Issue 71 - The Pilgrim - May 2018 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Issue 71 May 2018
What is
canon law?
Hope amidst
chaos in Syria
Why I paint
icons
Page 5 Pages 6 & 7
Page 12
Delegates from 70
parishes signed up for
Eucharistic Congress
By Greg Watts
Around 200 delegates from 70
parishes in Southwark have already
registered to attend the National
Eucharistic Congress in September.
The Congress – called Adoremus -
is being organised by the Bishops’
Conference of England and Wales
and will take place between
September 7th-9th at the Echo
Arena in Liverpool.
It will be the first Eucharistic
Congress in England in over a
hundred years. The last was held in
Westminster in 1908.
The theme of the three-day
conference is ‘The Eucharist and
the Journey of Life’, and 10,000
participants representing every
diocese in England and Wales are
expected to attend.
Among them will be over 500
delegates from Southwark diocese.
Each parish can send two delegates
and each school can send one
delegate.
Participants at the congress will
take part in a series of catechesis
sessions, focusing on different
dimensions of the Eucharist and the
daily celebration and adoration of
the Blessed Sacrament.
Father John Mulligan, the
Southwark diocesan co-ordinator for
the Congress, said over the past few
weeks, several parish and school
delegates have met at deanery level
to chat about the Congress and the
opportunities it presents to the
local church.
“The Congress themes of
Eucharist, adoration, Scripture,
ecclesiology, formation, music and
mission are all vital building blocks
of every parish and school
community in the land. The whole
purpose of the Congress is to draw
our attention to the centrality of
these themes as they all serve to
focus our journey on the person of
Jesus.
“All delegates are now invited to
engage their communities in
conversation. What are the possible
opportunities being created through
this event in Liverpool? The real
impact and legacy of this Congress
needs to materialise in the day to
day life of our own parish and school
communities. The 200 delegates are
ambassadors for the Congress and
their role of participating, listening,
discussing and discerning will be
fundamental to the whole project.”
While the prime focus of the
Congress will be eucharistic
adoration, he added, it is important
that it is always situated in a
pastoral context. “Today, both in
parish and school communities, the
management of time, pressure,
Celebrating
St George
expectation, work issues and regular
family life, all create a constant and
relentless demand on our life style.
“The world of Information
technology, communication and
culture also dominates the scene.
God, however, is not an absent
landlord, this National Congress
offers an oasis of reflection where
time spent in listening, discernment
and prayer is an essential, sacred
and precious encounter with the
Lord.”
All readers of The Pilgrim are
invited to send comments,
reflections, ideas and insights to
Fr John Mulligan at
parishpriest@stcm.org.uk
Some of the parishes participating in the Congress
South-east area
• Abbey Wood – St Benet’s
• Bexleyheath – St John
Vianney
• Erith – Our Lady of the Angels
• Lee – Our Lady of Lourdes
• Peckham – Our Lady of Sorrows
South-west area
• Carshalton Beeches –
St Margaret’s
• Coulsdon – St Aidan’s
• Roehampton – St Joseph’s
• Streatham Hill – St Simon
& St Jude
• Wimbledon Common –
Our Lady & St Peter
Kent area
• Ashford South - St Simon
Stock
• Deal – St Thomas of
Canterbury
• Gillingham – Our Lady of
Gillingham
• Herne Bay – Our Lady of the
Sacred Heart
• Strood – English Martyrs
Morris dancers
performed outside
St George’s
Cathedral to mark
the St George in
Southwark Festival.
Afterwards, Canon
Richard Hearn led a
procession to St
George the Martyr
Church in Borough
High Street.
Pupils from St
George’s Cathedral
Catholic Primary
School and St
Joseph’s Catholic
Primary School in
Redcross Way took
part in an open-air
play about St
George and the
dragon in Tabard
Street Piazza.
On the feast of St
George, (23rd
April), Archbishop
Peter celebrated a
chapter Mass in St
George’s Cathedral
followed by a
reception in Amigo
Hall.

Editorial
The Pilgrim May 2018
Gary Oldman plays
Winston Churchill in
the ‘Darkest Hour’.
Challenging
fake news
May 13th is World Communications
Day. Here is an edited extract from
Pope Francis’s message.
By Greg Watts
Moral dilemmas – no easy answers
By Bishop Paul Hendricks
Most of us have had times in our life, when
we’ve had to face a very difficult decision.
For some people there have even been
situations where the alternatives are so
horrific to contemplate that it hardly
seems possible to choose any one of them.
The recent film, Darkest Hour, centres
around a number of choices faced by
Winston Churchill, as a newly-appointed
Prime Minister shortly after the start of the
Second World War.
Some of these were simply the sort of
tactical dilemmas faced by any political
leader, but others were much more grim —
particularly looking across the Channel.
Hitler’s armies were sweeping across
Europe, cutting off the British forces that
had been sent to support the defence of
France. Britain was facing the loss of
roughly 400,000 men. As Churchill himself
said, “The whole root and core and brain
of the British Army” had been stranded at
Dunkirk, facing death or capture.
To allow this to happen was unthinkable,
but so were the alternatives. There was
nothing like enough naval vessels available
to evacuate the troops — and the losses
involved would probably be huge. Churchill
called for owners of small craft to join the
evacuation fleet. And nearly 400 responded
— but even so, the evacuation would take
several days, with some German troops
already within range of the coast.
The only hope appeared to be to for the
garrison in Calais to give active resistance,
so as to distract attention from Dunkirk
and buy a few more crucial days for the
evacuation.
Would it be right to give this order,
amounting to virtual suicide for about
4,000 men, given that the fate of a
hundred times that number was at stake?
Churchill took that decision and, against
all expectation, a large majority of the
British troops (and about 100,000 French
and Belgians) were successfully brought to
England. This proved to be vital for morale
at crucial stage of the war — and yet his
decision led to considerable losses of
ships, planes and men. What if the
evacuation had failed and it had all been
for nothing?
The other momentous decision we see in
the film is where Churchill decides not to
enter into peace talks with Hitler. With the
perspective of history, it seems to me that
very few people today would challenge
this decision — while recognising that
these were very exceptional
circumstances.
At the same time, we can understand
the motivation of those who opposed
Churchill on this. The First World War had
caused so much suffering and death, it had
convinced people that war is indeed an
evil to be avoided if at all possible — a
lesson which many political leaders have
still not learned, even up to our own time.
Something that comes across very nicely
in the film, in fact, is Churchill’s own selfdoubt
— at least, in private. As a former
soldier and naval leader, he knows as well
as anyone the human cost of war. And,
despite his confident appearance in public,
he knows that even great national efforts
and sacrifices may still not be enough to
avoid defeat.
Looking for one thing to take away from
the film, I’d say it shows that you can’t
always “go by the book”. There are some
situations were there can be no good
outcome — and it’s far from easy, even to
decide what is the lesser of two evils,
because the outcome is so uncertain.
It is essential to be clear about our
principles, but it isn’t always as easy as
one would like, to see how they apply in
particular cases.
In today’s fast-changing world of communications
and digital systems, we are witnessing the spread of
what has come to be known as “fake news”.
The term “fake news” has been the object of
great discussion and debate. In general, it refers to
the spreading of disinformation on line or in the
traditional media.
It has to do with false information based on nonexistent
or distorted data meant to deceive and
manipulate the reader. Spreading fake news can
serve to advance specific goals, influence political
decisions, and serve economic interests.
The effectiveness of fake news is primarily due to
its ability to mimic real news, to seem plausible.
Secondly, this false but believable news is
“captious”, inasmuch as it grasps people’s attention
by appealing to stereotypes and common social
prejudices, and exploiting instantaneous emotions
like anxiety, contempt, anger and frustration.
The ability to spread such fake news often relies
on a manipulative use of the social networks and the
way they function. Untrue stories can spread so
quickly that even authoritative denials fail to
contain the damage.
None of us can feel exempted from the duty of
countering these falsehoods. This is no easy task,
since disinformation is often based on deliberately
evasive and subtly misleading rhetoric and at times
the use of sophisticated psychological mechanisms.
