Vol 4/1
February
1999
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Parish Profile
Thinking about St Michael and All Angels with St James, Croydon, the phrase that kept coming to mind was...
'An island of faith'
It is really an extraordinary and singular parish!
For a start, the church is physically an 'island of faith', surrounded on all sides by Croydon's greater god - business and commerce! St Michael's front door faces Marks and Spencers! The crucified Christ at it's east end garden looks out at Lunar House, the chrome and glass BT tower and the Lloyds Register building!
A shopper who came in while I was there said she had lived in Croydon for 30 years, and hadn't realised St Michael's was there until that day and that was only because she was looking for West Croydon station - just outside St Michael's back door!
The church is at the centre of its parish - but it is a parish in two distinct halves, divided by a railway line!
St Michael's stands in Poplar Grove - no poplars any more, just traffic and bus stops. Originally surrounded by houses, Poplar Grove is now at the northern tip of Croydon's commercial heart dominated by the massive Whitgift Centre and rows of enormous office blocks. It has a day time population of thousands of workers and shoppers, but at night is virtually deserted except for a few homeless people in doorways, caretakers and cleaners.
The remainder of the parish is across the railway line - with most of the potential parishioners, in rows of Victorian streets housing a cosmopolitan community with a significant proportion of Muslims. They have been attracted by the mosque near the Mayday Hospital and a growing number of bed-sit dwellers in large houses now sub-divided into flats. Most of it was in St James's parish, joined to St Michael's in the 1980s.
Not the most promising territory! So how come St Michael's can draw in 200 or so worshippers including more than 100 communicants on an average Sunday? That is largely due to its other 'island of faith' attribute - its robustly Anglo-Catholic tradition.
St Michael's is a Forward in Faith parish under the extended episcopal care of the Bishop of Fulham, drawing devotees from as far afield as Maidstone and Leatherhead to worship every Sunday.
Parish life is focused totally on the Mass - said at least once every day (except Monday) and three times on Sunday. It's where the church meets as a family and is the springboard for mutual support and social contact - perhaps inevitable when so many come from great distances. There are local people in the congregation, but the core remains eclectic.
Even St Michael's founding was 'different'! Against opposition from other local churches, four laymen inspired by the Oxford Movement got permission from the Archbishop of Canterbury to carve a new parish out of St John's territory, as a centre for Catholic revival in the area - provided they could raise an endowment of £2,000. They succeeded and in 1871 became the first trustees. The first services were held in a loft over the Co-op brewery, later in a wooden church bought for £170 from a parish in Folkestone and rebuilt in Poplar Walk.
In 1876 John Loughborough Pearson was invited to submit plans for the present church which cost £16,000 financed by cheap loans from the congregation. In 1880 the foundation stone was laid by Horatio, Lord Nelson and the old wooden church was pulled down as the new church grew on the site!
Described by John Betjeman as 'one of Pearson's loveliest churches' and a grade 1 listed building, St Michael's is typical of Pearson...externally, red-brick, traditional Victorian Gothic - but inside almost cathedral-like!
That's where Pearson spent most of his time, energy, and cash! Vaulted ceilings, panelled brick and bath stone walls, elegant columns, and a 150 feet long nave and choir leading to a magnificent high altar. The font is massive...and the pulpit is 10 feet above contradiction! All around are statues - including nine angels - the stations of the cross inset into the walls, candles, incense and, I was told, nine crucifixes.
Fr.Donald Minchew, the present Vicar, came to Croydon from Gloucestershire 3 years ago. Married to Rae with four sons, he is only the sixth Vicar in the church's 128 year history.
Oddly for a 'high' churchman, he was brought up a Methodist "most converts go high" he said.
Four services every Sunday, and at least one each weekday, plus weddings, baptisms and funerals, a far-flung flock and no curate nor Reader is a pretty punishing load - but he loves it!
He said "Every time I come into the church I feel like pinching myself to prove I'm not dreaming!"
"Oh I'd like a curate - not so I could do less, but so we could do more. But I am told that no curates of our tradition are available, which I find hard to believe. I sometimes wonder if 'the powers that be' would prefer Resolution C parishes to go away - we're not 'on message'.
"But we are very much part of the diocese and determined to stay. We participate fully at every level of church affairs, from local chapters to General Synod" (PCC Vice Chairman Barry Barnes is a Southwark General Synod representative.)
Fr.Donald's time at St Michael's has seen several changes. When he arrived the liturgy was a mix of ASB Rite A and the Roman Missal. Today it remains conservative and traditional but the Mass in its new service is based on Rite B with some elements of the English Missal. Mind you they have retained the Last Gospel and Angelus at the close of the 11 am Solemn Mass, probably the only church in the Diocese to do so.
The 9.30am Sunday service has become deliberately less formal and as a 'Parish Communion' has growing lay involvement and is attracting people from the local community. The 8am low Mass also draws in local people, including Bishop Wilfred from time to time.
"I see one of my tasks as making St Michael's more accessible and involved in the local community. It will take time but it is important," he said.
Every Christmas Donald walks round the parish delivering Christmas cards to each of the 4,500 homes inviting them to St Michael's Christmas services and "reminding them that they are in our parish". It has paid dividends with a small but growing local congregation. St Michael's is also now open every day from 9.30 - 4pm for people to come in to pray, to sit in silence or just to look round. Two volunteers from the congregation act as vergers, welcoming and 'caretaking'. There is a steady flow of people every day - many just looking for a quiet place as an oasis from the bustle of the Whitgift Centre or the pressure of the office environment.
Music is a major element in St Michael's worship. Successive organists made it a 'centre of excellence' over the years - but recently this has not been without some pain. Early last year was "tinged with sadness as we came to terms with the fact that things had to change" he wrote in the January parish magazine.
The organist of 40 years retired (reluctantly) and many of the choir and some worshippers left with him! But by the end of the year Michael Fleming had come to Croydon from St Albans, Holborn and with assistant organist Barry Williams had begun to rebuild. With the help of their connections to the Nicholson and Oriana Singers they have built up a pool of singers who are restoring St Michael's musical tradition.
Nowhere is this emphasised more than at the Sunday 11am Solemn Mass where the full choir with soloists sang parts of the service in Latin and other parts in English to a standard which would have graced a cathedral!
More change is yet to come. Behind the church is the church hall - which looks and is well past its `sell by date'!
"Our next big project is to build a new hall - vital if we are to increase our community involvement" said Fr.Donald. "Then we could have the play group, mother and toddler group, youth work and other activities which the parish needs."
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