.
Unbelievably
another month has slipped by since we last updated this news page. It
has been a busy time, both with developments here in Aston and events that
have taken us further afield. Perhaps it is best to begin with the two
most significant developments over the last two weeks:
Heart of
Welcome Drop-In
 For
a good while now we have been talking about and praying about the
possibility of opening a simple drop-in centre in Aston for newcomers to the
neighbourhood, especially refugees and asylum seekers. From our work
in this area over the last couple of years it has become evident that such a
facility may be of real benefit to a number of new migrants in the
neighbourhood. We would hope to be able to offer a warm welcome, some
befriending by local residents, signposting to local and city-wide support
and assistance and some help with fairly simple things like form-filling and
conversational English. Over the last 12 months Sacred Heart Church
has refurbished a very cold, damp and dingy crypt to make a really nice
welcoming space that is now used for weekday mass, Sunday children's liturgy
and teas/coffees after mass. After some conversations with Fr Peter
(the Parish Priest) we agreed that, given its location on the main road
running through Aston, and on a major bus route, it would also make a good
place to host a simple drop-in centre. A couple of weeks ago we called
a meeting with a group of parishioners (some longstanding residents and some
new parishioners from overseas) to talk about the possibilities. We
agreed to open the centre on Thursdays from 11.00am to 3.00pm (between
school hours), commencing on December 10th. Playing a little on the
name of the parish (Sacred Heart) and on our own name as Missionaries of the
Sacred Heart, we have decided to call the drop-in, "Heart of Welcome".
We have recently purchased chairs and tables for the room (which is called
the Undercroft). Last week some builders laid a new path to make a
separate entrance directly into the Undercroft from the Witton Road.
Over the next couple of weeks we will make other necessary preparations and
advertise the opening of "Heart of Welcome" widely through our existing
networks in the area. We will let you know how we get on!
Mark takes
on a new job at Tesco as "Community Champion"
 Last
month Mark was approached by his personnel manager at Tesco and asked if he
would be interested in taking over the role of Community Champion.
This entails being the link between the Aston store and local charities,
community organisations, religious groups, schools, etc. Tesco is
committed to supporting such groups in their fund-raising and in advertising
their activities. There are regular displays outside the store,
highlighting upcoming events, celebrating religious festivals and
commemorating such times as black history month. Local groups
regularly use the store as a base for fund-raising initiatives. After
some discernment as a community we collectively agreed that this could be a
great opportunity both for Mark and for our ongoing presence here in Aston.
The new role means an increase in Mark's hours (from 12 to 18 hours a week),
but also offers more flexibility in terms of when he works. Mark began
the job a little over a week ago and so far is really enjoying it. At
the moment he is working for 6 hours during the daytime on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays, which leaves Tuesdays free for our regular
attendance at the Senior Citizens' Lunch Club and Thursdays free for our
Heart of Welcome drop-in. It also means his evenings and weekends are
now free. We will update you on how Mark is getting on in our next
news bulletin.
Street
Pastors
Mark and Ton
continue to attend the training for Street Pastors. This is taking
place on Tuesday evenings in November and January. Soon both of them
will begin going out onto the streets at night time as part of the training.
When they have eventually completed the course they will take their place on
a rota with a commitment to be available at least once a month.
MSC
Meetings
In mid October
Mark and Carl attended a meeting of the MSC Irish Province Justice, Peace
and Integrity of Creation group. Much of the meeting was devoted to
preparing December's campaign which is based around World AIDS Day.
You can read more about this group on the new
JPIC page of
the Irish Province website. After this Carl attended a meeting of the
Provincial Council from 19th to 21st October.
At the end of
October all three of us were present in Dublin for three days for a joint
Assembly of all MSC in the UK and Ireland. This was the latest in a
series of local and Province meetings reflecting on the future shape of our
mission and ministry in the UK and Ireland over the next 10-15 years.
It was a very good meeting with honest and fruitful discussion.
St James
Advice Centre
Ton has joined
the Management Committee of the St James Community Support and Advice
Centre. The Centre is an initiative of the local Church of England
parish and has been in existence for over thirty years. The Management
Committee is ecumenical in composition. Muslims are also well
represented, in view of the mostly Asian clients of the Centre.
Migration issues are an important part of the advice work.
Lee Abbey
Community
As part of our
ongoing sharing and mutual support with the Anglican lay "Lee Abbey
Community" we were pleased to host their four members to dinner on 17th
October. Our paths cross regularly at various meetings in Aston, (one
of the members, David, is the manager of the St James Advice Centre) but it
is always good to have an evening where we can just take time to share and
pray together around the issues of common interest to us.
Refugee
Befriending
While Carl and
Mark continue to work closely with the refugees and asylum seekers that they
have been befriending for some time now, Ton has just been allocated a
befriendee by Restore (the ecumenical befriending project that we work
with). He is in his late 20's, from Eritrea and lives in Aston.
Ton met him for the first time last week.
English
Language Learning
Ton is
continuing to volunteer in the placement he had earlier on in the year - an
ESOL class for men in Cherwell Gardens Community Room, not far from our
house. Carl is waiting to see what opportunities our Heart of Welcome
drop-in afford for English language support before committing to another
existing ESOL class.
Visit of
Mark's mother and brother
At the end of
October we were delighted to welcome Mark's mother and his brother, Danny,
for a few days visit. Unfortunately the weather was not so welcoming!
Nevertheless, they were able to visit Liverpool and stay in one of our MSC
parishes there for a night, before going onto visit the city of Chester and
the North Wales coast.
Ongoing
pastoral and theological reflection
We continue to
meet periodically with Ray Collier, a Columban Missionary priest, for a half
day of pastoral and theological reflection. Our latest meeting was on
Monday 9th November. Like us, Ray is also trying to insert himself in
an inner city neighbourhood, based in the parish of St Catherine's on the
Bristol Road in the city centre. Ray is very involved in justice,
peace and ecological issues and our conversations are always stimulating and
encouraging.
Third
family bereavement for Ton
Ton travelled
back to The Netherlands on 15th September to begin his late summer holidays.
That very day one of his brothers, Nol, was taken into hospital in Holland
quite ill. After a couple of days of seemingly responding to
treatment, he took a turn for the worse and sadly died on the night of
Friday 18th September. This is the third of Ton's brothers to die in
the last six months and it had been a dreadful strain on all the family.
Much of Ton's two week holiday was spent preparing for and celebrating Nol's
funeral. We extend our deepest sympathy to Nol's wife and children, to
Ton and all of the extended Zwart family. Ton returned to England on
October 1st, two years to the day when all three of us took up residence in
our new house here in Aston.
MSC
Provincial meetings
September/October has been a very busy period for MSC meetings. Carl
was in Cork for various Provincial meetings from 7th to 14th September and
then in Dublin at the beginning of October for a one-day meeting with the
group steering the consultation and planning process currently underway in
the Irish Province. From 4th - 7th October all three of us attended
the English MSC autumn assembly in Swanwick, Derbyshire. From that
meeting Mark immediately travelled to Rome for the meeting of the Young MSCs
of Europe. He is due to return from Rome tomorrow (Tuesday 13th
October).
Carl
celebrates Golden Wedding of his parents
Carl's parents
celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on September 26th.
Together with his sister, Sheena, all four of them travelled by Eurostar to
Brussels and then onto Bruges for three nights where they had a lovely
weekend blessed by wonderful late summer weather. Congratulations to
Julie and Rod!
