In this reflection, written on Friday 16th June, two days after the disastrous Grenfell Tower fire, Fr Peter Wilson shares some thoughts about the events of the day and how the locan community has been supported. It was a privilege today once again to accompany Bishop John Wilson as he spent the whole day tirelessly ministering across the full range of people affected by the Grenfell Tower fire. The morning was spent visiting the Catholic schools of the area. Each of them has been affected.
Meeting with the children in each class, and with the staff who have to carry the burden of their own responses while supporting and caring for the children, Bishop John gave time and a gentle yet strong encouragement to them all. The head and staff at Sion Manning have been brilliant at making space and a warm, safe welcome for St Francis. Fr Gerard Skinner and I were deeply touched by the whole encounter, and by Bishop John's pastoral care. There is a beautiful way in which the response of children so often evokes a delightful laughter, which brings hope.
At St Charles Primary School we were just in time to see off a busload of children heading for a weekend trip to Dorset. But saying goodbye to them were parents whose hearts were heavy with grief because some of their friends were in the building and unaccounted for. Now their hope is turning to that dreadful awareness that they will have perished. There was the awful reality endured by a child fortunate enough to have escaped, and a staff member who lives in flats opposite the building and so had been a witness to the horrors which had unfolded that dreadful night.
Then down to the site itself, where we joined Fr Peter Scott, who has been tirelessly ministering to those engaged in the grim tasks now being performed there. Today the site is much more palpably tense and distressing. Yesterday Fr Gerard, Fr Peter and I had free access and many extraordinary conversations with the brave, dedicated men and women. Today we had to be accompanied everywhere we went by two police officers, with whom we struck up a good relationship.
The way the clergy darted about, stopping to talk to various people, made their job rather difficult! But they dealt with it with good humour. The priority at the site yesterday was still the dousing of the smouldering ruin. Today, it is the grim removal of remains. One of the firemen with whom I spoke unburdened some of the horrific things he is having to deal with. There was immediate trust. Beyond the perimeter there is growing anger and distress because people do not have information and many seem to believe they are being kept in the dark.
