Issue 68 - The Pilgrim - February 2018 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Feature
The Pilgrim February 2018
The man they call God’s gan
By Greg Watts
You can’t tell John Pridmore much
about the dark side of life. As a one
time brutal enforcer in the London
underworld, he has seen and done
things he would rather forget. But
today he has a very different
message.
If you were looking for a modern
example of St Paul, then John would
be hard to beat. For the last 20
years he has travelled the world as
an evangelist, visiting schools,
parishes, prisons, and universities.
In 2008 he spoke to 500,000 people
at World Youth Day in Sydney.
Last year, he spoke in Malta,
Germany, Spain, the United States,
Croatia, and Bosnia. As well as this,
he undertook parish and school
missions across Britain and Ireland.
Burly, 6ft 4” and with a shaven
head, he still looks the menacing
figure he used to be.
What gives Pridmore the ability to
hold 400 teenagers spellbound in a
school hall, or reduce hard men in a
prison to tears, is the extraordinary
turnaround his life has taken.
He recounts his dramatic story in
his best-selling book From Gangland
to Promised Land. He followed this
with two more books, Gangster’s
Guide to God and Journey to
Freedom.
At one time, he spoke only one
language: violence. And he knew
had to use that to devastating
effect, be it with his fists, a
knuckle-duster, or other weapons.
Violence and drugs go hand in
hand in the kind of world John
inhabited. Setting up drug deals
provided the money for him to live
the gangster lifestyle: fast cars,
designer suits, women, anything he
wanted.
What mattered most to him was
his reputation on the streets. Those
who crossed him paid the price. In
the case of one man at a bar in
central London in 1991 that price
was nearly death.
He was convinced he had killed
him. He fled the scene with a
gangland boss, who urged him to
pack his bags and take the next
flight to Spain.
However, he opted to lie low. The
man survived and made a full
recovery. Later, when John stood in
the dock, expecting a ten-year
prison sentence, the case against
him collapsed.
It was around this time that he
underwent a profound spiritual
experience one night in his flat in
East London. The man who had
ridiculed Christianity as nothing
more than a fairy tale was literally
brought to his knees.
“All of a sudden, I heard what I
can only describe as a voice. It told
me about all the worst things I’d
done in my life. Thinking it must be
the TV, I got up and turned it off.
But I still heard the voice.
“I realised it was the voice of my
conscience. I felt the breath going
out of me, and an incredible fear
gripped me. I’m going to hell, I
thought.
“I fell to my knees, my eyes filled
with tears, and cried out, ‘Give me
another chance!’ Suddenly, I felt as
if someone’s hands were on my
shoulders and I was being lifted up.
“An incredible warmth filled me
and the fear disappeared. At that
moment I knew - really knew, not
just believed - that God was real.
Although baptised a Catholic,
John had never practised. He now
began going to Mass and praying.
Eventually he joined the Franciscan
Friars of the Renewal in the South
Bronx, New York.
But he didn’t find it easy adapting
to the rigorous lifestyle of the
community. After a year, he left,
feeling that his vocation lay
elsewhere, and returned to London.
Nevertheless, that experience of
total dedication to God and service
to the Church affected him deeply.
He realised that the friars had
taught him some valuable spiritual
lessons.
His vocation, he discovered, was
to be a lay evangelist, taking the
gospel into schools, parishes,
Page 6
universities and prisons. He spent
several years leading Youth 2000’s
mission team.
While John’s past is often what
draws many people to him, it’s his
honesty about his faith journey that
really makes an impact. Unlike
many who talk or write about faith,
he doesn’t avoid those
uncomfortable areas.
For example, addiction is one
subject he often tackles. His upfront
approach when discussing sex,
gambling and alcohol can be quite
disarming for some.
He says that we have to be honest
with ourselves and face those parts
of our lives where we are most in
need of healing. He makes no bones
about the struggles he has had with
anger and gambling.
But this brokenness is not a
barrier to a relationship with God,
he points out. It’s in our weaknesses
that we can be more open to God’s
power.
“As we open ourselves up to God
and allow his grace to work in our
lives, we begin to change. But
change doesn’t happen overnight.
When I first found God, I still
carried on smoking dope, being
aggressive, and sleeping around.
Slowly, he changed my life.
“But I still have my struggles,
even today. Apart from Christianity,
all the world’s faiths say that you
have to obtain perfection to reach
God. The Christian message is that
God loves us so much that he came