Croydon: Day for Holy Souls

The St Mary's prayer group

Praying for the dead was once core to Catholic devotional life. The wealthy often laid aside huge sums so that Masses would be said for them after they had died. But this tradition has declined over the last decades for various reasons, cultural and religious. But there are signs that the Holy Spirit is inspiring a comeback.

As shown in history God often chooses specific people for his tasks and prepares them in a special way, often not without difficulties. Such is the case of the Apostolate of the Holy Souls, which was founded a couple of years ago by Celine Ibe-Deen, a humble but determined Nigerian nurse working in the UK.

As part of this ministry she and her group are organising a day of catechesis and prayers for the Holy Souls at Our Lady of Reparation parish (St Mary's) West Croydon CR0 2AR on Sunday 2nd November 2025 10.45 am to 5.30 pm so people can learn more about this important practice.

As a child, Celine, explains that growing up, although her family was not devout, she was very enthusiastic about her Catholic faith, and even entered a convent for a time, thinking she might have a vocation. When she left the convent she flirted with other Christian Churches, but never felt completely at home and missed the Eucharist and the warmth of Catholic practices like the rosary. She comments, "Covid gave me both the time and space to think of God and pray. I began to watch Mass online every day and to link in with Catholic prayers online". On 10th April 2021 she made her first confession for 25 years and returned fully to the Catholic Church. "It was like being born again," she comments. In gratitude to the Lord for her return, she asked the Lord how he wanted her to serve him.

At first nothing seemed to happen but she found herself gradually drawn to start praying for the dead. This was further strengthened on a pilgrimage to Rwanda for the 40th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kibeho. Here one of her fellow pilgrims started telling stories of some of the miraculous encounters of those who prayed for the souls in purgatory.

This stimulated others to share about their experiences too. When Celine returned home with the names and contacts from this trip she began the first online prayer group to pray for the Holy Souls. This group still meets on WhatsApp every Friday at 5pm. She comments, "I felt a great desire to help the Holy souls and encourage others to pray for them too". She met a certain resistance. "Some people don't like to think about what happens after we die and are a bit afraid of the dead and some think that all Christian believers go straight to heaven anyway and so have no need of prayers". But despite resistance Celine persevered and was able to set up two more groups, one in her old parish, St Michael's, Pollard Hill and another one at her current parish, St Mary's in West Croydon. As well as praying for the Holy souls themselves members donate alms for Masses to be said for the dead.

This passion to pray for the dead and their grieving families has led Celine to using her days off for this ministry. Every Friday she goes to the local cemetery to pray for those she feels the Lord calling her to pray for and has some amazing stories to tell of this.

Celine said she received what felt like a confirmation for her ministry while she was on a recent walking pilgrimage in June 2025, when pilgrims walked from St George's cathedral to Aylesford Priory for the Jublee celebration on Pentecost Saturday. En route along the Downs Way, the group suddenly came across the photo of a young man nailed to a gate, similar to those one often sees in the streets of London of those who have died tragically.

Celine encouraged the rest of the group to pray for the repose of the soul of the young man which they did. She also, however, took a photo on her mobile phone of the young man's picture and details so she could pray for him later. That evening when she opened up her phone to pray for him, she realised to her amazement that that very day was the young man's birthday! "I was shocked! I realised how God sees each one of us in a special way and how he had brought us to that place just so we could pray for him on his birthday."

For further details of the A DAY FOR HOLY SOULS event, contact hsapostolate@outlook.com tel 078668 310 16 or, just turn up at St. Mary's church West Croydon CR0 2AR on the 2nd of November 2025. Holy Mass begins at 10.45am.