Parishes celebrate Black History Month
Saint Margaret of Scotland, Carshalton Beeches, and Saint Elphege, Wallington celebrate Black History Month
Two neighbouring Southwark parishes, which have long featured images of saints from many nations and backgrounds, are marking Black History Month with a display of Black saints, alongside images of Our Lady's apparitions around the world.
The parishes of Saint Margaret of Scotland, Carshalton Beeches, and Saint Elphege, Wallington, have mounted identical displays throughout October for Black History Month, featuring Saint Augustine of Hippo, Saint Josephine Bakhita, Saint Martin de Porres, Saints Felicity and Perpetua, Saint Simon of Cyrene, Saint Monica, Saint Charles Lwanga and Saint Crispina.
October is also the month of the Rosary. Both parishes are featuring displays of Our Lady's apparitions from around the world. The displays include images from Lourdes (France), Kibeho (Rwanda), Guadalupe (Mexico), Fatima (Portugal), Vailankanni (India), La Vang (Vietnam), Knock (Ireland), Akita (Japan), Aparecida (Brazil), Donglu (China), El Cobre (Cuba) and Walsingham (England).
Fr Anthony Uche, Parish Administrator of St Margaret's, said:
"We hope that displaying images of black saints and of our Blessed Mother's diverse apparitions will promote prayerful reflection by parishioners on the blessing of our parishes' racial and cultural diversity."
Fr Patrick Udotai, Parish Priest of St Elphege's, said:
"Both our parishes have long featured images of saints from a wide range of nations and racial backgrounds. Black History Month is a further opportunity to reinforce our message that the diversity of our parishes is a priceless gift from the Lord. This is an important part of our work to make our parishes a place of welcome for all."
St Margaret's has also produced a toolkit to help other parishes promote racial and cultural inclusion, developed with the Commission for Promoting Racial and Cultural Inclusion.
Story and photos kindly provided by St Margaret's