Refugee
work
Back here in
Aston, much of the last month has been taken up with our ongoing support of
several refugees and their families. Carl and Mark helped the family
from Sri Lanka pack up all their possessions and move them into storage
ready to quit their temporary accommodation and declare themselves homeless
at the end of September. They were expecting to be housed in emergency
hostel or Bed and Breakfast accommodation. When Carl accompanied them
to the Housing Office they were informed that the rules had changed the
previous week and that the family would be now allowed to stay in their
present house for up to a further six months while they waited for a Council
house to become available. So all the belongings had to come out of
storage and unpacked again! It is a much better result for the family, but
yet another example of a dreadful lack of clear communication and accurate
information from the various refugee services. Because they have been
granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK, on the 29th September all of
their Asylum support was stopped. Now the battle continues to get
their various benefit entitlements arranged and paid. In the interim
they have no money at all to live on and have been depending on us for
financial support.
Ramadan and
Eid
The Muslim
fasting month of Ramadan ended on 19th September with the celebration of the
feast of Eid ul-Fitr the following day. We had bought Eid cards for
many of our neighbours and friends and distributed them on the morning of
the 20th together with gifts of sweets and chocolate. Some of our
neighbours also offered us gifts, and both sets of next door neighbours
brought us food later in the day to share their celebrations with us.
Street
Pastors
Mark has
recently begun
the Street Pastors training course which we have written about previously.
The training continues until the end of January.
It remains to be seen if Ton can catch up on the weeks he has missed.
The summer has
finally come to an end, and if the weather is anything to go by, autumn is
here already. In fact, the summer here in England has been quite poor
with lots of rain.
Holidays
When we last
updated this page Mark had just left for Belgium on his holidays where he
managed to escape the British summer and enjoy some sun in Belgium and
Germany with his parents. Carl had a weekend in Scotland visiting
friends in late July and another weekend down with his parents to celebrate
his mother's birthday at the beginning of August. Prior to that,
Carl's parents had spent three nights in Aston visiting us and some of their
own family and friends, also hoping to enjoy our garden and new decking
(maybe even a barbecue??) - but to no avail... the rain triumphed!
Towards the end of August Carl went away on holiday with his mum and dad for
a week's whistle-stop tour of some Eastern European cities (Berlin, Wroclaw,
Krakow, Budapest and Prague). Ton is looking forward to his own late
summer holiday when he goes to The Netherlands on 14th September for two and
a half weeks.
 Neighbourhood
day trip to Blackpool
On Saturday
8th August Ton and Mark joined a full coach of neighbours from the Mansfield
Green area on a day trip to Blackpool. Carl had intended going too,
but had injured his knee the week before while in Scotland and decided not
to travel. The trip had been organised by Derek Williams who was the
chairman of the Mansfield Residents' Forum prior to its collapse earlier
this year. While the Forum no longer exists, it seems there is still a
desire, and indeed scope, to bring the local residents together for various
occasions. The day was a great success and was matched by a lovely day
of sunshine. All those that went thoroughly enjoyed themselves and
another such day (a trip to London in October) is now being organised.
RESTORE
summer holiday programme
 Each
summer RESTORE (the asylum seeker and refugee befreinding programme that
each of us volunteers with) organises day activities for the refugee
families it is working with. Carl had arranged for the family from Sri
Lanka that he befriends to attend several of the days - to a local leisure
centre, to West Midlands Safari Park, to the Botanical Gardens, etc.
On August 13th one of the day trips was to the Cotswolds Country Park in
Gloucestershire and Carl was able to go along as well. There is a
large lake and an artificial beach where the children were able to play,
swim and make sand castles. RESTORE provided the coach transport, a
barbecue lunch and toys/games for the children.
Ongoing
work with refugees
Mark continues
to work closely with his befriendee from Iraq and Carl with the family of
five from Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan family were overjoyed to be
granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK during the summer. Now
Carl is occupied in helping them find housing and apply for various
benefits. While Carl was away on holiday Ton provided fantastic
support to the family at a very difficult and stressful time. All of
the four children are starting school in Catholic Schools this week.
Many more challenges and difficulties lie ahead - a new house (possibly in a
different area of the city), finding furniture, and maybe even having to try
and find new schools all over again. Their resilience, faith, humility
and deep gratitude is humbling to behold.
Faith
Leaders' Forum
A couple of
times each year Aston Community Outreach and Family Support Services host a
meeting for the leaders of the various churches and mosques to consult on
issues around community health. At the latest meeting attended by Carl
and Ton there was the suggestion that the group be formalised with a
constitution so that it can stand independently and meet regularly to
discuss any matters of interest and concern (especially inter-faith issues),
and, if desired, apply for funding for inter-faith projects. There was
a good deal of enthusiasm for the suggestion and we are hoping that we may
be able to play a key role in the development of this Forum in the future.
DVD on new
faces of Religious Life in England and Wales
 The
Conference of Religious of England and Wales will be celebrating 50 years of
existence this coming year. As part of the celebrations and
commemorations the Conference is making a 30 minute DVD showcasing six
different religious orders who are responding to the signs of the times in
new and creative ways. We had been asked to feature on the DVD and
this last week the film-maker and his cameraman visited us to interview and
film us. Of particular interest to them was Mark's job in Tesco and
they obtained permission from Tesco to film Mark at work. The film is
due to be completed by early December and is intended for promotional use in
schools and parishes, especially as part of vocations promotion and raising
awareness of the contemporary faces of Religious Life.
Senior
Citizens' Lunch
On Tuesday 1st
September we hosted the Senior Citizens Lunch Club at our house. We
had intended to have a barbecue in the garden, but again the weather let us
down. The cloud and drizzle couldn't dampen our spirits though and
sixteen of us squeezed into our house and enjoyed a hearty lunch and some
good conversation in anticipation of the lunch club starting up again in
Sacred Heart Primary School next Tuesday. We were deeply saddened that
one of our number had a stroke earlier in the summer and died the day
following our gathering for lunch. May Edna rest in peace.
Aston
Churches Together
On Wednesday
2nd September Aston Churches Together recommenced their meetings after the
summer break. All three of us were able to attend what was a lovely,
relaxed lunch time meeting at Mount Zion Church for sharing and prayer.
Street
Pastors
We have been
wanting for some time to do the training course to
A new course, however, is beginning next week and Ton and Mark have enrolled
to do it. It will take place on Tuesday evenings during the months of
September, November and January. Carl hopes to be able to do the
course some time next year. We'll let you know how we get on.
Summer
Supply
During the
summer period many of the local clergy find it hard to get priests to cover
for them while they are away. We are only too glad to be able to help
out where we can. Over the last couple of months we have been
supplying in several of the local parishes - including our own parish here
in Aston - and also in the MSC parish in Wappenbury near Princethorpe.
The last
couple of months has been a time of comings and goings with unexpected and
sad funerals, holidays, overseas visits and other work commitments. We
have finally been together again only for about the last two weeks but
acknowledge that our rhythm has been more than a little disrupted. And
now as we move into summer we are into a period when at least one of us will
be away until the end of August. Mark has just left for two week's
holidays with his family in Belgium. At the beginning of September it
will be good to be back together again and have a full day of reflection and
planning to put some structure on our mission for the coming months.
Holidays
On June 21st
Mark's friend Fr Herman Van Holsbeek arrived from Belgium and both Mark and
Herman immediately set off for a week's holiday in Scotland. It was a
first visit for both of them and they thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful
scenery, the tasty food and magnificent array of Scottish whiskeys!
As we wrote
the last update on this news page Ton's brother Wim had just died. Ton
travelled back to The Netherlands a couple of days later for the funeral and
to spend a few days with the family. He returned on Thursday 25th June
to be joined the following day by his sister Jose, his brother-in-law Frank
and Jose's friend and nurse, also called Jose. Ton had booked the MSC
cottage in the grounds of Princethorpe College for his guests and they spent
a very enjoyable 10 days based there, visiting the surrounding Warwickshire
and Oxfordshire countryside. On Ton's birthday (July 4th) they came
over to Aston for the day and we all celebrated with a meal in a local old
Victorian pub in the evening.
