First Snow of the Year

Sisters Innocentia and Attracta were excited by the first snow of the year, especially as it was a new experience for Attracta. They braved the cold to go out and get some photographic evidence.

Christmas 2011

Sisters Innocentia and Attracta were invited to spend the Christmas period at our Mother House in Littlehampton. This left Sisters Elizabeth, Magdalene and Clare with Willie to celebrate Our Lord's birthday in Canterbury. They were joined for Christmas lunch by two guests: Linda, a local parishioner and Sister Liesbeth from Indonesia, a Franciscan on sabbatical at the FISC whose return to her mission in Tanzania was unavoidably delayed until after Christmas.

From left: Linda, Liesbeth, Willie and Magdalene.

Sr. Liesbeth and Willie struck up a great friendship.

Willie (William Anderson) has been resident in a caravan in the grounds of the convent for over 30 years and is a much-loved member of our community.

Willie enjoyed opening his Christmas surprises.

SVP Christmas Party

Sr. Magdalene (centre, in red Christmas hat)has joined the SVP group of St. Thomas' Parish in Canterbury.

On 11th December, she helped to provide entertainment for the SVP Christmas Party by singing some Christmas songs and playing guitar.

AGM of Josephine Butler Society

The Annual General Meeting of the Josephine Butler Society held on the 12^th Oct, 2011 at St. Peter's Church Eaton Square, London.

I left with Valerie who is the chairman of the society at 1.30pm to board a train at Faversham. She began by looking into the minutes of their last meeting which were approved by the members.

Valerie Gore, Chairing the Meeting

After that, there was refreshment of sandwiches, soft drinks and tea which was followed by an input by a retired Chief Constable who has always worked hard against human trafficking,

Dr. Timothy Brain.

The Josephine Butler Society is a society of people who work hard to stop human trafficking and help those who are victims, whether they chose to do that or they have been forced into it. Much mention was made of children, and he praised THE CHILDREN'S SOCIETY for raising awareness of children on the street prostituting and BARNARDO'S for doing a report with recommendations. Both charities are organisations whose work is to help children involved in any kind of abuse. Dr. Brain said that human trafficking and prostitution has been an issue in this country and that they have been working hard on it. Any kind of work relating to that should always be dealt with and not be ignored. He said that one of the major problems police face today concerning prostitution is that some police look at it as if it is a distraction to their work. They feel that they have to pay more attention to burglers, or any other offence more than that of prostitution.

He said that in recent years, it has increased and decreased. The number of those who are brought into Britain for this always gets higher in number. They come mostly from Asia, Eastern Europe, South America and Africa. Though some of these ladies are forced into it, when they have a way to escape and get the help they need, they can care for themselves. He said that children of 16+ should not be treated the same way as adults. Though it is a crime, there should be some consideration, because these children are victims. Therefore the best thing for them when they are caught is not to subject them to more punishment but to help them find a better way of life.

Some of these 16+ might have had difficult relationships, and then gone away from home, eventually getting involved with 'friends' who pretend to love them. They then teach them to drink, take drugs, keep secrets from adults, go to pubs and stay out late at night. Then these 'friends' will start selling them to men for money.

The meeting finished at about 8:20 pm. We helped to clean and put things in order and then headed for the train station.

By Sr. Innocentia

Making a Big Hash of It

Sister Attracta, now one month in Novitiate, has begun to join Sisters Innocentia and Clare in voluntary kitchen work at the Catching Lives Centre for homeless people in Canterbury. On Friday 7th October they were working with volunteers David, Roz, Rebecca, Lawrence and Terry (staff). What can you make for lunch with vast quantities of donated apples, lots of potatoes and not much else? The answer was apple crumble and corned beef hash. After Innocentia made the crumble, more of the apples were peeled and stewed, to be frozen and used later. Here's how they went about making corned beef hash for around 20 people:

Wash, peel and boil around 30 potatoes together with 2 giant (or four average) chopped onions

Empty out 9 tins of corned beef (carefully) and divide into two large, deep trays. Chop up into small chunks.

Add to these trays:

The cooked potatoes and onion

a whole white cabbage chopped (cooked from frozen)

a large tub of blanched garden peas (from freezer)

several cans of mixed veg and carrots

sprinkle with salt and pepper

a generous splurge of a variety of bottled sauces: eg. ketchup, brown sauce, horseradish

Mix together.

The hash can now be warmed in the oven and served. It has a reputation for tasting much better than it looks.

From left: Sr. Attracta, Lawrence, Rebecca and Sr. Innocentia, peeling apples. Front: two trays of magnificent hash.

For more information about the Catching Lives charity, visit www.catchinglives.org

Welcome Srs. Lincy and Martha to Canterbury!

On 5th October, Sisters Lincy and Martha from our FMSL community in India came to stay with us in Canterbury, as part of their visit to the UK. In the evening, there was an open public event at Canterbury Cathedral which the Sisters attended with us and with other Franciscans from the FISC. This included a beautiful choral evensong with the cathedral choir, a historical tour and exhibits of vestments from solemn historical occasions, such as the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Above, from left: Sisters Martha, Innocentia, Lincy and Attracta in the main nave of the cathedral.

Sisters Lincy and Martha will be with us in Canterbury for five weeks before returning to Littlehampton and from there back to India on the 25th November. We wish them a blessed and joyful time with us.

Sisters Martha and Lincy in Bradford

During their visit to Bradford, Srs. Martha and Lincy from India became accustomed to dressing for the northern English climate.

While some local people seized the opportunity to put on a sari to welcome their eastern visitors! Here are Willie and Alice. They came to sing at a charity event attended by our Sisters.

This is an account of that fundraising event:

Seasonal variations are natural phenomena of the earth. It occurs rhythmically and systematically.Plants shed their leaves,come to life again, in human beings too there are unchangeable realities - life and death....................... This is a dance performed by our sisters Martha & Lincy depicting the same. This was done during a fund raising programme for drug addicts in an AMERICAN TEA PARTY in the parish hall of St. Joseph's Church, Bradford on September 24th.

By Sr. Lincy