New auxiliary of Westminster on diversity of London diocese

(Vatican Radio) What are the biggest challenges facing a new bishop in one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse cities in Europe? How is immigration changing the face of the Catholic Church in London today? What are the skills needed to evangelise effectively in such a diverse and secular society?

Philippa Hitchen set off in search of some answers to those questions as she met with recently appointed bishops from around the world gathered in Rome this week for two training courses organised by the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. The meetings, which began last Wednesday at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University, include presentations from a number of top Vatican officials and will conclude with an audience with Pope Francis on Thursday 18th.

Among those taking part in this annual initiative are four new bishops from England and Wales, including auxiliary bishop of Westminster, Nicholas Hudson, formerly the rector of the Venerable English College here in Rome. Philippa sat down with him to find out how much that previous experience is serving him well in his new pastoral ministry to people in the heart of London....

Listen: 

"I find I do a lot of thinking about my 13 years at the English College and it's true I did a lot of learning there....it taught me a lot about seeing the Church through the eyes of young Catholic adults....

I had the marvellous experience of doing 7 confirmations in my first 15 to 20 days and I was struck by the diversity of young people.....Part of my brief is to be responsible for developing evangelisation in the diocese as a whole and so it does me good to go into parishes in the east and central area......I'm not sure what the biggest challenges will be....when we go for confirmations we see very full churches.....the parish priest in the Isle of Dogs was saying he has about 350 people now on a Sunday but projections suggest in the next 10 years he should have 650.....other parish priests say I'm a bit concerned we're losing a lot of familes.....our Church, along with the other Churches in that area need to grasp that as an ecumenical opportunity and we must also be respectful of the other faiths represented within our community...

One of the interesting initiatives going on nationally is a pilot project called Crossing the Threshold which is a very interesting and inspired process for inviting parishes to organise themselves to reach out to people who are Catholic and might want to take a second look at what it means to belong to the local Catholic community....

I was deeply touched by the number of ecumenical guests who said yes to the invitation to attend my episcopal ordination in Westminster Cathedral a few weeks ago....it meant so much to us that Emeritus Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams came along, together with (others) from the Anglican exchange programme at the English College.....it gives me enormous hope for ecumenism in London....."