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Father Philip North |
Father Philip set to build a place ‘where people can belong’
New vicar outlines plans for multi-purpose building
THE new vicar at a church in the heart of Camden Town has described his ambitious plans to return the building to its roots and move away from a worship- only environment.
Father Philip North wants to open Camden Road’s St Michael’s Church to guests of all faiths and keep it open “as much as possible” by hosting art installations, plays and concerts and he is urging people to stop him in the street with ideas.
“I’d like the space to be used for as many different things by as many different people as possible,” said Fr Philip, 41, who was “inducted” into St Michael’s as team rector of the parish of Old St Pancras, made up of four churches, earlier this month by the Bishop of Edmonton, Peter Wheatley.
St Michael’s waved goodbye to Father Nicholas Wheeler, who left for Brazil, at the start of the year, and Father Malcolm Hunter, who recently took over as chaplain of a women’s prison.
“I’m open to any use which isn’t profoundly against the gospel, and as long as it isn’t devil worship or a spot for drug dealing,” he added.
Fr Philip – former priest in the pilgrim town of Walsingham – told the New Journal this week that one of his main priorities was to establish the church as a destination in its own right. Rather than be “the church next to Sainsbury’s” he wants the supermarket to be “the Sainsbury’s next to the church”.
And if anyone can raise further the profile of St Michael’s it’s Fr Philip, who in previous roles has helped take over a failing secondary school, become its chairman of governors, and raised over £2million for his Walsingham church – skills that will be welcomed at St Michael’s, which, it is estimated, needs around £4million to fix its Grade II-listed Victorian interior.
Fr Philip also acknowledges that should you ask members of his former congregations what they make of their bicycle-loving priest who is definitely on the right side of trendy, they would recount tales of his energy and enthusiasm for hard work.
“And they would tell you it was never boring,” he laughed, before laying out his vision for his church’s role in the famously fun-filled back streets of Camden.
“The Christian faith should never be boring and churches should be happy places – Camden has a great reputation for partying and that will continue,” he said.
While he has already found time to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant in Parkway, Fr Philip acknowledged the thing highest up on his “to do” list was “listening” to what the area’s needs are.
“It’s hard to find quite where Camden is – it’s a place where lots of people seem not to belong anywhere,” he said. “That’s the place of the church – building a place where people can belong.”
He also spelled out areas of improvement such as a better café area, superior lighting and more heat, but insisted he doesn’t want to turn it into a “slick” church and said “there’s a charm in its slight sense of decay”.
And there is an added bonus for the boy who grew up in a nearby London postcode – most of his family, including his father and two brothers, are just a bus ride away in Islington. |
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