Bronx to Bradford: Friars on a Mission

Five Franciscan Friars have come to Bradford.

Let's say a prayer.

Amen.

In this city of many faiths, they're on a holy mission...

At first, I thought you were Muslim preachers or something.

Ah, no.

..that began 800 years ago.

Thank you very much, father.

Giving up worldly goods...

My car, I had my dog, like...

My kilt!

...serving the poor...

What would St Francis think of our friends?

He would love them to bits.

..and praying at least five hours a day.

It's not that much.

We want to pray more.

If they weren't busy enough, they're also striving to bring

an empty Catholic Church back to life.

It needs some work, but we're working on it.

God willing, it will open.

In the lead up to Easter, can the brothers pull it off?

Leroy.

He is living rough.

I had to chase him off the step last week so

people could get into the church, you know.

He just wanted five more minutes.

You know, it sounds like us in the morning, you know.

"Just five more minutes!"

I don't know how they do it, wrap themselves in a blanket

and then sleep on the step.

All night, it's like...

Wow.

It's complicated.

Think you've got it figured out?

No.

Are you going to wake him up, Father Gabriel?

Come on, you've got this nice jam sandwich, nice hot coffee.

Who wouldn't want to be woken up to that?

Leroy?

What?

It's Brother Joshua.

What were you doing?

Were you hiding?

You know you can't sleep here.

There's people coming into church.

Yeah.

All right.

Leroy's had an accident, so we're going to get him

some new clothes.

You can go in there, Leroy.

Jesus said, right, if you do it to the least of my brothers,

you did it to me and...

That's it.

He's one of the least of his brothers, so...

Yeah, I asked for the grace to be loving and not judgmental.

Leroy?

Here, your clean trousers.

Being a Franciscan, I gave up everything to be with Jesus

and Leroy comes with that.

And I find Jesus in these people.

HE YAWNS LOUDLY

I have nightmares about the past.

Buckled belts, bars, sticks, bamboo sticks,

throwing me down to the cellar.

I've been through hell, me.

A lot of crap.

30 years ago, the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal

were founded in the Bronx, New York.

Their ranks now come from all over the world to follow the teachings

of Saint Francis, a 13th-century friar and preacher.

The expanding order set up St Pio Friary

in Bradford 12 years ago.

The superior here is Canadian National

Father Gabriel.

So, a little tour here.

This is my room.

Austerity and minimum necessary.

That's it, simple as.

So we're given a couple of changes of our habit.

It's got a hood.

It's in the shape of a cross.

We don't have a belt, but we've got a rope

and there's three knots on the rope

and they represent the vows that we take.

One is poverty, chastity and obedience.

And our rosary.

This is our prayer beads.

Francis was a knight.

You always carried your sword on your left-hand side

so your right hand could grab the sword quickly.

Can't hurt anybody with this, but it's the way

that we fight the real battles in life, with prayer and with love

for people's good, so...

That's our weapon.

I have nothing.

I gave it all up.

Here we are.

I'll show you where I put the stuff I don't have.

So, this is my wardrobe here on the back of the door.

You never have to decide

what you are going to wear in the morning.

Ta-dah!

This, my friend, is contraband.

HE LAUGHS

It's an MP3 player and we're technically...

We're not supposed to have it and I'm going to ask

special permission so I can use it.

It just helps me to learn songs off the Internet.

We try to do without as much technology as we can

so we can live really simple.

Over the centuries, Franciscans have targeted areas

to live among and serve the poor.

St Pio continues that tradition.

Their soup kitchen opens twice a week and today,

it's Brother Joshua's turn to do the cooking.

Some brothers prefer to make home-made.

Some brothers prefer to make the tins.

I like home-made soup.

There is a very secret ingredient

that makes all the difference.

We're going to have at least 60, 70 people here to enjoy our

wonderful food in God's beautiful paradise in Bradford.

This is a donation from a local supermarket.

Every little thing in our life, God provides for.

And without God, we can't do anything.

With the friary relying on donated food,

ingredients aren't always to hand.

Improvisation is the order of the day.

The first time I did tomato soup with rice pudding,

it was a huge hit.

And everyone kept asking me what was in the soup.

I told them and they wouldn't eat any more!

You have the sugar and the milk, which gives it a creamy texture,

and the rice just thickens it up.

I don't have rice, but I have rice pudding,

so I can put the rice pudding in.

BLENDER WHIRRS

A civilian army of volunteers help the brothers keep on track

for a late morning opening.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

OK.

The soup kitchen welcomes an average of 80 people

at every sitting...

Good morning.

Martin, you're on the cooker.

..all with different backgrounds and needs.

You make friends, you know.

Instead of staying in the house 24 hours.

I just like company.

I come with my granddaughter and my great-granddaughter.

Yes.

Coming to see me?

