DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATION – 60 years –
SACRED HEART PRIORY GREENWICH, LONDON
7TH MAY 2011
Dear Bishop Patrick Lynch, dear Fr John Lavery, our Dominican Brother Fr Vivian Boland OP and
Fr George Webster, The Dominican Sisters of Stone (Ealing) and of Bushey, and the Ursuline
Sisters and all dear Friends of the Dominican Sisters!
Thank you for joining us in our celebration of sixty years of presence of the Dominican
Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at 38 Hyde Vale, Greenwich. This Priory of the
Sacred Heart is not only a beautiful and historic place, it is also an important place in the history
of our Congregation.
Our Congregation, having been founded in Africa, in Zimbabwe in 1891, had begun a
primary school and a Training House for young Sisters in Chirk, Wales in 1947. However, for the
Formation of our young Sisters in England we needed a more central place, which we found in
1951, when the property at 38 Hyde Vale was auctioned by the St Paul’s Brothers and Sisters, a
Benedictine Anglican Congregation. Since 1899 they had looked after poor sailors who returned
from long sea voyages and had nowhere to go. At 38 Hyde Vale they found a welcome and
were provided with food, clothing, lodging and spiritual care. Long after the Dominican Sisters
had acquired this property the sailors would still come and look for the kind St Paul’s Brothers
and Sr Francis, who had welcomed Hundreds of sailors in previous years. Here I would like to
acknowledge the presence of Susan Allshorn, representing Abbot William Hughes OS@B from
Alton Abbey, the Benedictines who previously owned the Sacred Heart Priory.
The first Mass was celebrated in the newly acquired convent on 15th September 1951.
In 1953 the first candidates to religious life entered and in 1954 permission was received from
Rome to transfer the Novitiate from Chirk to Greenwich.
In the next 20 years 93 young ladies, hailing from England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany
and Switzerland, entered our Congregation in Greenwich to try their vocation as Missionary
Sisters. Of these about one third left at an early stage of their training, while 60 completed their
novitiate and took their first vows as Dominican Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Almost all of them were sent to Africa – Rhodesia (today Zambia and Zimbabwe) to begin their
work of evangelisation there.
In addition many young Sisters, who did their initial training in Germany (Strahlfeld)
passed through Greenwich to improve their English language skills, while others stayed for a
few years to do their training as nurses, midwives and teachers.
In 1985 the Priory was rented out to the ‘Prince of Peace Community’, a Charismatic
Prayer Group, for five years. By the end of 1990 the Dominican Sisters returned to Greenwich
and continued to care for the spiritual welfare of many. Today the members of the Priory
community have retired from their previous jobs as lecturers, teachers, social workers and
media workers and providing hospitality; Today they have still an important role to play in the
spiritual sphere. The Sisters run prayer groups, organise recollection days, do counselling,
provide hospitality and pray for the needs of the world. They are a life-giving spiritual presence
in this part of London and give witness to the importance of faith in today’s world. The refuge
for homeless sailors of times past has been transformed into a spiritual beacon, a meeting place
for those who look for God and for meaning in life.
As you know, we belong to the worldwide Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, and have
VERITAS as our motto. We are to preach the TRUTH of God’s great love for us, his merciful
compassion and his boundless forgiveness. We PRAISE, and BLESS and PREACH, that Jesus
Christ is Lord. We do this in particular in the countries of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Colombia,
Germany and England.
Today we thank God for the sixty years he has granted us in this place, the Sacred Heart
Priory in Greenwich. We thank Him for the strength and the support he has given us and for the
many young people who have passed through this Priory and have trained as Dominican
Missionary Sisters ready to spread the Word of God wherever they were sent. We also thank
Him for the many friends we have met here, who have enriched our lives and have been our
companions on the journey, many of whom are present here today.
Thanks to you all for having joined us in this celebration; I thank in particular the Bishop
and the Parish priest and indeed all of you, our friends. I also thank the Sisters of our own
Congregation who are present here today from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya, Germany and of
course, England. May I end with the story of the Apostle Andrew. It was he who introduced his
brother, the apostle Peter, to Jesus. He told Peter “I have found the Messiah.” May we, too, in
our day be able to say to our friends “I HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH” and may we lead them to
Christ. This is our MISSION also today.
In conclusion may I invite you all to the Sacred Heart Priory at 38 Hyde Vale for
refreshments straight after this Eucharistic celebration. Thank you! God bless you all!
Sr Ferrera Weinzierl OP