What is at stake is our greed. Fake news often
goes viral, spreading so fast that it is hard to stop,
not because of the sense of sharing that inspires the
social media, but because it appeals to the
insatiable greed so easily aroused in human beings.
The best antidotes to falsehoods are not
strategies, but people: people who are not greedy
but ready to listen, people who make the effort to
engage in sincere dialogue so that the truth can
emerge; people who are attracted by goodness and
take responsibility for how they use language.
If responsibility is the answer to the spread of
fake news, then a weighty responsibility rests on the
shoulders of those whose job is to provide
information, namely, journalists, the protectors of
news.
In today’s world, theirs is, in every sense, not just
a job; it is a mission. Amid feeding frenzies and the
mad rush for a scoop, they must remember that the
heart of information is not the speed with which it
is reported or its audience impact, but persons.
The Pilgrim is now online, making it possible to read all the editions since it was launched in 2011.
To view it, visit the diocesan website and click on a lick on the left hand side of the page.
The Archdiocese of Southwark
Archbishop Peter Smith
020 7928-2495
archbishop@rcsouthwark.co.uk
www.rcsouthwark.co.uk
Area bishops
Episcopal vicar for Kent
Bishop Paul Mason
01732 845486
bishoppaulmason@gmail.com
bishop.hendricks@gmail.com
South-East London
Bishop Patrick Lynch
020 8297 6540
bishoplynch7@btinternet.com
The Pilgrim,
Archbishop’s House
150 St George’s Road
London SE1 6HX
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Page 2

The Pilgrim May 2018
Homeless centre
refurbished
Vicar general Monsignor
Matthew Dickens has visited the
Manna Centre at its newly
refurbished premises in Melior
Street to learn about its work
with the homeless.
During his visit, Monsignor
Matthew was shown around the
centre and met with some of
the members of the staff,
including Bandui Mbubi, the
director, and Paddy Boyle, the
administrator. He also met with
volunteers, who help sort
clothing, cook, serve meals, and
chat to those who use the
centre.
The centre, situated near
London Bridge Station, helps
between 120 and 150 homeless
Helping children to
learn the Our Father
Children at primary schools in the diocese are
studying the Our Father and winning prizes for their
work - thanks to a team of enthusiasts based at the
Church of the Most Precious Blood at The Borough.
Members of the Ladies Ordinariate Group (LOGS)
launched the “Children’s Handwriting and Artwork
Project” after realising how few children actually
knew this prayer.
“We noticed that at Remembrance Day ceremonies
and similar events everyone is invited to join in this
prayer - but many children simply don’t know it” said
LOGS spokesperson Mrs Lesley West: “So we came up
with this project.”
Children in Year 5 are invited to write out the
prayer in good handwriting, illustrate it and decorate
it in any way they like, and answer some simple
questions to show their understanding of it.
The children’s work is sent to Precious Blood
church, where a team of LOGS members go through
each batch of
entries and
award prizes -
usually six or
seven to each
school. Every
child taking part
in the project
also receives a
commemorative
card to sign and keep, with the Lord’s Prayer on it.
“We’ve had some really beautiful work sent to us”
said Lesley. “Naturally, Catholic schools take part
with particular enthusiasm. We know that children at
Catholic schools do of course learn this prayer - in a
sense they don’t need a special project like this. But
we have had a great response from teachers who say
how much the children enjoy taking part.”
The children’s work is returned to schools for
display, and some schools also receive a special
certificate commending work of a high standard.
LOGS has created a book for children, “My Prayer
Book”, with prayers that every child should know.
To buy the book, email
parish@preciousblood.org.uk
We want your news! Email your stories to
pilgrim@rcsouthwark.co.uk
or telephone 0208 776 9250.
and disadvantaged people every
day providing breakfast and
lunch; showers; clothing; and
access to computers.
A nurse and a chiropodist pay
regular visits, and local
authority staff run advice
sessions on issues such as social
security, housing, and
immigration law.
The centre, which is open
from 8.30am to 1.30pm, seven
days a week, 51 weeks a year,
costs £1,000 per day to run.
Approximately 85 per cent of its
annual budget of £430,000
comes from voluntary
donations.
The Manna Society has run
the Manna Day Centre since
Lewisham vocations’ group
A group for men discerning their vocation meets on
the first Friday of each month at St Saviour’s in
Lewisham. Meetings begins at 6.30pm with a talk,
followed by adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass
and an opportunity to socialise.
1982. It was founded by
Nannette Ffrench who saw the
plight of the homeless people in
and around London SE1 and
wanted to do something to help
them.
Following a discussion with
The statue of Our Lady of Walsingham
is to visit St George’s Cathedral in
February 2019.
The visit will be part a two-year tour
of England’s Catholic cathedrals,
beginning at Liverpool’s Metropolitan
Cathedral in June.
The aim is to help prepare Catholics
spiritually for England’s rededication
as the Dowry of Mary in 2020. The
country was dedicated as the ‘Dowry
of Mary’ by Cardinal Bernard Griffin in
1948.
The visit to St George’s Cathedral
will take place between February 21st
- 23rd and involve three days of prayer.
There will be talks on the Dowry of
Mary, an evening of adoration, and a
day set aside for visits from primary
and secondary schools.
The tour is being jointly organised by
the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
and the Guild of Our Lady of Ransom, a
group founded in 1887 that seeks “the
conversion of England and Wales, the
restoration of the lapsed, and prayer
for the forgotten dead”.
There is a tradition that the title
‘Dowry of Mary’ goes back to St
Edward the Confessor in the 11th
century.
The first documentary evidence for
the title was found in what was then
the English Hospice for pilgrims in
Rome, now the Venerable English
Bishop Henderson, one of the
auxiliary bishops of the diocese
at the time, a property was
found and a building at 6 Melior
Street was provided free by the
diocese.
www.mannasociety.org.uk
Walsingham statue
to visit Southwark
College.
It showed King Richard II and his
consort Anne of Bohemia at
Westminster Abbey in 1381. They are
praying at the Shrine of Our Lady of
Pewe, offering England to Our Lady as
her dowry. He holds a parchment with
a Latin inscription: Dos tua pia haec
est, quare leges, Maria – “This is your
dowry, O pious Virgin.”
Altar servers getting ready for the annual “Good Samaritan
Mass” at St George's Cathedral, which celebrates charitable
activities in diocesan secondary schools.
News
Sheerness fighter
pilot remembered
Father Frank Moran and the Sheerness town
chaplain led a memorial service to mark the
centenary of a First World War flying ace
receiving his Victoria Cross.
James Thomas Byford McCudden died in 1918
in a plane crash on his way to France to take up
a new command. He was 23 and had already
became one of Britain’s most highly decorated
airmen after downing 57 enemy planes.
One of his foes was Germany’s infamous “Red
Baron”, alias Manfred von Richthofen. By
coincidence, the ceremony was on the
anniversary of the Red Baron’s death.
The service was held at Sheerness War
Memorial, where Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Kent
Paul Auston unveiled a paving stone on behalf of
the Queen to mark the centenary.
Gospel concert
at cathedral
Ten choirs from schools and colleges in the
diocese performed a gospel concert at St
George’s Cathedral.
The concert was centred around the theme
“The River of Life”, which is a key theme for the
diocese’s preparation for the National Eucharist
Congress in Liverpool in September.
Natalie Christian-John of Christ the King Sixth
Form College conducted the concert. Among the
choirs taking part were those from St Michael’s
College, Bermondsey, St Thomas the Apostle
College, Nunhead, and St Matthew Academy,
Blackheath.
Rosary on the coast
Several parishes in Southwark took part in
“Rosary on the Coast”.
The day of pilgrimage and prayer held around
the coast of Britain was to promote faith,
respect for life and peace. It followed similar
events in Poland and Ireland.
Among the parishes who took part were St
Austin and St Gregory, Margate, with St Anne,
Cliftonville; English Martyrs, Strood; and Our
Lady and the Sacred Heart, Herne Bay.
