Summer prayer schedule

This is the Presbytery Chapel, arranged in what was the dining room of the parish house. It is open 7am-7pm, Monday-Friday. There is adoration 7am-8am for the intentions of the School of Evangelisation, Morning Prayer at 8am, Mass 12:45, and Evening Prayer at 5:45. Saturday evening Mass is here at 6pm, and Sunday evening at 5pm. Sunday 11am Mass is around the corner at the Chapel of the House of St Barnabas in Mannette Street. Edna and I have been praying the Rosary for the School at 11:45am, but that will stop when we depart for the summer. Furthermore, the chapel is the venue for SOS Prayerline from 7pm-11pm every night, including weekends. Hopefully, you can tell that although the church is closed, we are still very much 'open for prayer'. A lot of that prayer is specifically for the School's work of formation and evangelisation of young people. Please keep all these things in your own prayers.

Where is the church?

If you have visited Soho Square recently, you cannot have failed to notice the scaffolding surrounding St Patrick's church. The church itself is closed to the public; there is a chapel open in the presbytery next door for our parish liturgical life and individual prayer. Many visitors ask "why is the church closed?" or "is it a big building project?" For both of these questions ... judge for yourself from the photo above. It's taken from the sanctuary area, towards the choir gallery at the back of the nave. Underneath the entire nave has been excavated to increase our basement space for parish gatherings, work with the homeless, and the Evangelisation School. SPES will contine to occupy the area underneath the church sanctuary, but with much-improved facilities.

Martyrs of China

Today we celebrated the memoria of Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and companions; martyrs in China . Relations between the Church and the government of the People's Republic of China are slowly but surely improving. We have had three SPES students from China ; please keep them in your prayers.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop of Hong Kong, visiting SPES in 2006

InVocation weekend

Benediction following a Eucharistic procession around the seminary.

I've just got back from a great weekend at InVocation, the national vocational discernment weekend at St Mary's College, Oscott. There were hundreds of young people and religious there (as well as three Archbishops) responding to God's call. The Lord calls us all to holiness, and each to a particular vocation in the Church; the conference encouraged us to seek and follow both callings. There was plenty of prayer time, including adoration through the night, and talks and workshops on different subjects. It was good to meet up with so many friends of SPES, and keep them up to date on everything happening here. Also, I was pleased to talk about SPES to many new people. There was, quite rightly, a lot of emphasis at InVocation on seminary formation and the religious life. As I said to someone at the conference, one of the aims of SPES is to provide a similar formation in the Christian life, to young adults who may have a lay vocation, or are still discerning their vocations.
You can see more photos from the event here. See if you can find the one of my back...

Left: SPES graduate Henry, serving as thurifer for the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle

InVocation 2010

The SPES house is fast emptying post-Graduation. Deanna has just flown home for the summer, to spend time with her family and renew her visa. She will be returning here to coordinate the SPES programme from September. Shi Rui will go home this week to China; we will be sad to see her go, but will keep in touch by prayer and email. We will miss her a lot.

Vincent is going to InVocation 2010, a vocations conference at Oscott College, Birmingham - one of four seminaries in England - expected to attract hundreds of young Catholics discerning their callings from God. Please keep this event in your prayers. We are hoping to meet young people who may be interested in SPES as part of their discernment process, when we open to new students from October 2011.

SPES 2010-2011

Thank you for your support for Saint Patrick’s Evangelisation School this year, particularly as we have been ‘homeless’ since April as the long-awaited restoration works have begun in our church and basement, forcing us to rely more than ever on the Lord’s providence and guidance.

We have just finished our eighth year of the School, with five young women graduating on 15^th June at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes, in Notre Dame de France Church, Leicester Square. It was a wonderful occasion to celebrate the hard work and progress of our students with so many of our friends. Aisling, Christina, Deanna, Lissette and Shi Rui have had an excellent year, journeying with the Lord to strengthen their faith, spreading the Good News, and discerning their vocations.

Our building work has forced us to take stock of our situation, as since April we have been ‘making do’ with a variety of temporary and inadequate facilities as the School has been evicted from its classroom, chapel, offices and dining room. While the students have coped magnificently, it seems that it would not be possible to give the same experience to our students next year as we have always endeavoured to provide in the past. Therefore it is with a heavy heart that we have decided not to run the School as a full-time programme for new students in 2010-2011.