Come on.

There you are.

This is Kayla.

She's one of our VIP members and it's really great for us

just to share in the family life.

How was the soup?

It was all right, lovely.

But we like your chicken and sweetcorn better.

The soup flipping went down well, didn't it?

I mean, it's the rice pudding.

It's got to be!

But primarily, St Pio caters for the vulnerable,

like Tony who's sleeping rough.

Sometimes it's that cold, it's unbelievable

and you can never understand the British weather,

can you, really?

I have a sleeping bag and necessary equipment

to keep me warm that the friars have supplied for me, yeah.

And I put that away in a safe place until I need it.

Tony has a deep love for Saint Patrick's.

He used to serve, I believe, as an altar server.

He still lingers here as much as possible.

It takes him out of a difficult living situation.

I used to take heroin, but not any more.

I haven't touched that for 11 years now.

I was taking crack cocaine and that, yeah.

Yes, thank you, sir.

Thank you very much.

If it wasn't for the friars, there is a very good possibility

I'd be dead now, anyway.

A very good possibility.

Good to see you.

Thanks for the company.

Take care.

Thank you.

God bless you.

The brothers don't just serve the poor.

They cater for the devout as well.

With the people of Bradford's inner-city increasingly from another

faith, the fortunes of Catholicism and Saint Patrick's Church

have been tested in recent years.

I think there's only four or five Catholics

in the region of the parish.

People come from outside the city and they love to come,

even if they have to travel.

It's because the demographic has changed so much in the city,

so we're reaching out and we're here to stay in Bradford

and we're here to grow.

We're using our friary chapel for the Saint Patrick's

congregation, because we're waiting in hopeful anticipation for the

opening of the church next door to hear that's been closed

for a number of years for repairs.

You ready?

Welcome to Saint Patrick's.

To see Saint Patrick's full again would be a sign

that Catholicism is alive and well in the heart of Bradford.

A well-loved parish of many, many generations of people here.

It was built by Irish immigrants.

Needs some work, but we're working on it.

Lots of hope, lots of potential.

You can see, there's lots of old plasterwork

that needs to be redone.

Stained-glass window to Saint Francis, our patron saint.

Someone was trying to break into the church

and they were starting to kick through Saint Francis' window here,

but he held the line.

They couldn't get in.

So Saint Francis is looking after Saint Patrick's still.

It will be a great day when we can gather around the altar again,

as so many generations of Catholics have done before.

Yeah, it's going to be beautiful when it's done.

It was really, really a lovely community.

My three sons all went to the school.

It were the first time that our boys went into long pants.

Two of them were married here.

We met through the church.

This is our anchor, really, isn't it?

We sat on the second row there.

We knew within a short time

that we wanted to spend our lives together.

We're longing for it to be opened again.

We formed a committee.

And I'm sorry to say that there is only four

in this picture that are still alive.

Oh, that was when I was in my 20s.

In young and foolish days.

The church was packed on a Sunday.

And all the people that were there that we knew,

I'd go dancing with the night before, but then never miss Mass.

I think them years were the happiest times of our lives.

Such a beautiful, big community.

What have you lads got me into?

We live for this, man.

The soup kitchen and the friars themselves are

totally dependent on the generosity of the people of Bradford.

I just have a reasonably sized allotment,

plus a lot of the lads on the allotments,

they give me stuff as well,

because they know where it all goes.

I'll just...

I'll have to move my car.

There it is!

The gift of God.

This is kind of a before picture and this is an after picture.

What can I say?

It's just coming down.

Coming down, man!

I've got a photograph of when I was a baby.

About 14 months old.

I grew up in Manchester.

I liked Manchester City.

I used to go to the games.

When I was seven years old, my parents split up,

so that was pretty...

rough for me, you know what I mean?

Around 11 or 12, I started getting into stealing,

robbing people's houses.

Part of it was because I didn't have a father.

You know, you need that structure.

This was when I was a teenager.

I was growing my hair out.

So that is me and my mother.

I liked getting off my head on drugs.

I liked women.

A lot of girls, a lot of women.

Yeah, very promiscuous.

Then I got into the acid house scene.

Ecstasy and amphetamine and I got into cocaine.

I was on it, man.

I was raving, it was what I lived for.

I was living with a girl at the time.

I was assaulted outside a snooker hall in Stockport.

I had multiple haemorrhages in my brain.

Thank God I survived.

Probably about seven months after that, I woke up.

I just had a...

An experience with God.

You know, that he was present and he was really

drawing me back to himself.

I've got more now than I've ever had in my life.

Good people around me, good brothers, teachers.

I have recognised what it is to have a father figure.

Yeah, I'll always be raving for Manchester,

but I'm raving for the Lord, man.

You know what I mean?

It's a rough city, but the people are the salt of the earth.