TV quiz champion
A former pupil of The Holy Cross School in New
Malden was on the winning team in the final of
the BBC TV quiz University Challenge, hosted by
Jeremy Paxman. Rosie McKeown represented St
John’s College, Cambridge, answering eight out
of the 10 starter questions correctly.
Sign language
interpreter needed
Our Lady of the Annunciation in Addiscombe is
seeking a volunteer sign language interpreter for
a special Mass in June.
On 3rd June the parish will be holding a
cultural and diversity day, beginning with Mass
at 12 midday, followed in the parish hall by
food, music, games for children, and arts and
crafts.
“We will be having readings and prayers in six
languages in the Mass, and we would also like
someone to sign it for us,” said organiser Sylvia
Wachuku-King.
The aim of the event is to celebrate the
cultures of the many nationalities who make up
the parish.
Sylvia can be contacted on 0208 564 0639, or
at sylviaw3k@gmail.com
Page 3

News
Duke visits Woolwich church
The Duke of Gloucester has
visited St Peter’s Church in
Woolwich.
The duke’s visit marked the
completion of work to replace
175-year-old roof-slates and
tons of weathered stonework on
the oldest of the three London
Catholic churches designed by
Augustus Pugin.
Fr Michael Branch, parish
priest of St Peter’s, and Bishop
Pat welcomed the duke to the
church, and members of the
parish heritage group led the
Duke on a tour of the church
interior, including a newlyformed
exhibition.
The duke was taken to the
upper hall of Pugin Place, the
adjacent community centre,
originally designed in 1858 as
the parish school by Edward
Pugin, eldest son of Augustus.
As a former architect, the
duke took a close interest in
photographs of the
refurbishment work, discussing
these with the architect and the
representative of the main
contractor.
The Duke wished the parish
well in their efforts to raise
funds for the refurbishment of
the hall to restore it for
community use.
Fr Michael said “It was great
to have the importance of our
parish history and heritage
recognised by this royal visit.
The Duke also gave a wonderful
morale boost for our efforts to
bring Pugin Place back into full
community use”.
St Peter’s church was opened
in 1843. Augustus Pugin was the
leading promoter of the Gothic
Revival, most famous for his
design of Big Ben’s tower and
the interiors of the Palace of
Westminster.
The church is open every day
for Mass and other services.
Footballers unveil new pitch
The Pilgrim May 2018
Astrodome visits
Broadstairs school
Pupils at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in
Broadstairs were paid a visit by the University of
Kent’s astrodome.
The inflatable planetarium with the Milky
Way, stars and planets projected in a 360 degree
format onto the inner surface of the dome
landed at the School to kick start National
Science Week 2018.
Pupils explored the solar system, the forces of
gravity, star patterns and planets with an
accurate representation of the night sky.
Three graduates from the University’s physics
department were on hand to answer the many
questions pupils had about the mysteries of
space and time.
Kent pupils get baking
Pupils from St Anselm’s Catholic School in
Canterbury and St Edmund’s Catholic School in
Dover are taking part in a baking competition.
The schools are among six in east Kent aiming
is to raise money for a children’s mental health
charity Young Minds and a children’s literacy
charity.
Pupils will be sponsored to bake a cake,
bread, pie, or pizza and bring it into school.
They can bake at home or at school, but must
take no more than an hour and a half, and there
will be a limit on the number of ingredients they
can use.
Each school will pick a winner, who will go
through to a grand final in the autumn.
Gillingham FC footballers Darren
Oldaker and Greg Cundle have
unveiled a new all-weather
football pitch at St Gregory’s
Catholic School in Tunbridge
Wells.
Port chaplain film
The pitch, which was made
possible by a £444,000 grant
from the Premier League and
the FA Facilities Fund, will also
be available to other community
groups.
Local primary school children
helped celebrate the event by
taking part in a football
tournament, in the presence of
the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells,
Councillor Julia Soyke, and
popular after dinner speaker
Bob Bevan.
The pitch will also help St
Gregory’s “Accelerated
Curriculum Experience” football
academy, which offers specialist
coaching and helps students use
football as a vehicle for learning
about issues such as leadership,
problem solving, and teamwork.
Students spend part of their
year working on a project to
prepare them for a trip abroad
to a football club. Recent trips
have been to FC Porto and Real
Madrid, where students enjoyed
training sessions with club
coaches, competitive matches
against local players, as well as
experiencing a first team match
and cultural visits.
Maidstone cooking contest
Over 50 students at St Simon Stock Catholic
School in Maidstone took part in a cooking
contest.
The competition was organised by catering
company Chartwells. One team cooked Mexican
bean burrito with a tomato and cucumber salsa,
and the other team cooked Thai green curry
with rice. Students then voted for what they
thought was the best dish.
Chef James from Chartwells said: “The
students were so polite and very well mannered.
It was a pleasure to host. I hope all the students
had fun and enjoyed the session.”
Students walk 550 miles
Students from St Joseph’s College in Upper
Norwood walked 550 miles during Lent.
They did this as part of Cafod’s “Share the
Journey” campaign, which invites parishes and
schools to pray and act to support people forced
to flee their homes.
Led by the chaplain, every student walked the
perimeter of the college grounds, hearing stories
written by refugees from around the World.
The boys ended the reflection by cutting out a
tracing of their hand. On the hand, they had to
reflect and write down their gifts and talents
and explain what they will do to help their
neighbour.
Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) has
produced a video to illustrate
how it helps seafarers visiting
Britain.
The seven-minute film follows
a typical day in the life of Anne
McLaren, AoS port chaplain in
Hull and Goole, as she visits
seafarers on board ships.
Around 90 per cent of the
goods imported into the UK
arrive by sea. The seafarers who
bring them often have no contact
with their families for months.
AoS has strong links with
Southwark. It provides pastoral
care and practical help to
seafarers visiting ports on the
River Medway and along the
Kent coast. Bishop Paul Mason
(pictured) is the AoS bishop
promoter.
Parishes in Southwark will
take a second collection on Sea
Sunday, July 8th, to support the
work of AoS.
Mass for married couples
The annual diocesan celebration of the
sacrament of marriage will take place next
month at St George’s Cathedral.
The special Mass is for those celebrating their
1st, 10th, 25th, 40th, 50th or 60th+ wedding
anniversary this year and who would like to
renew their vows is on 16th June.
More details can be obtained from the
marriage and family life team on 020 8651 2477.
Page 4

The Pilgrim May 2018
Feature
What is canon law?
Fr David Gibbons, parish priest of St Thomas of Canterbury in
Sevenoaks, continues is series in which he provides a duffer’s
guide to some of the basics of Catholicism.
This really is a duffer’s guide, as I
am not a canon lawyer. One of the
latter will probably write in
overturning everything I say, but
here goes!
Canon law is Church law, in
matters of faith, morals, and
discipline. The present Code of
Canon Law for the Latin Church was
issued in 1983, in Latin of course,
but since then there have been
numerous alterations and
emendations, not to mention
official interpretations (pronounced
by a Pontifical Council for
Legislative Texts in the Vatican,
whose President is the delightfully
named Cardinal Coccopalmerio).
In addition, Church law can be
found in the rubrics (the red bits of
instruction) in the Roman Missal and
other ritual books, along with
various decrees by the pope and
relevant Roman departments.
Built up over many centuries,
Catholic canon law is the oldest
continuously functioning legal
system, at least in the west if not
the world. I will concentrate on the
Code.
Much amusement is given to
canonists by stitching together the
beginning of Canon 1 with the
ending of the last Canon 1752, thus
giving the maxim (in English
translation) “The canons of this
Code concern …. the salvation of
souls, which in the Church must
always be the supreme law”.
Rules and regulations are not
popular concepts these days. But a
moment’s thought suggests that we
need rules such as driving on the
left; if people could individually
decide which side of the road to use
there would be chaos, if not
carnage. And the ultimate
destination of people’s souls –
heaven or hell – is a far more
important matter.
Canon law, therefore, is deeply
important, and necessary if the
Church is to assist its members in
gaining eternal salvation. It has a
second important function: it is not
so much about defining the rights
and privileges of high-ranking
people as defining the rights and
privileges of ordinary church
members.
