On Sunday 4th September Fr. Alexander celebrated the 17th Anniversary of his Ordination with members of the Parish and Chinese Community.


So many of us were very struck and saddened by the events of the 7th July. The West End and London in general continues to have an atmosphere of concern and fear. After so many people have lost their lives, been injured and many are grieving, how important it was to give the opportunity to shop workers, office workers to come together to reflect, to pray and remember. We had a mixed range of song, instrumental music and meditation to help bring a perspective on these dreadful events. St. Patrick’s has always been a centre and a home as a spiritual oasis, as a place of prayer and it was important that we could use it to offer to those who would not normally enter a church that chance of space and quiet.


Maureen Cox , the Coordinator of the School of Evangelisation, took a small group in our parish minibus to Wintershall for the Life of Christ. This is a play that goes on for six hours and traces the life of our Lord from his birth and the annunciation until his ascension into heaven. It is a wonderful time when some 3 or 4,000 people converge on this beautiful estate in the Surrey countryside. There is a large crowd of actors and supporting staff with many animals and countryside scenes to help the atmosphere. The play happens in the countryside, in the grounds and the gardens of Wintershall. It is a great opportunity to help families with young children come to a deep understanding of the truth of the gospel.


’s Evangelisation School. Budhi from Indonesia, Catherine from Korea, Sebastian from Poland and Katharina from Slovakia graduated at the end of their programme. During the year they had studied, prayed, socialised, worked with the poor and evangelised on the streets. During the year there is some times a little bit of a journey to Calvary and the Cross but the Graduation Mass gave a wonderful sense of resurrection.


As part of St. Patrick’s Evangelisation School’s (SPES) desire to be missionary and to go into the streets, every year we organise an outreach in which we encourage other groups to join us so that we can go into the streets meeting people and try and instil something as to what Christmas, or more properly Advent, is all about. This last year we had various helpers who came to join us and it was a great occasion of being able to share the love of Jesus and our desire to go to Nazareth together. We hope very much that this will continue to be an annual event at St. Patrick’s.


This was a project organised ecumenically by various Christian churches and communities around London. It was primarily aimed at giving young people an opportunity to engage in work in the local community and also to attend worship and teaching sessions in different places during the afternoon and evening. We had a group of about twenty people staying with us who were one of the few Catholic participants in this city-wide exercise. For those who joined in it was a great witness to see young people not divided by denomination and ready to share their love of God with others.


The Advent Season is a perfect time to take up the call of the Gospel to bring the light of Christ into the world. What better way to prepare ourselves and our world for accepting the Saviour than by proclaiming His coming to those people and those places that need most to hear of it. The joy of Christmas is too great not to be shared. It was in this spirit that we set out with the aim of reminding the West End why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. This was done by sharing our faith through prayer, music, mime, and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, which included a Youth Prayer and Fellowship, an Outreach in Soho Square Gardens, a Candle lit Procession through Soho, and a Concluding Mass.


On Thursday 13th November 2003 the Parish hosted an Italian Evening in the Church and the Parish Room. For those who came it proved to be a very happy time with much to rejoice in. The Pegasus Choir led us in various pieces from Italian Opera that were beautifully performed and brought a lovely spirit of lightness and joy to the evening. As well as celebrating the Italian history and culture of the Parish it was also an opportunity to help raise money for the Parish and our various activities of outreach. To help us in this there were many who supported us in the evening. The staff and students of the Prince of Wales School of Drawing put on a beautiful exhibition of their work in the Parish Room and the London College of Fashion designed some of the costumes for our singers, it made us think we were in eighteenth century Naples. Added to the occasion was all the food and refreshments that came from a myriad of Italian restaurants, bars and delicatessens. In so many ways it was a sumptuous evening with much fun and a real sense of the Parish, its work and long history being celebrated.