LONDON — With their distinctive gray habits and beards, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are now a familiar sight in London. But the U.S.-based order has found that England presents some different challenges than America.

Their home is St. Fidelis Friary, a single-story building that was once used as a youth club by nearby St. Margaret’s Catholic Church, in Canning Town, on the banks of the River Thames in the heart of the East End.

Despite being only a short distance from financial institutions and the soaring office blocks of Canary Wharf, London’s new business quarter, you won’t find any theaters, classy restaurants or art galleries in Canning Town.

Once part of the bustling docks, when ships from all over the world used to unload their cargo at Royal Victoria Dock, it’s now a neighborhood characterized by poverty, unemployment, crime, drugs and run-down housing. Its projects have become home to many refugees and immigrants, especially from Asia.

First in Europe

The friars arrived in Canning Town from New York in June 2000 at the invitation of Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood. This is their first foundation in Europe, though they have plans to establish a second community.

The six-strong community at St. Fidelis consists of Brother John Paul from Nevada, Father Fidelis from New Jersey, Father Angelus from New Hampshire, Brother Martin from Nebraska, Brother Jacob from Florida, and Brother Francis, one of eight Englishmen now in the order.

“Most of the community were surprised when we opened a friary in England. We did this because of the English vocations we were getting,” said Brother John Paul, the superior. “When we arrived here, we looked at what was being provided in the area and what wasn’t. We tried going into pubs to talk to people, but it didn’t work, as the hours when people were in the pubs didn’t coincide with our schedule at the friary.”

Their arrival brought a mixed reaction from local youngsters, he recalled. “On the first day we came to Canning Town, we had an egg thrown at us,” Brother John Paul said. “And some people used to yell at us. But this opened up lots of opportunities for us to talk with people. One of the first things we did when we arrived was to set up a basketball team, which proved valuable in making contact with local families.”

“Canning Town doesn’t look as rough as some of the inner-city areas in the (United) States,” Brother John Paul said. “The buildings are all relatively new because the area was rebuilt after the bombing of the Second World War. And you don’t have the noise here that you have in New York. In comparison to New York, I think London’s more culturally diverse, and it embraces a lot of people of different faiths. There’s a lot of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists here.”

The friars provide meals four days a week for those on low incomes. “Friar Benet’s Kitchen is a place where we offer hospitality and food to pretty much anybody,” Brother John Paul said. “One of the things we’ve discovered is that it provides an opportunity to build up friendships. The majority of people who come to it are not homeless, but they need stable friendships. Some people live alone and spend much of their time just watching TV.”

Post-Christian Country

While Christianity may be robust and dynamic in the United States, the picture in Britain is very different. Only about 3% of the population attend church regularly. With fewer priests available, Catholic dioceses are cutting the number of Masses and, in some cases, closing churches or merging parishes.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the archbishop of Westminster, has publicly stated that Christianity had been “almost vanquished” in Britain.

“Britain doesn’t have the kind of strong Christian character that you find in the states,” Brother John Paul said. “People here tend to see religion as a personal thing. The Catholic community here is very small compared to the U.S. The Church in the Archdiocese of New York, I would guess, has the same population as the entire Catholic community in England. “

Added Brother John Paul, “Catholic parishes in England often have just congregations of 100 or 200. And very few parishes have a youth minister. In Britain, you don’t have to pay to go to Catholic schools. But to get government funding, schools have to fulfill certain requirements. This can lead to the watering-down of the faith and children not growing in faith while they are at school.”

Among other things, the friars help out with parish confirmation programs, participate in monthly pro-life vigils outside abortion clinics, run a Lexio Divina (sacred reading) group and, with some of their 40 lay associates, conduct an introductory course in Christianity.

They also venture onto the streets to proclaim the Gospel, either in Soho, the center of London’s sex industry, or on a traffic island in Canning Town, standing alongside life-size posters of the Shroud of Turin, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Divine Mercy, handing out prayer cards.

“We used to do this in the subway stations in New York,” Brother Martin said. “We don’t have to say much. We just put the images up and stand there. These images have a great power to speak to people’s hearts of beauty and the presence of God.

“You get the whole gamut of reactions,” Brother Martin said. “You have some people who are very open and interested and will stop and talk. You have others who will hover or drive or walk around a few times and then dive in and ask a question or wait for you to approach them. At other times, people will drive past and shout at you. My attitude is, people aren’t coming to church, so you need to bring the Church to them.”

Greg Watts writes

from London.