My first 4 years in pastoral ministry were spent at St Albert’s, and there are many happy memories, especially of baptisms, confirmations, and weddings, retreats, graduations, and Burn's Nights.
However, my fondest memories all involve the new chapel at St Albert’s and the liturgies and concerts and celebrations that took place there for the first time. I recall the joyous faces of our students and parishioners when they first saw the interior; I remember a very moving last Mass in the upstairs chapel, and the Eucharistic procession into the new chapel and the sanctuary lamp being ignited as a sign to all of the presence of the Risen Lord; and I remember the Mass of Dedication when the altar was anointed and set apart for divine worship, and the incense set off the fire alarm! But my fondest memory in there is of our first Easter Triduum and singing the Exsultet in a church packed with students and parishioners of all ages, their faces aglow with the light from the Easter fire: “Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice, arrayed with the lightning of his glory, let this holy building shake with joy, filled with the mighty voices of the peoples!"
Fr Lawrence was the Assistant Chaplain at St Albert's from Sept 2011 until June 2015. He is now the Promoter General of the Holy Rosary; Rector at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary (London); and Spiritual Director on 206 Tours, (Holy Land '19 & Fatima and Lourdes '20).