We are delighted to hear that the Queen has assented to the nomination of The Revd Canon Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy to be the next Bishop of Willesden. Canon Lusa is currently the BAME Mission and Ministry Enabler in the Diocese of Leicester. You can read the press release from the Diocese here. We extend our warmest congratulations to him and look forward to welcoming him and his family to Willesden in the new year.

Please pray for Canon Lusa and his family as they prepare to move to London.

Here at St Mary’s, we are lucky to have a growing number of younger families and their children. Alongside St Mary’s School, our ministry to children is ready to develop to the next stage, as we recover from the pandemic. So we’re thrilled to announce that from September, our Sunday school will resume for any children who would like to attend during the Parish Mass. Things will begin on Sunday 5th September when we will hold a blessing of the backpacks. This custom is common in many countries, where children bring their school bags to church for a blessing at the beginning of the academic year. This will be followed by a picnic for all in the churchyard (indoors if wet) – bring your own packed lunch and we’ll enjoy spending time with one another!

On Wednesday 8th September, appropriately the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, we’ll be holding our first weekly session of “Little Fishes”. This is a group for younger (pre-school) children and their parents / carers to gather for a short time of informal worship, followed by playtime and juice / coffee and snacks. We’re really grateful to the Brent Food Bank for their support of this initiative.

That’s not all! We’re also planning to launch a midweek Messy Church group for primary school age children. Watch this space for more details, or subscribe to our newsletter to stay in touch!

With the further easing of restrictions, I am looking forward to being able to return to lead worship with our school soon! In the mean time, we have begun weekly “virtual” assemblies via Zoom, which will take the place of the recorded videos. If you’re part of the St Mary’s School community, I’m very much looking forward to seeing your children on Friday afternoons at 2:30 pm.

God bless,

Fr. Chris