Thus it clearly defines what a
bishop can and can’t do as regards
his priests, and it limits what a
priest can and can’t do in his parish.
It thus protects ordinary members
of the lay faithful from prelatical or
overbearing clergy, and is thus your
best friend, not an annoying list of
dos and don’ts.
One of the key areas codified in
canon law is that of finances. There
are regulations designed to stop
The Pilgrim is now online, making it possible
to read all the editions since it was
launched in 2011.
To view it, visit the diocesan website and
click on the link on the left hand side of the
page.
www.rcsouthwark.co.uk
bishops in their dioceses and parish
priests in their parishes from
embezzlement or even financial
mismanagement. This is quite apart
from any civil legal requirements a
country may impose.
Sometimes people think of law
and mercy as being opposed, that
law is somehow “not pastoral”. But
law is about order and justice,
without which there cannot be
mercy. If we are to show mercy to
others it means respecting their
rights.
In Misericordiae Vultus, in which
he announced the Jubilee Year of
Mercy, Pope Francis said that “mercy
is not opposed to justice but rather
expresses God’s way of reaching out
to the sinner, offering him a new
chance to look at himself, convert
and believe …. God’s justice is His
mercy given to everyone as a grace
that flows from the death and
resurrection of Christ”.
In Southwark, as in every diocese,
we have two judicial tribunals.
There is the first instance tribunal,
called the Southwark Metropolitan
Tribunal, and the second instance
tribunal (which deals with appeals),
which in our case is an interdiocesan
tribunal covering the
ecclesiastical province of
Southwark.
Each has judges and other
officials appointed by the
archbishop. Although they can deal
with any judicial case within the
Church, almost all of their work is
concerned with annulments of
marriage.
The tribunals are not like English
criminal courts, with their
adversarial system. Rather, they
deal with documents, and carefully
arrive at a decision based on the
Code of Canon Law.
Page 5

Feature
The Pilgrim May 2018
Faith and hope alive in Syria
Pope Francis has described the situation in Syria
as “the biggest humanitarian catastrophe after
World War Two.” Just back from Syria, Aid to
the Church in Need’s John Pontifex reports
on a people who refuse to give up hope.
Sister Annie Demerjian: bringing help
and hope to families suffering in Aleppo.
Driving into the centre of Aleppo,
you could almost hear the gunfire,
the bombs falling, the people
running for their lives. The word
that kept coming to my mind was
Armageddon.
Look left and all there was to be
seen was rubble; look right and an
office block came into view with a
massive gash down the side where a
rocket had landed.
And yet, a year on from the
ceasefire, life in Aleppo was
somehow still going on; our car
came to a halt outside a large block
of flats and we were ushered up
several flights of stairs.
The door opened and there was
Sister Annie Demerjian, the Aleppobased
Syria project partner for Aid
to the Church in Need (ACN), the
Catholic charity I was representing
on this visit to Syria’s second city.
She had arranged for us to meet
Lucine, an 85-year-old Armenian
Page 6
Christian, who lives with her
daughter, Maral. For six years, the
two had lived in daily fear of
bombardment. At the height of the
conflict, they went for months
without running water, electricity
and other basic needs.
For Lucine and Maral, the
ceasefire in Aleppo did not signal an
end to their nightmare. Lacking
funds of their own, the pair rely on
ACN and Sister Annie for food,
medicine, clothes and money for
heating, lighting and rent.
Maral breaks down in tears as she
describes the struggle to look after
her mother who is virtually bedbound
after a series of falls.
Lucine says: “If something were
to happen to my daughter, what
would happen to me?”
For reassurance, she squeezes the
hand of Fadi, a volunteer who works
with Sister Annie.
“Fadi is like a father to us,” says

The Pilgrim May 2018
Feature
Maral, “bringing the things we
need.”
Our visit ends with Sister Annie
leading us in prayer. Together, we
remembered all the benefactors of
ACN on whom Lucine and her
daughter depend.
That combination of practical
help and prayerful solidarity has
been the hallmark of support for
ACN given by parishes across the
Archdiocese of Southwark, which
have shown exceptional concern for
their suffering brothers and sisters
in Christ. Prayer characterises this
relationship between benefactor
and beneficiary.
Over more than 15 years with Aid
to the Church in Need, I have visited
suffering Christian communities
from Cuba to China, Sudan to Syria
and again and again those I have
met have asked us to continue
praying.
In Syria, it has borne fruit in the
143 projects ACN was able to pay
out last year – more than £5 million
in total. More than 80 per cent of
the aid was for emergency help –
food, shelter and medicine.
The fruitfulness of prayer is also
evident in the stories of those I have
met on such trips. In Aleppo, I met a
man whose story of escape from the
clutches of Daesh (ISIS) could have
come straight out of a film.
Thanks to ACN project partner Sr
Annie, I visited Antoine and his
young family in their rented home
close to the city centre.
Antoine described how one day he
turned up for work only to be
kidnapped by the extremists who
threatened to kill him unless he
converted.
Wanting to save his life for the
sake of his family, Antoine
outwardly did as he was told, while
secretly remaining Christian.
The reward for his “conversion”
was to be selected by a Daesh
“Prince” to carry out a suicide
mission in government-held west
Aleppo.
Terrified, Antoine prayed for
deliverance. Early one morning, he
was woken by what felt like a tap
on the shoulder. He is convinced
that it was Our Lady telling him to
escape.
At that moment, everyone was at
prayer and – seizing his opportunity
– he tiptoed to the main entrance of
the building where he was being
held.
To his astonishment, the chain
slipped open and the door opened.
He ran free and later that day was
re-united with his family in western
Aleppo.
Completing his story, Antoine told
us that Sr Annie had provided him
with a flat but he was now
desperate for rent money.
When Sister Annie handed over
some ACN funds, Antoine’s wife,
Georgette, whispered to him:
“Didn’t I tell you God never
abandons his people.”
Turning to Sr Annie and me,
Antoine said: “Thank you so much.”
I was to hear many such words of
gratitude during my time both in
Aleppo and Homs, the other Syrian
city I visited.
ACN is beginning to repair homes
for Christians returning to the old
city. Here, people were beginning to
come back and resume their old
lives.
One of the most moving moments
of the trip was our visit to Homs’
Melkite Greek Catholic Cathedral. I
had been to the cathedral in 2016
and vividly recalled walking round
the remains of a building devastated
by multiple shells.
What a difference two years can
make. With ACN’s help, the roof had
been renewed, many sacred items
restored and the altar repaired and
re-consecrated.
That evening, ACN Middle East
projects coordinator Father Andrzej
Halemba celebrated Mass there. I
was the only other person present.
Our words echoing round the vast
building, we prayed for all those
who had lost their lives in the Syrian
conflict and for everyone who had
given to ACN in prayer and in selfsacrifice.
I thought of the haunting words of
Sister Annie: “In Syria, we have
suffered the Way of the cross for
many years now. We are still waiting
for the day of Resurrection.”
Reflecting on this, I thought that
at least in this small corner of the
country, the Resurrection was
beginning to dawn.
n ACN is launching a fresh appeal
for Syria – “Don’t give up on
Syria”. Please get involved.
Perhaps your parish would be
willing to hold an appeal for ACN’s
work in Syria or an evening of
prayer and reflection. For more
information, visit www.acnuk.org
Tel. 020 8642 8668.
The Melkite Greek Catholic cathedral in Homs.
(inset) The cross inside the Maronite St Vartan Centre in Aleppo.
Background to the Syrian conflict
When did it begin and how?
The start of the conflict is seen as 15th March 2011. Protestors
marched in Damascus calling for democratic reforms and for the
release of prisoners. When, five days later, protestors burned down a
headquarters building belonging to the ruling Ba’ath Party, there were
clashes and several police officers were killed.
Over the next few days, the demands of the protestors changed.
They began calling for the overthrow of the regime led by Syria’s
President Bashar Al-Assad, who came to power in July 2000 following
the death of his father. The regime sought to quell the unrest and the
conflict quickly escalated.
How did the conflict spread?
