Author: Richard Brown

Not many people are aware that our province of the Dominican Order has two houses in the Caribbean, in Jamaica and Grenada.

This weekend at our Sunday Masses, we are joined by our brother Fr Clifton Harris OP, from Jamaica, who will be speaking about the work undertaken by the Dominican friars there, providing aid to the poor and promoting education.

At www.english.op.org/missions you can find more information about our mission houses, including a 17-minute video explaining this work, featuring several local voices from the communities there.

Preview Clip (90 seconds)

• Watch the Full Video
• Make a Donation

Amid a timely snap of cold weather, last weekend we launched a public appeal for donations to help our parish to purchase a new underfloor heating system for the church.

This is because the current system, using gas burners all too close to our wooden roof beams, is now obsolete and cannot be safely turned on any more, leaving the church currently unheated. With works due to begin in early November, we are fundraising to ensure we can cover the costs (c. £220k)

The appeal was made after all Sunday Masses by Fr Dominic White, the Prior, and Fr Joseph Bailham, the Parish Priest, together with Mr Richard Brown, Development Director for the Dominican Friars.

Before this public appeal, personal fundraising approaches in the last two months had yielded the following (including Gift Aid)

• £90,000 from the Dominican friars’ parent charity (funds made available by the closure of their house in Newcastle)
• £38,000 in lead gifts from individual parishioners who had been contacted
• £3,500 from grant-making trusts
• £34,000 from US donors (via the Knights of Columbus)

This generosity meant that the appeal was now in the final stretch, with around £20k to raise.

A Powerful Response

The Mass-goers responded very positively to the appeal: nearly £8,000 was raised at the weekend, via the card machines in church, by cash and cheque, by bank transfer, and via the website. This leaves around £12,000 still to raise.

Could you help us to reach our target?

> More information + how to donate

Please pray for Fr Dominic White OP who has been elected by the friars to lead the Dominican priory here in London for the next 3 years. We look forward to welcoming him back to St Dominic’s!

Fr Joseph Bailham OP, who has hitherto been an assistant priest in the parish, now assumes the responsibility of parish priest of St Dominic’s and rector of the Rosary Shrine.

Having faithfully fulfilled his tenure as prior and parish priest, Fr Lawrence Lew OP will move sometime after October to Blackfriars, Oxford. We wish him well and thank him for the solid foundations he has left for his successors.

Parish Priest ‘Surgery’ Meetings

On a trial basis, Fr Joseph will have ‘surgery’ sessions during the week in case you wish to speak to him about sacramental preparation, form signing, volunteering, or any other matter relating to parish life. Surgery times will be from 9am – Midday on weekdays (except Thursdays).

Appointments can be made through the parish secretary OR directly at www.tinyurl.com/meetwithparishpriest

New Lunch Club Launched at St Dominic’s

A new initiative began this week in our parish hall at St Dominic’s that aims to help locals with the cost of living and provide an opportunity for socialising.

The first Community Lunch Club took place on Thursday in association with Highgate Newtown Community Partners and will take place on most Thursday lunchtimes. Anyone from the local community is welcome to join us.

Andrew Sanalitro of HNPC reports:

“What an excellent start for the first week of the new lunch club!  It was great to see 32 local people who live in the neighbourhood join us on a very cold day for our first session.

A homemade Shepherd’s Pie was the main course (meat and veg options), and we started with Tracy’s super fresh veg soup.

People can often be lonely and coming out to lunch may be the only opportunity they have for contact with other people, and to go out for a lunch they can afford (just £1.50 for three courses!)

I’m sure that the new lunch club will become a second home to many, a place where they can feel safe and meet new people.

It was also a way to make people aware of the beautiful building in their community that is Our Lady and St Dominic’s church: several people today said that they have never been inside and would like to take a look.”

St Dominic’s Parish is delighted to see such a strong start to this community initiative. We welcome any new people who would like to join us, and if any of you would like to support with donations, then this would help us to introduce a new club for under-5s and possibly a second weekly community lunch.

• Details of community lunches
• Make a donation

New Community Lunch Club

at St Dominic’s Parish Hall, Haverstock Hill

The Dominican friars at St Dominic’s Priory and the Rosary Shrine welcomes a new partnership with the HNCP to create a range of initiatives that will serve all of the local community, whether you’re Catholic or not!

We begin this March in the season of Lent with a Community Lunch Club.

We share the values of providing the best quality ingredients and prices that people can afford: £1.50 for 3 courses!

We welcome all, so come and join us, working as one community.

Starting Date: Thursday, 2nd March (10.30am to 2pm), then every Thursday unless otherwise announced.