Really good characters.

It's a real blessing to be here.

Brother Benedict's visiting another of the many donors,

a fruit and veg wholesaler who's supported the friars

since they first came to Bradford 12 years ago.

When we moved in, the windows were falling out,

they were rotten.

It was freezing in there.

The guy who owns Delifresh, he's the one who paid for the windows.

When we first went down to see the friars,

they had actually themselves very little.

You feel drawn in, you feel that really

you've got a responsibility and a part to play.

It's hard to have a soup kitchen when you've got sort of

like a little domestic oven.

We were able to put in a better equipped oven

so that the guys could start to cook soup on a bigger scale.

Hey, my man!

The giving continues.

Brother Benedict, with the help of company

employee Robert, is getting the pick of the crops.

Pick some goodies...

Whoo!

..for you to take away.

Rock and roll!

I'm just looking, man.

My thieving days are over.

All right?

Beauty, man.

Beauty.

Let's have it.

Garlic?

Yeah.

We hammer that stuff.

There's a lot of vampires knocking around, you know what I mean?

Broccoli?

Oh, yeah, please.

Courgettes?

Always.

Have you got a spiraliser?

You turn it and you make courgette spaghetti.

Ooh!

Yeah!

What about grapes?

Right, green or red?

Er, both.

Like Aladdin's cave in here, isn't it?

Thank you, Lord.

Yorkshire Tea!

I'll help you load that in first, all right?

# Na-na-na-na-na...

# I believe in miracles...#

It's a result.

That's like winning the Premier League,

you know what I mean?

Another donation.

This time, it's bread.

We get donated from the Co-op what they haven't sold

and which would normally be thrown in the waste dump.

This is the treats for Joshua.

And there is a little something for the youngest of the friars.

One of the friars is gluten-free, so the Co-op tries to

always make sure that there is gluten-free bread and one or two

treats in the bag of collections.

This is for you.

Thank you.

I'm going to hide them, so no one can find them.

We have a hood on our habit

primarily for shutting the world out,

to be with the Lord, whatever.

But also, it works as a great place to store goodies

that you don't want anyone to see.

HE LAUGHS

Especially your brothers!

Thank you.

Enjoy.

You're welcome.

Sometimes, when you meet a brother, you'll give him a little hug

and you pat him on the back and you hear the rustle of...

He's also got something in his hood.

We all have different roles within the friary.

I love doing any kind of manual labour,

so maintenance man is my task.

Keeping an eye, make sure the house doesn't fall apart.

Before I was a friar, I was a gamekeeper

up north in Scotland.

I loved that job.

But I met the friars.

I was attracted to the brotherhood

and their joy and their prayer life and...

Five years ago, so...

I'm still here!

I'm the youngest friar.

I guess you could say I am a friar with L plates.

I'm in temporary vows,

which means I haven't taken any final vows yet.

Yeah, chastity, you promise that, yeah,

you won't have any sexual encounters.

And I was in that lifestyle.

I did that, I chased the girls and I did all that.

The most unedifying, most unfulfilling experience of my life.

I'm not an animal.

I have a will and a free will and so I've found more life

since I made my vow of chastity than I ever did before.

I miss a lot of things.

I miss my family most and I miss my dog.

Yeah, all right.

The first full-time job I ever had was

a trainee accountant and I didn't know how to say,

"I just want to leave this job."

And so I left quite happily.

And now, 20-something years later,

here I am looking after the finances.

One of my little pieces of joy.

It's a necessary evil.

Don't get me into the theology of that!

But it just needs doing, especially as we're a registered charity.

Saint Francis would have never done this.

Through your son, Jesus Christ.

Since the middle ages and well before any state benefits,

Franciscans have been living among and serving Europe's vulnerable.

People like Henrietta, who hails from Slovakia

and now lives on Bradford's streets.

So what are you doing today, Hen?

What's going on?

Give me money for my eat, for self, believe me,

because me homeless.

Just give me money, change.

No, no...

Yes.

No, you know we don't...

You know we don't give you money.

We don't give anybody money, Henrietta.

You know that.

No, church every time give for pregnant women.

Because me pregnant.

'It's a bit of juggling, you know.'

Like...

Help them in the best way you can instead of just

throwing things at them.

SHE LAUGHS

I'm going to give you just some warm clothes,

OK?

Is that OK?

No!

Huh?

No.

No?

Hmm...

Yeah?

No.

It's nice to be able to just give them something practical,

even if you haven't been able to solve all their problems.

It's a little bit beyond us, most of the time.

Father, for myself!

You want this one, yeah?

Yes!

Would you like the gloves to go with it?

That looks nice together.

No.

OK.

We would choose what clothes we would like to wear as well.

Something that is an expression of their dignity.

It is part of serving them as a person.

These!

Henrietta, come on.

