News
The Prince of Wales visits community churches with The Bishop of London
2nd February 2012
Inner-city churches opened their doors to The Prince of Wales today as he met priests who have made an impact in their communities.
Church of England reverends and Roman Catholic priests met The Prince as he visited places of worship in Camden and Kentish Town, London.
His Royal Highness, who is a practising Anglican, visited the churches to highlight the work of "grassroots" clergy who have boosted congregation numbers and engaged with their neighbourhoods.
Throughout the day The Prince was joined by the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, a personal friend and spiritual adviser.
At St. Silas, an Anglican high church in Kentish Town, led by parish priest Graeme Rowlands, who has increased congregation numbers from four when he took up his post in 1989 to more than 100 today, the Bishop praised the work of the cleric.
He said "This is just one of a series of visits the prince has made just to see what the grassroots reality is - parts of London which very often hit the headlines for very different reasons.
"People are working away year after year in places like this, where very often where we were 10, 20 years ago was tiny congregations and complete demoralisation - so The Prince's visit recognises the fact of how much has been achieved."
The Prince and the Bishop were given a brief tour of St Silas by the parish priest before they listened to a performance by a school choir.
Later the church's cleric blessed two candles for The Prince and Duchess of Cornwall who later attended a service at St Michael's Church to celebrate Candlemas.
Describing how he managed to engage with potential parishioners he said: "If you are actually familiar, if you go and see people then they respond and the church creates a community that doesn't exist in any other way.
"Because in London a lot of the community as was, disappeared, particularly around here.
"I think this visit is wonderful because so much of what we do is completely hidden. People think I only work on a Sunday, Sunday is my easiest day because it's the only day I plot roughly when things are going to happen - I start work about 7.30 in the morning and finish at about 11 o'clock at night."
The Prince was also invited to meet a un-named 98-year-old parishioner who lived nearby and walked for around ten minutes, with The Bishop, through the streets of Kentish Town before joining the lady for a cup of tea.
For much of the stroll he walked along the aptly-named Prince of Wales Road and His Royal Highness and The Bishop were stopped to shake hands by a number of passing locals.
In the evening, The Prince of Wales was joined by The Duchess of Cornwall for the final church engagement of the day, a Candlemas service at St Michael's Church.