The hardships and struggles faced by faithful Catholics in the East End of London were recalled by the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales on Sunday.Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was the celebrant as almost 800 people attended a special Mass at the church of St Mary and St Michael in Commercial Road to mark the parish’s 150th anniversary.
The cardinal said 1857 had been a time of “destitution and disease” and a period of great suffering for people in the East End.
But the parishioners had been sustained by their Church and the leadership of the parish’s first priest, Fr William Kelly, who for more than two decades “begged, borrowed and, indeed, suffered to find the money to build this church.
“What anxious days and years he lived through,” the cardinal added, “so much so that my predecessor, Cardinal Manning, called him a martyr for the church of St Mary and St Michael.”
Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said it had been Cardinal Manning who had come to the rescue of the dockers and “interceded with the employers” to grant them a fair and just wage at the time of the dock strikes.
“Those were hard but wonderful days in this part of London,” he added. “I could go on through the history of this parish: of the hardships and the struggles, the two world wars and, especially, the Second World War when the East End was so severely bombed.
“All through this time the rock on which the people were hewn, the rock on which they survived with hope in their hearts, was their faith: their faith in Jesus Christ, their faith in the Church, their faith that God would always come to their aid.”
Looking to the future, the cardinal said it was important that parishioners embrace ecumenism and look to fellow Christians in their area as well as ensuring there was dialogue with members of other faiths.
“One of your priests, Canon Fitzgerald, said 50 years ago to the local vicar: ‘Because history has put a fence between us through no fault of our own, there’s no reason why we should not look over the fence and wish each other well’. How true that is.”
To mark the occasion, an impressive hardback history of the parish has been written by local historian Jean Maynard, with proceeds benefiting the parish.
Around 500 copies were sold on Sunday.
The book was financed by businessman Con Donovan, a former parishioner, and was published by ex-world champion boxer Terry Marsh.
Mr Donovan told The Universe: “There were 16 priests on the altar with the cardinal and the way the parish priest Fr Mulligan organised the event was really top notch.
“The cardinal was a really nice guy and he told me he’d read the book. He made the day.”
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