04/08/2026
From the August edition of our monthly newsletter ‘El Corazón’
www.drive.google.com/file/d/1F-qSmp_A53PYAWeYzR7IkTHjgoRP8vXu/view?usp=drivesdk
A Word in Season
Fr. Louis Darrant
I’m writing this contribution to the newsletter having finally moved to my new home in Calle Frailes following the sale of Paseo Reding 21. I’m settling into the new place very quickly and feel very blessed that I’m still walking distance to St George’s.
I notice how moving to a different neighbourhood in the city has caused
me to look at life here from a different perspective. The most poignant moment of the move was the celebration of the Eucharist in the apartment the week of the exchange. Thank you to everyone who came who shared in the evening. It was important to give thanks sacramentally for the gift of the apartment some forty odd years ago and to ask God’s blessing on the process we have begun to enable a growing investment to support the ministry of the chaplaincy.
The next step is for the Council to agree the plan for the endowment fund prepared by our treasurer, Tristram. We owe a debt of gratitude for the time Tris has spent on the accounts and preparing the detail of the plan.
Shortly after moving we received the news of the successful bid for money from the Diocesan Mission Opportunities Fund which you can read about elsewhere in this newsletter. This is a significant project, which alongside the oversight of the church restoration project, which will require much time and energy to bring to fruition. There is no time to delay as in a few months time we will be required to report to the Diocese on how the grant money is being used if further funds as to be released.
I want to remind you that everything being undertaken by the Chaplaincy now is in response to the results of the Holy Cow congregational survey undertaken last October. The priorities discerned from the responses gave us five priorities as a church:
o Preparing People for Ministry
o Christian Education
o Worship and Music
o Mission focussed on families & children
o Communications
It's natural to be apprehensive at times about changes which have taken place and changes on the horizon. A priest isn’t immune from the dynamics of change. There is no guarantee that things will work out entirely as you envisage and yet collectively and prayerfully decisions are taken which you believe serve the best interests of the church.
It is, as St Benedict describes it in his Rule, learning how to listen with ‘the ear of the heart’. There is much work unseen, yet vital to the work of the chaplaincy, if we are to settle our attention on those areas the Spirit is calling us to something new. I cannot underestimate how much the work of daily prayer contributes to the success of our endeavours.
I recognise that there will be times when you won’t agree with something I say or do, or maybe something I have omitted to say or do. That also is reasonable. I’m always ready to meet with someone who wants to talk something through and if talking with Caroline or Jerry, our Churchwardens, feels helpful then that too is an option.
The bottom line is that I try to listen as carefully as I can, say my prayers and act as carefully as I can, but priests like all of us have feet of clay, and God in his mercy will in some way make good of the situation.
As I contemplate the changes that have taken place and those yet to come I am aware that I have peace in my heart, not just for the life of our church, but on wide horizons too in both the church and our world. In every circumstance I find my centre in the stability of God’s love, already there and always available.
Thank you for travelling with us and for the contribution you make to our common life. Whatever circumstance you are currently experiencing I hope that you too will be able to find your centre in God and know yourself held by love.
