News

Scott Hahn delivers Inaugural Rosary Shrine Lecture

The Rosary Shrine had the joy of welcoming Dr Scott Hahn and his wife Kimberly last Friday, 16 March 2018. Dr Hahn was in London especially for this event: the inaugural Rosary Shrine lecture. A packed church of over 600 people listened to Dr Hahn’s talk entitled “Hail, Holy Queen: The Mystery of Mary in Scripture”. Combining light-hearted autobiographical anecdotes with a fluent exegesis of Scripture, Dr Hahn helped us to appreciate the profound Scriptural roots of Catholic doctrines of Our Lady, from her Immaculate Conception to her Assumption into heaven, and her Coronation as Queen.

At the end of his talk, Dr Hahn prayed for the Rosary Shrine and he said that he believed it would become a centre of Catholic culture and wisdom not only for London but for the whole country; a focal point for the New Evangelisation. Dr Hahn’s words certainly resonated with the hopes of the Dominican friars and of our parishioners who were present at the talk.

The talk was recorded by the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), and we will share the link to the video as soon as it is made available online. We are grateful to EWTN for this service, and we thank all who came and supported this event.

Forthcoming talks at the Rosary Shrine:

Fr Cassian Derbes OP (St Joseph Province Dominican based in Rome) will give Holy Week retreat talks after the 10am & 6pm Masses (Mon-Wed) and after the 10am Tenebræ service (Thu-Sat).

Fr Paul Murray OP (Irish Dominican author and teacher at the Angelicum in Rome) will give a talk entitled ‘Paradise on Earth: Early Irish Nature Poetry and the Canticle of Saint Francis’ at 7:30pm on Sat 14 April in the Parish Hall.

A Conference on the writings and thought of Fr Vincent McNabb OP on Sat 28 April (11am – 4pm) in the Parish Hall. This conference marks the 150th Birthday of McNabb. Talks will be given by Fr Aidan Nichols OP, Fr Richard Ounsworth OP, Fr Oliver Keenan OP, and Hugh Walters.

Pre-registration is essential for this Conference: email <secretary@haverstockhill.org.uk>.

Lady Chapel Restoration

The restoration of our Lady Chapel begins its final phase this week. We are grateful for your support and contributions that have made it possible for us to restore the ceiling and brick walls of the Lady Chapel, thus completing the works on this beautiful part of the Rosary Shrine church. The work will take about three weeks and during this time we endeavour to maintain access to the church via the Lady Chapel door. The daily Mass schedule is not affected by the works, although weekday Adoration will cease during this period. Adoration will, of course, resume once the works are completed.

Christmas & New Year Schedule

CHRISTMAS EVE (Sunday 24th December 2017)

Morning: Regular Masses for 4th Sunday of Advent

5:30–6:15pm: Confessions

6:00pm: Vigil Mass of Christmas (Family Mass)

11:00pm: Confessions

11:30pm: Service of Carols & Midnight Mass of Christmas (Solemn Sung Mass with music by Palestrina and Rutter)

CHRISTMAS DAY (Monday 25th December 2017)

8:30am: Dawn Mass

10:00am: Family Mass with Carols

12 noon Solemn Mass with carols

No Mass at 6pm on Christmas Day

Please note that Catholics are obliged to attend Mass for the 4th Sunday of Advent (either 6pm Sat, or 8:30am, 10am, or 12 noon on Sunday 24 Dec.) in addition to one of the above Christmas Masses either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day itself.

MASS TIMES AFTER CHRISTMAS

Tuesday 26th December until Friday 29th December: Daily Mass at 10am ONLY

Saturday 30th December:

No Mass at 7:30am; Mass at 10am; Vigil Mass at 6pm; Confessions: 5:30–6pm.

Sunday 31st December: Mass at 8:30am; 10am; 12 noon; and 6pm as usual.