Oh, there you go.

God bless you.

Bless you.

So, did City win?

I think they drew.

Did they?

Yeah, they drew.

At least Nottingham Forest got a win in

at the weekend, which was nice.

I'll pray for your family and all of your intentions today, OK?

I'm in the soup kitchen.

17, on drugs, yeah.

Sometimes people call us for prayer, and this was a woman

asking for her grandson.

Yeah, I'll just keep it in my heart as I'm serving the beans and soup.

You can pray on the run, too.

Working with the poor is not, like, this romantic, idealistic thing.

It's gritty, it's messy.

If you want to do this for the long haul, you've got to be willing

to forgive and keep loving.

Just see them as God sees them.

And dealing with the poor brings constant challenges

for the friars.

Today's no exception.

A lot of the people who come to the soup kitchen

are using the fella's garden as a toilet.

Which is not the best situation, you know what I mean?

If you're desperate, you've got nowhere to go.

So obviously, the lad's not too happy.

Like he wasn't yesterday.

It's just a case of if there is some sort of message you can pass out.

This has been going on, please stop.

Bless you.

All right, mate.

Thanks a lot.

Take care.

Thank you, officer.

So, it is a result, isn't it?

Less stress.

He said he'd pick anything up if anything happens in the future.

I like that line!

As the loyal congregation gather from all over Bradford,

there's news on the restoration of Saint Patrick's Church.

Well, good news.

The parish received ?50,000 towards the refurbishment

of the church and the diocese will be making a sizeable contribution

towards the restoration.

I've been trying to keep the vision alive for them,

reminding them of what we're doing and the progress,

the little progress that's being made.

Isn't this good about the church?

Isn't it good about the church?

Oh, excellent.

It will demand a little celebration today.

That's it.

With the long-term renovation looking positive,

Father Gabriel's focusing on the short-term,

by hatching a plan with the local parish priest

to celebrate the day dedicated to the church's namesake,

which is just weeks away.

So...

We've got to do something for Saint Paddy's day.

Even if we can get them in there, I think it would give them a boost.

But I think it will also make them even more eager

to get it up and running again.

Have a look in the church at maybe where we can put Saint Patrick.

That would be awesome.

Is it too much to have it, like, somewhere up here?

I don't think so, because it's only going to be

a temporary thing, isn't it?

Yeah.

It will bring back a lot of memories.

Yeah.

It's important in a church which is dedicated

to Saint Patrick to do something on Saint Patrick's Day.

If we say that there will be opportunity to look round

the church, I think...

I think quite a lot of people will want to come.

Yeah.

CHATTER

There was a very big presence of Irish people in Bradford.

There was the mills, of course, and people

came over for work.

But they didn't have a Catholic Church,

so they decided to build one.

Irish immigrants...

Six pences, pennies got the churchgoing.

Unbelievable.

Brick by brick.

Where did they get the money from?

Oh...

Everybody went mad on Saint Patrick's Day.

Saint Patrick's Day was green!

They'd come to mass here and they'd all wear shamrocks,

which were sent over from Ireland.

You'd have to come early to get a seat if you wanted a seat.

All the pubs were alive.

They all got drunk on Guinness and then...

SHE LAUGHS

..the priest many a time used to join them.

Getting ready, going to the Saint Patrick's dance.

Yeah.

Happy days.

I said a prayer to help me wake up.

Otherwise, I think, left to my own resources,

I might still have been in bed.

It's the best bit of the day, it's worth getting up for.

It's the bit when I encounter the one I want most.

God.

ALL: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for our sins.

Amen.

Know that he, the Lord, is God.

He made us.

We belong to him.

# Hear his word and...#

Being with the Lord for the first couple of

hours of the day really gives you the strength

for the rest of the day, really.

To serve the Lord.

Serve him and the poor especially.

Set prayers, five different times during the day.

INTERVIEWER: How many hours is that of prayer?

Six or seven, something like that?

That's a lot of prayer for a day.

Yeah!

Couldn't do it without it.

I enjoy the morning hours, the solitude.

The meditation period.

Quite wonderful to watch the light come into the world

and to rise with it.

It takes you all the way through with the one who loves you

to turn your thoughts and your heart to him.

# Those who dwell in the shadow of death

# And guide us into the way of peace

# Glory be...#

I feel amazing after my prayers.

Yeah, I love it.

I'm feeling good, man.

I want to get on with the day, you know what I mean?

The most important part of being a friar.

I need to speak to the Lord, I need to hear him speak to me,

to have that relationship.

Otherwise I'm not going to be a friar.

I'd just be a...

I don't know, I'd be a social worker helping poor people.

We want to pray more.

It's kind of the centre of our day, the mass.

Crescendo after the morning meditation and common prayer.

In the Eucharist, we receive his body and blood.

