Situated in narrow Deptford High Street, with its jumble of halal butchers, Caribbean takeaways, Afro-hair salons and bargain hardware shops, is the Victorian church of Our Lady of the Assumption. The docks that once dominated this part of London have gone, as has most of the Irish community, which provided the backbone of many Catholic parishes.
What immediately struck me when I squeezed into a pew for Sunday morning Mass was that I was one of just a handful of white people in the packed congregation. The majority of worshippers in the somewhat cramped church were from Nigeria or Sierra Leone. This was a reminder that not all West African Christians in London are members of the independent black churches. Many inner London Catholic parishes attract growing numbers of West Africans.
But it is not just most of the parishioners who come from the developing world. The three priests who run the parish are from Goa in India, and are members of the Society of Missionaries of St Francis Xavier. It was the French Jesuit St Francis Xavier who is credited with bringing Christianity to Goa in the 16th century. In fact, Deptford’s links with Goa date back to the 18th century, when Goan sailors worked on the East India Company ships that sailed between London and Bombay.
The interior of the church is broader than it is long and its floor is wooden. Above the sanctuary is a stained glass window depicting the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, while the walls are adorned with quite striking stations of the cross. A large statue of St Patrick recalls the church¹s Irish connections.
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Father James Pereira began the sung Mass by explaining that its theme was about being called by God. This was reflected in the psalm and readings from Exodus, Romans and Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus calls his 12 disciples.
In his homily, however, Father Pereira veered away from this theme. He began by talking about feeling that God is absent when suffering is experienced, before going on on to urge the congregation to enter more into the Mass. Gently chiding parishioners who arrived late, he spoke of the importance of standing, sitting and singing at various parts of the liturgy.
That some Catholics today lack reverence at Mass is a complaint often heard in the Church. This is likely to be one of the areas of the liturgy that Pope Benedict XVI will focus upon. A fruitful participation in the Mass is measured in a person’s behaviour to others, Father Pereira said. He ended his homily by reminding the congregation that “Mass is a celebration and it should be celebrated joyfully,” and that “Never should we think that God is far away.”
According to Father Pereira, the congregation at the parish’s two other Sunday Masses includes people of Vietnamese, Chinese, Philippino, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese origin.
Much attention has been given to the restructuring of Catholic dioceses through mergers or closures of parishes, due to the shortage of priests. Yet there seems to have been scant acknowledgement of the rapidly changing ethnicity and culture of congregations such as this one at Deptford. This may prove to be one of the biggest challenges facing the bishops of England and Wales. For unless these new ethnic communities are fully integrated into the life of the Church, as the Irish were, there is a danger that they may seek spiritual sustenance elsewhere.
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Venue: Our Lady of the Assumption church, Deptford, London
Celebrant: Father Joseph Pereira
Architecture: Unremarkable Victorian
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Spiritual high: the multicultural nature of the Mass
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After-care: stall selling religious items at the back of the church
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