SPIRITANS take responsibility for a parish in West Bromwich - 12/11/2010 11:11:20
Recently the Spiritans have taken over responsibility for a 'new' parish in the Archdiocese of Birmingham. Fr Ugo has moved three miles up the road from St Philip Neri, Smethwick to St Michael and all the Angels, West Bromwich. He will soon be joined by Fr Erasmus Onyema Egenaonu CSSp who until recently has been the Bursar of our Nigerian Province.
St Michael & All Angels church is a Grade II listed building in the middle of West Bromwich Town Centre, opposite the bus station and close to both Metro and rail links into the City Centres of Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
In the early 19th century the few Catholics who lived in West Bromwich had to travel to Bloxwich or Walsall to celebrate Holy Mass. Soon, however the numbers of people converting to Catholicism grew so quickly it was decided to build a Catholic Church in the centre of the newly developing town of West Bromwich.
A site in St. Michael's Street was bought in 1830 and by 1832 the Church was opened. Most of the cost for the building of the new church was met by George Spencer, a young priest who had recently converted to the Catholic faith. He was the youngest son of one of the wealthiest families in Britain, and was to be the great, great, great uncle of Diana, Princess of Wales.
The Church proved to be very popular with the ever increasing Catholic population and in 1834 a school was built to teach more children about the Catholic faith.
In 1875 the Church was rebuilt in its current position. The stained glass window in the Family Chapel is dedicated to Fr. John Daly, who raised the money to build the new church as a memorial to Fr. George Spencer who had died in 1864. The tower and spire were added in 1911.
Today, we are a vibrant parish whose congregation highlights the multi-cultural aspects of our borough.
Currently we celebrate Holy Mass in English, every Sunday and daily
Polish Mass (every Sunday morning at 9.00am),
Filipino Mass (3rd Sunday of every month at 6.00pm) and
Latin Low Mass (3rd Wednesday of every month at 6.00pm).
The Sacred Heart altar has once again been dressed for the celebration of Latin Mass with a photograph of our first parish priest, Fr. Spencer and a Sacred Heart Picture dedicated to Joseph Kennedy, centre-half footballer who made 397 appearances for West Bromwich Albion Football Club during the 1950's.
We are currently in the fortunate position of recently welcoming two new priests to our parish; Fr. Ugo and his assistant Fr. Erasmus who will be arriving from Nigeria in the near future.
There are three Catholic schools located nearby:
St. John Bosco Primary, Hately Heath
St. Francis Xavier Primary, Oldbury
Stuart Bathurst College of Performing Art, Wednesbury.
Check out our website on www.stmichaels-westbrom.btck.co.uk
St Michael & All Angels 260 High Street, WEST BROMWICH, Sandwell 0121 - 553 0034
SPIRITANS take responsibility for two parishes in Salford Diocese - 05/06/2010 10:20:05
St. Anne's, Ancoats, dates from 1847 when Father George Green was appointed Rector and for three years was obliged to cope with; a large population of poor and often sickly people, weakened by famine and plague. He built the church in 1848, and remained until 1855 when Father Allen was appointed, and under him the parish struggled through the hard times of the Cotton Famine.
From 1865 till 1929 the parish had only two parish priests-Canon Liptrott [1865 -1893] and Canon O'Kelly. [1893- 1929], a native of St. Patrick's, Manchester, having been born there in 1859.
Under the long reign of Canon Liptrott, who came of an old Lancashire, family at St. Helen's, the parish was shaped and moulded by his personality and devotion. When he first came there was one teacher with some hundred children; at his death there were twenty teachers and some 1400 children. In 1872 some of the parish suffered severely in disastrous floods caused by the sudden and violent rise of the Medlock and Irwell.
Canon O'Kelly built a new boys' school in 1896 and extended the girls' school. A parish hall was built in 1908, and a splendid new boys' school opened in 1927. He was also Vicar General of Salford Diocese from 1912 to 1929, and well-known outside St. Anne's.
Since 1929 St. Anne's has been ruled by two future Bishops, the late Bishop of Nottingham, Dr. John McNulty, (1929 - 1932) and a former Bishop of Salford, Dr. Henry Vincent Marshall (1935 - 1939). Father McNulty came here from being head of St. Edmund's House in Cambridge. He was only left in charge until 1932 when he was called to the diocese of Nottingham. Dean Gribbin was next appointed from Ushaw, where he had been a professor for many years, unfortunately he was continually in failing health and retired in 1935.