It looks like bread and it tastes like bread,

it looks like wine and it tastes like wine,

but the very essence of it is Christ Jesus.

It's his body and blood.

That's what we're living as Friars, too.

Where he gives everything and we give everything.

It's not easy to keep this out of your beard.

Many of their neighbours may be Muslim

but when the friars take trips into Bradford,

they're happy to meet, greet and talk to people

of all faiths and none.

Everybody has the right to hear the gospel.

Yeah, they're missing out if they don't hear

about God's love for them.

This guy!

And it's not about forcing it on them, or making an imposition,

but it's really like, "Let me tell you what the Lord did,"

and then they can decide.

Good.

How are you?

I'm fine, thank you.

At first, I thought you were a Muslim preachers

or something with long beards and stuff.

Ah, no.

See you later, bye!

Had the most amazing conversations with people that I never would have

had if I was walking through the street dressed

like a normal person.

People want to stop and say hello, we kind of let that be an open door.

Who is the baby?

Salim.

Salim?

Yeah.

Is that peace?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Salim, how are you?

How do you live, how do you survive?

Do you receive any funding or support from

the Government whatsoever?

None.

People are very generous with us, and you don't want to take that

for granted because it comes from God.

You're welcome, bro.

Can we say a prayer for your family?

No problem.

Yeah, why don't we?

So, Lord, we just ask you to bless this family,

bless them and keep them safe.

In your holy name we pray, amen.

Some help for your cause.

Thank you very much.

God bless you guys.

Spreading the word is an experience of receiving a gift, not something

that being imposed on them.

And they were free to say yes or no.

What time is it?

Oh, my goodness.

4:50pm.

Who's cooking, do you know?

I don't.

It wasn't me, I hope.

Well, God bless Bradford.

Probably late for prayer now.

Music's been part of my life for a long time,

grew up playing the piano initially.

Music always kind of fit into my search for God.

Everything just clicked.

It's when my faith came alive, actually.

# Oh, my God, where are you now? #

What did your parents think of what you do?

"You're going where?

You don't have any money, you don't have a job and you're

going to beg for your food, you're going to live on the floor,

sleep on the floor and you're going to live in the ghetto?

In New York City, of all places, in Harlem?

Oh, my gosh!"

When the brothers first visited my family, my dad said

it was like 12 Apostles walking up the driveway.

He didn't know what was coming.

Just sat around, "What you want to drink?"

The brothers enjoyed a beer with my family.

It became real for my parents.

It wasn't like, "My son has gone to join

a bunch of whacks in New York."

That was the beginning of them warming up

to my vocation as a Franciscan.

# You lead me home. #

It's not just the soup kitchen which relies on donations.

The friars need essentials, too, and the asking

falls to Father Conrad.

We call it begging.

So that we have that sense that the poor would have.

We have some brothers in community who are incredible beggars.

Katie, I was going to ask you for milk.

Do you want blue milk or the green milk?

The blue.

All right, bless you.

God bless you too.

Thank you, Katie.

You're welcome.

It's nice to ask for something and receive it.

Hello, Gemma speaking.

I have a very simple need, which is for milk for the friary.

Hello, Father Conrad, how are you?

I'm well, Christine.

What can I do for you?

I'm calling and asking for milk.

Good to see you.

Here's your milk.

Oh, thank you.

People are being very generous, including yourself.

I don't see it as begging.

They're lovely people, they've taken a vow of poverty

and I want to do whatever I can to help them.

So what other things do you beg for?

Well, everything from soup to nuts, as they say.

If you can think of it, we need it.

Do you beg for loo paper as well?

Oh, yes.

Hello, are you Christine?

Yes.

Oh, thank you, Christine.

You're very welcome.

We've got another one as well in the bus.

Oh, wonderful.

You know we always consider you first after the children.

Beyond my expectations.

Very generous, wonderful gift.

One of the basics of life.

More than I anticipated!

More than the cow can give.

We do freeze some.

This is amazing.

But it's not quite large enough to hold all this.

Having too much of anything is contrary to the friars' beliefs.

Sometimes, they need a type of religious spring clean.

Good morning.

Of everything they've been given.

Saint Francis encouraged his brothers to live

without anything in the world.

And today we're going to look at whether we've taken

anything on that's extra.

With guidance laid out in the order's constitution,

it is termed a poverty check.

..to live a life of voluntary poverty.

Do we have any thing in the friary which is superfluous or unnecessary

for our life and work?

Everything in Brother Joshua's room.

This also applies to furniture.

So any extra furniture that we can liquidate.

That armchair I brought down from the loft, not our style.

No offence, but it looks like grandmother's living room style -

floral print, you know?

Anything else?

The CDs and DVDs, some of them definitely want to go.

Unless anybody really wants to watch RoboCop!

So, kitchen.

