engagement
CARDINAL Hume has set aside Bank Holiday Monday next week for a most unusual engagement.
He is used to blessing Catholic churches and visiting his own flock. But Monday afternoon sees him opening a Methodist church and social complex in London's fashionable King's Road.
The Cardinal has been invited by the Methodist minister, the Rev David Horton to open Project I55a, named after the street number, which includes a church, pastoral centre, ecumenical training facilities, a coffee bar and chapel.
Mr. Horton feels that the Cardinal is the best living symbol of efforts towards church unity. The new £1.2 million complex contains 21 sheltered flats for the elderly run by the Service Houses organisation, founded by the Catholic association.
The local area bishop, Bishop David Konstant is one of the project's patrons and has taken a close interest in the development for some years.
The new complex stands on the site of a popular 19th century Methodist church which Queen Victoria once visited with approbation.