In the days following the initial protests in Damascus, the
demonstrations grew. On 8th April 2011, there were protests in 10
Syrian cities and two weeks later, there were protests in 20 cities.
Armed resistance grew.
What about the “Arab Spring”?
The context of the Syrian conflict was the Arab Spring, an uprising in
the Middle East and North Africa that begun in late 2010 and which led
to the overthrow of political leaders in countries such as Egypt, Libya,
Tunisia and Yemen. When the protests began in Syria, some believed
the Assad regime would quickly be toppled but he has clung to power.
Looking at the map of Syria, who controls what now?
As of the spring of 2018, the Assad regime was reported to hold just
over half of Syria’s 2011 territory and just over a quarter is in the
hands of Syrian Democratic Forces. Daesh (ISIS) Islamist militants used
to hold vast swathes of territory in Syria but have been pushed back
and now hold barely 5 percent of the country’s land mass. Latest
reports suggest Turkey and rebel groups including Tahrir Al-Sham (also
known as Al-Qaeda in Syria) hold almost 15 per cent of territory.
How are Christians caught in the crossfire?
Many of the key conflict zones – including Aleppo, Homs and Damascus
– had significant Christian communities, Aleppo being the largest. In
response to the never-ending violence, hundreds of thousands of
Christians have fled. Reports suggest that – compared to other faith
groups – a disproportionately high number of Christians have sought
refuge abroad.
The killing of Christians by extremists, the expulsion of entire
Christian communities, kidnapping of children, forcing women into
sexual slavery as
well as attacks on
Christian homes,
churches and
businesses have led
to calls for the
violence to be called
a genocide.
The depleted
numbers mean there
is an increasing
struggle to retain
the presence of
Christianity in a
country where it has
existed in an
unbroken line since
before the time of St
Paul and his famous
conversion on the
road to Damascus.
THE SOUTHWARK
SEMINARY FUND
48 Dale Road, Purley, CR8 2EF
Tel: (020) 8660 3815
Please help train our future priests by
contributing to the cost of educating
our students at St John’s Seminary
Wonersh. The Diocese have 21
students in training at a cost of
£20,000 per student each year.
The Southwark Seminary Fund
augments the annual Ecclesiastical Education Collection.
Please send your donation/legacy either through your parish
priest or directly to Rev Father Christopher Keen at Purley.
Page 7

Feature/Family Life
The Pilgrim May 2018
By David Brum
The Love Heals Body, Mind and Spirit
Ministry was formed in 2004 after a
meeting with Sister Betty Nina in
Kerala India.
We had heard of Sister Betty
through a sister of her order who
was working here in the UK as a
gynecologist in the National Health
Service.
A group of us attended a retreat
in Kerala and Sister Betty introduced
us to the teachings of the Medical
Sisters of St Joseph. The main idea
was that love heals through the
body, mind and spirit, and that
negative thoughts and actions lead
to a downward spiral of mental
health, physical sickness and a lack
of spiritual wellbeing.
Sister Betty is now the spiritual
director of Love Heals Body, Mind,
and Spirit Ministry, and she has
attended many retreats in the UK.
The ministry is reflective,
meditative, scripture orientated,
and promoted through Scripture
based talks, Christian meditation,
and healing prayers at regular
retreats.
The principle goal of the ministry
is to strive for self sanctification
and the sanctification of others
through the healing ministry and
thereby establish the Kingdom of
God through our Catholic faith.
The first retreats were held in
2004 at Our Lady Immaculate in
Tolworth. The parish priest at the
time was Canon Anthony Charlton,
who is now serving at St Thomas of
Canterbury in Canterbury. He was
instrumental in helping us to gain
confidence and a fuller
understanding of what it takes to
organise and run a ministry.
After running retreats for a time
at Tolworth, the team decided that
we needed a base nearer and more
accessible to central London, where
we could encourage more people to
get involved.
We moved to the St Vincent De
Paul Centre in Victoria and we ran
retreats there for the next four
years. And we were delighted to
have the involvement of Father
A ministry of healing
Castelo De Vide
in Portugal.
Antony Jerome of English Martyrs in
Strood.
At this time, we were also being
invited by other priests to organise
one-day retreats for their
parishioners.
Unfortunately, in 2011 we had to
leave the Vincent De Paul Centre
because of refurbishment works
being carried out there. We moved
to Our Lady of Assumption and St
Gregory in Warwick Street, near
Piccadilly.
We have been organising retreats
at Our Lady of Assumption every
month since, and have built up a
good relationship with the parish
priest Father Mark Elliott Smith,
who is kind enough to be our
celebrant priest at these retreats.
We also have half day retreats
every two months at Sacred Heart
Catholic Church in Wimbledon.
For the last three years we have
also organised retreats at Mem
Soares, a retreat house in Castelo
De Vide in Portugal. We are now
looking to purchase Mem Soares,
which is why we became a
registered charity.
Mem Soares has 44 bedrooms, all
with on-suite bathrooms and toilets,
a pilgrims lounge with TV, a large
dining room that can seat
accomodate 50 diners. There is also
a large chapel, and a smaller one
upstairs, al cafe, and an open-air
swimming pool with adjoining
changing rooms.
In addition, there is also a block
containing seven apartments, 30
acres of land, a small farm with
numerous sheep, and large olive
groves.
To raise the £800,000 needed, we
have started a crowd funding
campaign at JustGiving.
Our plan is to run regular retreats
from the UK with a full yearly
programme of events. We also
intend to open a detoxification
centre and also a respite centre for
families undergoing difficulties and
who need a break.
Mem Soares will also be available
for any Christian group wishing to
bring their own pilgrims for
retreats.
www.lovehealsbodymindspirit.com
Remember to look at the stars
By Lucy Russell
Louise Welcome gave her last
assembly at St Edmund’s School in
Dover shortly before Easter. After
talking about Stephen Hawking’s
work and his words to remember to
look up at the stars and always be
curious, she shared with the
students and staff five photographs
she had taken and what they meant
to her.
She used these wonderful images
to talk about affirming others,
admitting mistakes (and learning
from them), awe, satisfaction and
healing. These were themes
inspired by her photographs, which
she has taken with her to her new
school where she is taking on a
headship.
In her assembly, Louise
encouraged the students to take
time to look up at the sky, enjoy
and appreciate each day and make
memories. She concluded the
assembly by composing a prayer in
front of the school.
At break-time some of the Year
7s told me that they were already
thinking about taking up
photography as a hobby. I popped
to see Louise to tell her that I had
been genuinely moved by her
assembly.
I asked whether she would be
prepared to let me write a
Facebook post about it and include
her photographs. Would she mind if
I had a copy of her (incredible)
image of the Milky Way printed and
framed? Did she sell her pictures?
Louise was happy for me to put
her photos on Facebook - she said
her husband’s were better.
This assembly and my
conversation with Louise reminded
me once again what Catholic
education is about and why I am
committed to our Catholic schools.
Which is why I have decided not to
seek reappointment as chair of
governors at St Mary's Primary
School in Deal.
My life has become too bogged
down in the minutiae – the data
and the targets. It’s time to look up
at the stars. I have achieved some
of what I wanted to achieve as
chair of governors at St Mary’s:
fewer meetings, a greater governor
presence and profile in school, a
minibus service from St Mary’s
directly to St Edmund’s for Year 7s
transferring to it.
I’ve encouraged and supported
music, languages, an outdoor
curriculum and extra-curricular
activities. Catholic education is
about educating the whole child.
There have been improvements
to lunchtimes. There is now a
“golden table” on a Friday and
children can earn the chance to eat
at the table with a guest of their
choice by demonstrating good table
manners and trying new foods.
I’d still like staff to be
encouraged to sit in the dining hall
and eat with the children, but
that’s beyond my power, it’s up to
the head.
Wouldn’t that be a fabulous
policy though? A free lunch for any
staff member who eats with the
pupils and students? Never mind
talking about Gospel values – that
would be one in action, it’s straight
from the New Testament, look at
all the references to food and
sharing meals in Luke’s Gospel.