Tell me what we want, what we don't want.

This guy, cool.

This is the giveaway section.

You know, people love that you live a simple life.

They love you so much that they give you things.

Sometimes the gifts they give you, you know, are not useful.

Ice cream scoopers.

Which one do we prefer?

On a couple of occasions...

We did that.

..friars have given back to somebody what they gave to us.

That's the one to get rid of.

"Master of Disaster" on.

OK, Roger that.

Let's just go to the library.

So books, books...

Chickens As Pets.

I don't know if we want to keep that.

Give me that one, I'll send it to the Myersons in New Mexico.

She has chickens as pets.

Trees Of North America.

Animals Of The World.

You're getting rid of Animals Of The World?

I think it's helpful to have some commentary on trees

and birds and animals.

These are good, these poverty checks.

You can get a lot of superfluous stuff,

and it's always books and clothes.

You just find you stick them in the corner

and just stick more in the corner.

Next thing you know, you've got a flipping library,

you know what I mean?

Poverty check, the journey continues.

Hope it's not too hot.

So how does a friar who owns nothing maintain a lifelong passion?

It's a conundrum.

But tucked away on the friary's rooftop,

Brother Benedict seems to have found a way.

Wow.

Here we are.

These are all carnivorous plants.

They eat insects, flies, stuff like that.

Think it was a lad when I was about 12,

he had them on his porch.

That's how I got into them.

The rest of them are in the polytunnel.

This is it.

Yes!

Once the insect comes on the lip, I mean, it's finished.

When it falls down there, it's like a watery grave.

Oh, they're beautiful.

Obviously, because we take a vow of poverty, I don't have any money

to buy any of these plants.

I've grown a lot from seed.

People have bought me them, like my mother.

I mean, for my birthday or something, you know what I mean?

To be perfectly honest with you, if I was told

to get rid of these tomorrow,

it wouldn't be that much of a sacrifice.

There's more important things than flesh-eating plants,

you know what I mean?

That's it.

Pie day.

Oh, yeah.

You put that lot out, and I'll cut these up.

OK.

Is that all right?

Yeah.

A special treat amongst the donations that we get.

Why don't we put them in?

Let's put them in.

Yeah, put them in.

Helping with the pies is the soup kitchen's longest serving volunteer,

a former teaching assistant.

Christine is amazing.

Just a love for, like, people and a willingness

to go out of her way.

Today, it's Sarah's turn to feel the love.

She's currently homeless.

I have to live on the streets.

Very tired.

Drained to the point where I've just gone...

blank.

Nowhere to turn.

Never mind, you never know what's around the corner.

Christine's a lovely lady and she said,

"If you ever come to the friary, ask for Christine."

So I've come to ask for Christine!

She's going to see if she can get me a bed for the night.

Sarah.

It's great.

As friars, we have a brotherly or a fatherly presence,

but she's the motherly presence here.

Especially with the girls, the women,

she's such a force for good when we can't relate, maybe.

I can't promise anything.

No.

I'm just waiting to see if I can get a bed at the hostel.

Christine's got a heart of gold, haven't you?

Shush!

I think she loves it, really.

The pies are going down like gold dust.

They're at the door, clamouring to get in

to get one down their neck, you know what I mean?

A lot of people.

We'll pray for the multiplication of the pies,

make sure there's enough to go around.

It can happen!

It's happened before, it can happen again.

The Lord did it 2,000 years ago, he can do it again here.

How are you, Sarah?

Get my hat on.

Tell me what's going on, Sarah.

Yeah, I'm just waiting for them to ring back.

That's our Lady, the mother of Jesus.

Obviously, when my mum died, I died, so now I'm an orphan.

What happened to your mum?

She died of lung cancer.

I just spiralled out of control and here I am, out on the street.

I felt like I had no-one.

I'm a lost soul.

I mean, there's no-one that's lost, really, because God has come down.

That's the whole point of Jesus.

You just need to find your path.

Yeah, yeah.

It's hard sometimes, especially now in the winter months,

it's even worse for people, with it being so cold.

So that means most places for the homeless get full.

OK then, I'll have a chat with Sarah now.

Just plod on, eh?

Sorry, love.

It's OK.

OK then.

I'm a tough cookie.

I've got to be, I'm on my own.

Yeah, if I wasn't strong, I wouldn't be here.

Bye.

See you.

This is the bulletin of the last mass, and we were all in tears.

We're hoping for a mass to be said on St Patrick's Day.

I'd be over the moon.

We'll have a big celebration.

To see if that dream can come true, there's a meeting with the most

powerful Catholic in West Yorkshire, the Bishop of Leeds.

I mean, the bishop is really the shepherd of the flock here.

We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for his invitation.

Father Gabriel's got an ambitious proposal for St Patrick's Day

that he wants to discuss.

