Our Lady of the Visitation

Introduction

Our Lady of the Visitation in Greenford, in the Archdiocese of Westminster, was designed by David Stokes and built in 1960-61.

History

On 2 July 1929, Father Kennedy, the Provincial of the Anglo Irish Province of the Pallottines, celebrated the first Mass in the small chapel known as the 'Settlement Hut'. In May 1937 the 'Old Church Hall' was opened and the present presbytery was also built.

David Stokes designed the church as early as 1955-6. The official opening of the Parish Centre Club was held in 1974.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a single storey narthex at the west end and a tall, gaunt campanile to the north west. The parabolic arches are marked externally on the south side by small, low brick buttresses, while on the north the feet of the arches are exposed. Some polychromatic detailing in an inappropriate 'Butterfieldian' style using darker bricks was added in the 1990s by D. W. Aitken, to replace square concrete panel cladding. The western part of the sanctuary is lit by a mesh of small rectangular windows with white and bright yellow glazing, and a similar mesh forms a large west window with very light blue panels.

The most dramatic stained glass are strips of very thin multi-coloured glass either side of the nave, an original feature supplied by James Hetley & Co. In the nave there is a clerestory on either side formed of a continuous row of clear glazed rectangular panels with aluminium frames and brick piers, 1990s replacements for square concrete framed openings. A small Blessed Sacrament chapel is located behind a glazed screen on the north side of the sanctuary, an addition since consecration. The confessionals, two on either side, are pleasingly designed with slightly bowed out vertical oak boarding.

The church was written up in the architectural press, specifically in the Builder on 19 January 1962, describing the aluminium baldachino partly finished with gold leaf and from which hung a Perspex canopy, no longer there. The paintings of the Stations of the Cross were commissioned from Philip Le Bas and date from 1960 or 1961. The internal walls are rendered and painted off-white or cream. The organ pipes are inserted into plain niches on either side of the Sanctuary.

Music and liturgy

The Builder article noted that the church was lit by three concealed lights at the back, which also threw beams of light on the High altar of Cornish granite.

Parish life

The parish is a Catholic community of various races and cultures, united by the Eucharist. The parish offers preparation and reception for the sacraments of Baptism, First Holy Communion, Confirmation and Marriage.

The parish has a St Vincent de Paul Society group that offers practical assistance and befriending visits to anyone in need in the local community. The parish has a side chapel for younger children that is soundproof but connected to the sound system, so children can play while parents follow Mass. The parish has a Catechetical Co-ordinator. Visitors can best appreciate the church's powerful interior from the West end gallery, which should be open.

Sacraments and pastoral care

Adults who were not confirmed as children take part in the Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults (R.C.I.A.). Confirmation candidates in the parish normally celebrate Confirmation in Year 10, with preparation led by the catechetical team.

Couples planning to marry should make an appointment to see one of the priests at least six months before the proposed wedding date. Couples will attend a Marriage Preparation course, which takes place on the last Saturday of February each year.

Teams of Our Lady is an international lay movement in the Catholic Church, designed to enrich marriage spirituality and make good marriages better. A team is comprised of five to seven couples whose marriage is recognized in the eyes of the Catholic Church, meeting monthly in each other's homes.