If I am at St Mary’s or St
Edmund’s for lunch, I always eat
with the children. It’s a chance to
model good table manners and
social skills, but more than that
there is the opportunity to talk
about how things are going and
show an interest in others.
At St Edmund’s the youth
chaplain can usually be found in
the Hall at lunchtime, talking to
students. Few staff eat with the
students, but if the head is on site,
he can be found doing a lunchtime
duty in the hall along with his PA
and other senior leaders.
This is truly something
wonderful. Watching him wipe
down the lunch tables puts me in
mind of Jesus washing the feet of
the disciples. It's apt that the
head's name is Michael, since
serviam - I will serve - was the cry
of St Michael the Archangel as his
response to Lucifer's "I will not
serve".
Service: this is what Catholic
education is all about. And I will
continue to serve, but in the
classroom, not the meeting room.
You can see Louise Welcome’s
photographs – including her image
of the Milky Way - on Facebook: St
Edmund’s Catholic School, Dover.
Page 8

The Pilgrim May 2018
Confirmation programmes give a
rounded picture of what it means
to be a young Catholic today
By Father Ashley Beck
In the western Church when adults
are baptised, usually now at the
Easter Vigil, they also have this
initiation “sealed” by the imparting
of the Holy Spirit. The bishop or
the priest lays his hands on the
head of the newly baptised and
anoints him or her on the forehead
with the words “Be sealed with the
gift of the Holy Spirit.”
This second act corresponds to
what we are told the apostles do
in the Acts of the Apostles. This is
seen in many ways as the norm for
Christian initiation, and in the
early Church such adult converts
were baptised and confirmed by
the bishop as the successor of the
apostles.
To cut a long story short, we
know that how this pattern
developed was different in the
eastern and western parts of the
Church as Christianity. In the east
the link between the whole rite of
initiation and the bishop ceased
to be strong, so all those baptised
were, and are, confirmed (the
term used is “chrismation”)
immediately after baptism,
including babies.
In the West, the link for this
part with the bishop was seen as
more important, so the two parts
of the rite were separated; priests
baptised (usually babies, as time
went on) and bishops
administered Confirmation when
they were able, at a later stage in
the child’s development. So by
the medieval period this was
usually in late childhood (about 10
or so, although there is a lot of
variation).
A further development in the
West was that by the present
period in many places
Confirmation became an act of
early teenage commitment,
particularly after children from
the age of seven or eight were
admitted to Holy Communion (on
a universal basis only since the
reforms of Pope St Pius X at the
beginning of the last century).
And this is the case in most of
the dioceses in this country,
including our own, where
Confirmation is normally
administered to teenagers in Year
8 at secondary school.
There are different practices
elsewhere, since there has never
been a consistent picture about
the right age for Confirmation;
and there is a lively debate about
it. In dioceses like Arundel and
Brighton where the normal age is
Year 10 at secondary school the
numbers of candidates are
certainly smaller.
Just before the bishop confirms
the young people he says this
prayer: “Almighty God, Father of
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who
brought these servants to new
birth by water and the Holy Spirit,
freeing them from sin: send upon
Archbishop Peter
administering confirmation
at St George’s Cathedral.
them, O Lord, the Holy Spirit, the
Paraclete; give them the spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and fortitude,
the spirit of knowledge and piety;
fill them with the spirit of the
fear of the Lord...”
The formation young people
received should have something to
do with these gifts and qualities -
wisdom, understanding, strength,
knowledge and so on. What is
stressed is that the young people
concerned should make a free
choice to be confirmed and make
real their commitment as Catholic
Christians – they shouldn’t be
pressurised by their parents or
their school.
Whatever the arguments for
the right age (and they are
numberless) parishes can make
something positive of the early
teenage stage. Year 8 is before
the pressure for GCSEs builds up
and is almost a transitional
phase.
And good Confirmation
programmes give a rounded
picture of what it means to be a
young Catholic today. These will
cover key doctrines of the
Christian faith and look at the
sacraments, like this series of
articles.
They will also look at moral
issues and help those being
confirmed grow in awareness of
the Church’s teaching. For
example, in our parish in
Beckenham over the years the
young people have been able to
find out more about the Church’s
witness for asylum seekers and
refugees and the work of groups
like the Handicapped Children’s
Pilgrimage Trust.
Of course, like everything else,
a good Confirmation programme
requires hard work, and is
essential to have a good team of
catechists who know what they
are doing.
In our parishes, Confirmations
are great parish and family
celebrations, which are full of
hope for the future of the Church.
Alas, we know that the picture
after the event has happened is
rather depressing, and in most
parishes the extent to which those
who have just been confirmed
drift further away from the
Church is alarming.
People sometimes claim that we
should see Confirmation as
another rite of passage - but of
passage out of regular Christian
commitment. The challenge for
families, parishes, Catholic youth
services and Catholic secondary
schools is how this problem can be
addressed, so that the gift of the
Holy Spirit which the bishop
imparts is enabled to grow and
bear fruit.
n Father Ashley Beck is assistant
priest of Beckenham, senior
lecturer in pastoral ministry at
St Mary’s University and dean of
studies of the diocesan
formation programme for the
diaconate
Viewpoint
What sort of example
do we give children?
By Sister Janet Fearns
A BBC interview with a “retired
Catholic” talked about how he was
“forced to make his first Confession
at the age of five”. Really?
Many Catholic listeners probably
listened with a considerable
degree of scepticism and asked
why he should receive the
sacrament of reconciliation a
couple of years younger than they
did. Why did he have special
treatment? Why was he “forced”
into the confessional?
Especially where children are
concerned, the appropriate time
and manner of administration of any
sacrament receives considerable
thought and discussion.
Reconciliation in particular raises
uniquely important questions.
Can a child as young as five
differentiate between an action
which is “naughty” and one which is
sinful? Can a five-year-old really
understand the words and meaning
of an Act of Contrition and “a firm
purpose of amendment”?
Even before Vatican ll and the
Catechism, of which this same BBC
interviewee was so critical, the
Church spoke about “the age of
reason” and pitched it at roughly
seven years old. Perhaps the
speaker had a memory lapse and
was older than he declared in the
broadcast.
When children are better able to
understand the importance of what
is happening, they engage in a
period of special preparation,
ideally involving their parents, to
receive both the sacraments of
reconciliation and of the Eucharist.
Sometimes the occasion of the
child’s first Holy Communion is also
the date of their confirmation,
administered by their parish priest
rather than by their bishop. As far as
possible, the date is usually set
around the feasts of the Body and
Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) and
Pentecost.
Within the Orthodox Church,
things are rather different. “The
Sacrament of Chrismation
(Confirmation) immediately follows
baptism and is never delayed until a
later age.” The newly-baptised and
confirmed baby also receives Holy
Communion within the same
celebration.
As one source explained, “This
practice reveals that Orthodoxy
views children, from their infancy,
as important members of the
Church. There is never a time when
the young are not part of God's
people.”
As a result, from their earliest
days, children accompany their
families to the altar.
Sadly, some Catholic families
focus on the First Holy Communion
and confirmation and, from then on,
nothing happens. Perhaps the same
child might reappear at the church
for their wedding and will, quite
possibly, be brought back again for
their funeral, but, between those
landmark occasions, there is a
“great deal of nothing much” in
relation to religious matters.
In some cultural settings, parents
are under considerable social
pressure to provide expensive
outfits and presents. Thus the very
sacraments which God gives us free
of charge become an excuse to
delay their reception until they can
pay for the trimmings.
Is it any wonder that many
Catholic teachers recognise that, for
many of their pupils, the school is
the only Church which they will
experience during their most
formative years?
Sadly, during the hard times which
they will inevitably encounter, these
same youngsters have little practical
and personal understanding of God.
They will be unlikely to turn to the
Church for support and insight and
may well feel lost and lonely.
A five-year-old girl once solemnly
informed me that “God is
irrelevant.” I still wonder where she
is and what she is doing. For her
sake, I hope and pray that she has
grown beyond repeating her father’s
words.
On a recent bus journey, a woman
spoke with a man whose family she
obviously knew very well. Both were
Catholics, but with widely differing
commitment. “I went to church
every week,” he explained, “so that
the priest knew that I was there. It
made life so much easier when it
came to filling in the application
form for the primary school.”