Carl's
visit to Valladolid, Spain
On 29th June
Carl travelled to the MSC community in Valladolid in Spain. We had
accepted an invitation for Carl to address a conference of English teachers
from the two MSC schools in Spain (in Barcelona and Ponteverdra). Each
year the MSC provide a week long in-service training event for some of the
teaching staff from their schools. Carl had been invited to give two
presentations to the conference, one on the charism, spirituality and ethos
of an MSC school, and one about our mission in Birmingham. Both
presentations went very well and the young teachers were particularly
enthused by the model of mission we are exploring here in Aston.
Work with
Asylum Seekers
The family of
asylum seekers from Sri Lanka that Carl has been supporting recently got
told that their asylum claim had been accepted. The fantastic news was
soon tempered with great anxiety and struggle as the documentation that had
been sent to them from the Home Office failed to arrive. After
considerable investigation Carl discovered that it had been sent to the
wrong address and was now mislaid. Automatic systems had by now been
triggered and they quickly received notice that they would be evicted from
their temporary housing and their financial support would cease immediately.
Without the necessary documentation, however, they were unable to apply for
social housing or for state benefits. The climax of this crisis came
at the precise time that Carl was due to travel to Spain so Ton stepped in
and supported the family for the days that Carl was away, with visits to the
housing department and the Refugee Council. By the time Carl returned
not a lot of progress had been made in trying to battle with intensely
bureaucratic systems. Eventually the Home Office recognised their
mistake and reinstated both the housing and financial support. We are
now still waiting for them to re-process the documentation that will allow
us to begin looking for new accommodation and applying for the relevant
state benefits. Each week that passes seems to educate us more deeply
in the struggles, anxieties and injustices experienced by so many vulnerable
refugees in the UK.
Vocations
Day
On 7th July
Mark attended a Vocations Awareness Day in a Catholic Secondary school in
North Staffordshire at the request of Dave Nixon MSC, our Provincial
Vocations Director. Throughout the day Mark led a series of workshops
which were very well received by the young people.
End of
school for year 6 pupils
The year 6
pupils (11 years of age) in our local Catholic Primary school have just come
to the end of their years in Sacred Heart School before transferring to
secondary school in September. Mark has been very much part of their
transition journey the last few weeks. On Sunday 5th July he celebrated mass
for them at the conclusion of a residential weekend in school, and on Monday
13th July he joined them on a day's trip to a theme park and fun-fair.
Seemingly they all had a fantastic time but we are not sure if the teachers
could distinguish Mark from the kids!!
International Summer School on Religion and Public Life
Earlier in the
year when we were entertaining Toby and Henrietta Howarth to lunch (Toby is
the Inter-Faith advisor to the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham), Toby had told
us of the International Summer School on Religion and Public life which this
year was being hosted by Birmingham University (see
www.issrpl.org). Although not able
to attend the whole two weeks of the summer school, we had been invited to
join the fellows for a day they were due to spend in Aston. On Monday
13th July Ton and Carl joined the group as they met at St James' church
around the corner from our house. The guest speaker in the morning was
Carver Anderson who jointly runs "Young Disciples" in neighbouring Lozells,
a project to help young people caught up in gangs. In the afternoon
Bishop Dereck Webley who is a bishop in the Apostolic Church of God and
Chairman of the West Midlands Police Authority, addressed the group.
It was a very interesting day and good to meet post-graduate students from
varying faith, and ethnic backgrounds from around the world.
English
Language Teaching
On Friday 17th
July we all completed the four month City and Guilds Course for Volunteer
ESOL teaching assistants. We still have to complete some portfolio
work and these have to be submitted before the end of August. Over the
last couple of weeks our teaching placements have come to an end for the
summer holidays, but we are hopeful that we will be able to resume with both
of the organisations we have been working with in September. We are
also hoping to be able to offer some English Language support from the
Undercroft of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Aston.
Visit of
Michael O'Rourke
 For
the last two weeks we have been delighted to welcome Michael O'Rourke to
stay with us. Michael recently began his pre-novitiate formation with
the Irish Province of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart in our parish
community in St Albans. It had been arranged that Michael would
undertake two weeks of pastoral experience in "The Fireside", a project
begun by the Sisters of St Paul in Birmingham and which works with the
homeless. Each day Michael got the bus into town and worked as a
volunteer, helping serve food, sort and distribute clothing and meet and
chat with the many men and women who avail of the services provided by The
Fireside each day. He joined us for Eucharist each morning, breakfast
and an evening meal, and evening prayer. It was a pleasure having
Michael with us and we hope that he will come back and spend more time with
us soon. We think we stretched his culinary experiences a little
(maybe too much salad and vegetables, and not enough desserts!!) and he also
joined us on a first theatre trip to Stratford Upon Avon to see
Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. Despite having been in the UK for
almost four years it was also the first time that Mark and Ton had been able
to get to see some Shakespeare, so it was a "first" for all three. It
was an excellent production and we all enjoyed it very much. Michael's
final evening with us was also Carl's 16th anniversary of ordination so we
enjoyed a special celebratory meal at home once Mark had returned from work
in Tesco. Michael will be travelling to Ireland this coming week for
an MSC pilgrimage to Knock and to do a week's retreat at our Retreat House
in west Cork.
Justice and
Peace Meeting
 On
Saturday 18th July, as Michael headed up the motorway to his family in
Liverpool, Carl, Mark and Ton headed south for a meeting of the MSC Justice,
Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) commission in St Albans. It had
been arranged that we would hold the meeting at the nearby Catholic Worker
Farm in Rickmansworth, which was both a refreshing and challenging
experience. The farm, situated beside a lake, is in a beautiful spot.
They grow all their own vegetables and treated us to a fantastic lunch.
They also take in refugees and trafficked women and currently have seven
ladies staying with them. Scott, his wife Maria and their sons Justin
and Francis live the gospel in a truly radical way.
Liam O'Brien
MSC travelled from Dublin for the meeting which was chaired by Alan Neville
MSC from the St Alban's community. We had an excellent day of
discussion and sharing, advancing our preparation of reflection and action
materials on our identified themes of "Welcoming the Stranger",
"Eco-friendly communities", "Economic Justice" and "HIV/AIDS and Hospice
ministry in the MSC Missions". Our next meeting will be in the offices
of the drugs project that Liam runs in Dublin in October.
For most of
May Ton was in The Netherlands following the death of his
brother Jan at the end of April. He had already planned to have a couple of weeks holiday
with his family towards the end of May so it made little sense to come back
to Birmingham for just a few days after the funeral. He returned on
May 30th. Sadly, having only been back in Aston for two weeks, his
eldest brother Wim had a serious stroke last weekend and died in the early
hours of the morning of Thursday 18th June. Ton will travel back to The Netherlands again
on Saturday 20th June for Wim's funeral on Wednesday June 24th. We especially remember Wim's
wife Mia, his four sons, Ton and his remaining brothers and sisters and all the extended
Zwart family in our prayers these days. May Wim rest in peace.
Work in the
Garden
 With
Ton away in May, Carl and Mark were left to continue with the usual run of
activities here in Aston. Shortly after Ton went back to The
Netherlands a couple of days were spent laying some decking in the back
garden for the garden table and chairs. Last summer these were on the
grass, which got pretty much destroyed over the summer months. We
benefitted from the fantastic assistance of the teenage son of an
asylum-seeker family we are supporting who worked very hard helping Carl and
Mark lay the deck. Never having done anything practical like this
before it was a great experience for him. The picture shows our helper
with Mark towards the end of the process.
