The Parishioner - Edition 17

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6 NEWS IN PICTURES Last Christmas, adults as well as the children were delighted by the beautiful scene of the Christchild in the manger, a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas, which we sometimes forget in the hurly burly of the festive season. The Churches in Maidstone Good Friday procession of the Cross culminated at the junction of Fremlin’s Walk and Week Street with a service of readings and hymns accompanied by the Salvation Army band. Canon John and various parishioners enjoy a sunny al fresco meal and a glass of beer in the Belgian city of Bruges during the parish outing on May 9th. A good time was had by all! The Syro Malaber Maundy Thursday celebration in the Parish Hall At a happy gathering on Sunday, April 26th in the School hall, Canon John was presented with a book containing the names and best wishes of his parishioners on his becoming a Chapter Canon. Congatulations, Canon, on becoming one of the big guns! After the baptism of his baby brother in church, little Declan sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally Declan replied, “That priest said he wanted us brought up in a good Christian home, but I want to stay with you and Mummy.” S St. Maximilian Kolbe t. Maximilian Kolbe was born to Julius and Maria Kolbe on January 8th 1894 in Zdunska-Wola, Poland. He was baptised Raymond. His parents were impoverished weavers and deeply devout Third Order Franciscans. Raymond was a mischievous, wilful child. His mother, Maria, became concerned that his life would take an unfavourable direction. Raymond, aged twelve, also wondered about his own destiny. One evening, while praying before a statue of Our Lady in the parish chapel and asking what would become of him, Raymond saw an apparition of Our Lady. She held out two crowns towards him; a white crown for purity and a red crown for martyrdom. Our Lady asked Raymond which crown he would accept. He answered that he would accept both. Then the apparition disappeared. He told his mother about the apparition and afterwards Maria Kolbe noticed a great change in her son’s behaviour; Raymond was now a very obedient boy, deeply devoted to Our Lady. In 1910, when Raymond was sixteen, he sought the religious life and entered the Franciscan Order. He continued his vocational studies in Rome, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, then at the Pontifical University of St. Bonaventure, graduating from both with a doctorate in philosophy and theology. At the end of WWI, Raymond was ordained in Rome, taking the names Maximilian Mary.In 1919 he returned to his native Poland. Demonstrations in Europe at that time by Freemasons against the Papacy inspired Fr. Maximilian to found the sodality of the Militia of Mary Immaculate, a Franciscan devotional printing press that published a popular monthly magazine entitled ‘The Knight of the Immaculata’ which encouraged conversions and devotion to Our Lady. He also founded a monastery in Niepokalanow near Warsaw, a seminary, a radio station and a number of other devotional organisations. During this time Fr. Maximilian was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Between 1930 and 1936, Fr. Maximilian made missionary trips to Japan where he founded devotional associations and a Franciscan monastery built on a mountainside near the city of Nagasaki. Despite the atomic bomb being dropped on Nagasaki in WWII, the monastery remains prominent in Japan today). During WWII, Fr. Maximilian provided food and shelter for Polish refugees who had fled Nazi persecution, including 2000 Jews whom he hid in his monastery in Niepokalanov. Through radio, he condemned Nazi atrocities and his printing press came under scrutiny by the Nazi regime, leading to his arrest and imprisonment by the Gestapo in February 1941. He was sentenced to three months in Pawiak Prison, Warsaw, before being transferred, on May 25th 1941, to the infamous Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp. On arrival at Auschwitz, the sight of Fr. Maximilian, wearing the Franciscan habit with his Rosary beads visible, infuriated a Nazi guard. “Do you believe in that?” the guard asked him, pointing to the crucifix on his beads. When Fr. Maximilian calmly replied, “Yes, I believe”, the Nazi guard angrily grabbed the beads repeating the question, slapped him hard on the face several times. Realising Fr. Maximilian was remaining calm and unshaken, the enraged guard finally gave up and left the room. Fr. Maximilian was branded prisoner 16670 and assigned to work immediately with other prisoners on the construction of a crematorium wall. Construction work in Auschwitz