In other words, parental church
attendance came down to the
practicalities of enrolment in a
Catholic school and not to belief
and devotion. He seemed to have
little or no conscious personal
relationship with God, so what was
life like for the child whom he
successfully enrolled in a Catholic
school?
Would she find a completely
unknown world and community or
did she discover hope for the future
during the short period of
accompanying her father to Mass?
When his generals asked Napoleon
Bonaparte what was his greatest
memory, he surprisingly replied that
the day of his First Holy Communion
was the happiest of his life and had
deeply touched his soul.
If children have experienced the
Eucharist and confirmation as oneoff
celebrations, can they recognise
the value and importance of these
two sacraments? Will their First Holy
Communion mean only a white dress
or a red tie, photographs and a
party?
In our increasingly secular and
materialistic society, the family and
the parish must play an increasingly
important role in the sacramental
lives of our young people. What sort
of example do we give them?
Page 9

Feature
The Pilgrim May 2018
The dangerous life of a seafarer
By Greg Watts
“All life on land is enabled by work
done out of sight and mind by
seafarers and ships, in the ports and
seaways of the world. Effectively
there are two Earths, the terrestrial
one we know, and its shadow, its
marine twin, which is far larger,
more dangerous and elemental,”
says Horatio Clare.
Clare is making a name for
himself as the chronicler of the lives
of seafarers. In Down to the Sea in
Ships: Of Ageless Oceans and
Modern Men Clare took the bold
step of joining two Maersk container
ships to find out what life is like on
board. The first sailed from
Felixstowe to Los Angeles via the
Suez Canal and the second from
Antwerp to Montreal.
His new book, Icebreaker: A
Voyage Far North, recounts his
experiences on the Otso, a ship that
clears ice in the Gulf of Bothia, so
other vessels can travel safely
between Finland and Sweden. He
spent ten days on it, enduring
freezing conditions and gaining an
insight into this extraordinary and
hidden world.
Before joining the ship, he had
imagined that an icebreaker would
simply sail up and down the bay,
cracking open shipping channels,
and that would be it. “In fact, a
newly broken fairway might remain
passable for hours, but it is just as
likely the ice will close up again in
minutes, even seconds.”
He soon discovered that working
on board an icebreaker is tough and
dangerous. “The crew’s work
patterns can be ferocious, six hours
on, six hours off, but they are able
to keep in touch with their families,
because they rotate on and off
every two weeks. As one said, it’s as
near to ocean-going seafaring as you
can get without actually being out
there, far away, for months.”
Icebreaker crews are regarded as
an elite group of seafarers, he
explains. In Finland they are
employed by a crown company,
owned by the Finnish state. “This
means their pay, their insurance,
their health cover and their
conditions are as good as they can
be.”
Despite the freezing
temperatures, the fierce winds, and
often lack of activity on board the
Otso, Clare quickly became
accustomed to his new conditions.
“You miss your family, but the
world of the ship is so compelling
and strange, and the amount to
learn is limitless, so it would be a
rare visitor who found it hard.”
Seafaring is one of the world’s
most dangerous occupations. And
being a seafarer on an ice breaker is
especially dangerous, says Clare.
“One of the helmsmen said, ‘If the
ship behind you is not in danger of
crashing into you, she will stick,’ -
i.e., the ice will close behind you
and trap her. In order to cut ships
out when they are trapped,
icebreakers perform high-speed flybys,
racing around the victim as
close as they dare.
“Everyone working below is in the
hands of the helm, and everyone
aboard is in the hands of the
engineers: engine failure would
bring the ship you are towing
straight into your stern.
Manipulating heaving lines and tow
lines on the frozen deck is no picnic,
especially in minus twenty and a
blizzard, and towing is inherently
dangerous as tow lines can snap.
The absolute professionalism of the
crew, their expertise, trust and
patience, was quite wonderful.”
Clare’s ability to adapt so easily
to the harsh conditions of an
icebreaker may have something to
do with him having grown up on a
farm in the Brecon Beacons in south
Wales. His parents had abandoned
their middle class life in London for
the romantic idea of becoming
sheep farmers.
Having lived on board two
container ships and an icebreaker,
Clare is full of admiration for
seafarers and appreciates the vital
role they play in providing us with
many of the things we rely on each
day. Around 90 per cent of UK
imports come by sea.
“Seafarers deal with great
loneliness and isolation, worries
about land life and dangers at work.
They are often short of sleep, even
on the best ships, and the demands
of the sea can be relentless, from
storms to long monotonies. On the
worst ships they endure dangers and
fears we can barely imagine. We
owe them all we have, but think
about them little.”
One of the most difficult things
seafarers face is being away from
Horatio Clare.
their families for long periods, he
explains. “Is your wife ill? Are your
children being bullied? Is your sister
living with a man who beats her? Are
your parents well? What has
happened to the household
finances? Is the person you love
living a half life because you are
never there?”
While the Otso had internet
access, many ships do not. And
mobile phones are no good when
you are in the middle of an ocean.
This means if a seafarer has worries
about his family at home he might
not be able to contact them for
weeks or months.
Clare praises the work of
maritime charities such as
Apostleship of the Sea. “Often
Christian charities are the only
institutions to which they can turn
in times of trouble, in ports far from
home. The captain of one of the
container ships I was on told me
that absolutely no one understands,
knows or even cares about sailors
except Apostleship of the Sea and
other maritime chariries.
“Priests, port chaplains and
members of a huge variety of
Churches do God’s Work every
second of every day and night,
somewhere in the world. The
importance of their assistance with
communication, financial matters,
pastoral care, humanitarian
intervention and practical problemsolving,
as well as spiritual care, is
incalculable.
“I believe world trade would be
hit hard if these religious bodies
stopped doing this extraordinary and
entirely voluntary work. Ships with
dysfunctional crews are hellholes
(this is understatement, if
anything), and men and women of
faith, who live on land but volunteer
to help men at sea, make an
absolutely fundamental difference.”
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Page 10

The Pilgrim May 2018
Feature/Diary
Holy Cross Hospital
was once a sanatorium
for TB patients.
Diary - May
TB is still a killer disease
By Sister Gillian Price
On 21st February 1918, a train and a
fleet of ambulances transferred 50
patients with tuberculosis (TB) from
St Catherine’s Hospital in Ramsgate
to the new, purpose built Holy Cross
sanatorium at Haslemere in Surrey,
which was then part of Southwark
diocese.
The First World War bombing had
destroyed parts of Ramsgate and
the sisters of my order, the
Daughters of the Cross of Liege
were advised to seek a safer
location for their patients. For 30
years the sanatorium continued to
offer hope to many with
tuberculosis, caring for patients
who were often among the most
vulnerable members of society.
In the 1950s, with the
development of an effective
cocktail of antibiotics, the number
of patients with TB continued to fall
and the sanatorium era passed into
history. For a time, Holy Cross
became a small general hospital
before transforming into the
present day specialist rehabilitation
and long-term care facility for
people with extremely complex
needs caused by profound injury or
a serious neurological condition.
Today Holy Cross Hospital
continues to challenge the limits to
the recovery of people whose lives
have been turned upside down by
illness or injury. The hospital
celebrated its centenary with a
year-long programme of events
which concluded on in February
with a second talk on its early work
by Dr Helen Bynum, author of
Spitting blood: the history of
tuberculosis. The work at Holy Cross
Hospital truly made history!
No infectious disease has killed
more people in human history than
TB. Today TB kills almost 5,000
children, women and men every
day and leaves no country
untouched.
It is one of the leading killers
among people of working age which
creates and reinforces a cycle of illhealth
and poverty, with potential
catastrophic social and economic
consequences for families,
communities, and countries. Around
1.7 million people worldwide died
from the disease in 2016 - more
than Ebola, HIV and malaria
combined.
TB is a neglected disease, largely
ignored and under-funded and yet It
is treatable and curable. If we act
now, we could eliminate TB within a
generation, but the continued
development of drug-resistance
could send us back to the preantibiotic
era of 1918 when the first
patients came to Haslemere.
