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Copyright © 1998-2010 Society of Saint Francis, European Province |
| A Day in the life | ||
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Click to go another individual's story: Chris CSF, Desmond Alban SSF, Gina CSF, Sue CSF Sr Chris has now moved from the house in Whitechapel where
she was living when she wrote about her day, but continues her work
with deafblind people from another house in the east of
London.
 7am and we file into Chapel for private prayer followed by
Morning Prayer and then the Eucharist. At 9am, my work mobile begins
to buzz with incoming calls. A Social Worker wants to talk about a
client in Richmond-upon-Thames. Another call comes from a young lady
needing a tactile alarm clock. At 9.30 I make my way to Whitechapel
Station waving to the Bangladeshi man from the corner shop and the
homeless people gathered at the Whitechapel Mission.
Two tubes take me to Stratford where I meet Ronnie for a 3 hour
shopping trip. Ronnie is totally deafblind; he receives fast
communication on his hand, and being a passionate shopper, he
demands every detail. Walking slowly along the aisles, we pause
frequently as I describe the merchandise and Ronnie feels it before
tossing an item into his wire basket.
Having left Ronnie at 1pm, I grab a sandwich en route to an
elderly lady in Tower Hamlets. Her front door is warped and
battered, the mat curling dangerously, and the stair rail hanging
loose. But Social Services are on to it! My job is to fill in a 40
page benefit form, and because of communication problems, I know
I’ll be here for at least 4 hours.
6pm approaches and I arrive home just in time for Evening
Prayer. Private Prayer follows and then supper. At 8pm, I watch as
26 emails cascade into my computer. Unfortunately, they all need
answering! I have to report on today’s work as well. Compline closes
the day at 9pm, but my day never quite finishes on time!
Since writing about
his day in Birmingham, Desmond Alban has moved to Alnmouth, a house
with a rather different ministry but where the brothers are, amongst
other work, still seeking to support young people.
Thursday morning and 6.25 am finds me walking up the road between our houses, breakfast out of the way. I’ve never minded living on a split site: I enjoy the short walk accompanied only by birdsong, a change from the children and teenagers I’ll be meeting in the road at other times of day, just as I also enjoy the silence of the chapel before Morning Prayer. It’s the calm before a rather busy day, but that’s OK too. On other days I may appreciate being flexible in my use of time, but on a Thursday it’s great to forget all about emails, deadlines and documents and spend the whole day with people! So, straight after Mass, 8.30 am, it’s off to the primary
school. I’ll probably spend some time working one to one with a
child with literacy and behavioural needs, teach my own small
numeracy group, and perhaps spend the afternoon in a “double act” in
Science with the Year 6 (top year) teacher who values my background
in secondary school science. At other times we might be
painting, or playing rounders, or out in the nature area searching
for mini-beasts! This being a Thursday though, I’ll leave
before the end of the school day to be ready for Fun Club.
Four regular groups of teenagers come to our house in the
evenings, but after school on a Thursday it’s a younger age group
that get their turn. We need a female helper as a matter of
policy, and a local Mum (a dinner lady at the school) is gold dust,
especially when it comes to ideas for activities and games. We
clear up quickly before Evening Prayer and the evening meal we eat
together as brothers, but before we know it the evening group is
upon us. The lads who come on Thursday are a little older than
those on other nights; they come for twice as long (3 hours) but are
much less effort to supervise! The pool table, PC and
PlayStations are usually in use for much of the evening, but even
this group still enjoy our semi-regular cookery activities and it’s
Rice Crispy Cakes tonight!
Night Prayer usually follows, and we include a significant
mention by name of “all who we have met and talked with today”, but
today the “Greater Silence” won’t follow. Thursday night is the
end of our working week and we enjoy unwinding together before
finally getting some much needed sleep. It will probably be
nearly midnight when I finally wander back down the road home, but
with a lie-in on our weekly free day to look forward to!
Gina CSF - A day in the life of a prison
chaplain
Gina lived for a number of years in Brixton; she has now
moved to Southwark, from where she continues her prison
chaplaincy.
 Three days a week, after an early breakfast before prayer time and the morning office in our house chapel, I set off on an hour’s commute to West London to Wormwood Scrubs Prison where I am a chaplain. Once I have a seat on the tube I briefly scan the Metro free paper then settle down to some spiritual reading as I want to use the time profitably and being stuck on a tube actually helps to concentrate my mind. Every day as a chaplain is different because every encounter is
different, but every day the chaplaincy team has to cover certain
“statutory duties”: we visit every newly arrived inmate to tell them
about chaplaincy, check how they are and offer them pastoral
support; we visit the health care unit and the segregation unit and
respond to applications from inmates to see a chaplain.
