Issue 63 - The Pilgrim - August 2017 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Editorial
The Pilgrim August 2017
Crossrail and an
early Christian saint
By Greg Watts
Becoming part of the story
By Bishop Paul Hendricks
At a place called Wintershall, not far from
our seminary at Wonersh in Surrey, there’s
a house with extensive grounds, where
they put on an outdoor dramatisation of
the Life of Christ around the middle of
June. This year I decided it was time I
went to see it for myself, and it gave me
quite a lot to think about.
The play took place in three acts, set in
three separate areas of the grounds. The
first went from the Annunciation to the
finding in the Temple. It was introduced by
the character of Luke, who acted as a
narrator from time to time, though the
story-line included material from all four
Gospels.
The majority of the audience were school
children — and the play had been cleverly
planned with this audience in mind. For
example, after several fairly straightforward
scenes concerning the infancy of Jesus,
they had a very dramatic scene with the
soldiers of Herod charging into Bethlehem.
Some of the soldiers were on horseback,
which added to the excitement.
For the second act, covering the public
life of Jesus up to just before the raising
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of Lazarus, we were sitting on one side of
a valley, while the action took place
mostly on the other side. At certain points
the actors came across to our side, so that
the audience effectively became members
of the crowd in the story.
At the feeding of the five thousand,
when Jesus challenged the disciples to find
food for the crowd themselves, they came
across to us to ask if we had any food.
Then after Jesus had multiplied the loaves
and fishes, the disciples (including a large
number of children) came back across to
us and passed around loaves of bread
which they encouraged us to share. This
got us all moving around a bit and also got
us in the right frame for our lunch break,
which followed fairly shortly afterwards.
The last act started with the raising of
Lazarus and continued in the same setting
until the point where Jesus has to carry his
cross. As Jesus was on trial before Pontius
Pilate, the chief priests gathered a crowd,
which was represented by a number of
children from the cast.
Before long a much larger number of
children from the audience went across to
join them, to the point where we didn’t
need to use our imagination — it really was
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a crowd! For the final scenes, we walked
back to the place (quite nearby) where we
had the first act.
This had been adapted to stage the
crucifixion. We stayed there until the first
appearances of Jesus after the
Resurrection and then shifted to another
spot for a short final scene by the Sea of
Galilee, up to and including the Ascension.
As for many experiences in life, sharing
the enjoyment and excitement of the
children also added to the experience for
us adults. Peter Hutley, whose energy and
imagination launched the whole dramatic
enterprise at Wintershall, said something
that stuck in my mind.
He was referring mainly to the children,
though I suppose it applies to all of us:
“What they see, they remember.” I think
I’d add that the way in which they’re
drawn into the action at certain points is
also significant.
Though in a very different setting, the
Mass is also a sort of acting-out of the
events of the life, death and resurrection
of Christ. As at Wintershall, though in an
even more powerful way, we ourselves
enter into the action and become
ourselves a part of the story.
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It would be hard to think of two more contrasting
things than Crossrail, Europe’s largest construction
project, and an obscure third century saint. Yet both
feature in a new exhibition at the the Museum of
London Docklands entitled Tunnel.
Crossrail is the new 73-mile railway line which
will run services from Abbey Wood, Heathrow,
Reading, and Shenfield though central London. The
first section of it is scheduled to open in December
2018.
Saint Barbara is thought to have lived in Lebanon
or Greece. When she converted to Christianity
against the wishes of her father, he handed her over
to the Roman authorities. She was tortured and
eventually martyred.
A cult soon grew up around her and she became
the patron saint of engineers, tunnellers, miners
and anyone else who worked with cannon and
explosives.
The exhibition features a number of images of St
Barbara. Some are thought to have come from
shrines in Europe, while others might have been
associated with the relic of St Barbara’s head which
was located at Halesowen Abbey in the West
Midlands.
A small copper-alloy disc depicts St Barbara on
one side holding the sword with which she was
beheaded and the palm which symbolises her
martyrdom. The reverse shows a letter ‘B’. The disc
has been perforated and may have been sewn onto
clothing or perhaps even into the pages of a prayer
book.
There is also part of a ceramic figurine of St
Barbara, which dates from the late 15th to early
16th century. Figurines of saints would have been
common in London homes in the medieval period.
In December 2012 38 statues of St Barbara were
blessed and installed at the entrances to the
Crossrail tunnels. Several hundred contractors and
senior management attended the St Barbara's Day
ceremony at the Thames Tunnel, which will link
Plumstead and North Woolwich.
When the Museum of London Docklands asked if it
could borrow one of the statues for its exhibition,
construction company Dragados UK donated one.
The statue is
just under 32
cm in height and
is made of
plaster. It is
slightly chipped
from its four
years, from in
the main shaft
at the Limmo
Peninsula site in
Canning Town.
St Barbara
holds a plastic
chalice in one
hand, but the
sword that was
in her other
hand is now
missing. Each
day as the
tunnellers and
miners went to
work they
passed her. Now
she is the first
object that
visitors to the
exhibition walk
past when they
enter the
exhibition.
Tunnel at the Museum of London Docklands runs
until 3rd September. Admission is free.
South-West London
Bishop Paul Hendricks
020 8643 8007
Editor: Greg Watts
pilgrim@rcsouthwark.co.uk
0208 776 9250
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