You know you are not visiting a 'run-of-the mill' parish (even if there is such a place) when it has an Honorary Curate who is a 91 year old Chelsea Pensioner and a nun based at Lambeth Palace as a pastoral worker. Add to that, it is listed as having passed 'Resolutions A, B & C' - women priests barred from celebrating the Eucharist or being the incumbent and Extended Episcopal Care from the Bishop of Fulham - you can see why St Agnes, Kennington Park, is just a bit 'different'!

The parish was born out of a Victorian controversy.

St Agnes' was carved out of the parish of St Paul's Lorrimore Square in 1874, by St Paul's Vicar, Fr John Going. He saw that his Anglo-Catholic congregation might one day need a refuge against an increasing hostility to Catholic ritual among the church hierarchy. A priest was appointed and a temporary church established in a shed, to be followed in 1877 by the first St Agnes Church. In 1880 what Fr Going had feared came true. His successor died and the patron, Bishop Thorald of Rochester appointed a new Vicar with orders to 'suppress the ritual'. There was a riot - parishioners even stoned the Bishop's carriage as he left the church. From Dorset Fr. Going wrote to his former parishioners begging them to 'make no further trouble but to go in one body to St Agnes' and they did just that. The following Sunday only five people attended the first service taken by the new Vicar of St Paul's - a phyrric victory for the Bishop but one which established St Agnes' as the stronghold of Anglo-Catholicism which it has remained to this day.

Today St Agnes Church stands on the western edge of the post-war Brandon Estate. The estate, including its 1960s tower blocks, was a showcase of its time and is included in Prince Charles' book 'Vision of Britain'. Apart from some new building, it has remained pretty much unchanged. Off the estate, but in the shadow of the tower blocks are Victorian terraces, many run-down, several divided into flats but one terrace housing a Rastafarian temple. The parish is a UPA with very high unemployment and drug-related crime problems, including several recent violent deaths! Even the green space off Kennington Park is a 'meet' for trading in drugs. Yet a stone's throw away to the north are streets of large well-kept family homes in the 'des-res' price range.

The present St Agnes church is a post war replacement for the 1877 Gilbert Scott building. That was demolished after World War II following serious bomb damage - and therein lies a second 'controversy'. It was apparently a close call whether to pull it down or repair it - creating parish mythology that its demolition was a diocesan 'ploy' to try to close down the parish! Whichever, the outcome is a substantial brick-built church and church hall which fits in with its surroundings and where a fairly plain exterior masks a light, bright, and intensely spiritual interior incorporating many of the features of the old church - including the magnificent reredos, the screen dividing off the baptistry at the west end and the altar top (which came from the original temporary shed!). Recent appeals have raised the money for work (some of which has been completed) to the grounds around the church and to the building, including the metal frames of the stained-glass windows and stonework.

It would be easy to 'pigeon- hole' St Agnes' - resolutions AB & C, members of Forward in Faith, controversial beginnings - but if by that you visualise an eclectic (and probably defiant) cuckoo in the Kennington nest, think again. St Agnes' takes a full part in the Diocese - at both Deanery and Diocesan Synod levels.

The Rev. Chris Pearson came to St Agnes's five years ago from St Peter's, Streatham. When he arrived he says "it was quite an eclectic parish, but today over 95% of worshippers live within walking distance of the church". Mind you that short walk takes you to any of five different deaneries, two archdeaconries and two Episcopal areas - Kennington Park is where they all meet!

"First and foremost we are about worshiping God, the notion of service to the community or parish only comes from that as we can only do it in his name - it's not by chance that Jesus' summary of the law was (firstly) love God and (secondly) your neighbour as yourself.

"Around here are many different church traditions all within a short walk, so people are able to worship locally in a style which best suits them. We are Anglo-catholic - which to most people will correctly suggest vestments, incense, candles, statues of Our Lady and so on. But it also means living within the Catholic faith. proclaiming the truth of the Gospels and waiting on Christ's return in that the Mass, the Eucharist, is central to everything we do. Our liturgy expresses what we believe and through it we try to draw people out of their everyday lives - which around here can be pretty dreary - to encounter God in the hope that he may change their lives," he said.