After years of inadequate political
efforts to contain and reduce the
high human and economic costs of
TB there are signs that world might
be waking up to the importance of
tackling the disease.
In December 2016, the United
Nations General Assembly agreed to
hold the first ever high-level
meeting on TB. This will take place
in September.
In July 2017 the G20 meeting
placed TB firmly in their list of
global priorities for the first time.
Then, in November of the same
year, the World Health Organisation
(WHO) held a ministerial conference
on TB in Moscow, reaffirming the
importance of taking action on TB
and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
It is clear that decision makers
have begun to realise that drugresistant
tuberculosis poses a clear
and present danger to global health
and the global economy, which the
world cannot ignore.
None of this would have
happened, however, without
sustained pressure on the
importance of tackling TB, as part of
an increasing focus on the dangers
of drug resistant infections.
Because of this year’s
unprecedented opportunity at the
UN meeting, it is vital to build
support among parliamentarians and
the public to create momentum in
the run-up to that meeting.
Members of Results UK (a member
of the stop TB partnership) are
urging Prime Minister Theresa May to
attend the event, and use her
presence there to help develop a
concrete plan for ensuring that
countries make and deliver on
ambitious commitments to tackle TB.
Our goal is to make TB history.
Because despite its devastating
Universe Media
T: 0161 908 5301
impact as the world’s leading
infectious killer, there is still the
troubling fact that most people in
the world think of TB as a disease of
the past.
I wonder what my sisters who
welcomed the patients with TB to
the Holy Cross sanatorium 100 years
ago would think of that? I think the
sisters of the 1950s (who must have
rejoiced at the end of the need for
a sanatorium) would be even more
surprised and dismayed that TB is
still posing such a threat to
humanity. Why not learn more about
how you can make TB history.
n For more information,
visit www.results.org
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The Universe : world news, current
affairs, lifestyle supplements and a
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available each week digitally
3: “The Eucharist and Prayer,”
talk by Fr Philip Thomas Edwards
of the Community of St John,
7.30pm, Amigo Hall, next to St
George’s Cathedral. For more
information, visit
www.ccftootingbec.org.uk
5: World Apostolate of Fatima
Marian procession from St
George’s Cathedral to Sacred
Heart Church in Knatchbull Road,
Camberwell, 2pm. There will be
a Fatima celebration in the
church from 3pm – 7pm,
including recitation of the
Rosary, an act of consecration to
the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
and individual veneration of the
relics.
7: Annual Mass for Migrants of
the dioceses of Southwark,
Westminster and Brentwood,
11am, St George’s Cathedral.
Banner procession begins at
10.45am. Archbishop Peter will
be the main celebrant.
7: Altar servers’ rally, The Friars,
Aylesford. The day begins at
10.15am. Bishop Paul Mason will
celebrate a sung Mass at
11.30am, followed by a picnic
and football.
10: “The Eucharist in Scripture,”
a talk by Fr John Hemer of the
Mill Hill Missionaries, 7.30pm,
Amigo Hall, next to St George’s
Cathedral. For more information,
visit www.ccftootingbec.org.uk
12: “The Resurrection Narratives
- The beginning of the Church,”
with Fr Denis McBride, 10.30am –
3pm, Our Lady Immaculate
Church, Ewell Road, Tolworth.
19: Recruitment day for St
George’s Cathedral choirs, 10am
– 4pm in the cathedral song
room. For more information,
email: music@stgeorges.org.uk
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Page 11

The Pilgrim May 2018
Focus on faith
Why I paint icons
By Giovanna Finaldi
I am not an artist. I am a teacher -
and not an art teacher. My love of
icons and iconography began when,
for my Confirmation, my sponsor -
who is an artist - gave me an icon
she had painted of St Mary
Magdalene kneeling before the
empty tomb of Jesus with Christ’s
wounded hand outstretched towards
her in resurrected glory, as well as
merciful love.
I was 12 years-old and this image
has remained a powerful reminder
of Christ’s love for me.
Catholics spend comparatively
little time contemplating icons. We
are familiar with some icons often
in hidden away in dusty corners of
our churches, perhaps Our Lady of
Perpetual Succour or some other of
the more famous ones. But we
often know little of the importance
of icons in the Church’s history,
particularly the Eastern Church.
Wars were fought over the
theology of the icon. Thousands of
beautiful icons were destroyed and
people died to protect them. Why
were these images so important to
them and to us?
Traditional iconographers are not
allowed to paint their own
interpretations or imaginative
perceptions of iconographic
subjects. These would not be icons
but pictures or representations.
Icons are something quite different.
Icons invite the viewer to
contemplate, venerate and pray. They
are not supposed to be lifelike but to
tell us something more profound.
They are a bridge between heaven
and earth elevating us from our daily
earthly lives to the transcendent
divinity of their subjects.
I spent some time studying
traditional iconographic techniques
at a Russian Orthodox Monastery in
Supraśl in Poland, a few miles from
the border with Belarus. My teacher,
a young Orthodox woman, was
inspiring in her humble love for this
gift that God had given her.
I was amazed by how long each
icon took, how carefully each of the
many steps in the making of icon
was taken and the great significance
given to every tiny detail from the
kind of wood used, the number of
preparatory drawings, to the
application of the gesso, the types of
pigments, the shapes of the faces,
the halos. Everything.
Not to mention the prayers we
said together and alone as we
painted and the fact that women
had to wear modest dresses whilst
painting, and if possible a headscarf.
If the primary role of the
iconographer is one of service,
offered first of all to God and then
to his or her fellow believers, it
makes sense that one self-effaces
whilst painting. Incidentally there is
an ongoing discussion as to whether
iconographers should ever sign their
works. My teacher was adamant that
they shouldn’t ever.
Painting icons is a hobby, as I
mentioned, I am an amateur, but I
have now painted quite a number of
icons on wooden panels as well as on
baptismal and paschal candles.
I was honoured to be asked for the
third time to decorate the candle for
St George’s Cathedral, in my own
diocese. The solemn light of the
paschal candle burning with the new
fire brought in procession through
the darkness of the church during the
Easter Vigil-or as the Orthodox call
it, the “feast of feasts”, is rich in
holy significance. So why add more?
Moreover, a large beeswax candle
is perhaps not a very traditional
surface on which to paint. It
presents its own technical challenges
as it is more difficult to paint on a
curved surface and requires lengthy
preparations.
There are many reasons, but put
simply, if beauty facilitates people’s
encounter with God then let us try
and make every Christian symbol as
aesthetically beautiful as we can.
First of all, there are some
symbols which must adorn every
Paschal candle. Firstly, a cross into
which the priest puts the five nails
containing grains of incense at the
points where Christ was pierced,
then the year and the Alpha and
Omega, the first and last letters of
the Greek alphabet signifying Christ
as the beginning and the end.
That is always my starting point.
Then I look for a suitable icon to
copy. Icons of the resurrection are
magnificent, and most particularly
the icon of “the harrowing of Hell”,
where the resurrected Christ
shatters the gates of hell and pulls
out Adam and Eve and all the
prophets and kings and all the
righteous men and women of the Old
Testament.
However, one must also take into
account the long and thin “canvas”
available when painting a candle.
The image on an Easter candle for a
cathedral should be striking perhaps
without too many details so that the
assembly can see it even from the
back of the building.
So I decided on something simpler,
Christ alone, standing in glory. He
wears a white inner garment,
symbolising his heavenly purity, and
a red and gold outer garment
showing his royal divinity.
He has his arms open and behind
him the black opening of the tomb.
Black is only ever used in icons for
death, hell or demons. He is
surrounded with a blue star. This is
usually almond shaped (a mandorla)
and a visual symbol of God’s glory.
Jesus’ expression is solemn. I was
told that a perfect face of Christ has
12 layers of paint and indeed the
face is always the part of the icon on
which you spend the longest time.
The paschal candle itself is a
tremendous symbol but I hope the
addition of the image of Christ
invites us to contemplate even more
deeply the vanquishing of death, the
glory of the resurrection, the feast
of feasts.
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