1920's
In 1925 Cardinal Bourne decided that the expanding population living around West Green Road needed its own church. A site was found and a temporary church was officially opened in 1927.

1930's
Parish Priest:Fr Henry Bryant 1937 - 1941
For the first ten years the church was served by the Canons Regular of the Lateran, who came over from Stroud Green to say the two Sunday morning Masses. The people rallied together and organised themselves in many ways to create a parish community. A number of groups were established: The St. Vincent de Paul, which helped the many poor people who lived in the area, the Legion of Mary, the Guild of St. Stephen, Girls' and Boys' clubs and the Children of Mary. An entertainment committee was set up and dances were held in West Green School and whist drives in peoples homes to help pay off the debt on the church. The nuns from St Mary's Priory taught children the catechism and prepared them for First Communion and Confirmation. The parish got its first parish priest, Fr Henry Bryant, in 1937 who initially rented a room in a house in Langham Road and then moved into the old house at 4 Vincent Road that was bought by the parish as a presbytery.

1940's
Parish Priests:Fr John McKenzie 1941 - 1943 Fr Roderick Cuming 1943 - 1974
During the war years the parish remained a thriving community, even though many of the children were evacuated. Services were held earlier in the evenings because of the black-outs, an extra Sunday Mass was said at 12.00 to allow more people to attend church, Fr. Bryant visited bombed families and gave great support to those who suffered in any way. In 1941 he was moved to a larger parish and was replaced by Fr John Ware until 1943, when Fr Roderick Cuming D.D. arrived and became parish priest for the next thirty years.

1950's
Parish Priest: Fr Roderick Cuming
 Because of the increase in the number of parishioners the temporary church was extended by the addition of a Nissen Hut, which was first used in 1952. The parishioners continued to collect money for the building of a new church and work began on it in 1957. The old church was dismantled and moved to become the parish hall.

During this time daily Masses were said in the presbytery and Sunday Masses in West Green School hall. The new church was completed in December 1958 and officially opened in April 1959 by Cardinal William Godfrey.

1960's
Parish Priest: Fr Roderick Cuming
 With the church completed the parish turned its attention to constructing a purpose - built presbytery. Fr Cuming bought Nr. 2 Vincent Road and so his house at Nr.4 and Nr. 2 were demolished and a new presbytery was built on the site. 1964 saw the completion of the presbytery, the installation of a new organ in the church and the consecration of the church by Bishop David Cashman in the presence of Cardinal Heenan. As the number of parishioners was increasing a church was bought from the Methodists in Mattison Road to serve the people of Harringey. Fr Ronald Sheppard was appointed to the church, St. Augustine's of Canterbury, in 1964. Fr Cuming supported the Servite nuns in their efforts to build a new school. In 1966 St Mary's Priory School was opened. Fr Ignatius Tonna arrived as assistant priest in the parish in 1966 and stayed for over eleven years. He was instrumental in organising the renovation of the church with the help of parishioners, whom he rewarded with his home brewed wine.

1970's
Parish Priests: Fr Roderick Cuming - 1974 Fr Leslie Cole 1974 - 1981
 During the 1960's and 1970's the ethnicity of the parish community began to change as more and more immigrants arrived in the Borough of Haringey. From being a predominantly white parish, with mainly Irish but also Italian and Polish parishioners, the parish community began to embrace parishioners from all around the world with over 25 different nationalities represented. In 1974 the parish finally got its own school when, after many years of fund raising, St John Vianney's Primary School was opened in Stanley Road, near the church.

1980's
Parish Priests: Fr.Michael Higgins SMA Fr Dermot McCaul SMA
In 1981 the SMA fathers took over the running of the parish. The SMA are a missionary congregation, who traditionally work in Africa, but it was felt that with their experience of other cultures and societies they had plenty to offer the multi-racial community in Haringey. The first SMA parish priest was Fr Michael Higgins and the first assistant priest was Fr Cornelius O'Driscoll, who stayed in the parish for 20 years. In 1985 the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of the Apostles (the OLA's) - Sr Joan Murray, Sr Finbarr and Sr De Pazzi - arrived in the parish to help. They too had worked in Africa and were able to understand the needs of parishioners from ethnic minorities. During the Pope's visit to England in 1982 parishioners were able to attend Mass at Wembley Stadium and at Coventry Airport.