We're hoping to be able to not just have a little procession in and out

of the church but to actually have the service, the mass

in the church, which would be absolutely fantastic.

You know, we're talking about marking St Patrick's Day this year.

There was thought of, could we have the mass in the church?

Be wonderful if we could have the mass, I agree.

Symbolically, it would be wonderful.

But we obviously must comply with health and safety regulations.

It may not prove to be possible.

In principle, I have no objection.

It's not my intention to preside over decline.

I became a bishop to make Christ known and to build up the Christian

community in this city, and indeed across the diocese.

Just a word of thanks for your prayers.

The meeting with the bishop went very, very well.

So things are on the up and up.

We're just...

cruising, you know?

So pray for the friars, because we're on this...

You know, "Hold on, we're going!"

Hi, Susan.

Hello.

Real good news, isn't it?

Just on the up and up and up.

Do you think we might have a service on St Patrick's Day?

Yeah, well, I couldn't say it publicly,

but that's what we're praying for.

We're talking to the health and safety at the diocese,

we're hoping to get in the church.

It will be special.

I know it is.

She's great.

Praise the Lord, man.

Part of the commitment to their way of life means the friars

are obliged to live together in what is termed a brotherhood.

For Father Conrad, a friar of 40 years' standing,

this comes with certain parameters.

When you live in some kind of community,

it increases your possibility of becoming a charitable person.

The thing is, obviously all of you are men living

together as well, Father.

There have been communities that have both men and women in them.

I am of the understanding that they are genuinely

tried by their experience because if you have a man

who is in charge of a convent full of women, or you have a nun

who is in charge of a monastery full of men, it doesn't take too much

to figure out that there's going to be a problem.

I love our sisters, but I am glad they live in the next town!

Sometimes when you see your guitar sitting there,

you just have to pick it up.

Evening time for the brothers -

an opportunity to kick back and relax.

I just love the fraternal dimension.

Like, the laughing and joking and the brotherhood.

It's a happy thought that the Lord has called me

to spend my life with these guys, because these are good men.

That's why the grey hairs are coming!

Shall I sing No Woman, No Cry?

He's got another groove going on.

HARMONICA TRILL

Oh, that's an amazing sound, man.

Oh!

It's great when it happens spontaneously.

You know, just one of the brothers picks up the guitar and you hear it

down the hall and you're like, "Get me in there,

there's a groove there."

Who needs television when you've got this?

We decided not to have TV in the friary because we thought

it would take away from our fraternal life

and our life of prayer.

I haven't watched TV probably in...

Like, really watched TV in maybe like 15 years, 20 years.

It pushes you to be creative about how you spend your time together.

THEY LAUGH

That was so good.

There you go.

So this is our stuff we poverty checked the other day.

See if any of our people need it.

Probably not the knives, though.

We're going to keep the knives out in case they want to use it

for something other than cooking.

What about the ice cream scoop?

I don't know, we'll see who wants it.

Usually, if you just lay it out, they come right in

and take it if they need it.

I don't know if they'll need all these hangers

the brothers cleared from their property check.

No sense hanging onto it here.

OK.

Looks like some kind of book cover.

I'm just assessing its junkitude.

You know, people bring junk and get this attitude like,

"Well, they'll use it."

You know?

Would you want that?

Throw it out!

We don't want that.

Even the poor don't want that.

Nobody wants junk.

Only going to be thrown away, isn't it?

You know, take it home and use it.

I've got a cooker, but it's not working.

Sarah's back.

Soup kitchen volunteer Christine's been desperate

to find her a bed in a hostel.

And there's news.

Oh, did she?

Oh, I like happy ending.

Bye now, bye.

She's got a place.

I'm pleased for Sarah!

Yeah, that's awesome.

Christine got me a place you can actually sleep.

You don't have to sleep with one eye open.

So, yeah, you don't have to keep looking over your shoulder.

She looks better today.

She looks happier, doesn't she, today?

I'm really chuffed.

Now do you mind if I get on with my washing up?

Looks like some of our items have gone that we poverty checked.

The ice cream scoop is gone.

Which is a good sign, they're enjoying life,

they're having ice cream too.

So praise God for that.

Today's an important moment in deciding

whether a mass will be held in St Patrick's Church.

At the moment, the only obstacle is health and safety.

Welcome to England.

A meeting's been scheduled next week to decide

whether it is fit for that purpose.

But first church supporter Matt Campbell is on a fact-finding

mission to report back to that meeting.

We just need to move stuff like this so that if somebody

does bump against it, it is unlikely to fall.

I came to assess, before I meet with the diocese office,

that the building is fundamentally safe.

Slips, trips, falls, the risks for that.

And that we have identified what we need to move

in order to avoid any risk of accident happening.

We'd consider cordoning off, possibly, at the end

of the back pillar so that people can come in here, safely.

