Ecumenical Palm Sunday procession in Finsbury Park

Image ICN/JS

Traffic came to a halt in north London on Sunday when parishioners from five churches, waving palm and olive branches, walking with a donkey and accompanied by musicians, gathered for an Ecumenical Procession and Blessing of the Palms.

Worshippers from St Thomas More's Catholic Church, St Olave's, Woodbury Down, and St John the Evangelist, Brownswood Park Anglican Churches, the United Reform Church and Finsbury Park Methodist Church took part. The event at the Manor House gates of Finsbury Park has been an annual fixture since 2006 - with the exception of the last two years - missed because of Covid restrictions.

People of all ages took part - including several young families with children. A highlight of the procession was Wayne (standing in for William) - a donkey from Bury St Edmunds - a regular at this event.

Fr Clive Lee, parish priest at St Thomas More Catholic Church, welcomed participants. The Rev Tunde Roberts from St Olaves, blessed the palms and proclaimed the Gospel. Deacon Kassa Tsegaye led a prayer. Rev Roberts also gave the homily.

After a final blessing, singer Patricia Hammond and accordionist Alan Dunn struck up the hymn Ride on Ride on as the crowd, waving palm branches and crosses, processed from the park gates across the road and through the streets to each of their different churches, for their Palm Sunday celebrations.

Barbara Kentish, a parishioner from St Thomas More's told ICN: "It was very inspiring to see all the different congregations together after so long and to be able to give witness to our ecumenical spirit - after the sadness of the last couple of years. It was also good to have the donkey with us. Although the new health and safety regulations meant children weren't allowed to ride him - he did join in with the singing as we arrived at the last church!"

The churches around Finsbury Park have a long history of collaborating together. One of the next events will be their annual ecumenical pilgrimage. Destinations in the past have included Bath, Canterbury, Norwich, Salisbury, Cambridge, Ely and Lincoln.

More photos of the day can be seen on St Thomas More's parish website below. We'll be posting some videos on ICN Facebook page soon.

LINKS

St Thomas More Church, Manor House - https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/manorhouse/
Patricia Hammond - https://patriciahammond.com/