Dean Marshall was appointed in 1935 and shortly afterwards assumed the hard responsibility of Vicar General in addition to the many calls of St. Anne's parish. He set about restoring and beautifying the church and parish property. He witnessed the removal of about 2,000 of his people by slum clearance which began in June 1939, when large blocks of houses were demolished, so that before the war began the parish looked as though it had been devastated by enemy action. No doubt the intention was good, but as war came, the "clearance" meant that homes remained overcrowded and that the district was littered with dismal areas of rubble, waiting for new buildings. Mgr. Marshall was appointed Bishop of Salford in August 1939.
Dean Jeremiah Kelly watched over the parish during the difficult war years, when school-children were evacuated to Longridge, Fulwood, and Wiltshire. With losses through slum clearance and to the war effort, the parish only numbered 4,000 in 1945, half of the total 25 years before.
In 1948 the parish had the joy of celebrating its centenary in a new atmosphere of peace with a Pontifical Mass celebrated by Bishop Marshall. In 1978 the old church was replaced by a new structure, and in 1995 Bradford was reunited with the parish having been separated in 1880.
St Brigid's parish is an offshoot from St. Anne's, Ancoats. Canon Liptrott acquired a site in 1877 upon which to build a school-chapel. This was opened in 1879. The mission became independent in 1880. Fr. William Sassen, a Dutch priest, served the mission for nearly 35 years. A new church was opened in 1884. The parish grew rapidly in numbers and largely through Fr. Sassen's efforts, St. Vincent's, Openshaw, and St. Willibrord's, Clayton, were developed into new parishes. In 1995 the church was demolished and the Parish Hall converted and became the new Church. At this time the parish was closed down and reunited with ST Anne's Ancoats from which it had been separated in 1880.
The latest change took place after Easter 2010 when Fr. Derek McCartney CSSp became the first Spiritan to take charge of the combined parishes at the beginning of what we pray will be a long and fruitful jounrey in Faith and Mission.
News from the Kibera slum, Nairobi - 11/03/2010 22:56:47
St Monica Academy, Kibera, Niarobi
Po box 15778 - 00100
Motto: Together we can
Speech given by Madam Margaret Atieno ( Manager of St Monica's nursery academy ) on the occasion of a visit by Fr Philip Marsh C.S.Sp. with Fr Eamonn Mulcahy C.S.Sp. and Constantine, (Holy Cross student) on 3rd Feb 2010.
"Rev. Fr Provincial, Fr Eamonn and our visitors. We take this golden opportunity to welcome you to Kenya and more so to Kibera.
It is our pleasure to be with you here today at St Monica Academy. St Monica started in January 2007 in a small tinned building. We began the centre for educating children living with HIV/AIDS and orphans. However, they were later joined by children from very poor families.
The population at the beginning was 30 children but with time this number has grown to 90 children. Because of this rise in the population we approached Fr Eamonn and explain to him about St Monica and the challenges we were encountering today. Through tireless efforts and prayers of Fr Eamonn, the children are today in a three room permanent building.
St Monica is a unique institution in the community in that we have integrated children from all background i.e. those living with HIV/AIDS, orphans, and poor without discrimination. Children interact and play together and through this they learn to appreciate one another regardless of their status.
In St Monica we don't only offer intellectual development but also spiritual development. We have a specific day of pastoral programmes and through this the children realise the love of God for them. St Monica has a staff of six teachers, a manager, a cook and a security guard.
CHALLENGES
Feeding/Nutrition
This is a great challenge we are encountering. Because of the poverty in the slum feeding the children is very challenging. Some children leave their homes without any prior meal hence totally depending on the meal provided in school yet parent are not even able to pay school fees. For the vulnerable we are not able to provide a balanced diet because we don't have any financial source but depend on the little fees paid.
Teaching and learning materials
We are not able to purchase enough teaching and learning materials due to lack of finance. We do not have any physical outdoor playing materials.
Health
Health facilities in the slum are scarce so accessing them for the sick ones becomes a challenge at times.
Remunerations
Because of financial constraints, meeting remunerations for the staff is a big challenge. Because of this they have resorted to arts and crafts as an income generating project to enable them to meet their needs as they are also residents of the poverty stricken slum.
Sanitation
Because of migration from the former site to the present site, the institution has no access to nearby sanitation facilities so the teachers have a hard task to escort the children to the former site which is quite a distance.
Drug and substance abuse
In Kibera slum, the majority of the poor parents take to drug and substance abuse after which they neglect their children. We don't have any boarding facility, we cannot accommodate them in the school, so they just have to bear with a pitiful life.
CONCLUSION
With these few remarks, Rev Fr provincial, we once more take this opportunity to thank you in a special way for sending Fr Eamonn to Kenya and more so to Kibera to come and work and live with the marginalized people in Kibera slum. Through working hand in hand with Fr Eamonn the children of St Monica, even though they live in the second largest slum in Africa, they have realized great changes in their lives and have potential to learn and excel in education like any other children in the world. Fr Eamonn does not work with St Monica alone but with the entire community. He has reached the physically challenged children and adults in the slum. Where rich and able people run away from Fr Eamonn treads on with the love of God as his spotlight. Even us teachers we know that Fr Eamonn is not sleeping but on bent knees praying for us to God to bless us as we struggle to create change in these little children, intellectually, socially, emotionally and spiritually.