Farewell to
our Archbishop
 In
the midst of our life and ministry in Aston, we also bade farewell to our
Archbishop, Vincent Nichols, who celebrated a final mass with the priests of
the diocese on 14th June followed by a buffet lunch at Aston Villa Football
Club (no doubt swallowing his pride as a life-long Liverpool supporter!).
On Thursday 21st May Archbishop Vincent was installed as Archbishop of
Westminster (London). Vincent has been very supportive of our presence
in the diocese and in Aston. We await with keen interest finding out
who the next Archbishop will be. It is expected that the process with
take at least 10 months.
Deanery
Meeting and local supply
Our May
deanery meeting was held here in Aston. Although the agenda is usually
dominated by a inevitable bias to parish ministry, it is always good to come
together with the clergy of our neighbouring parishes, most of whom are
dealing with similar social situations to ourselves. It is noticeable
that over the last twelve months or so our conversation has become a little
more mission-focussed and less concentrated on simply maintaining existing
structures.
We have not
been doing as much supply in local parishes as last year when we were called
on regularly to help out in two parishes where the parish priest was out on
long-term sick leave. Nevertheless, we have been offering supply on a
few occasions in some local parishes and in the Cathedral. Last
weekend Mark celebrated the Sunday mass in Birmingham Prison.
English
Language Learning
 As
we have previously reported, all three of us have been following a 16 week
course to qualify as ESOL volunteer teaching assistants (English for
Speakers of other Languages). Each of us have found the course to be
very frustrating, focussing more on various aspects of the Government's
adult education and "Skills for Life" agenda than equipping us with the
necessary (and often basic) skills for the teaching work we will actually be
doing. This is all the more annoying since the course was supposed to
be specially designed by Aston Pride together with Birmingham Adult
Education Service to equip ESOL volunteers for this neighbourhood (where the
need is great and the standard of English very low). An article about
the course recently appeared in Birmingham City Council's free newspaper
(photo opposite). You can read the article by clicking
here.
Ton of course
has missed many of the sessions and has been busily trying to catch up since
returning from Holland. While Ton was away Mark and Carl sat for a
written examination at the end of the first half of the course (which we
have apparently passed!). Ton took the exam just yesterday.
The most
interesting part of the course has been our teaching placements. Ton
has been working in an all-men's ESOL group on Mansfield Green (very near
our house). Most of his learners are Bangladeshi and Pakistani.
Carl and Mark have been working in an all-women's group at Saathi House, a
local project providing a range of opportunities and resources for Asian
women. All of their learners are Bengali women, most of whom have been
living in the UK for many years but who have never had the opportunity to
learn English. Indeed some of them have never had any prior formal
education and the teaching begins with basic literacy - learning to read and
write. Both of our placements have been a very positive and
interesting experience of meeting a real need in the neighbourhood, while
also bringing us into another close contact with parts of the local Muslim
community. We are looking forward to continuing the teaching long
after the course has finished.
Answering
invitations from local groups
Both Carl and
Mark have recently accepted invitations to address local groups. In
early May Carl led a workshop evening for a local Youth YCW (Young Christian
Workers) group. The group, based in the neighbouring parish of
Nechells, is made up of about twelve 14-18 year olds, drawn largely from the
local Catholic Secondary schools, some of whom are living in the Aston area.
The evening's reflection was on being a stranger in a strange land; the
experience of migration. All of the group were recent migrants to the
UK - from Poland, DR Congo, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Cameroun - and all had
had to learn English since arriving in the UK. It was a very rich,
honest and challenging conversation, using the traditional YCW method of
see-judge-act. It is likely that Carl will accept further such
invitations from the group.
In Mid May
Mark accepted the invitation to lead an evening of bible study and prayer
for the congregation of the local Gospel Hall.
The theme of the evening was ‘The beauty that God has
laid in each person’, following Ephesians 2:10: "We are God’s works of
art, created in Jesus Christ to live the good life as from the beginning he
had meant us to live it." It was a good evening and Mark was asked if
he could lead another similar evening later in the year.
At the
beginning of June Mark, together with Peter Little, the local United
Reformed Church minister, led a Primary School Christian Assembly on the
theme of change and new beginnings, helping the Year Six children look
forward to the forthcoming experience of leaving Primary School and moving
on to Secondary School. Using a PowerPoint presentation, music, seeds
and vegetables they led the children in a much appreciated time of
reflection.
Last weekend
Carl led a day of prayer and reflection for the Pastoral Planning Group of
the nearby MSC parish in Tamworth.
Mark's
experience in Tesco
Our local
branch of Tesco supermarket opened its doors for the first time a year ago,
with growing success in the neighbourhood. Mark has been working there for
12 hours a week since its opening. For its 1-year anniversary Tesco
organised a Hollwood-Bollywood themed fancy-dress party for all staff
members. Mark borrowed beautiful dress clothes from our Bangladeshi
neighbours for his Bollywood theme. The party was a great success with
a large number turning up. It was a very enjoyable evening with lots
of music and dancing. Westerners can surely learn something from Pakistanis
and Bangladeshis regarding dancing and having fun without alcohol!
Recently Mark
had a positive review of his work in Tesco with his team manager in which he
was offered training for new skills which he can use in the shop. Mark
pointed out that he was keen to learn more about the Regeneration
Partnership that Tesco has with, amongst others, Birmingham City Council,
Jobcentre plus, the Learning and Skills Council, Aston Pride and other local
community groups, (see weblink
here) as he thought it could be fruitful for the work we are doing here
in Aston. Beside this Mark will do also undertake some training in ‘Customer
Services’.
MSC
Celebrations in Ireland
 Over
the last Month Carl has attended two major MSC celebrations in Ireland.
On May 16th the Province celebrated its 100th anniversary of presence in
Ireland, with the first MSC foundation beginning at the Western Road in Cork
in 1909. A celebratory Mass was held in the Cathedral in Cork City,
presided by the local Bishop, with the Papal Nuncio to Ireland in
attendance. MSCs from the Irish Province were joined by special guests
and benefactors and MSC representatives of other MSC provinces who have been
involved with the Irish Province in collaborative missions and projects over
the last 100 years. You can read more about the event on the Irish
Province website
here.
 At
the end of May Carl returned to Cork for the ordination of Alan Neville MSC.
Alan has recently been ministering as a deacon in the MSC parish in St
Albans, Hertfordshire (England), to which he will return after some holiday
with his family. We congratulate Alan and wish him every blessing in
his life and ministry as an MSC priest. You can read about the
ordination and see some photos from the ceremony
here.
After the
ordination Carl travelled to Dublin for two meetings - the Provincial
Statutes Commission and the Provincial Council. He returned just in
time for the regular Friday English Language Volunteers' Course.
Sacred
Heart Primary School Anniversary
This coming
feast of the Sacred Heart the parish will be celebrating the 111th
anniversary of the local Catholic Primary School. It seems a strange
anniversary, but the occasion was overlooked when the school was 100 years
old, and last year's plans to celebrate 110 years were thwarted by the
announcement of a school inspection! On Saturday 6th June the school
hosted an open day and on the Feast of the Sacred Heart we will join them
for a special celebratory mass and an evening's social celebration.
Work with
refugees and Asylum Seekers
Our work with
refugees and asylum seekers continues. Because of the confidential
nature of this work it is hard to share the details. Many of the real
struggles, uncertainties, anxieties and difficulties continue. But
there have also been some successes. Carl has succeeded in getting the
offer of school places in local Catholic schools for two children in one
family. That family has also heard during the last week that they will
be granted "Leave to Remain" - permission to stay in the UK (initially for
five years). This is fantastic news - only slightly tempered by the
reality that now their housing and financial assistance will be withdrawn.
