Our large Polish community will no doubt be celebrating the canonisation of Pope John-Paul II who was Polish, and other Christians, especially Roman Catholics, join with them.
However, other Roman Catholics in the area realise that there is an even more direct link with a recently canonised pope – Pope John XXIII.
The parish of Christ the King at Cockfosters was founded in 1936 by Dom Constantine Bosschaerts OSB, a Belgian Olivetan Benedictine monk who was a friend and associate of Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, later Pope John XXIII. Both men were involved in the establishing of the Vita et Pax Foundation, which embodied ideas of Christian unity, and both shared radical ideas about the renewal of the liturgy. Fr Bosschaerts encouraged the placing of altars so that the priest faced the congregation, and the use of the local language in the Mass.
These were some of the most obvious outcomes of the Second Vatican Council, which opened the Roman Catholic Church to modernity and which took place after the encouragement of Pope (now Saint) John. These are now the norm in Roman Catholic life today. Cockfosters was one of the earliest parishes to adopt these ideas. So a double celebration is in order.
Brian Bartram
Ulleswater Road, Southgate
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