was supervised by some of the most sadistic Nazi guards. Daily, they made prisoners cut down trees in the surrounding woodland and forced them to carry the large tree trunks. Prisoners were also ordered to run as they carried the timber on their backs. If they did not run fast enough they were beaten with whips by the guards. Fr. Maximilian’s tuberculosis was now at an advanced stage but Pray as you go http://www.pray-as-you-go.org This site is run by the Jesuits. It offers a 10 minute prayer for each day of the working week. You can go to the website and listen on your computer or you can download the podcast. The prayer involves some music, a reading from the day and some thoughtful questions to help apply the reading in our lives. They come in batches of 5 so you can set yourself up for the week and use them when you have a few moments your schedule. Taize Prayer www.taize.fr/podcast The ecumenical community in Taize also offers a 10 minute podcast two or three times a week which is recorded in the Church of Reconciliation in France. This consists of chants, a short reading in different languages and some prayers. The Saturday night prayer is available in full (about an hour) courtesy of the German Christian Radio station Domradio: Picture and words by Charlotte Cassidy, artist Faith Online: Podcasts for prayer Bob Bowie he calmly accepted the work and the blows, spiritually drawing strength and courage from his love for Our Lady. Nazi guards had an contempt for Catholic priests and Fr. Maximilian was especially singled out for cruelty by one of the guards who had a reputation for being particularly callous. On one occasion Fr. Maximilian lost consciousness during a beating and was left for dead. When the guards had gone, the other prisoners went to his assistance; they managed to revive him and smuggle him to the camp hospital. After a few days, when he began to recover, he secretly heard the other prisoners’ confessions and spoke to them of God’s infinite love. He shared his small rations of food with them. His comforting words of love from the Scriptures and his holy example gave them great courage. He urged the other prisoners not to harden their souls with hatred for their Nazi tormentors but to pray for the redemption of the Nazi guards and for an end to the war. When he had recovered enough, the guards made Fr. Maximilian carry large, heavy blocks of concrete for the continued construction of the crematorium wall. In late July of 1941, the Nazi guards discovered that three prisoners had escaped from the camp. In reprisal for the escaped prisoners, the Nazi Commandant announced that ten prisoners would be selected at random to die in the Bunker, a notorious underground starvation cell. One of the men selected was a Polish Jew, named Franciszek Gajowniczek. He made a tearful plea to the Commandant exclaiming, “My wife! My children! I’ll never see them again! Fr. Maximilian stepped forward and said, “I’m a Catholic priest. Let me take his place. I’m older. He has a wife and children”. The Franciscan then joined the nine ill-fated men, taking the place of Franciszek Gajowniczek. The ten men were then taken to Block 13 (The Death Block), told to strip naked and ordered to enter a narrow tunnel to reach the small, windowless, underground Bunker where the men would die slowly without food or water. Over the following days, Nazi guards patrolling the grounds above the Bunker could hear Fr. Maximilian leading the other prisoners in continuous prayer. Each day the men’s voices grew weaker. After three weeks the Bunker fell silent and two Nazi guards opened the underground room for inspection. Nine of the ten men were dead, only Fr. Maximilian was still alive. He was sitting against a wall, his eyes open, his expression serene, his hands were clasped in prayer. With a whispered prayer on his lips, he offered the guards his left arm and was immediately executed with an injection of carbolic acid. Fr. Maximilian Kolbe died at 12.30pm on August 14th 1941. He was only forty seven years old. He was cremated in Auschwitz’ notorious ovens the next day. In a last letter to his mother, Maria, on June 15th 1941, he wrote “Pray that my love will be without limits”. Pope Paul VI beatified Fr. Maximilian Kolbe on October 17th 1971. In his homily he praised Fr. Maximilian’s profound sanctity and, speaking of the Holocaust, urged the world never to forget those horrendous and tragic pages of history. St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe was canonised by Pope John Paul II on October 10th 1982. In his homily, the Holy Father declared, “He bore witness to Christ and to love. His heroism went echoing through the concentration camp of