Monday 1 January 2018 (Bank Holiday): Mass at 10am ONLY

Tuesday 2nd January onwards: Normal Mass schedule resumes (weekdays at 7:30am; 10am; and 6pm)

Simbang Gabi Masses

We invite you to join us in a special Novena of Masses from 16-23 December 2017, celebrated at 7:30pm every night in that period. Known as ‘Simbang Gabi’ (meaning “Church-going at Night”), this is a much-loved Filipino custom that we are introducing at St Dominic’s. Come, join our Filipino community in these celebrations! Mass will be celebrated in English but the music for the Mass will be in Tagalog. Afterwards, there will be a sharing of Filipino foods in the parish hall.

In addition, the Filipino image of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag, home to the most popular Marian shrine in the Philippines, will be enshrined on the Sanctuary during the Simbang Gabi Masses. This statue was specially made in Manaoag for our Rosary Shrine, and it was a gift to us from the Dominicans who run the Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag.

Music Workshops with Pawel Bebenek and Rosary Vigil

On 28th October 2017, the Rosary Shrine welcomed the Polish composer Mr Pawel Bebenek who works closely with the Dominican Liturgical Centre in Krakow, Poland. Together with Br Marcin Dyjak OP, they led some thirty singers, including our six Dominican novices and a Dominican Sister, in a day of liturgical music. Pawel brought together a group which had never sung together before, and within minutes they began to sing, and to make music. Pawel pointed out that making music means that one listens to the others, works with them, and enjoys producing melodious sounds. It was exhilarating to hear the group become a choir that made beautiful music for the Lord. One of the first pieces they sang during the workshop was Pawel’s setting of the famous words said to the Divine Mercy: “Jesus, I trust in you”. The video below is of this piece but sung in its original Polish.

Br Marcin also gave a couple of talks on the history of liturgical music, and about the development of the Dominican Liturgical Centre (DLC) and its distinctive style which combines Gregorian chant, Byzantine chant tones, harmonised chant, and new compositions written in the classical genre. The DLC style was much-acclaimed at WYD 2016 in Krakow, and again by the US Bishops at their meeting of tens of thousands of lay ministers in 2017 called ‘Convocation’. We were grateful to be able to bring the DLC’s music to the Rosary Shrine.

The singers who had attended the Workshop sang in the evening at a Rosary Vigil. The Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the Throne of the Rosary Shrine, and during the Holy Hour, confessions were heard and Scripture readings were read, interspersed with songs from the DLC repertoire. The second part of the Vigil consisted of a Eucharistic Procession around the church, and the Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary were prayed. Between each Mystery the singers sang parts of the ‘Akathist hymn to the Theotokos’ which is a 7th-century Byzantine hymn in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Incarnation of the Lord at the Annunciation. The hymn was sung in English, and the first English translation of the hymn was made by Fr Vincent McNabb OP who had lived and worked in St Dominic’s. The final part of the Vigil consisted of Benediction, and afterwards the Dominican friars sang Dominican Compline in Latin.

On the following day, Pawel Bebenek conducted a smaller group of singers who contributed to the music at our 10am Sunday Mass. It was a beautiful, prayerful and “very moving” experience, as one person put it.

Below are some photos from the workshops and Rosary Vigil, a fitting culmination to the Month of the Holy Rosary. We expect to hear more from Pawel Bebenek and the DLC in coming years!

Homily for the 150th Anniversary Mass

Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP has kindly given us the text of his Homily preached at our 150th Anniversary Mass on 7 October 2017, which we are pleased to reproduce below:

50 years’ ago I remember receiving a copy of the Priory Post celebrating the centenary of St Dominic’s Parish community. At the time I had just moved to Manchester to start university, and a lady who I used to help sell newspapers in the repository on Sundays sent it on to me. Where does time go? Of course the parish that many of you and I grew up in has long gone, and there is a new type of community worshipping here at St Dominic’s. The stories that I was brought up on – like Fr Bertrand Pike and Antoninus Maguire (Cliff and Jim) visiting Litcham Street (now Athlone street) together because even the police worked in pairs in that part of the parish are long forgotten. Fr Vincent McNabb who died in 1943 was still in the minds and prayers of many people for his preaching and his holiness, and others like Brother Joseph Gillespie, sacristan for many years between the wars, were often talked about. Fr Austin Rooke, the first parish priest–and after working elsewhere returned as parish priest until his death–was thought highly of by fellow priests and bishops. I think it was Cardinal Manning who described him as his best parish priest, but he probably said that to them all. Fr Dominic Aylward who worked in the mission at Kentish Town, a musician and hymn writer and moved from there to Haverstock Hill to be among the first of the Dominican community here. These men and many in between like Fr Bede Jarrett, who was more known for founding the 3^rd Hampstead Scout troop and Cub pack than being the great writer, preacher, and provincial that others know him for, laid a foundation that has lasted a century and a half. The people were proud of their priests, and they loved them very much.