I fully intend, however, that the work that we have been doing – evangelisation, forming young Catholics, being a praying presence in the heart of London – continue here until our refurbishment is complete. It is very important to me that we keep alive the ‘Spirit of SPES’ that the Holy Spirit has created here over the past eight years. I hope that you will take this chance to continue to support the work of SPES as we call upon your gifts. Edna dos Santos (’08) and Deanna Joy (’10) will coordinate all these activities and continue the SPES community life, so please keep in touch with them through the year.

The restored church and new parish centre are on course to be reopened by Archbishop Vincent Nichols on 31^st May 2011. Exact details will follow, but I do hope that you can put this date in your diaries now.

God willing, the School should open the doors of its new purpose-built facilities to the next cohort of students in October 2011. Therefore our recruitment process will continue.

I hope that you will continue to support SPES, particularly with your prayers in this time of transition. We keep you in our prayers.

Yours in Christ,

Father Alexander

Graduation 2010

The Graduation Mass 2010 was a wonderful occasion, with so many friends from the year. Congratulations to Christina, Deanna, Shi Rui, Lissette ande Aisling, on this exciting moment in their ongoing journey with the Lord.

Graduation Mass

To mark the end of the 8th year of SPES the annual Graduation Mass is to be celebrated by Bishop Alan Hopes as our current group of students complete the programme.
Tuesday 15th June, 6pm Mass at Notre Dame de France (on Leicester Place, off Leicester Square)
PLEASE NOTE change of venue as we had originally anticipated going to Farm Street.
You are warmly invited to be with us.
If you plan to be with us please kindly RSVP: spes@stpatricksoho.org or 0207 434 9965
We look forward to seeing all our friends there.
Please pray for Deanna, Aisling, Christina, Lissette and Shi Rui (Linda) as they come to the end of
their time at SPES; as they move forward and continue their discernment.

Day of Fun, Sunday 30 May

We spent a day in Ascot with Dan and Anne Hill, two wonderful friends of the School. Having the day to spend with them truly was a blessing. They shared with us the story of how they got to know and become friends with Mother Teresa and the profound impact she made on them and their children. We enjoyed a day of relaxing, chatting, sitting in the sun and taking in the beautiful gardens with lilacs and rhododendron. We have been spending the majority of our time preparing for our Graduation Mass and getting things ready for Spirit in the City, which begins this Thursday. As the time gets closer to the threeday event, the more excited we become. We are looking forward to the talks, time of prayer, singing, Adoration, reflection, street outreach and live music. By being a witness for Jesus we will not only share our faith with everyone we encounter, but we will also help to show that the Spirit is truly alive in the city. We hope you are able to join us for this fantastic event. Have a blessed-filled and holy
week. God bless!

Mission, Study, and Fun, Sunday 9 May

We are still in excitement after our mission in Scarborough. We really enjoyed applying all the knowledge and experiences from this year into the different ministries. Along with street evangelisation twice a day we were able to put on assemblies for local primary schools, run a few youth nights and contribute to a prayer group for First Communion parents. We were grateful to have the opportunity to go to daily Mass and Holy Hour which gave us the strength we needed to do our mission. Going into the schools and interacting with the students was very enjoyable for us all. The message we brought to the students was “Jesus loves you!” They were challenged to be witnesses to that love, not only in their words, but by their actions too. We were delighted to be able to evangelise in such a beautiful location and were so heartily welcomed by the parish of St. Peter’s. Fr. William Massie, the parish priest, kindly arranged for us to stay with loving families. Their hospitality and generosity was overwhelming. They made sure to send us off each morning with an abundance of support and prayers. The kindness of our host families was an invaluable blessing. Our last day of street evangelisation we had a procession with an icon of Our Lord, as Christina played her guitar we sang songs of praise and worship. Many people were looking on curiously and were very much interested. As we engaged in conversation many hearts were touched. Along with asking if they had any prayer intentions we also offered them Scripture verses and miraculous medals. There is no doubt that the Holy Spirit was present and at work throughout the entire mission. Overall our mission to Scarborough was a huge success and it was humbling to be used to plant the seeds of God’s love. This week we have been working extremely hard to complete our fifth essay on Moral Theology. This section of the Catechism has been very interesting because we are learning the reasons behind the morals we uphold. This knowledge better equips us to witness to our faith and by the grace of God to “always be ready to give an account of the hope that is within us.” (1 Peter 3:15) Next week we will be treated to a short break in the Wiltshire countryside. We will be going with Fr. Alex to the home of his friends, Sarah and Paul. When we return we will be making preparations for our upcoming mission Spirit in the City, which will be held mainly in Leicester Square from 3-5 June. (Mark your diaries!) Throughout this month of Mary we pray that she continue to bless you and your loves ones. Have a wonderful, grace-filled week. God bless