Auschwitz. In that desert of hatred he had sown love”. Franciszek Gajowniczek, the Jewish man for whom St. Maximilian Kolbe sacrificed his life, was reunited with his wife, Helena, after the war. Sadly, his two young sons had died some months earlier. Franciszek spent the rest of his life, until his own death in 1995 at the age of 94, spreading devotion to St. Maximilian Kolbe. He would visit the Bunker at Auschwitz each year on the anniversary of St. Maximilian’s death and he would often recall, with gratitude and affection, St. Maximilian’s sacrifice for him on that day in Auschwitz. There is much to frown about on the Internet but there are also things to be thankful for, and there are many websites which offer food for the soul. Here are a few of my favourites which offer podcasts, audio prayers which you can listen to. It is no substitute for gathering and praying together with others but is an option if that is not possible during the week. http://www.domradio.com/default.asp?SiteID=28 Taking the Tablet http://www.premierradio.org.uk/programmes/takingthetablet For those interested more in talk radio, Premier Radio, a Christian radio station broadcasts a show in which Leslie Griffiths, the minister of Wesleys Chapel, speaks each week with Cindy Kent to discuss issues arising from the Catholic International newspaper, The Tablet. There is a podcast again which can be downloaded from the website. What are podcasts? Podcasts are audio programmes downloaded from the internet to your computer which you can listen to using a programme like iTunes (available from www.apple.com/uk for PC or Mac). iTunes will download the latest batch of prayers whenever you run it and you can listen to them as you would a song through your computer speakers. For those with mp3 players or iPods you can also hear them there by copying the files over.
A blast from the past - ‘FRANCISCI’ 1957! Denis Neale Canon John was recently shown a rather battered copy of ‘Francisci’, a first edition of the St Francis’ school magazine published in 1957 and he passed it on to me with the suggestion that it might be interesting to feature it in the ‘Parishioner’. As a former pupil of St Francis’ I was eager to read it and I found it brought back many memories of the staff and pupils I knew during my time at the school. The magazine pages were typed out, reproduced (I guess) by a Roneo printer - no fancy computers and printers in those days - and stapled together with a yellow front cover which stated the price was one shilling a copy. No doubt they had to reproduce several hundred of these 34 page magazines, which must have quite expensive. On the first page is a foreword by Canon Joseph Simmons, the parish priest. As I read this I could see him, peering over his glasses and wagging his finger. Contents of the magazine are pretty much the usual fare; a message from the head master, Mr. McPartland, lists of prize winners at the Prize and Open Day, sports awards and news of the four school houses, St John Fisher, St Thomas More, St Simon Stock and my old house St Thomas a Becket. There were many contributions from pupils of all ages, as the headmaster wrote, “from the naïve descriptions of younger children, to the more sophisticated efforts of the older boys and girls” and it was great fun reading those from pupils I now know as venerable members of the parish. When I first saw the magazine I thought the cover design was rubbish, so I was mortified when I read in the editorial “Many thanks to Denis Neale for designing the cover”. I honestly can’t remember doing it, but I thank the editors for being so kind. The cover of the magazine - not one of my best! The foreword in the school magazine by Canon Joseph Simmons blessing the efforts of all involved. The Prize and Open Day 1957 was reported in the Kent Messenger. As it happened, the photograph shows a young Denis Neale receiving an award. Not for myself, I hasten to add, but on behalf of my house, Thomas a Becket. T Jim Murphy joined the staff of St. Francis’ in 1956 and was a leading light in the production of ‘Francisci’. I asked him to write about his memories of the school and here they are. St. Francis’ School 1956-1959 by Jim Murphy he editor has asked me to reminisce about the school in these years because he has been given a school magazine of the period. David Martin, another teacher, and I produced the magazine and a pupil named Denis Neale did the artwork for the cover, later attending the Maidstone College of Art! I was appointed in September 1956 by Canon Simmons, a selfless priest just like our present Canon, having worked beforehand in St.John’s Senior School, Gravesend. Canon asked me to apply after a session