Cardinal leads Golden Jubilee celebrations at St Gabriel's

Cardinal Vincent Nichols with parishioner

Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows in Archway, north London, has "the best parishioners anyone could pray for" - that was the verdict of Parish Priest Fr Ugo Ikwuka CSSP - speaking during their Golden Jubilee Mass on Trinity Sunday.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols celebrated the special Mass together with many of the priests who served in the parish in the past 50 years. The Mayor of Islington, Councillor Una O'Halloran was among the congregation. The parish choir and Mount Carmel School Choir sang beautifully throughout - beginning with Bernadette Farrell's Christ Be Our Light - composed especially for the church. Hymns were sung and prayers were recited in Gaelic, Spanish, Nigerian, Chinese, Russian. Filipino and Eritrean reflecting the rich variety of people in the parish.

During his homily, Cardinal Vincent praised the parish for the tremendous organisation that had gone into preparing for the celebration. Last month the month the parish held a mission with many guest speakers. A special T shirt was designed and and a beautiful souvenir book has been published- with writing and photographs contributed by dozens of parishioners.

During the Offertory many items of memorabilia were brought up, among them a relic of the parish Patron Saint Gabriel Possenti which was presented to the parish by Fr Pat Fitzgerald from St Joseph's in Highgate. The Communion hymn was a beautiful rendition of Our Lady of Knock. After the Mass Cardinal Vincent presented 18 parishioners who have contributed so much to the parish over the years, with a special Papal Blessing.

Everyone was then invited to walk down to the parish community centre for a party. Visitors were greeted by Steel Pan music outside the centre. There was a play area for children with a bouncy castle, refreshment and food. Inside, after a welcome by Fr Ugo, there was a performance of a new play by members of the youth club and students from City & Islington college about youth, faith and knife crime; an award ceremony for winners of the children's poetry and essay competition; a dance performance by members of the youth club; and Irish music and dancing. A special cake was cut and there were addresses by the Mayor, Cardinal Vincent and Fr Kenneth Okoli Provincial Superior. The celebrations ended with music and dancing into the evening.

Parishioner Jude Nwachukwu wrote on the parish Facebook page: "We had a graceful Golden Jubilee celebration. The parishioners were amazing. Cardinal Vincent enjoyed the celebration. The vibe was really divine."

Read more about St Gabriel's here: www.facebook.com/ArchwayParish/

See also: www.indcatholicnews.com/news/32565

There will be more pictures and video on ICN's Facebook page.