My New Parish

Last week I said that I would be moving parish in September. Since the announcement has now been made in my new parish, I can now reveal on this blog that I'm going to Our Lady and St Joseph's, Kingsland - a busy parish in the Hackney area (towards the east of London). I'm delighted that my parish priest will be Fr Christopher Colven, who (like my current PP) is a convert from Anglicanism. Here's a picture of him (courtesy of the parish website), which also includes a view of the church interior (not at all bad for a church opened in 1964):

The parish newsletter this week put the news of my appointment in the following words:

We have a new assistant priest who has been appointed to Kingsland from September. His name is Fr Nicholas Schofield and he is at present working at Our Lady of Willesden parish. Father Nicholas is 30 and was ordained in 2003. He read history at Oxford (graduating with a first class degree) and then trained for the priesthood at the English College, Rome. Because he is an historian (with several published works to his name) he is also the Diocesan Archivist – as was a former assistant here, Father Ian Dickie, before him. This means that he will spend two half days each week at the Archives in Kensington. Father Nicholas is very much a “son” of the diocese as his family live at Rickmansworth: we look forward to getting to know him.

Kind words (and, I hasten to add, I did not write them myself) - though I hope parishioners aren't expecting a world-class, best-selling historian! Anyway, do remember the parishes of Willesden and Kingsland - and your humble blogger - in your prayers. Thanks.