New arrangements will be put in place, but there will be a lot of upheaval
in the process, and the need to move house. Both Carl and Mark
recently took their befriendees out on day trips. Carl took the family
he is working with the Lickey Hills on the south side of Birmingham during
the Bank
Holiday weekend in May while Mark took his befriendee into the Shropshire
hills near Church Stretton the weekend that Carl was in Ireland for Alan's
ordination. This last week Mark and Carl attended the Annual Meeting
of RESTORE, the Refugee and Asylum
Seeker support project of Birmingham Churches Together. It was a
wonderful evening celebrating the 10th anniversary of RESTORE, and a great
opportunity to meet and network with RESTORE staff, volunteers and
befrenders, as well as many of the refugees and asylum seekers being
supported by RESTORE. The evening included a theological reflection on
the theme of "Visions of restoration".
Birmingham
Catholic ministers reflect on Islam
Continuing the
initiative we began in March, on June 16th we attended a second meeting of the Birmingham
Catholic Ministers Reflection Group on Islam. The meetings are planned
by Carl and Damian Howard (a Jesuit who is completing his doctorate in
Islamic Theology in Birmingham University), and led/resourced by Damian.
This month's meeting was on the theme of "How Muslims See Christianity".
We had a wonderful seminar-style conversation for two hours which all of us
found really helpful in considering our presence in the heart of a mainly
Muslim neighbourhood. The next meeting will be held in early November
and will consider the Muslim understanding of Jesus and possible points of contact/common ground
for fruitful conversation/dialogue.
Celebrating
the Feast of the Sacred Heart
This coming
Friday is the Feast of the Sacred Heart. Because of the local primary
school celebrations we are unable to join with our other local MSC for the
Feast Day. Instead, we hosted MSCs from Princethorpe, Wappenbury and
Tamworth to supper here in Aston last Sunday evening. The weather was
glorious and we had a lovely evening eating out on our newly laid decking in
the back garden. To all our fellow MSC, our families, friends and
supporters; we wish you a very happy Feast of the Sacred Heart!
 After Easter
Carl and Ton travelled to Devon to spend a couple of days with Carl's
parents and enjoy some walking on Dartmoor and along the South West Coastal
Path. During the same few days Mark welcomed his sister,
Kristien
and her husband and two
children to England for a few days visit. They used the MSC Cottage in Princethorpe
(where we lived before coming to Aston) as a base and defied the rain to visit the Cotswolds and
Shropshire. They concluded their visit with lunch in Aston before
returning to Belgium.
Since the
Easter break life has gathered a pace and we are noticeably much busier.
Our continued involvement in many of aspects of life in Aston brings new
connections and opens new doors and possibilities. The patient
approach of our first year is certainly proving to have been a wise
strategy.
Looking at the
sweep of the last four weeks the following stand out as particularly
interesting or of significance...
Visit to
Glastonbury
 On
their way back from Devon, Ton and Carl called to Glastonbury to try and
locate the site of the second MSC foundation in the Irish Province.
Earlier this year, in March, we had visited Madeley in Shropshire, the first MSC presence in these islands.
From Madeley, in 1886, an old hotel called "Tor Inn" (formerly
"The Anchor Inn") was purchased in
Glastonbury. The house and grounds were on the site of the ancient
"Chalice Well" or "Blood Spring" at the foot of Glastonbury Tor (or
Hill) and was said to have connections with Joseph of Arimathea who
supposedly came to Glastonbury with twelve of his disciples and brought the
Holy Grail (or chalice) from the Last Supper and
buried it deep in the well. Since that time the water has flowed
blood red (though scientifically due to a high iron content!). Together
with his disciples Joseph established an Anchorite monastery on this site
(hence "The Anchor Inn").
Fr Chevalier and the early group
of MSC based in Issoudun were well aware of these legends which made a
foundation in Glastonbury, and the possible association with a site of
ancient Christian pilgrimage, an attractive proposition as a foothold in
England. The arrival of the MSC in 1886 marked the first Catholic presence in the town since the Reformation and on the
Feast of St Matthew that year Fr Xavier Deidier MSC had the privilege of
celebrating the first Mass in Glastonbury since King Henry VIII's break
with Rome.
 The house became known as "Tor House" and was
expanded
to become a minor seminary for the MSC in England. The MSC also took
charge of the mission (later a parish) at Burnham on Sea. It was
from Glastonbury in 1899 that the MSC took charge of the parish in St
Albans (Hertfordshire) where we sill minister to this day. For some
years the Minor Seminary flourished before falling victim to financial
difficulties and a lack of vocations to the MSC Society. In 1901,
following the expulsion of Religious from France, the Glastonbury House
served as the MSC Novitiate for France accommodating 30 novices.
When the Novitiate returned to France five years later, the school
re-opened, but never succeeded in attracting more than 14 boys (most of
whom were Irish). So when the possibility of acquiring a house in
Ireland came along in 1909 the decision was made to close the
Glastonbury project and begin afresh in Cork. It is the 100th
anniversary of this development that the MSC of the Irish Province
celebrate this year -(see the
Irish Province website).
The MSC house at Glastonbury (pictured in black and white
above), which later became a school, was demolished in the 1970's,
but the site of the property has now been converted into gardens developed
around the Chalice Well. You can see more photos of the site and
Carl and Ton's visit on
the Photo Album page.
JPIC
Meeting in Dublin
On Saturday
18th April all three of us attended a meeting of the MSC JPIC Commission in
Dublin. The previous meeting had been in St Albans where we had
decided on four areas to focus our attention (see February News report
below). At the Dublin meeting
the group took time to explore each of the four areas in greater detail and
begin to name possible specific points for action. We also discussed
the forthcoming European Elections and prepared material for distribution to
the members of the Province to help in determining which candidates/parties
are supporting JPIC issues. You can access the resources
here. As a community we have also committed to engaging in a
process of an ecological audit of our life. This is part of a trial of
a tool offered by the
Eco-Congregation network. The members of the MSC JPIC Commission
are using the tool over the coming months before deciding whether to
recommend it across the Province.
Visit of
Peter Zanol
On April 23rd
and 24th we were delighted to welcome Peter Zanol from Adelaide, Australia.
Peter is a teacher and has spent many years working in Catholic Education.
Recently he has been engaged in a new project with the De La Salle Brothers
in Adelaide, working with small groups of young people who have serious
behaviour difficulties and have been excluded from mainstream education.
He is currently in Europe on a three month sabbatical programme and had
heard about our mission in Aston from a previous Aussie visitor of ours and
was keen to visit. We spent time outlining the origins of the project
with him and then walked him around Aston, explaining the various elements
of our presence and engagement in the neighbourhood. Interestingly,
many of the things we spoke about held resonances for the approach he takes
to being present to the young troubled people in his school. We wish Peter a
most fruitful and enjoyable sabbatical.
Death of
Ton's brother, Jan Zwart
We were all
deeply saddened to hear of the swift death of Ton's brother Jan on Friday
24th April. Jan had telephoned Ton on the evening of the 22nd April to
say that, on the advice of his doctors, he had decided to terminate the
treatment he was having for cancer. He was aware that he probably had
very little time left to live. Ton swiftly arranged a flight home to
The Netherlands on Friday afternoon (the 24th) but sadly arrived just an
hour after Jan died. The funeral took place last Friday (1st May).
We extend our deepest sympathy to Ton and to all the family who are mourning
Jan's death. Ton will be staying in Holland for the next few weeks,
returning to Aston at the end of May.