Because Heathrow is in our catchment area a high proportion of
the inmates are foreign nationals. Sometimes they have tried to
smuggle drugs into the country in order to raise the funds to buy
medicines for sick relatives or to feed and educate their children
and now find they have plunged their families into even deeper
trouble. It isn’t unusual for prisoners under great stress to have
thoughts of suicide or to self harm, and one of my particular
responsibilities is to offer chaplaincy support to them at these
times. My writ crosses all denominational and faith divides but my
visits are nearly always welcomed, and our conversations often turn
to God and end in prayer.
I always wear my habit to work. The men may not be too sure
exactly what I am –“What are you miss, are you a monk?” But the
habit speaks of approachability, it says “here is someone you can
trust, someone who will listen and not pass judgement, someone who
will pray.”
Prison chaplaincy is the most demanding and the most rewarding
work I have ever done. On the commute back home I close my eyes and
relinquish each of the people I have met back into God’s care,
grateful that in visiting them I have visited Jesus. I am also
grateful that I don’t have to carry the burden of those often
draining sessions alone, but do it with the support of my community
around me. Normally someone else will have prepared supper, and,
after the evening office, over the meal, I have the opportunity to
share my day and, if needs be, to offload. As well as the harrowing
there are the humorous anecdotes of the day, an opportunity to
“delight in laughter and good fellowship.” (Principles
Day 28) Recently a prisoner had laboriously written out
the creed for his friend. Spelling wasn’t his forte and he had
written “He suffered under punches Pilate.” There must be a sermon
in that somewhere!
At night prayer we pray for those who are sleeping on our
streets, the addicted and those in particular need. I pray for those
behind bars that they may know God’s forgiving and renewing
presence.
Click
here to return to the top of this page Sue CSF Sr Sue is currently the Guardian at Compton Durville in Somerset and is also one of the priests in community.
I arrive in chapel for silent prayer just before 7am, somewhat damp from crossing the lane in the rain! Morning Prayer follows at 7.30, then the Eucharist, for which we are joined by the retired priest who regularly presides on Tuesdays, sometimes staying for breakfast, and also the guest from the hermitage. Around breakfast I check the house diary for the day, and make a shopping list. At 9am I meet with one of the sisters to look at possible holiday and retreat dates for her. After phoning the garage to arrange servicing and MOTs for the two house cars during the coming month, and contacting our electrician about a fairly urgent small repair, I drive the mile to South Petherton to do banking, collect prescriptions, and buy fruit & veg. – including half a sack of potatoes. Shopping put away, I reflect over a coffee in preparation for a spiritual direction appointment at 11am. There’s a message on the answer phone to say the person is delayed by a breakdown blocking the road. Fortunately when she arrives 20 minutes later we are able to shift our meeting forward, so all is well. She and two other day guests join us for Midday Prayer at 12.40. After lunch, gathering linen and supplies I walk up the road to prepare the Dower Cottage for the next guests. Thankfully I find that it has been left pretty clean and tidy, and only needs a few adjustments to bed making, a little cleaning, and vacuuming throughout. While there I also read the meters, check the oil gauge and notice whether the grass needs cutting, returning with bags of recycling, leftover food, and some dirty laundry the departing guests had overlooked. At 4.15 I meet with a guest to begin his few days of Individually Guided Retreat. This is all new to him so we need time for introductions and some basic teaching to help him get underway. Several guests who have arrived during the afternoon attend Evening Prayer at 5.30. I then find a sunny spot in the garden for prayer time. Before supper, which affords a relaxed opportunity for informal connection with our guests, there’s a phone call from my colleague on the diocesan course “Equipping for Spiritual Direction”. At 8pm I meet with someone who has asked me to hear her confession. In the kitchen, after Night Prayer, I make a few preparations for cooking tomorrow, and phone my sister for a brief chat. Then I cross the lane to my room to conclude the day by finding what I need for the Spiritual Direction course on Thursday, and writing to a prospective Working Guest. Click to go another individual's story: Chris CSF, Desmond Alban SSF, Gina CSF, Sue CSF Click here to return to the top of this page Back to 'Living as Franciscans'
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