of church cleaning (in those days it meant sweeping the floor and a supper of cheese and bread in Grove House). Then I was invited to tea by Mr. McPartland, who lived in the head teacher’s house in Pine Grove. The staff was well established and a number had served the school throughout the Second World War. It included Mrs. Coakley, who is now 102, and another member who had been on the staff for 45 years, including time as a pupil teacher. The school was crowded with about 400 children from 5 -15 in large classes. The head teacher used the staff room together with the secretary and school nurse. I was teaching the 11+ class in the present office, taking the blackboard down for the children to leave the room (no health and safety around in those days). Our school results were on a par with, or even better, than many schools in the borough. Mass and Benediction were very much part of the curriculum. I remember at this time that the school was victorious in winning the Maidstone Primary Football Cup. This was even more remarkable because for games we had to walk across the High Here we come a-carolling! St Francis’ singers and musicians bring Christmas joy to the Mall, Chequers Shopping Centre, Maidstone on last December 13th Level bridge to Brunswick House school field and change in all weathers outside, not being allowed to use their school’s facilities. I think that about this time Michael Dracup and Vivian Twyman (now Watson) were the senior prefects. How times move on! The school hall was used for assemblies, P.E. and school dinners. On a recent parish outing Denis was admiring the beautiful dining hall of Magdelen College, Oxford and remarked how many times he had to prepare the tables at St. Francis’. In the evening the hall was used for Bingo Sessions, Scouts, the Catholic Women’s Guild (and a drama group), dancing and badminton and, at weekends, jumble sales were arranged by Mrs. Robinson. All these under the eagle eye of Mr. Skinner, the school caretaker. In 57/58 the senior children (11-15) left for the classrooms in the old nissan huts in Vinters Park which in the 60’s became the basic intake for St. Simon Stock School. The extra space left in the school meant that vacated classrooms could be used by the primary children and the head teacher had an office! Even though it was crowded it was a very happy school and I remember the noisy steam trains going to and from Ashford (electrification had only reached Maidstone East). In early 1959 I moved to St. Mary’s School, Gillingham, only to be greeted once again with noisy steam engines and a level crossing. Look at Catholic schools and see how many have been built near railways because this land was cheap in the 19th century. The Pope arrives at Heathrow on a secret visit to a friend in England and he’s met at Arrivals by a scruffy looking taxi driver holding a hand lettered sign that says ‘Pope’. Not recognising the Holy Father, the driver takes the Pope to the VIP car park, loads the Pope’s luggage into a posh limousine - the Pope doesn’t travel light - then notices that the Pope is still waiting to get in. “Mr. Pope”, he says, “why aren’t you in the car yet?” “Well, to tell the truth”, says the Pope, “They never let me drive back home and I’d really like to drive”. “ Actually, it’s against the rules”, protests the taxi driver. “There might be something extra in it for you.” says the Pope. “Well in that case...,” mutters the driver and reluctantly gets into the back as the Pope gets in behind the wheel. The driver immediately regrets his decision when, after getting onto the motorway, the Pope accelerates the limo to 105 mph. “Please don’t drive so fast, Mr Pope”, pleads the worried man, but the Pope keeps his foot to the floor. Then they hear the siren. As the driver cringes in the back seat, the Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as a traffic cop approaches. The cop takes one look at him, goes back to his car and gets on his radio. “I need to talk to the Sergeant,” he says. When the Sergeant gets on the radio the cop tells him he’s stopped a limousine going at 105mph. “So arrest the driver,” says the Sergeant. “I think the passenger’s an important person,” says the cop. “All the more reason” “No, I mean really important,” insists the cop. “Who have you got there, the Lord Mayor of London? - “Bigger” - “Prince William? - “Bigger” - “Well,” said the Sergeant “Who is it?” - “I don’t know,” said the cop, but he’s got the Pope driving for him.” 7
Page 1 and 2: S T F R A N C I S ’ C H U R C H
Page 3 and 4: Join our parish coach trip to Winch
Page 5: A MAIDSTONE CATENIANS CELEBRATE CEN

The Parishioner - Edition 17

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