Supporting
Asylum Seekers and the Strangers into Citizens rally in London
 The
last few weeks have seen an intensification of some of the support work we
have been doing with the Asylum Seekers we are befriending through RESTORE. This is a
deeply humbling ministry, the details of which it is not possible to share
publically here for obvious reasons. The struggle, challenge and torment of
not knowing how long a decision will take, is a constant pressure that they
have to deal with. All that alongside living in very poor
accommodation on a most meagre weekly allowance.
While we continue to be closely involved with the work of
RESTORE, we have also been following and supporting the
Strangers into
Citizens campaign that we have written about before. Early on the morning of Monday May 4th Mark and Carl
boarded one of 12 coaches travelling down from Birmingham to London for
the 2009 Strangers into
Citizens march and rally. At 10.30 am we arrived at
Westminster Cathedral for a special Mass for Migrants, celebrating the
Feast of St Joseph the Worker. At the conclusion of the mass the
congregation processed out of the Cathedral behind an array of flags and
banners to join others processing from St Margaret's Church, Parliament
Square (Anglican) and Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, down Victoria
Street, into Parliament Square, along Whitehall and past Downing Street,
finishing up in Trafalgar Square. In total somewhere between
10,000 and 20,000 gathered in Trafalgar Square for the rally which was
addressed by a series of Church leaders and leaders of other faiths,
politicians and Trade Union leaders.
 The Strangers into Citizens campaign is calling for a
one-off regularisation of long-term irregular migrants in the UK. There
are an estimated 500,000 irregular migrants in the UK. They face
exploitation and uncertainty. They want to work, integrate and be able
to contribute to life in the UK as full members of our society.
The campaign proposes that those who have been in the UK for 4 or more
years should be admitted to a 2-year pathway to full legal rights
(“leave to remain”) during which they work legally and demonstrate their
contribution to UK economy and society. After that 2-year period,
subject to knowledge of English and employer and community references,
they would be granted permanent leave to remain.
See more photos of the march and rally on our
Photo Album page.
English
Language Teaching
All three of
us continue with the City and Guilds course (every Friday) which will
qualify us as volunteer English Language Teaching assistants. Recently
we have begun our placements in local projects. Ton is volunteering in
an ESOL course (English for Speakers of Other Languages) in Cherwell Gardens
on Mansfield Road. It is a course primarily used by Bangladeshi men. Carl and
Mark have just begun volunteering once a week in a women's only class at Saathi House in Aston - a project that provides a variety of support for
Asian women.
Mansfield
Green Residents' Forum
In March we
reported that all the members of our local Residents' Forum committee had
stood down and that it had been impossible for form a new committee.
The decision was taken to allow two months before holding an Extraordinary
General Meeting to try and elect a new committee. During this time it
was hoped to generate some more enthusiasm and support for the Forum.
A Fun Day on the Green had been suggested and both Carl and Ton attended a
series of planning meetings with Aston Pride to try and organise the day.
It was hoped that such day on the Green would give an opportunity to meet
other local residents and harness some support for the Forum. Sadly
the day could not go ahead because permission could not be gained in time
from the City Council for use of the land. With very little time left
before the EGM, Carl drafted a flyer which was printed and then distributed
by Carl and Mark to over 200 houses around the Green advertising the
forthcoming meeting and explaining the work of the Forum, highlighting some
of the current issues. Together with the outgoing committee members,
we also spoke to local residents and urged them to attend. At the EGM
on Wednesday 6th May only about 13 people gathered, and no new people
attended. Again Carl was the only person willing to stand for election
to the Committee. Sadly, as a result of this lack of interest, the
Forum was disbanded. Now we have to see if there are other ways of
gathering local people to address issues of concern to them.
We begin by
wishing all of our friends, fellow MSC, families and supporters a very happy and holy
Easter. May the heart of Christ pierced on Calvary now beat with
resurrection life in and through each of us as we seek to be his heart on earth.
As usual the
last month has gone by so fast. It's hard to believe Easter is upon us
already. Last week all three of us were in Waterford (Ireland) for a
few days for a joint Assembly of MSC who are living and working in the UK
and Ireland. It is part of a year-long discernment process to review
current ministry commitments and prioritise and plan for the future.
It was a really good few days and a very positive, open and engaging
meeting. You can read more about it on the website of the
Irish Province.
While all of
our usual activities continue, including our weekly training course to
become volunteer English Language Learning Assistants, the following are
some of the particular highlights of the last month.
 School
Assemblies for Easter - An annual project of Aston Churches Together is
to put together a small team to prepare and present a short drama to the
local primary schools of Aston explaining the story of the passion, death
and resurrection of Christ. Our local schools are highly multicultural
with the majority of pupils coming from a non-Christian background.
Most of the schools welcome the initiative of the Churches to help them tell
the Easter story. This year Mark volunteered for the team and joined
five others in a couple of weeks of preparation and then two weeks of
presenting the drama in the morning School Assemblies. The drama was
told from the perspective of a journalist who was sent to try and discover
the true meaning of Easter that lies behind the Easter eggs and Easter
bunnies, and who is able to go back in time to AD33 and interview some of the key
people who were present and witnesses to Christ's passion and resurrection.
It was a very successful venture and provided yet another opportunity to
make new contacts and share our faith in an ecumenical context. The
photo shows Mark (second from left) together with the other members of the
team (minus one who was sick that morning!)
First
inter-faith meeting for local Catholic ministers - As reported in our
last bulletin, Carl and Jesuit priest Damian Howard, had been planning a
first meeting to gather Catholic priests, religious and laity across the
inner city area who are working in the the area of inter-faith
mission/dialogue. The meeting was held in Sacred Heart Church, Aston
on 19th March and was attended by 15 people. The whole of the first
meeting was taken up by each person describing something of the situation
they are working in and telling of one or two highlights of their interfaith
encounters over the last couple of years. Great energy was generated
by the conversation and it was unanimously agreed to make a regular event of
the gathering (three or four times a year). The next meeting will be
held on June 16th.
Tea and
Coffee after mass - For many months now our Sunday congregation at the
10.30 mass has been becoming more diverse and multicultural. We have
several new families and individual parishioners attending from Slovakia, DR
Congo, The Cameroun, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Some weeks ago we
suggested to Fr Peter (the Parish Priest) that it might be a good idea to
make use of the newly refurbished Undercroft to offer hospitality after mass
and encourage parishioners to get to know one another, especially the new
members of the parish. This was begun a couple of weeks ago, and while
those choosing to stay behind are relatively few in number, most of the new
parishioners have done so and it has been great to get to know them and
introduce them to one another. There are many potential benefits to
this and already we have been able to follow up on some practical
difficulties being experienced by some of our new parishioners, especially
those who are refugees and in temporary housing.
 Carl
attends Provincial's meeting in Germany - From March 23rd to 28th Carl
attended the meeting of the MSC European Provincials in Munster, Germany.
Carl is secretary of the European Provincials' Conference (PEC), but he was also
there to report on developments in the mission of the Cordate Community over
the last year. Our mission here in Aston is an initiative of all eight
MSC European Provinces. The Provincials were very encouraged by recent
developments in Aston and were keen to hear of our plans for the coming
year. They continue to offer the mission their wholehearted support.
Next year there will be a first formal evaluation of the mission undertaken
by a team of three MSC, led by the Chair of the European Provincial's
Conference. The picture shows Fr Ben Verberne MSC (Chair of PEC)
leading the meeting. You can read more about the meeting on the website of the
Irish Province.
New Car
- Last month we reported that on returning from the English MSC Spring
Assembly we had an accident in our community car. Eventually, after
lots of phone calls and paperwork, the insurers decided to go ahead with the
repair. Before the accident we had been in the process of trading our
car in for a newer one, and fortunately this was still able to go ahead.