1990's
Parish priests: Fr Dermot McCaul SMA   Fr Tom Kearney SMA Fr Rob Morland SMA

St John Vianney's became a meeting place for SMA fathers travelling to and from Africa. Many stayed for short periods of time, serving the parish and being made welcome there. The parish hall was burnt down by vandals in 1991, when the parishioners were enjoying a fair at the primary school. The hall had to be demolished and two temporary halls were erected in its place. After much negotiation the parish was able to purchase the notorious pub next door and work began on refurbishing it. It was finally opened to the parish and local community.
Sr Mary Agnes joined the parish in 1996 to become part of the Parish team.
Fr Edward Deeney SMA also joined the Parish team.

2000's
Parish Priests: Fr Rob Morland SMA Fr Joe Ryan 2003 -

The SMA fathers sadly left the parish in 2003 because of a drop in vocations and the parish was once more to be served by priests from the Diocese of Westminster.
Fr Joe Ryan arrived in the autumn of 2003 and in the short time he has been parish priest has already managed to significantly lower the debt on the parish centre. The parish is taking part in the Westminster Renewal Programme - At Your Word Lord. The parish continues to thrive with many active organisations, with over 1000 people attending Mass each Sunday and between 40 - 80 at Mass each week day.

Our Saint

John Mary Vianney was born in Lyons, France, in 1786.  As a child he took care of his father's sheep. He loved to pray but he also loved to play horseshoes. When John was eighteen, he asked his father's permission to become a priest. His father was worried because John had become a big help on the family farm. After two years, Mr. Vianney agreed. At twenty, John studied under Father Balley. The priest was very patient but Latin soon became a major problem for John. He became discouraged. It was then that he decided to walk sixty miles to the shrine of St John Francis Regis, a popular saint in France.
John prayed for the saint's help.

After that pilgrimage, he had as much trouble as ever with his studies. The difference was that he never again grew discouraged. John was finally able to enter the seminary. Studies were hard. No matter how much he tried, he never did very well. When the final examinations came, they were spoken, not written. John had to face a board of teachers and answer their questions. He was so upset that he broke down in the middle of the test. Yet, because John was a holy man, he was full of common sense and he understood what the Church taught about the subjects. He knew the right answers when asked what should be done in this case or that. He just couldn't say those answers in the complicated style of Latin textbooks. John was ordained anyway. He understood what the priestly vocation was and his goodness was beyond question.

He was sent to a little parish called Ars. Father Vianney fasted and did hard penance for his people. He tried to stop them from sinning. They drank too much, worked all day Sunday and never went to church. Many used terrible language. Eventually, one tavern after another closed down because business became so slow. People began to worship regularly on Sundays and attended weekday Mass. The swearing was not so frequent. What had happened in Ars? "Our priest is a saint," the people would say, "and we must obey him."

God gave John the power to see into people's minds and to know the future. Because of this gift, he converted many sinners and helped people make the right decisions. Pilgrims began to come to Ars. In time, it was hundreds a day. St. John Vianney spent twelve to sixteen hours daily hearing confessions. He wanted so much to spend the rest of his life in a monastery. Instead, he stayed forty-two years at Ars and died there in 1859 at the age of seventy-three. St John Vianney was proclaimed a saint in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.

St John Vianney teaches us by his example to pray when things are hard. The Lord will help us overcome our difficulties. He will use us as his instruments to bring his love and joy. We celebrate the feast of St John Vianney on the 4th August.

