A Celebration of Father Nicholas's Ministry in Paris

As we continue to move towards the Easter season, life in the Parish of St. Pancras has changed considerably recently with the departure of Father Nicholas, the Team Rector. His final service of comissioning took place last Sunday at St. Mary's Church (one our four church buildings). It was quite a bitter-sweet occasion as the packed church listened to their priest one last time before he left for mission work in Brazil. In true Nicholas fashion, he did literally "leave for Brazil" after the service as the taxi was waiting for him at the door. With a crowd of parishoners on both sides of the sidewalk, Father Nicholas paraded through the front door of the church (in what seemed very remindful of a wedding departure). Once he gave his last goodbye hugs and kisses, he entered the taxi with his parents and drove off into the evening. It was quite an emotional time indeed for everyone.

This final celebration was preceeded by a trip to Paris the day before. Father Nicholas has worked for 12 hard years to promote the church within the new billion pound St. Pancras International Station and highspeed rail service. With his and other people's hard work, there now is a dedicated chaplaincy within the station and a name of St. Pancras that is retained- both of which Eurostar officials were originally opposed to. Our parish has now "twined" with a parish on the other side of the channel called St. Vincent de Paul in Paris. With all of this work now seeming to pay off, it was only fitting that the staff and church council of the Parish of St. Pancras ride the new Eurostar line to meet our new friends in France.

Without much sleep at all, we all arrived at St. Pancras International at 6am to check in for our train that departed right on time at 6.55am. The ride of the train was incredible as it felt like we were literally floating. However with a top speed of 184 mph., a person sitting in a seat facing backwards (like the seat I was sitting in) can still be prone to motion sickness. When we got to Paris 2 hours later, I still tried to hold my head up high... but I sure didn't feel very well.

Our friends from St. Vincent de Paul were at the Gard du Nord Station with smiling faces and open arms. They immediatley took us to their grand church which is only about 5 blocks away from the Train Station. After drinking wonderful French coffee and eating some tasty pastries, we went on a tour of the church. St. Vincent de Paul has had a similar history to that of St. Michael's Church (one of our four churches). It is a wonderful, grand, old building that is becoming tired and worn out. We were told the very familiar story of how the parish is struggling to raise enough money in order to keep the building together. Currently it is the roof that is the problem being over 100 years old. There are large buckets stacked along the walls ready to catch dripping water during a rain storm. "We hope we can replace the roof before the wood floor is completly gone", said Father Bruno as he was taking us around the chapel. In the fact that we would not be able to go ontop of the Eifel Tower because of the tremendous crowds on a saturday, Father Bruno and the parishoners took us on a private tour up on the roof of the church. "We think this is an even better view!", said one of the parishoners. "The best part about it too is that it is free!" And what a magnificant view it was indeed! All of Paris seemed to be stretched out infront of us. It was a sight I will not forget for a long time!

After a wonderful reception at St. Vincent de Paul, the 18 of us from St. Pancras boarded a city bus and headed to the Eifel Tower. I know from past conversations that you shouldn't expect to be "wowed" be the height of the Eifel. What is incredible is to see, however, is the size of the base. It's HUGE! What an incredible achievement the structure of the Eifel Tower is! For lunch, we boarded a boat and cruised down the Seine River admiring the French archetecture as we went. At the end of our boat ride, we came right into the presence of Notre Dame Cathedral. Now I have seen a lot of churches in my day, but I think I can honestly say that Notre Dame is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. There is somthing about the gothic design that absolutley captivated me. It was lovely! At the end of our time, we all decided to sit down in a wonderful French cafe by the Cathedral and indulge ourselves in some French cuisine. Indeed, I was not dissapointed as my Crepe' was wonderfully tasty!

My time in Paris, though short, was very meaningful. Though the views, buidlings, and food were all beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful thing was to be with this parish family as it came to the end of a chapter in it's life. Fr. Nicholas could not stop smiling the entire day and was grateful to all of us for helping make this trip a reality. Everyone knows that after all the celebrations and parties are over, things will be different. This family will never be the same again. Though in many ways, that is what this trip in my mind tried to emphasize. A church family is always changing as it is continually saying heartfelt goodbyes to the "old faces" and warm welcomes to the "new faces". What links this group together is a belief that there is somthing more to the equation than just pure chance. We all have our lives to go live and sometimes that means physically leaving people who you really love. However, ties are not just physical at all and remain within us just as the hope and faith in God remains in us. It is important to take time and celebrate the current family ties that you have, but also to take time in knowing that the love of one another will go forth with us always for the rest of our lives.