So two weeks ago we took delivery of a one-year-old Skoda. Hopefully
it will keep all three of us safe on the road for the next few years.
 Good Friday Ecumenical Walk of Witness - For
the second year running we participated in the Aston Churches Together
Good Friday Walk of Witness. This year Ton, together with David
Fletcher from the Lee Abbey Lay Community (Anglican) was involved in
organising the walk. Ton also led a time of reflection outside St
James' Anglican Church. The weather forecast had been dreadful for the morning
and may have put some people off attending, but the morning stayed dry
and a good sized crowd assembled at South Aston United Reformed Church
to begin the walk at 9.30am. From there we walked to St James' and
on to Sacred Heart Catholic Church where the Anglican Vicar of Aston led
the reflection and prayers. Walking down the Witton Road and
through the principal shopping area of Aston while singing our hymns was
very respectfully received by the residents who watched. After
another stop for song, readings, prayer and reflection at Birchfield
Gospel Hall we concluded the walk at Shiloh Pentecostal Church next to
Aston Villa Football Club. After our concluding hymn and prayers
we were all treated to a very welcome cup of tea or coffee and a Hot
Cross Bun - all just as the promised rain began! It was a
wonderful start to Good Friday. See more of the Walk of Witness photos in the
Aston Photo Album.
Easter celebrations - So far we have had a lovely
celebration of the Triduum ceremonies. There was a small gathering
in Church for the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, but it was
still a beautiful celebration which concluded with quiet watching at the
altar of repose and night prayer. After the Good Friday Walk of
Witness yesterday we had our own Solemn Liturgy at 3.00pm. Earlier
in the morning during the Walk of Witness, while stopped outside Sacred
Heart Church, Fr Peter had invited anyone who was not attending a
service of their own Church in the afternoon to feel most welcome to
come along to the Catholic liturgy. We were delighted that some of
our friends from the Lee Abbey Community did just that, and then came
home with us for a cup of tea afterwards. It was a great end to
what had been a really ecumenical day. Tonight we look forward to
the Easter Vigil, and tomorrow after mass we are welcoming a family of
asylum seekers from Sri Lanka (mother and four children) to join us for
Easter Sunday Lunch. Later today we will be delivering Easter
cards and Easter Eggs to the homes of our immediate neighbours.
Festivals such as these are powerful ways of sharing both faith and
hospitality.
The weeks are
zipping by and travels away from Aston over the last couple of weeks have
delayed the latest update to this news page. All of our usual
activities continue as before, but to catch up on some of the more important
and interesting events of the last month or so it is probably best to take a
thematic approach:
Mansfield
Green Residents' Forum - The present committee of our local residents'
forum have come to the end of their mandate and are all stepping down.
At an Annual General Meeting of the Forum this last week Carl offered
himself for election to the new committee (but not as chairperson).
Unfortunately there were insufficient nominees for the other post-holders so
a decision was made to delay the process by two months and hold an
Extraordinary General Meeting in May by which time it is hoped to have a
full committee ready for nomination and election. In the meantime Carl
is working with the outgoing chairperson and others to try and increase the
involvement of local residents in the forum.
Inter-faith
- At a neighbourhood level we continue to grow the already warm and friendly
relationships with our immediate neighbours, delighting in the opportunities
to celebrate birthdays with one another and visit one another in our homes.
Mark continues to volunteer in the local Voice of Aston youth group (which
is predominantly for Pakistani boys) and has been deepening relationships
with colleagues at work in Tesco.
Last week we
hosted Toby and Henrietta Howard to lunch. Toby is a Church of England
priest and the Inter-faith Advisor to the Anglican Bishop for Birmingham.
His wife Henrietta, also an Anglican minister, is vicar of the highly
multicultural Anglican parish of Springfield in Birmingham where both of
them minister. Henrietta is also Dutch (and Toby speaks Dutch very
well) so Ton and Mark were able to legitimately relax into their mother
tongues! We had a great conversation over a very long lunch and it was
really good to share experiences and encouragement. Toby is keen to
introduce us to other local networks and initiatives.
Following on
from our study day with Damian Howard last November we decided to try and
launch a group of Catholic ministers in the city area who are involved in
interfaith work. Carl and Damian have invited various priests,
religious and laity from the Birmingham area to an initial meeting here in
Aston on Thursday of next week (19th March). Hopefully there will be
enthusiasm for the group to meet several times a year.
Ecumenical
activity - In mid February we were very happy to be invited to dinner at
the Lee Abbey community once again (an Anglican lay community here in
Aston). We have got to know the members of the community well over the
last year and it is always good to come together to share, to pray and to
support one another.
At the last
couple of meetings of Aston Churches Together three initiatives are
involving us at some level. Ton is working together with David from
the Lee Abbey Community in planning this year's Good Friday Walk of Witness.
Mark has volunteered to be part of a small group from Aston's Christian
Churches who will go into all of the Primary Schools in Aston in the couple
of week's leading up to Easter to deliver school Assemblies on the message
of Easter. And all of the Churches are currently trying to lobby Aston
Villa Football Club to persuade them to change a football fixture that has
been set for 1.00pm on Easter Sunday. This will cause traffic chaos
and gridlock in Aston just as all of the Churches are holding their Easter
Sunday services. We will let you know how successful we are in getting
them to change their plans!
English
Language Learning - As we have reported on many occasions we have been
trying to find a way of supporting English Language learning in Aston.
There is a great need in this area which has long since been recognised by
Aston Pride (the regeneration project for Aston) who set up the Aston Pride
Adult Learning Network over a year ago with one of its aims as finding new
and creative ways to offer language learning opportunities in the
neighbourhood.
As a prelude to the various initiatives they are hoping to make available, they are
offering a training course for volunteer language learning assistants.
All three of us have signed up for the course which is being run on Friday
mornings for four months. The first session was last week, so its back to
school for all of us!
Local Catholic
networking - Unfortunately we missed this month's Deanery Meeting, but at
February's meeting there was a very good conversation about the needs of the
poor and homeless in the city, a reality that is becoming more present and
pressing as the recession begins to bite. It was decided to see what
support can be offered in a collaborative way with the other Christian
Churches across the city.
Also in
mid-February we spent a morning with Ray Collier (a Columban priest) whom we
meet regularly for theological and pastoral reflection and mutual support.
It is always good to spend time with Ray who has a very similar vision for a
ministry of presence in the city.
 These Four
Streets - On the afternoon of February 26th the three of us went to see
a new play which had recently opened in Birmingham. "These Four
Streets" tells the story of the Lozells riots of October 2005. Lozells
is the neighbourhood next to Aston and following rumours of the gang rape of
a black hairdresser by a group of Asian young men disturbances spread onto
the streets, spilling over into Aston and resulting in the deaths of two
young men and more than 300 reported crimes, including attacks on Asian
businesses and several attempted murders. You can read a Guardian
newspaper review of the play
here. The events were told through the experience of the multiple
ethnic and racial groups in Lozells, each with their own perspective, bias
and prejudice. Although the strong local and ethnic accents were hard
to understand at times, we really enjoyed the play, and particularly the
reaction of the audience which was mostly made up of teenage schoolchildren
from the Aston and Lozells area.
Sacred
Heart Primary School - In mid February, on the last day of the first
half of the Spring Term, Carl led a half day retreat for the staff of Sacred
Heart Primary School in Aston. It was a day to reflect on the many
blessings that each of the members of staff receive as they work in Aston,
and on the giftedness that they are called to share with the school
community. It was a really good day of sharing and prayer with what is
a very impressive and committed staff.
Visits
- We have been blessed with several visitors over the last few weeks.