So still our prayers to God that Fr Eamonn continues to live and work with us here in Kibera for the needy and marginalized
Thank you and may the good Lord bless you.
Asante sana "
Margaret Atieno ( manager); Rosemary Juma (head teacher)
Catholic Church Statistics 2010 - 23/02/2010 14:48:36
According to the Pontifical Yearbook 2010 the Catholic Church has increased since last year in all areas, Laity, Priests and Seminarians, especially in Asia and Africa.
Baptised Catholics increased by 19 million to 1.17 Billion among 6.7 billion people, so the percentage rose from 17.33% to 17.4%.
Priests, both diocesan and Religious, increased by 1% over the past 10 years from 405,178 to 409,166, while Bishops were up 1.13% from 4946 to 5002. However women religious decreased drastically over the ten years from 801,185 to 739,67, a drop of almost 8%.
Regional differences show greatest variations. Europe had 52% of all priests but this is now down to 47%, but Bishops are up 1%. Sisters are down from 59% to 41% and seminarians down 4%
In the Americas we see no change in the number of priests with 30% of the world’s priests in the Americas, north and south. The Americas have seen a 2% increase in Bishops and the seminarian numbers are stable but sisters are down 13%.
Africa has 9% of the world’s priests. There has been an increase of 2% in Bishops; 21% increase in Sisters and 4% increase in Seminarians.
In Asia there are 13% of the world’s priests while Bishops have increased by 1% and sisters have increased by 17% and seminarians BY 5%.
Finally, in Oceania there are 1% of priests. However the percentage of bishops has dropped by 3%, while sisters are stable and seminarians have increased by 7%.
SPIRITAN Brother Clement and the Clementine - 08/11/2009 12:16:12
Clément Rodier was born in the village of Mabeille, in the diocese of Clermont-Ferrant, on May 25th, 1839. At the age of 13, he followed one of his uncles to the Charterhouse at Vallebonne, but his health was not good enough to support the rigours of the life of a hermit. So he joined another uncle, who was a professed religious in the Institute of the Annunciation at Misserghin, Algeria. This house was an orphanage in the middle of a large estate of some 1,000 hectares. Later, this religious family became part of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost Fathers). Clément was put in charge of the huge garden, where he planted 35 hectares of grapes which were still producing fruit up until 1960. He also established a tree nursery of some 20 hectares and imported seeds from different countries and continents. He sold many fruit trees to the French colonialists in the region of Oran. He was particularly proud of his rose garden, even though he had had no formal training in the cultivation of trees. He then moved into grafting, experimenting with different combinations of trees and he kept meticulous notes of all his experiments and the results, which unfortunately have since been lost. It is said that the children from the village used to creep in and steal some mandarins he had produced without pips in a corner of the garden that he had almost forgotten about. Finally, he decided to try them himself and found that they were delicious! According to Doctor Louis Trabut, a medical professor in Algiers who often came to inspect these experiments, Brother Clément accidentally created a hybrid by grafting a mandarin tree onto a bigaroon cherry tree. This took place in 1900 and at first, it was known as the “mandarinette”. When the botanists got to know about this new type of citrus fruit, the original tree was taken away so it is no longer possible to trace the details of its development. Brother Clément died in 1904, having received the gold medal from the Agricultural Society of Algeria for his discovery. Twenty years after his death, this same society baptised the fruit the “Clémetine” in his honour. For more than 40 years, Brother Rodier kept readings of the temperature and rainfall at Misserghin, but it was above all the Clementine that brought him a degree of fame. Fr. Roger Tabard, Assistant General Spiritan Archivist
KIBANDA: Lending a helping hand - 01/06/2009 18:02:41
Spiritans in Africa, Asia and South America live and work with the poorest people of our planet. They live and work among the people they serve, not only in the overcrowded slums of great cities such as Nairobi in Kenya, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, but also in the most isolated towns and villages, where basic services such as health and education are all too often absent, or very poorly established.
This is why the Spiritan Congregation in Europe has established KIBANDA. The name of the centre was chosen specially. KIBANDA is a word in Swahili, one of the most widely spoken languages of Africa. KIBANDA is the name given to a grass-roofed, open-walled hut, usually situated at the centre of the african village. It is in a kibanda that the elders come together to discuss practical issues and resolve disputes. There they plan ahead for the life and welfare of the whole village.