But the floor is equally sound there, I think, generally.

We will go through all of the risk assessments

and any of the other public safety type stuff.

OK, good.

Here's hoping.

Not a done deal.

As everyone waits for the health and safety meeting and a decision,

Father Gabriel's appealing to a higher authority.

But even before the building is restored, Jesus,

let this be a place of light, a place of welcome.

It would be awesome to have a mass in here on St Patrick's Day.

God is going to answer our prayers, whether it's yes, no or later.

It will be an answer.

Jams are good, prayer jams are even better.

Thank you for the plans you have for this place, Jesus.

To make it a place of light, a place of truth.

There's no...

No bricks falling on us yet.

You know, these Yorkshire people are ruddy.

They can handle the dusty pews and the cold.

Lord, let the poor find a place of the richness

of your love here, Lord.

If it happens, it happens.

If not, we're going to keep praying.

# My spirit rejoices in God, the saviour... #

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Father Gabriel speaking.

They've given us the green light.

Green for go.

Wow!

Which is brilliant.

Praise God.

The bishop has given permission to have mass

on St Patrick's Day in the church.

We need to help setting up the statue of Saint Patrick in there.

The probation services are going to come and clean

the church and sort it out with the pews and everything.

But bundle up, it's not going to be heated as normal, of course.

Isn't it great about St Patrick's?

Put your big coat on!

We'll just wrap up.

Might be warmer by then.

Don't forget, the holy spirit is there and everything.

You know?

Yes!

We'll be done on Friday, when we're here, serving Saint Patrick.

Things are looking more like a church in here

than a building site.

I wouldn't say anything,

but he is lighter than what St Francis was!

Saint Patrick hasn't aged since I was here before.

He's probably been pining to come back.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah.

For Susan, opening the church for St Patrick's Day mass

is the first step in her longer term plans.

God willing, it will open.

I imagine a couple of years or something like that.

I hope I can last, because I'm hoping to have my funeral there!

I feel very blessed and humbled, just grateful, really grateful.

The history of St Patrick's is a bit of a metaphor for the Easter story.

Or the Christian faith, you know?

That life comes through death.

You know, death isn't the end of the story,

isn't the last word, but life is the last word.

It's going to be a cold church,

so I'm putting the legs on my shorts.

Actually, those blower heaters in there, they look promising

but they don't do much!

I haven't decided if I'm going to put socks on yet.

Socks and sandals just don't really work for me.

We're bringing this church back.

It's not dying.

It's good.

It's a beautiful Easter story.

There's life coming.

It's also a sign of hope for the people that we serve

in the soup kitchen, who been coming here for 12 years

to get a bowl of super and a plate of beans.

Like, never give up hope.

You give them a high viz jacket, they come into their own.

It's a lot of responsibility as well, isn't it?

6 or 12 months ago, I wouldn't have even dreamt

of doing a responsible thing like looking after cars,

I wouldn't have been trusted to do that.

Giving something back and being appreciated and accepted.

Not accepted for being an addict, being accepted as a person.

They're such a visible presence, their long beards and their long

grey habits, people immediately say, "Who are these guys?"

In many ways, they are returning to

a more ancient tradition in the church,

of being in the service of the local community.

Because before the Reformation, most of what we now call

social services were provided by the religious orders

like the Franciscan Friars.

It's properly one of the best St Patrick's Days

I will have ever experienced.

It's just such a proper joyful day.

During Lent, that doesn't happen too often!

Almost there.

We're vested and ready to go.

In green for Saint Patrick!

Long time since I've been in here, isn't it?

It is a long time.

The doors are open again.

That's my dream!

Seen the church packed, wow!

This is what the old Saint Patrick's used to be.

I could feel tears in the back of my eyes.

A little bit of heaven in there.

And I'm sure Saint Patrick will be smiling down on us all today.

THE CONGREGATION SINGS A HYMN

This is, in a sense,

a lovely anticipation of the joy of Easter.

Coming to new life from something that was believed dead.

This place, it looks tired now, it is going to be beautiful again.

We're not going to have just stepped back into the darkness quietly.

BELL RINGS

We started in a battered building next door,

and now the church is being opened.

The whole site is coming back to life,

and we've been a big part of that.

This is us.

The Friary is here to stay.

And we're really happy about that.

Yeah, it's great.

We don't want anything else.

We're on the next level now.

We're pushing out into the deep,

really going fishing for the big ones.

Yeah, we're going all the way, man.

Hot coffee, tea, something to warm up.

I just forgot to invite people to the reception!

Tea and coffee, refreshments in the Friary on the right.

Don't you think they're lovely?

Absolutely.

They're really wonderful, aren't they?

Anyway, someone's waiting for me.

Follow a new missing investigation as it unfolds...