Cardinal Vincent celebrated the inaugural Good Samaritan Mass in Westminster Cathedral on Thursday 3 July to mark the opening of the new Crisis Fund of the Catholic Children’s Society, Westminster.
He was joined by secondary schools in the diocese, who took an active part in the liturgy. Students from Bishop Challoner, St Thomas More, Cardinal Pole and Douay Martyrs assisted in proclaiming the liturgy of the Word, while students from St Michael’s, St Joan of Arc and Maria Fidelis led the music, with the Maria Fidelis choir singing ‘O Mary, O Martha’ before Mass.
In his homily, the Cardinal spoke about St John Southworth whose relics are moved to the centre of the Cathedral in preparation for ordinations to the priesthood on Saturday 28 June. He encouraged the students to hear the words of Jesus in the same way that St John did and to act upon them in the same way, a course which led to his martyrdom in 1654. The Cardinal told students that they too should be servants of Christ and servants of the poor, following the example that Pope Francis has offered to us. Referring to St Thomas the Apostle, whose feast day it was, he repeated the words that Jesus said to the doubting apostle after appearing to them in the Upper Room: ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29)’. We too are called to believe without having seen the Master.
Afterwards, the Cardinal greeted the schoolchildren in the Cathedral Piazza and posed for photos with the different schools.
The Crisis Fund will provide one-off grants to support families for whom a relatively small amount of funding can make a big difference, those in urgent need of help or facing a crisis. For more information on the Fund, please contact Dr Rosemary Keenan, CEO of the Catholic Children’s Society, on 020 8969 5305.
