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This week the Brothers at Plaistow have been hosting Irfeel and Katarina from the Community of Saint Anselm. Yesterday Sam and Tobias took them to visit Emmanuel Church in Forest Gate. Rev’d Dr Chigor Chike and Father Barnabas Matloob told us about Faithful Friends, a wonderful interfaith project in that part of Newham.

This was followed by a visit to the Minhaj-ul-Quran mosque just across the street. Muhammad Zeeshan Qadri is the director of the mosque, and he spoke about the various projects close to his heart, particularly the importance of interfaith friendship, countering extremism and fostering mutual respect. It was inspirational to see the many welfare projects run by the mosque, including offering their space to host a weekly Covid vaccination clinic.

The sunshine held out at Alnmouth today, as Brother Finnian made his First Profession with the Society of Saint Francis.

During his noviciate, Finnian has been dedicated to assisting others who are exploring a vocation to the Religious Life, in addition to his voluntary work with various charitable projects in Leeds and London.

Today’s ceremony also marked a joyful reunion for many of our Brothers after a long period of lockdown. We hope and pray that the situation will continue to improve, and that we will be able to steadily re-develop our in-person ministries safely and effectively.

Brother Raymond Christian died on April 28th.

Brother Benedict writes: “It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that our Brother Raymond Christian died in the The North Tyneside Hospital this evening [April 28th]. Raymond was born on 2nd December 1936, was professed in SSF on 14th November 1983, and eventually made his Life Profession on 21st February 1987. He has lived at a number of our houses – at Hilfield, at Hooke School, Glasshampton, Cambridge, Belfast, Edinburgh, and has been at Alnmouth Friary since 2019.

Details of his funeral will be given in due course.

Rest eternal grant to him O Lord and let light perpetual shine upon him.”

Brother Donald’s funeral took place this afternoon at Saint Philip’s church in Plaistow. Benedict presided at the Requiem Mass, and Sam gave the eulogy. Donald’s dedication to mission spanned many decades, and it was very moving to hear how so many people were transformed by his life and Christian witness.

Donald Pentney Green, Society of Saint Francis. 31st July 1925 – 4th April 2021. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.

On Monday 13th April 2021 some lockdown restrictions were lifted. We are now able to welcome limited numbers of guests on a self-catering basis at Hilfield, using accommodation at Bernard House and Juniper House.

We are really looking forward to welcoming you back!

Please phone Suzi on 01300 341741 or email her at hilfieldssf@franciscans.org.uk to find out about available dates.

Our May edition of Franciscan Magazine has just been issued, focusing on the theme of ‘Francis and Creation’. It contains articles by the three authors of ‘Seeing Differently’: Dr Simon Cocksedge TSSF, Nicholas Alan SSF and Samuel SSF, in addition to the latest news and updates from our houses, book reviews, poems, and interesting features on the histories of the Third Order and Hilfield Friary.

If you’d like to obtain a copy, or set up a subscription to the magazine, please click here.

Hilfield’s solar installation has now been generating for a couple of months, in the period when the days are shortest.

This pictures shows the west roof of Francis House, with the south roof of Leo House in the background, giving a spread of power throughout the day. Note how the Francis House panels now replace an earlier piece of technology, the 2 brick chimneys built in 1888 and removed in c. 2011.

The graph shows daily power being produced since the beginning on 8th December on these roofs.

This picture shows panels on the much flatter chip store roof, to power the boiler house and workshops.