OUR FUTURE - AT YOUR WORD LORD 

The parish of St. John Vianney began the At Your Word Lord renewal programme at a time of great transition. The SMA fathers had just left the parish after over 20 years and Father Joe Ryan arrived to become the new parish priest. I am sure he was much inspired when he joined two coach loads of parishioners for the launch of AYWL with Mass in Wembley on September the 26th 2003.

From the very beginning the parishioners showed great enthusiasm for AYWL, which was all the more pertinent as the number of priests serving the parish was reduced from three (or even four) to one. With AYWL came the opportunity for parishioners to grow in faith and community, with the parishioners taking on the responsibility of organising themselves. After a successful Enrolment Sunday and training for the core group leaders, twelve groups were formed. The groups met at different times and in different venues (including people's homes) over the course of the first Season. Friendships were started as the parishioners became familiar with the format of the faith sharing sessions.

For the next four Seasons the parishioners continued meeting regularly in their groups. The number of groups did not increase but the number of parishioners involved grew. A small number of people did not attend all the meetings or had to drop out because of other commitments, but others joined later on in the programme, so the number of participants remained constant at around 80. The core group leaders regularly attended training both in different venues around the diocese of Westminster and organised in our own parish.

The AYWL programme had the wonderful effect of bringing the parishioners closer together. It gave people the opportunity to get to know each other better, to speak to people whom they only knew by sight before and to learn from the rich experiences of parishioners who come from many different countries. The groups really looked forward to meeting each other during the sessions and there were many people who didn't miss even one meeting throughout the programme. The friendships that were made will continue to flourish.

Throughout the whole of the AYWL process the parishioners were greatly supported by the parish priest, Father Joe Ryan, who was inspirational in his enthusiasm and encouragement. During each Season he interwove the themes of the sessions in his sermons, he prayed with the parishioners for the success of the programme and even climbed the ladder himself to hang up some of the banners!

Even though the programme has come to an end we plan to continue to hold similar sessions during Lent and Advent. We hope to amalgamate for some of the sessions as we bring in speakers on various topics suggested by the groups. We want the fruits of AYWL to live on in our parish for many years to come!

GRACED BY THE SPIRIT: THE GREEN PAPER

The Parishioners of St. John Vianney met recently to discuss Graced by the Spirit: the Green Paper. During the meeting the parishioners came to the conclusion that they must all look more positively at the challenges facing parishes. It was agreed that because of the lack of priests lay people would have to be more involved in the life of the parish and so the laity would need to be empowered.

The parishioners discussed how more people could be encouraged to become active, and not just a few. Examples were given of other countries, like Scotland or France, where lay people are more involved, eg by leading funerals.

The possibility of getting trained catechists for the parish was looked at and suggestions were made that these catechists could train others.

Another option was having trained deacons, but the parishioners wondered whether they would just take on the role of priests, when surely a totally different approach was needed, involving more of the laity.

It was agreed that a lot of the tasks in church could be done by parishioners. Maybe the tasks could be known as ministries?

A Pastoral Council, which consisted of lay people and the parish priest, could co-ordinate what goes on in the parish. Maybe such a council would be able to deal with the challenge of a priest not always being available. The lay people on the council would have their areas of responsibility and deal with any problems as they arose.

SUGGESTIONS

Suggestions for how our parish would meet the challenge of a limited number of priests and cope with the day to day running of the parish

1 Pastoral Council organised and trained. How would we elect, choose, compose such a council? Maybe we could have nominations, elections?
2 Leadership development - training in team spirit
3 Become aware of what is already in existence and build on that. Recognise the talents people have
4 Commitment is needed. People would have to be prepared to commit themselves for a certain period of time. eg. a year
5 More inter-relations between the neighbouring parishes
6 Carry on all our programmes as usual. Keep working on what we think is important
7 We could carry out an appraisal of groups to identify areas of need or concern in the small groups, so that they could be supported.
8 Have a welcoming book - maybe a welcoming party every six months or so
9 Hold a parish census