"The fact that we are a Forward in Faith parish is irrelevant to most of our parishioners - but having said that Forward in Faith isn't about the single issue of women and the priesthood - it also concerns the primacy of scripture, the sanctity of human life (and all the issues that raises), Christology and ecclesiology. So we have regular teaching and open discussions about the different issues - including our resolution C, Extended Episcopal Care," he said.

My visit was at Candlemas and the worship began in the church hall, where we lit candles before processing out into the street and back into the church for Mass. I have to say there was a bit of confusion over this. The sidespeople seemed to assume that everyone (including visitors) knew what was happening, so no-one spoke, until the last minute! That leads to my one criticism. While the St Agnes folk are very warm after the service over coffee, they need to look at their 'welcome' - unless the stranger feels included from the start they may not stay for that coffee, and probably won't come back! They are addressing the issue but at the moment there is a reluctance to 'overwhelm' people when they arrive leaving it to the visitor to make the first move.

Having said that, I didn't sense that it was a deliberately 'exclusive' church and the worship itself - even though a lot of it was sung, and I didn't know the tunes - was very 'accessible' even to a 'low-church' person like me. The congregation is very mixed - all ages from six months to 91 years of age and a good selection of ethnic origins. They usually get between 90 and 100 every Sunday for the main Mass - and over 200 at Easter and other 'high days'. There is also a Sunday School of around a dozen youngsters. The singing was great - specially from the three voice 'choir' up in the balcony. There was plenty of lay involvement - reading, intercessions etc. In the sanctuary was Chris himself, several servers, acolytes etc. and, or so I was told later, the Hon. Curate, Albert (Sonny) Brown.

Sonny is quite a character. A resident of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, he is now 91 years old. He was THE first Locally Ordained Minister (B for Brown came first in the list) ordained in 1981 in the pilot scheme and regularly celebrates the 8am Mass on Sundays at St Agnes.

Sitting quietly in the congregation was Sr Vivienne Joy - an Anglican nun whose day-job at Lambeth Palace includes keeping the Archbishop's prayer life on track and who in her spare time looks after some of the parish pastoral work!

St Agnes folk are great travellers. there were 30 places for a jubilee trip to Rome two years ago and they were oversubscribed. Every year there are at least 3 trips to Walsingham, including special trips for young people - and last year they went to Lourdes (and the Calais hypermarket on the way home). ".a social life based on worship - but also having fun together," said Chris.

There's also a thirst for knowledge - weekly bible study, the STAR course, Lent and Advent talks - all are well-supported. and while there are no structured 'community activities', St Agnes folk are heavily involved in everything from tenants' groups to local uniformed groups, like brownies, some of whom meet in the Church Hall.

I came away with a few contrasting impressions. It was a lot less 'spiky' than I had expected from the ABC & F-I-F tag. That's probably because of the people involved. Chris Pearson was brought up an 'evangelical' but was drawn to the catholic tradition as a young man ('because it had a greater sense of fun' he says). There are also members of Affirming Catholicism in the congregation, including one of the churchwardens - and people to whom St Agnes is their first adult taste of church. It is also clearly a parish church rather than a 'magnet for the like-minded'.

On the other hand I did sense a degree of 'clubbiness' - whether an Anglo-Catholic club or Kennington neighbours club wasn't clear - but it seemed a very close community where only a limited number open the circle to the visitor.

I also sensed among some people, suspicion about the motives of the church authorities - over the apparent denial of a full-time curate, for example - and concern about the future, with sensitive issues like women bishops on the national agenda.

But there is a confidence that, whatever happens, St Agnes will go on and will stay true to its founding in 1874 - 'for the worship of God and to serve our neighbour. in the Catholic Tradition of the Church of England'.