Roma in dispute over baptism

A GROUP of Roma refugees from the Czech Republic have been baptised as Anglicans after claiming they were turned away from their local Catholic church.

One of the group of 18 adults and children alleged that Catholic priests were influenced by prejudices against Gypsies and told them their English was too poor to understand what was involved.
But Fr Peter Weatherby, the priest-in-charge at the group’s local church of the Sacred Heart in the Hanley district of Stoke-on-Trent, said: “We would not have turned them away. I am surprised and disappointed they went elsewhere.” His congregation is drawn from a wide ethnic mix.

The claim was made by a Roma woman, identified only as Anita, during last weekend’s Sunday programme on BBC Radio 4.

Speaking after the baptism service at St Mark’s Church, less than a mile from the Sacred Heart, she said the majority of her family were Catholic. “We were trying to get baptised since we entered England … for at least four years, we were trying to become a Catholic family. Some of the priests have refused to baptise us because of the English, most of the members of my family don’t have the English.”

The Revd Sally Smith, vicar of St Mark’s, said Anita had since told her she did not blame her local Catholic priest and has “forgiven” him, but she will not convert back to Catholicism.

But Fr Weatherby said: “It is just possible that this is a misunderstanding. Diocesan regulations say that any adult would have to do the usual 20 hours of preparation, so it’s possible that they have felt they were turned away because they were asked to make that commitment, but they have never ever been turned away. I can absolutely say that.”

He added: “We have one catechist and we run groups from September to Easter and so when people come in, say, February, I encourage them to come back in September, but they have just not appeared. We are a relatively small church with one catechist and only run one course a year.

“My experience of Czech Roma, which is not dissimilar to the Traveller community, is that they are very positive about the Church, very enthusiastic when they make enquiries, but it is very difficult to sustain a commitment, possibly because they move.

“Short-term things like baptism of children we can respond to very readily, but when it comes to sacramental preparation of adults, it would appear they are not able to commit to a long-term course,” said Fr Weatherby.

The parish is in Birmingham Archdiocese whose archbishop, Bernard Longley, is the English and Welsh bishops’ conference representative on the Travellers’ Issues Working Group. His spokeswoman said he accepted Fr Weatherby’s explanation