A London parish that faced possible merger post-Covid has been voted “Church of the Year”.
St Simon and St Jude, Streatham Hill has earned the London and Southeast England Prestige award because of the parish’s impact on the neighbouring community.
It won local notice for its Christmas outreach last December, including a “free market”.
“People could bring or take items,” said the parish priest, Fr Valentine Erhahon. “Some people brought jackets to the market and left with bags of rice.”
He added: “We also opened our doors, bringing the crib outside.”
Until 2022, the parish was earmarked for potential amalgamation with the larger neighbouring parish of English Martyrs, Streatham.
“The numbers were badly hit by Covid,” said Fr Erhahon, who delved into the parish history after becoming resident priest in January 2022.
“I discovered we had a great history of volunteering and welcoming people, including Belgian refugees during the First World War,” he told The Tablet. “I gave a couple of homilies saying ‘love your parish’, ‘love your identity.’”
After a parish-wide consultation, the Archdiocese of Southwark opted to keep the parish open.
On July 1st 2022, Fr Erhahon became the parish priest, quickly establishing a number of new volunteering schemes.
The “guardian angels” for example, visit the sick, lonely and housebound. There is also a parish poet. More than 80 of the 250 regular Sunday Mass-goers are now volunteers.
“My vision was to create a family of volunteers, so everyone feels like part of the Church,” said Fr Erhahon.
Inspired by his former work in prison chaplaincy, Fr Erhahon seeks to meet new parishioners “one-to-one” to gain an understanding of their individual circumstances. He said: “We meet people were they are at.”
His volunteering initiatives led to the parish being nominated for the award, given to people or businesses who make a “real and lasting impact” on their community.
Until contacted by the award organisers, Fr Erhahon did not know of the nomination.
He described the award as “the greatest boost” for parishioners, saying: “We are so shocked, so happy. I thought the award would go to a bigger parish. We operate like a small family.”
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