Getting to know more about Fr David Cain and his parish

For this month's featured parish article, we visited the The Holy Family Cluster which comprises the churches of, Sacred Heart & St Margaret Mary, St Joseph’s and Our Lady of Good Counsel, where we met with Fr David Cain.

Hello Father! Nice to meet you in person

Good to see you!

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Would you like to tell us a little bit about what has been happening in your parish?

We are the Holy Family Cluster of Parishes in East Leicester, made up of Sacred Heart Church, Our Lady of Good Counsel and St Joseph’s Church as well as the Community of St Margaret Mary, who worship at St Paul’s Catholic Polish Church in Leicester.

Recently we hosted a 4mission summer camp which was funded through the Mission Enabling Fund, and it was a great summer camp with children aged between First Communion and Confirmation age. There were around 50 people each day that attended for the five-day programme. There were 30 young helpers around Confirmation age, plus people who had done their Confirmation and older ones as well. There were also a few adults supervising.

We had a great week based and focused on Mission, but we also held several activities. The activities included sports, art and crafts, music, dance, face painting, all sorts of stuff that was focused on a particular Saint each day. We also reflected on some of the Scripture quotes from the readings of the day. It was a fun week with fabulous weather. If only it were like that every day!

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Any joys in your parish life?

I think, like I said the 4Mission Summer Camp that we hosted was really good. I think the quantity of young people that wanted to serve their parish was terrific.

I also love the social events that happen here. So, in a couple of weeks’ time, we are celebrating the Parish Feast Day of Our Lady of Good Counsel and people just love to get involved.  They like coming for the celebration of the Mass and to hold processions. They always love to bring lots of food! Sometimes you might think, “oh, are we going to struggle to get people to bring food?” And then at the last minute, we receive way more than we could ever possibly want! It is lovely when those things happen.

I think what also brings me joy is the different characters between the parishes. So, St Joseph’s Parish is quite a mix of all sorts of different people from various countries in Africa, the Philippines, people with Irish descendants and Zimbabweans. The majority here at Sacred Heart are mainly from Daman-a place in India- and some people are from Goa. We have such a great mix. We are always thinking how best we can serve those communities. So, while we are a community within the Holy Family Cluster, we are also a series of other communities, that have their own individual cultural celebrations.

Deacon Seamus just married a couple from the Philippines, and they had a series of other things that they brought to their marriage celebration and were particular to their culture. He found it fascinating how you had the sacrament, and you had the liturgy as it is, but the other things, such as the music, were fascinating. You never quite know what you are going to get. There is always something that will create interest and joy each day.

What about the challenges?

Well actually, I would say that that joy that I just mentioned has a flip side and the flip side is the challenge. “How do you…?” We had this question this morning! We were preparing the newsletter ready for printing and discussing an event that we do with the other Christian communities in Leicester called Ride and Stride. Basically, churches will open up for a whole day and people will welcome anyone who wants to visit any of the churches. The people visiting can ask for sponsorship for their journey too - either a bike ride, or a walk, or a run-whatever way you want to get there! I suppose you can even travel by a horse if you wanted to but there are not many horse riders in this part of Leicester, but we are going to be open. If someone brings a horse, we are going to get some hay for them.

The challenge is, how do we make it interesting and something that people will want to do from all of our various communities? Because I think each group is looking for something different in the way that they celebrate their faith. How can we adapt? And how can we serve those communities? So, that is a challenge.

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What about your hopes for the future?

I think here in east Leicester, we are a very multi-faith community. So, where we are today, at Sacred Heart Parish for example, it is mainly people from Muslim or Hindi backgrounds living in this area. There are always celebrations and different cultural events that go on in Leicester. It is a very vibrant city. But it is not without its challenges as well. Sometimes, not necessarily always, it is not as fruitful as it could be. People would have seen nationally on the TV about various disturbances a couple of years ago that happened in this area. But often, it is people who travel in from outside of Leicester that want to cause trouble. The actual relationships of people here in Leicester are fantastic. We have great relationships with all our neighbours. I am part of two organisations: The Leicester Council of Faith and the St Philip’s Centre, who do a lot of great work within schools and faith communities for community cohesion.

I hope that we-our Catholic Christian communities- will work even better with our neighbours of different faith. That would be a hope for the future.

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Our last question, what words of encouragement would you give to another parish?

Well, I would say; see the reality of each parish. You might read the Diocesan newspaper, or read the website or the e-newsletter about what is happening in another parish, and you might think “oh wow, we can do that here.” Sometimes you can, but every parish is unique and has their own gifts, their own way of doing things. You can’t always look and say “oh they are doing something awesome” because every parish is doing something awesome.

When I was Vocations Director working for the Diocese full time, I was blessed to visit every single parish, not quite every school- primary, secondary- but most schools in the Diocese, and every one of them has something uniquely fascinating to offer in service both to that community and what they offer beyond.

Someone asked me this: “is there anywhere in the Diocese that you would not want to be appointed to?” And I was thinking: “No! All of them are a blessing. We are a really nice diocese, made of really fabulous communities.”  

Everyone is doing their own little bit for ministry in their little part of the world. What a blessing!