The Oratory Outreach Programme aims to bring to London the work of St Philip Neri, the sixteenth-century founder of the Roman Oratory. When St Philip arrived in Rome in 1534 he soon saw that one way to draw others to follow Christ more closely was by sending them out to assist the needy in Rome. He himself often went out on missions of mercy to help those whom, by Divine guidance, he knew needed aid. By these means and by his preaching, St Philip became known as the Second Apostle of Rome.
Helping us to help others
By volunteering through the Brompton Oratory you commit to a dual role: giving your time to those in genuine need and doing so as an ‘ambassador’ for your Faith and for the Oratory. This will be a chance to witness to the truth of our Faith by concrete deeds of love. Following St Philip’s lead and after assessing the situation we have established some main areas to concentrate on.
ASSISTANCE FOR THE HOMELESS AND VULNERABLE
The Oratory encourages our parishioners to support many of the charities in our area who run important projects to support people in need, homeless and in vulnerable situation:
Leave donations in the Poor Box / St Anthony's Bread box by the Sacred Heart Chapel or at the Oratory House: funds are used for the provision of food, clothing and bedding, and for other urgent expenses for the homeless and destitute
Join the Central London Catholic Churches Project: www.farmstreet.org.uk/outreach
Support the Companions of the Order of Malta: www.orderofmalta.org.uk/companions
Support the Holy Trinity Brompton Project: www.htb.org/socialtransformation
Support and Donate to Glass Door, a London-based homeless charity: www.glassdoor.org.uk
Join the St Vincent de Paul Society at Farm Street: www.farmstreet.org.uk/outreach
If you contact any of the above charities, please mention that you come via the Oratory.
Visiting the elderly at home, in nursing homes & in hospitals
We are working with the RVS to provide this service. If you are interested in this, please email John Aylward, making sure to mention that you come via the Oratory, his email address is: jeaylward@yahoo.co.uk. If you know someone who needs visiting, please email the Oratory’s main email address generalenquiries@bromptonoratory.co.uk with “Elderly Visit Request” in the subject line. Volunteers are also needed to help co-ordinate/arrange possible hospital and nursing home visits. If you would like to investigate this, please also email John Aylward.
Mentoring those in need
The Oratory will work with the XLP (XLP stands for ‘The eXceL Project’) Charity. If you are interested in helping create positive futures for young people growing up on inner-city estates in London, struggling daily with issues such as family breakdown, unemployment, and educational failure. You can more details on how to volunteer at www.xlp.org.uk/volunteer.html. If you email, please make sure to mention that you come via the Oratory.
Visiting prisoners and potential post-release mentoring
We are looking for volunteers to help at Wandsworth Prison, supporting the Catholic chaplaincy. It would involve a pretty regular commitment helping to supervise the weekly Mass and working directly with prisoners. Volunteers would need a certain robustness of character in unfamiliar environments. If interested, please contact Dominic Sullivan at dsullivan@los.ac. There may also be the possibility to set up post-prison mentoring.
General and occasional assistance for those in need
A small team assist the Fathers in this work, dealing with the homeless and other who coming seeking support. If you are interested in helping with this, please email generalenquiries@bromptonoratory.co.uk with the subject “Outreach Assisstance”.
Occasional help
If you would like to volunteer to help for our Christmas Lunch on Christmas Day for elderly and lonely (emails monitored September to December), please email svpxmaslunch@gmail.com.
Summer Fête (Saturday nearest to 24th June – emails monitored only April to June): please email: oratorysummerparty@gmail.com if you would like to help or donate.
Wilfrid’s House
This Charity was set up in 2015 with the support of the Oratory fathers but separate from the Oratory. Wilfrid's House is a BACP-accredited, registered charity committed to helping people cope with life’s challenges. On offer is a low cost 1:1 psychotherapy and life coaching for adults. Work is also done in schools, universities and other organisations (https://wilfridshouse.org/).