Venue: St Dominic’s Parish Hall, Southampton Road, London NW5 4LB.

Please go to the Parish Hall next to Wordsworth Place, and not to the Priory.

In association with www.highgatenewtown.org.uk (Charity Number: 290712)

Could you help our next initiative?

We are also working to set up a new Under-5s Club at St Dominic’s – could you support this with a donation?

An exciting development for the Rosary Shrine: Catholic broadcaster Radio Maria will be building a flagship London studio here.

Charles Wilson, President of Radio Maria, said,

We at Radio Maria England (RME) are delighted to be developing our London base at St Dominic’s priory and the Rosary Shrine, which is often described as “Mary’s House” in London. The presence of a broadcasting studio and offices here will not only enable the promotion of RME in London and nationally but be a physical location to grow our volunteer base in this beautiful historic shrine. I think Our Lady has called us here.

Fr Lawrence Lew OP, Prior and Parish Priest of St Dominic’s Priory said that:

We believe that this partnership between Radio Maria and the Rosary Shrine will be a wonderful way to advance the hopes of the men and women who built St Dominic’s. The Rosary Shrine church exists for the preaching of the Holy Rosary, which is a special gift of Our Lady for proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and God’s saving love for all peoples.

As the Order of Preachers, we Dominicans are delighted to support and work alongside Radio Maria in our common mission of preaching the faith for the salvation of souls, bringing the light of reason and faith to bear upon the lives of our contemporaries. I have no doubt that our parishioners and pilgrims and the local community at the Rosary Shrine will be enthusiastic about this work of evangelisation, and I know that the people of London and the wider UK will also benefit greatly from Radio Maria’s programmes and activities here at the Rosary Shrine.

About Radio Maria

Radio Maria England is a 24-hour station. It is part of a worldwide network of more than 80 radio stations on all continents.  We offer a voice of hope and encouragement. Radio Maria responds to Jesus’ invitation: ‘Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature’ (Mk 16,15). We try to embrace all the charisms that the Holy Spirit is bestowing upon the local and universal Church in our time. Interaction is essential to Radio Maria. We invite our listeners to share their concerns and joys, and we reach out to those who are among the poorest and the most marginalised. Creating a family spirit, also by involving volunteers and listeners, Radio Maria accompanies every person who hungers for God on their journey of faith. ‘Where there is even just one person, there Radio Maria must also be’, said Emanuele Ferrario, former President of the World Family of Radio Maria.

Current and Future Programmes

The programme of Radio Maria is based on three pillars: prayer, catechesis and human formation. Daily we broadcast Mass and spiritual content, as well as social programmes and worldwide news.  Currently, collaborations with the Dominicans in Cambridge have included morning prayers, daily Mass and religious teaching programmes including topics on the Divine Office, saints and sacred scripture.  With this new studio at the Rosary Shrine, Radio Maria is looking forward to developing collaborations which also furthers the mission of the Rosary Shrine.

As a charity Radio Maria works with a great number of volunteers in all areas. Our volunteers assist with promotion, broadcasting, creating and presenting programmes, and praying.

A Natural Home

The new studio in London will be fittingly based at a Marian Shrine, the diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary that is situated at St Dominic’s Priory in north west London, between Camden and Hampstead. The Rosary Shrine church itself is one of the largest churches in London, encompassing side chapels and altars for every Mystery of the Rosary. When the church was built by the Dominicans in 1883, it was the first church in the world to have this arrangement, with the intention that this great and splendid church would be ‘worthy to mark the gratitude of the Catholics of the United Kingdom for the many blessings and graces received through Our Lady’.

How to Listen to Radio Maria

The full schedule and more detailed programme information can be found on our website at RadioMariaEngland.uk. You can listen to Radio Maria England on our website at https://radiomariaengland.uk/how-to-listen-to-us/, on the Radio Maria World Family app for smartphones and tablets and on DAB/DAB+ radio in the Cambridge and London areas. Our broadcasts can also be heard on podcast providers such as Anchor, Spotify, Apple podcasts and other providers.

For more information please contact us at info@RadioMariaEngland.uk and follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/radiomariaengland and Instagram.

July 2021 Newsletter: Exciting projects and forthcoming events

 1. May Processions & Events

As Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP observed in the EWTN film about the Rosary Shrine, The Way of Beauty, our church was built for processions.

It is now a feature of the Rosary Shrine’s annual programme that candle-lit Rosary processions are held every Saturday in May and October, at 7pm. Despite the ongoing need for precautions because of Covid, we were able to have our processions this May, the month of Our Lady, praying for an end to the global pandemic.