Mark's brother Danny and his friend Herman came over from Belgium for five
days in late February. They spent a couple of nights in Aston and were
accompanied by Mark on a two day visit to the Peak District and the city of
York. Carl's parents stayed the night prior to going away on holiday
to Spain and again on their return. Alan Whelan MSC joined us for
lunch last weekend and in February Fr Peter Jones (Parish Priest of Aston)
joined us for an evening meal.
Travels
- Carl was in Cork (Ireland) for the first week of March for a Provincial
Council meeting and a Civic Reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Cork to
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the MSC in Ireland.
Sadly during the course of the meeting Fr Bill Clarkson MSC died in
University College Hospital, Galway. Bill was the first MSC that Carl
ever met and was his Headmaster at Princethorpe College in his early years
at school there in the 1970's. Bill and Carl had remained close ever
since. His early and unexpected death is a great shock and he will be
deeply missed by the whole Irish MSC Province. Fortunately Carl was able to alter his
travel arrangements and attend the removal from Galway and Bill's funeral mass
the following day in Dublin before returning to Aston.
 This last week
all three of us have been in the Benedictine Belmont Abbey in Herefordshire
for the MSC English Spring Assembly. 13 MSC gathered for what is
becoming our regular Spring non-business gathering. It was great to
have a couple of days to be together to share, relax, pray and enjoy one
another's company in such a beautiful setting. On the way home we took
a detour to do some sight-seeing in the Herefordshire and Shropshire
countryside, concluding our day with a visit to the small Shropshire town of
Madeley, the place of the first MSC foundation in the British Isles in 1882.
The parish priest of Madely made us very welcome and showed us around the
Church (pictured) where the first MSC to work in England ministered for four years
before beginning a foundation in Glastonbury and later St Albans.
Unfortunately on our way home that evening we were involved in a car
accident and were hit in the rear causing considerable damage to our car.
We are awaiting a decision by the insurers regarding repair!
Well where did
January go?
After a lovely
Christmas celebration with Ton and Carl joining the Parish in Aston and Mark
completing his 10 weeks of supply in Bearwood, all three of us travelled to
Princethorpe on Christmas afternoon to join with other MSCs from the
Midlands region for our usual Christmas get-together hosted by Teddy O'Brien
MSC. It was again a wonderful evening of sharing and celebrating.
The following
day while Ton returned to Aston, Carl travelled to Devon to visit his
parents for three days and Mark stayed in Princethorpe for a couple of
nights to visit friends in the Coventry area. We were all together
again for few days later to see in the New Year. Early on New Year's morning
Mark took Carl to the airport for his flight to Venezuela where together
with Joe McGee MSC (Deputy Provincial) he spent the following three weeks
representing the Irish Provincial Council at the MSC Regional Conference and
visiting the areas of mission and ministry of the MSC community in
Venezuela, which is a region of the Irish Province. A few days after
Carl's departure Mark travelled to his family in Belgium for 10 days of
holiday. Ton kept the fort here in Aston and represented the community
at various meetings and events as the new year got underway (Adult Learning
Network, Mansfield Residents Forum, Aston Churches Together). Ton also
helped out in a couple of local parishes with weekend supply, enabling some
of the local diocesan clergy to get a post-Christmas break.
On Sunday 18th
January Mark and Ton attended a meeting of MSCs in the Midlands area who
gathered in Tamworth as part of a year-long process of reviewing our
ministries in Ireland and England with a view to prioritising and planning
for the future.
Carl returned
from a fascinating first visit to Venezuela on January 20th (without his
luggage which arrived a couple of days later!). On the 22nd and 23rd
January he was in Princethorpe as part of a panel of Trustees to conduct
interviews for a new Head for the College. The Trustees were delighted
to be able to appoint
Mr Ed
Hester to the post which he will take up in September.
That weekend
Ton travelled to Cambridge to visit his friend Hilary Clay and enjoyed a
wonderful few days of Cambridge culture and great conversation with Hilary.
 On
Saturday 24th January Mark and Carl were in St Albans as part of a small
group of MSCs who met to explore how the Irish Province might realise in a
structured and corporate way the justice, peace and integrity of creation
values articulated in our MSC Constitutions and Chapter Statements. This was
a follow-up to a first meeting held in Waterford last November.
The day of reflection and sharing began with two inputs. The first was from
Ellen Teague, a member of the
Columban Missionaries JPIC group
who outlined the diverse activities they have been involved in
over a number of years. She also outlined the challenges facing any JPIC
group today, especially one that is rooted in a religious congregation.
The second talk in the morning session was from Scott Albrecht, a member of
the Catholic Workers Union. Scott, along with his family, run
The Catholic Worker Farm that
acts as a refuge for migrant and refugee women, a number of whom have been
trafficked for sexual exploitation. Scott outlined some of the contextual
theology and spirituality that underpinned his commitment to JPIC. His work
extends beyond his ministry in his refuge and includes direct symbolic
action for peace at military installations.
After lunch and a time of prayer the remainder of the day was spent
reflecting on the morning’s input and progressing the work of the previous
meeting and prioritising four issues to focus on as the group gets underway.
1. Strangers in our midst – The challenges facing refugees, asylum seekers,
trafficked peoples and economic refugees. 2. Emerging faces of poverty -
Reflecting on our local communities and how they are being impacted by the
changing global economic situation as a result of the ‘credit crunch.’ 3.
Care of the dying poor – In both South Africa and Venezuela MSCs are very
much involved in the development of the hospice movement among the most
needy. This may be one way of supporting our oversees efforts. 4. Our own
environmental impact – Examining how our communities and ministries can
operate with integrity of creation as a central value. The challenge of
progressing these themes further will be taken up at the next meeting on
Saturday April 18th in Killinarden, Dublin.
On Wednesday
28th January we had another review and planning day with Sr Breda at Manresa
House, the Jesuit Novitiate community on the south side of Birmingham.
It was good to look back at the months since our last meeting in September
and reflect on the developments, progress and challenges of this period of
time. Some of the highlights have been the arrival of our new
next-door neighbours, a Bangladeshi couple and their five young children,
with whom we have a very close and friendly relationship, the Islam Course
that we offered in the Parish last Autumn, and the befriending relationships
we are developing with asylum seekers, victims of crime and local elderly
people. One of the challenges has been the lack of progress at
establishing the English Language Learning Project. Another will be
the possible collapse of the Mansfield Residents' Forum if the committee all
resign next month, as is likely. We are hoping that we can encourage
some others to work with us in keep this group going and develop it further.
On Saturday
31st January while Mark celebrated the lunchtime mass in Aston, Ton and Carl
attended the Day for Religious hosted by the Archdiocese at the Cathedral.
Some 120 Religious from across the diocese attended. In the morning
Bishop David McGough, one of the Auxiliary Bishops in Birmingham, gave an
address on St Paul for the Pauline Year: "St Paul and the tyranny of
perfection". This was followed by mass celebrated by the Archbishop at
which the Silver, Golden and Diamond Jubilarians from the different
Congregations serving in the Archdiocese were honoured. After a
sit-down buffet lunch the day concluded with a short documentary film on the
missionary journeys of St Paul.
In the evening
all three of us were delighted to be invited to supper at Fr Simon Hall's
presbytery in the neighbouring parish of St Theresa's, Perry Barr. We have
done supply for Simon on a few occasions and he had joined us for dinner
before Christmas. We had a lovely evening of good food and good
conversation.
On Sunday 1st
February Mark was doing supply in the neighbouring parish of St Francis,
Handsworth while Carl and Ton concelebrated the Confirmation Mass at Sacred
Heart in Aston, presided by Bishop Philip Pargeter. All three of us
joined Bishop Philip and Peter Jones, our Parish Priest, for lunch after the
mass before Mark had to rush off to work in Tesco!
| 