It is said that Cardinal Wiseman, the first archbishop of Westminster, had a plan to put the religious orders on the hills around north London, to make foundations with large churches that would become cathedrals when the people of London returned to the Catholic Faith. Well, it didn’t happen quite like that as we know, but if it wasn’t for that foresight, we would not have this beautiful church dedicated to our Lady of the Rosary.

The feast we celebrate today is depicted in the some of the windows in the Lady Chapel which show the Dominican pope Pius V paying the Rosary to ask our Lady’s intercession to resist the invasion from the Turks. They were beaten at the battle of Lepanto, and the great sea battle is to be seen in the stained glass, with the processions of the people in thanksgiving. Our Lady, our mother, to whom this great church is dedicated continues to care for her children.

The priory mission was opened in Kentish Town in 1861, just ten years or so after a handful of Dominicans met at Hinckley to plan for the closure of the province. Within that short timespan the province had grown with foundations in Woodchester, and Newcastle on Tyne, as well as the old ones in Hinckley and Leicester as well as London. With help from France, Ireland and other provinces as well as a great influx of vocations there was tremendous growth and there must have been a buzz about the province, so Wiseman’s vision was not so outrageous or unreasonable.

The first church open for worship was the upstairs floor of what is now the Blackfriars Hall wing of the Priory. The building of the church we are in today faltered due to lack of cash, and although it was started in stone, Fr Antoninus Williams finished it in brick. He had come down from Newcastle where he had built the new St Dominic’s Priory in that great industrial city. Helen Tasker, a great benefactor of the diocese and the religious orders, gave most of the money needed to complete the task.

The Rosary is an inspired dedication for the church because it brings its worshippers right into the heart of the mystery of our salvation. It engages the senses in prayer, and this church with its many chapels does just that. Words live in stone. Just look at the third glorious mystery: the descent of the Holy Spirit. In the top section is Christ adorned in glory sending forth his Spirit depicted in the reredos, and under the altar there are the disciples with Mary receiving that gift. It is Jesus who makes us a family in this way, so that the Rosary is not just a prayer of or for the family but by entering into the mysteries we become family with Jesus our brother leading us to his Father under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The wide side aisles in this priory church give room for the people of the parish to process, led by the cross to symbolise the unity of the God’s people on their pilgrimage through life. And that is why we are here today to celebrate 150 years of walking together as God’s family, his people.

Throughout hardship and times of plenty the Dominican fathers and brothers walked with their people. Fr Simon Blake a great peace activist and educationalist walked in the first Aldermaston marches calling for the ban on nuclear weapons. Fr Columba Ryan walked from this church with Simon and many laymen to Vezelay in France as an act of reconciliation after World War II.

Walking to Hyde Park on Sunday Afternoon to preach at Speakers Corner near Marble Arch was begun by Fr Vincent McNabb and continued by Donald Proudman, and Fr Alan Cheales (more likely on a bicycle). Symbolically and actually the Dominicans walked with the people who worshipped here in families from generation to generation. Some families, even in these days of declining congregations, have connections over five or even six generations. The people came from all over the world; from Italy and Ireland as well locally, and then from the Caribbean, and still they come from the great continents of the world. The mix of peoples at St Dominic’s has always been its best feature – I remember the joy expressed by all the parish when a terrific new statue of Blessed Martin by the Dominican Sculptor Fr Thomas McGlynn was installed – the play City of Kings on the life of St Martin was put on in the old Blackfriars Hall to packed houses by the Priory Players. In fact it was revived later on when Blessed Martin was canonised. Having a mixed race patron and brother is a great symbol of unity for St Dominic’s which has made this parish a place of welcome for everyone.