We welcomed a Polish choir and a Filipino choir who sang motets and hymns in between each decade of the Rosary, and statues of Our Lady of the Rosary from Fatima and from the Philippines were taken in procession by the Dominican friars.Currently, these statues have been placed on a  tea trolley appropriated for use as a wheeled platform (see photo above), but we have plans to improve and renovate this so that it is more fitting and dignified, and properly suited for processions of Our Lady and St Dominic, in the coming months. As ever, your contributions to the Rosary Shrine will help us fund such projects which we undertake for the glory of God.

Flowers of the Fairest

At the end of May, our Luminous Mysteries Rosary Garden took part in the National Garden Scheme’s Open Day and raised money for various charities nominated by the NGS; many volunteers came to help sell tickets, cakes, cups of tea and welcome visitors.

We welcomed over a hundred people to the garden and the church, and the day ended with a Mass celebrated by the Director of Radio Maria England and a Rosary procession in which the Diocese’s Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelisation took part. Beautiful rays of sunlight flooded the church during the procession, and it seemed as if Our Lady was smiling upon us.

Renewed Apse

We are grateful to all our benefactors who have contributed to the restoration of our apse and High Altar.

A team of dedicated craftsmen have worked for over six months on repairing and restoring the stonework and stained glass in the apse of the church, which is dedicated to the Fifth Glorious Mystery – The Coronation of Our Lady and the Glory of all the Saints.

The High Altar with its beautiful marble, mosaics, alabaster and metalwork has also been completely cleaned and restored.

Thanks to a generous benefaction, the walls of the apse have been completely re-gilded (see adjacent photo for condition prior to restoration).

before…

during…

after!

High Altar Returned to Use

This work was completed shortly after Easter, and from 25 April, Masses at the beautifully cleaned and

gilded High Altar were resumed.

On Sundays both the 12 noon Solemn Mass (Ordinary Form) and the 6pm Dominican Rite Mass (Extraordinary Form) are now celebrated at the High Altar. We hope that this full and inclusive liturgical life, offering all that the Church’s rich Tradition allows, will be of service to the broad range of parishioners, pilgrims, and visitors who come to the Rosary Shrine and worship here.

Apse Windows & Stations of the Cross Restored

Before cleaning….

… and after cleaning!

Thanks to a benefaction from the ‘US Friends of the Rosary Shrine’, we have also completely restored and cleaned the 14 Stations of the Cross in the nave of the church.

These were painted by Nathaniel Westlake in 1887, and their bright colours and expressive faces can now be appreciated and seen more clearly, much to the delight of our parishioners.With your support, we hope to install lights that will subtly highlight these Stations of the Cross, and also bring some light to the aisles of the church which do not currently have any lighting.

New Chapel Lighting

The Rosary Chapels have also long suffered from poor lighting, and the carved stone sculptures of the mysteries of the Rosary were often unnoticed. A new spotlighting system, organised according to the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, was installed in May 2021.

The Rosary sculptures, which are a unique feature of this Rosary Shrine, can now be appreciated and enjoyed as an aid to prayer and greater devotion, and the new lights enhance the overall beauty of the church.

Renewed Shrines for Statues

Finally, the three wooden shrines housing the images of Our Lady of Manaoag, Our Lady of Fatima, and Our Lady of Walsingham, have been completely refurbished, as befits the Queen of Heaven.

We thank the benefactors of these and all our projects. 

3. New Project: The Lost Angels of The Rosary Altar

The Rosary Altar is the main focus of this Rosary Shrine church, and it was beautifully restored in the 1990s. However, that restoration work has yet to be completed.

Historical photos (below) reveal that the altar was surmounted by four angels playing musical instruments, and moreover, two angels hung on either side of the altar carrying two sanctuary lamps that are a sign of our prayers in the presence of Our Lady. Sadly over the course of time, these angels were removed or went missing.

Four years ago we placed two candles in blue glass lamps on the Rosary Altar as the initial step to replacing the missing sanctuary lamps. These two candles burn perpetually before the image of Our Lady of the Rosary for the intentions of the members of the ‘Friends of the Rosary Shrine’, and for all the Benefactors of the Rosary Shrine.

A Birthday Present?

2021 is a significant year of great jubilees:

• 800th anniversary of the death of St Dominic;
• 800th anniversary of the arrival of the Dominican friars in England;
• 450th anniversary of the Battle of Lepanto and the establishment of the feast of the Holy Rosary.

Consequently, we would like to commemorate these historic milestones by replacing the six missing angels and the two sanctuary lamps.

