The special place of the poor in God’s people.
At the beginning of the section entitled “The inclusion of the poor in society” in his recent Apostolic Exhortation – Evangelii Gaudium – Pope Francis states that “Our faith in Christ, who became poor, and was always close to the poor and the outcast, is the basis of our concern for the integral development of society’s most neglected members. Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor and for enabling them to be fully part of society”. (Nos 186 and 187) The question is ‘How can we do that in the Archdiocese of Southwark today?’
I would like to begin by identifying two social changes that, I believe, have greatly impacted the social profile of and the social needs we see in the Archdiocese of Southwark over many years; immigration and housing. Ever since the Great Famine in Ireland in the 1840s immigration has affected the demographic profile of South London and especially that of the Catholic Church. This has changed and is continuing to change the social challenges being faced by our Catholic parishes and organizations. When I reflect on the present demographic and cultural profile of the parishes in South London it seems to me that one can identify three different types of communities: mono - cultural immigrant communities, multi- cultural communities and mono-cultural English/Irish communities where the majority of parishioners are of an English or Irish background.
Mono - cultural immigrant communities are a living reality in the Archdiocese. In recent weeks I have celebrated confirmation for 90 candidates from the Latin American community, sixty candidates from the Portuguese community based in Clapham, sixty candidates (mostly of West African background) in Sacred Heart parish in Camberwell and within the next few weeks I will confirm 60 Portuguese candidates for the Scalabrini community on Brixton Road. In a significant numberof the parishes in South East London the vast number of candidates and indeed parishioners will be of African (especially West African) background eg Peckham, Camberwell, Plumstead, Beckenham Hill, Thamesmead and Abbey Wood. These parishes and chaplaincies are vibrant Catholic communities with their own distinctive gifts and their own distinctive social and spiritual needs.
Secondly, many if not the majority of our parishes in the inner London boroughs are now distinctly multi - cultural communities. Most parishes now include people from Africa and Asia, Eastern and Western Europe (ie people from Poland, Croatia, Albania as well as people from Ireland, Spain and Portugal) and people from various parts of Latin America. Immigration is certainly not a new phenomenon in the Archdiocese but the tremendous diversity of that immigration is and that diversity will vary from borough to borough and from parish to parish. The diversity in Croydon is for example different to the diversity in Bromley and the diversity in Wandsworth is different to the diversity in Lewisham or Lambeth. The diversity in Kent is different again especially in the areas where large numbers of Eastern Europeans have settled.
Thirdly, there are still parishes especially in outer London (where housing is more expensive) where the social and demographic profile has changed very little over recent years and the parishes are still very much mono-cultural English/Irish communities. This, however, is also changing. This year, for example, I was surprised to see that about 33% of the candidates for Confirmation in Erith were of African background and another 10 to 15% were of Asian background. This is the result of the social mobility of young professional couples of African and Asian background. If we look at the enrolment figures for our Catholic primary schools in places like Welling, Erith and Bromley that picture is confirmed.
The second major social change that has deeply affected the Archdiocese is the dramatic change in the provision of social housing in South London. For many years the inner London boroughs of South London provided an extraordinary high amount of social housing – both in terms of flats (in places like Camberwell, Bermondsey, Brixton and Peckham) and houses (especially in the pre- war estates of Downham and Morden). The post war building boom of the 1950s and 1960s replaced and significantly added to that capacity to provide social housing for the poorer members of our communities eg Roehampton, Lewisham, Woolwich and Wandsworth. In some cases privately owned houses which were destroyed in the Second World War were replaced by large social housing projects eg Peckham.
The change in Government policy in the 1980s has radically changed not only the housing market but also the ability to provide housing for the poorest members of society. At the moment we constantly hear about the shortage of housing on the one hand and the rising price of houses on the other. It is my view (and only mine) that while the right to buy a council house was in fact a very positive move the fact that the money obtained from the sale of council houses was not invested in new social housing has resulted in the poorest in our society (especially low income young families) often ending up trapped in inadequate housing or in the private rented sector for years. If you take the train journey from London Bridge to Lewisham which takes about ten minutes you will notice that the area is being transformed with the building of a huge number of housing developments - in London Bridge, Rotherhite, South Bermondsey and around Lewisham station. My question is ‘who is that housing for’?
If we look closely at Evangelii Gaudium we will see that inclusion and integration are for Pope Francistwo of the key values that shape our work for the common good. With that in mind I would like to suggest that there are four clear challenges facing us in the Archdiocese today: the challenge of cultural and social integration, the challenge of supporting struggling families and especially the elderly living on their own, the challenge of showing solidarity with and speaking up for the homeless and those in inadequate housing and finally the challenge of supporting, advising and accompanying documented and undocumented migrants.
