Pastoral Placements
Continuing a series of articles written by students for the priesthood from our diocese describing their Pastoral Placement. This article is from Shaun Purdy, one of our students at Valladolid
Just before leaving Valladolid for the Christmas vacation students are told where they will be going on Pastoral Placement for the month of January. All students are excitedly waiting to see where they will be sent.
It came as a surprise to me that I would be spending the month at St. John Vianney’s Church, Blackpool. I stared in amazement as to what I was reading in front of me. I never for one minute expected to be going to Blackpool. I was under the impression that they said students from the Northern Dioceses to the Southern Dioceses and vice versa. That was not meant to be in my case – I went North East to North West!
St. John Vianney’s is one of the biggest parishes in Blackpool with 2500 Catholics in the Parish and a Primary school of an intake of 450 students with a 2 form entry every year. (The most populated school in the Diocese of Lancaster) That gives you some image of what I was working with.
Being on placement for a month does not really give you enough time to do everything that the parish does but it gives an insight into the work of the Parish Priest and the Permanent Deacon, a retired Priest is also in residence who used to lecture at Ushaw College.
I worked closely with the Deacon and accompanied him when visiting the sick with Holy Communion. It was a privilege to be able to go into the homes of those who are sick and housebound and take the Blessed Sacrament to them. One lady we went to is quite a shy lady and lives in a warden controlled flat. She never mixes with others and stays in her room all of the time. We were unsure how she would take it having a stranger visit too but she loved me visiting her with the Deacon every week. All she ever side about 10 times during the visit was ‘Thank You Father for visiting me you're very kind’. It just shows how people really appreciate people visiting them when they don’t get visitors very often.
There were various groups working in the parish and I was able to join them on occasions and see the valuable work that they do. As the parish priest kept saying ‘This is not my parish – it’s theirs and it belongs to them’.
I worked in the local High School for 2 days talking to a year 7 Class and a year 9 Class about priesthood and vocation. I was fortunate enough to be able to show them a DVD ‘Fishers of Men’ which shows what it means to be a priest in society today with all the problems they face. (I would recommend that if you have the chance watch it – it is downloadable on the Internet free of charge.) Being in School gave me an insight into the valuable work of the school chaplaincy team and what they do for the students on a daily basis.
I could go on and on about my placement for a long time but all I will say now is that I am very grateful to Fr. Tony, Fr. Brendan, Deacon Tom and all the people at St. John Vianney’s for a very enjoyable and rewarding placement. It is these small insights that helps students like myself see the valuable work that both Priests, Deacons and people do in their parishes to help those who worship or come into contact with parishes to grow in God’s immense love.