Geographically the parish is much smaller than when it was first founded. The ‘carriage end’ toward Swiss Cottage and Fitzjohn’s avenue was lost when Swiss Cottage was founded and Camden Town took two more slices at different times, but there is still a lot left – two primary schools, a teaching hospital and the many, many people who are part of the parish family. May God continue to bless us as we look forward in the certain hope that God will walk with us. May our Holy Father St Dominic pray for us!

Photos from 150th Anniversary Mass

On Saturday 7th October 2017, St Dominic’s celebrated the 150th anniversary of the parish community; on that day in 1867, the Dominican friars opened up their chapel and Mass was celebrated in this area for the Catholic community. Archbishop Malcolm McMahon OP, Archbishop of Liverpool, moved into this area with his family over fifty years ago, and he recalled the sacrifices made by Dominican friars and sisters, and by countless lay faithful, to build St Dominic’s and to make it a vibrant parish.

Many parishioners were at this Mass, along with all the Dominican students from Oxford, the novices from Cambridge, and previous Provincials and parish priests of St Dominic’s. Children from St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School, and from The Rosary Catholic Primary School brought up the Gifts at the Offertory, and both Dominican sisters and the Sisters of Providence were represented at the Mass. At the end of the Mass, a ‘bene merenti’ medal for service to the Church and parish was awarded by Master of the Order of Preachers to parishioner, Nuala Barrow, and to Miss Brass, former Head of St Dominic’s School.

More photos of this wonderful celebration can be seen here.

In his Homily, Archbishop Malcolm noted that St Dominic’s church has very wide aisles because Marian Processions were frequently held in the church. This is not just a historical fact because throughout the month of October, every Saturday at 7pm, there will be torchlit Rosary Processions in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary. We hope to welcome many pilgrims to these processions in Our Lady’s Rosary Shrine.

150th Anniversary Mass

Join us for a parish celebration of the 150th Anniversary of St Dominic’s Priory and parish! On 7th October 2017, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, we will mark 150 years since the Dominicans opened their Priory in Haverstock Hill in October 1867 and the first Masses were said on this site. The Archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon OP, who grew up in St Dominic’s parish, will celebrate the Mass, and we will be joined by Dominicans and past parish priests of St Dominic’s. This will be a wonderful celebration for all who have known and loved St Dominic’s for generations, and also a worthy way to mark our first year as London’s Rosary Shrine.

We hope that friends of St Dominic’s, both old and new, will join us for this festive occasion. The 150th Anniversary Mass on 7th October 2017 will begin at 12 noon. All are very welcome. Please note that there will be no 10am Mass and devotions that morning.

The photo here shows the temporary St Dominic’s church used in 1867, in the area above what is now Blackfriars Hall, before the present grand church was completed in 1883.

Daily Adoration

“I want to encourage everyone to visit – if possible, every day – especially amid life’s difficulties, the Blessed Sacrament of the infinite love of Christ and His mercy. He is reserved in our churches but often abandoned. Visit Him to speak filially with Him, to listen to Him in silence, and to peacefully entrust yourself to Him” – Pope Francis.

Beginning on 14th September 2017, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the main Altar of the church for adoration. This will be done every weekday after the 7:30 am daily Mass (i.e., from around 8 am) until 9:45 am, just before the 10am daily Mass.

This is in addition to the Holy Hours at 7 pm on Wednesday (during the Youth 2000 Prayer Group); 5 pm on Thursday, and 10:30am on Saturday.

The Lord says: “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:23). So, let us go to him, present in the Blessed Sacrament, and let us receive his mercy, his strength, and his peace. May the Lord Jesus renew and refresh our parish and all who come to this Rosary Shrine.

St Dominic’s – The Rosary Shrine