Cultural and social integration. This challenge is the challenge of building communities where every person no matter what their cultural or social background can feel they truly belong. This is the challenge of becoming a welcoming Church. Many of our parishes put a great effort into identifying and welcoming newcomers to the parish and supporting them as they settle into a new community. The parish of St. Anthony of Padua will share their experience in one of the workshops. One of the yearly highlights in many of our parishes nowadays is the annual celebration of the parish feast day or international day when different ethnic and cultural communities come together for mass and a social celebration.
The first step on the journey is providing a good welcome but the second is developing ways to recognise, affirm and celebrate the spiritual, cultural and social gifts of all the different communities in a parish. Let me give you an example of how I became very aware of the deep devotion to Our Lady within the Ecuadorian community whilst serving in Nunhead. One Sunday after mass I was approached by a dozen or so young women from Ecuador (most of whom were undocumented) asking if they could bring a statue of Our Lady from Ecuador to the parish. Not realising what I was letting myself in for I said yes. Three months later the statue of Nuestra Senora del Cisne arrived and immediately the men set about building a little altar within the church and the women set about making different sets of clothes for the statue – blue for the feasts of Our Lady, gold for the major feast days, white for the seasons of Easter and Christmas and green for the Sundays of the year. When the altar was ready we had a procession, a mass and a great celebration. What happened next, however, was a revelation. I noticed that many Ecuadorians would come to visit the parish to pray in front of the statue. They came on Sundays, on bank holidays but especially when there was a crisis at home or they were in trouble – when a parent was sick, when someone was being deported or when someone lost their job. Gradually, I realised that for the Ecuadorian community Mary really was like their mother – they would visit her, they would talk to her, they would bring flowers to her and all of that was part of their prayer to her. That was a tremendous inspiration to me and a great example to the rest of the parish. What I am saying is that welcoming is more than saying hello; it is helping people to feel they belong and feel that their presence and their gifts – spiritual and cultural – are truly appreciated.
The second challenge is that of supporting families and especially the elderly living alone. Whenever I carry out a parish visitation I always ask the parish priest if I can visit some of the elderly and housebound in the parish. This always opens up a discussion on the importance of caring for the sick and the elderly. Many parishes will now have at least one residential home for the elderly in the area. Care of the sick and the elderly especially those living on their own is nearly always a priority for our priests and lay people. Many lay people give generously of their time as extra ordinary ministers of the Eucharist and their ministry has proved to be a tremendous asset resulting in the sick, the elderly and housebound being visited far more frequently and receiving Holy Communion more frequently. In some parishes the Society of St. Vincent de Paul does tremendous work caring for the elderly while in others the Ascent movement also makes an invaluable contribution. The greater challenge, however, is to find ways (perhaps through the schools) to identify and reach out to young families who are struggling financially or in terms of relationships.
Thirdly, over the last twenty years a number of our priests and parishes have led the way in responding to the plight of the homeless. Many of the day centres for the homeless in South London were inspired and are still supported by our priests, our religious and our parishioners in those areas where homelessness was and still is a real issue eg the Manna Centre in London Bridge, the Spires in Streatham, the Ace of Clubs in Clapham, the Deptford Churches Centre in Deptford and the Missionaries of Charity in Elephant and Castle. Most of these centres were founded twenty five years ago when there were large numbers of Irish homeless men living in very poor conditions or on the streets. Those centres continue to provide food, support and advice to immigrants, to young people and to those caught in addiction.
I would like also to mention the important contribution that Housing Justice makes in the area of housing policy and housing advice. In parishes where there are significant numbers of people and especially families living in inadequatehousing the advice and the work of Housing Justice is deeply appreciated (East Croydon). I know that in one or two parishes skilled advice workers give their time to give adviceon housing and other issues(eg the Knights of Columbus in Downham).
Finally, the fourth challenge I will mention is that of accompanying and advising immigrant communities. The legal advice provided at the Cathedral is a wonderful example of how this can be done with true professionalism. Another great source of help is the immigrant community associations themselves who are usually very well placed to discern what is truly needed and what can be done. Priests and parishioners cannot be expected to have the answers to complex questions on the rights of migrants. What we can do is help people to find out where that advice is available. A directory of centres and websites where that good advice can be obtained would be invaluable.
In conclusion, Pope Francis is very clear that the Church is a missionary community – a communion in mission - called ‘to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ ….in all dimensions of existence and in all areas of community life and to all individuals and all peoples’ (cf no.181). Recognising the special place of the poor in God’s heart and in God’s people he calls us to be close to, to listen to, to reach out to, to speak up for and especially to find ways to include the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. This is an enormous challenge and but it is also a great privilege – the privilege of showing God’s love to our world today.