The angels will be hand-carved from oak, and we have found suitable sanctuary lamps to buy from Italy. The total cost of this project will be £25,000 ($35,000 US).

Could you help?

We would like to invite you to make a donation towards this project:

• Perhaps you’d like to donate one angel in memory of a loved one?
  £3,000 each, six available  ($4,200 US)
• Or, as a family, donate a hanging sanctuary lamp to adorn Our Lady’s altar?
  UPDATE: NONE AVAILABLE – BOTH HAVE NOW BEEN SPONSORED.
• Or alternatively, just add your own generous gift of any amount to help us achieve our goal:

Donate Now on the Rosary Shrine website

If you’d like to discuss how you can contribute towards this project, please contact Fr Lawrence Lew OP.

4. BENEFACTORS’ PLAQUES

From the very beginning, our Order and this church has relied on the generous gifts, both large and small, from a range of benefactors from around the world. We continue to seek your help in restoring and renovating Our Lady’s Rosary Shrine and especially her altar.

We are grateful for all the help we have received over the centuries, and the marble plaques in the Lady Chapel are inscribed with the names of benefactors beginning with Baroness Tasker who gave us the land on which our church and priory stands.

Some of the names on those plaques, which had merely been painted on the marble, have now faded. In the coming months, we want to put this right: a stonemason has been engaged to inscribe their names so that they can be specially remembered in our daily prayers at the Rosary Shrine.

As a mark of our gratitude, and only if you allow us, the names of those benefactors who make single gifts of over £3,000 (from January 2021) to the Rosary Shrine’s restoration works will be added to these marble plaques.

• Qualifying Gifts: You can make a gift of £3,000 or more to the ‘missing angels’ project (see above), or to any of the projects to restore and improve our church
• Memorial Giving. You can make ‘in memoriam’ gifts of £3,000 or more in the name of deceased loved ones: either specify the name on the online donation form, send a cheque with an accompanying note, or contact Fr Lawrence by email
• Gift Aid. UK taxpayers can boost the value of their gift by Gift-Aiding their donations, either in the online form when they donate, or by filling in a printed declaration.

5. UPCOMING EVENTS

Novena of Masses in honour of St Dominic:
30 July – 7 August at 6pm (except Sun 1 Aug at 12 noon), with guest Dominican celebrants and preachers, and a daily Rosary procession with the newly-restored statue of St Dominic on the newly-refurbished processional carriage.

Cardinal Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has kindly agreed to come to the Shrine on Rosary Sunday, 3 October 2021. He will celebrate the 12 noon Solemn Mass, bless and distribute roses as is our Dominican custom, and lead a Rosary procession.

Fr Lawrence Lew OP has prepared a book of Rosary reflections inspired by 20 of his photos of sacred art depicting the mysteries of the Rosary. The book is due to be published by the Catholic Truth Society, and there will be a book launch on 7 October. Details will be sent in a later newsletter.

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Read the e-edition of our latest magazine!

Owing to the current situation, we are distributing the Easter 2020 edition of our magazine electronically rather than as printed copies in our churches.

• Reviews of Books by Frs Timothy Radcliffe and Bruno Cadoré
• Reburial of a Medieval Friar
• History of the Ditchling Arts & Crafts Community
• Remembering Fr David Sanders
• Br Joseph Bailham’s unexpected year in Bologna
• Links for further reading, videos, and more…

READ THE MAGAZINE

Latest news on the restoration of our church

Thanks to the generosity of donors, we have been able to push ahead with the first phase of restoration works, leading up to the shrine’s inauguration on 22 October.

Fresh gilding on the chapel screens

The newly applied gold leaf on the ironwork of the sidechapels has given a bright new look to the church, and allowed the names of the original benefactors to stand out clearly once more. It has also made much more apparent the variety of patterns that were used in the ironwork, with each chapel having its own unique decoration.

Cleaned stonework in the Assumption chapel

This chapel was in a poor condition prior to the cleaning, and the stonework and brickwork are now much brighter. Some further work remains to be done: cleaning the floor tiles and repairing broken stonework on the altar step.

The Sacristy

The tatty old kitchen units which were long overdue for removal have been ripped out and the room stripped right back to the walls. In doing so, we discovered a rather nice little niche hidden behind one of the units, so we shall make this a feature of the restored room. We have also created a new storage space at one side of the room, so that bulkier items can be kept out of the way. The finished room will be a much more usable and pleasant space, and will be ready in time to receive the Cardinal and visiting clergy at the shrine’s inauguration on 22 October this year.

If you would like to support the restoration work, you can donate securely online.