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news
Father Brown on his bike (picture credit BBC).jpgWest London church urges parishioners to pray against Cycle Superhighway
A church in West London is urging parishioners to pray against a proposed Cycle Superhighway.
Transport for London (TfL) is currently consulting on its plans, unveiled last month, for Cycle Superhighway 9 from Kensington Olympia to Brentford, with a future extension to Hounslow.
The two-way, segregated route would run along Chiswick High Road and past the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Grace & St Edward (the red brick building obscured by trees to the right of centre in this artist's impression).
The call to prayer was spotted by Twitter user Darren Moore.
Gosh. This is very strange. Despite all the suffering in the World @OurLadyChiswick are praying every day against #CS9 #airpollution #safety pic.twitter.com/L1hVNUDUxd
— Darren Moore (@darrenmoore) October 5, 2017
On its website, the parish claims that “the pavement outside of the church will be reduced to about one third of its current size and the Cycle Superhighway would have right of way.”
It asks parishioners to consider the effect it would have on:
Sunday Mass congregations gathering on the pavement, the elderly, and families with children vs speeding cyclists
Funerals: no right of way for carrying the coffin
No right of way for First Holy Communion & other processions
Weddings: no right of way for Brides in their wedding dresses.
However, a map provided by TfL as part of its consultation reveal that there would still be a signal controlled pedestrian crossing on Chiswick High Road immediately outside the church and across the Cycle Superhighway.
Moreover, given its location on the corner of Chiswick High Road and Dukes Avenue, access for vehicles for services such as funerals and weddings should not be an issue.
The church itself comes under the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, which in 2011 announced that it was encouraging staff to cycle to its head office in Victoria.
At the time, a spokesman for the diocese said: "The aim is to spread the message that our lifestyles – whether at home, in church or in the wider world – influence the environment, and that our respectful and careful stewardship is vital."
Caspar Hughes, a member of the organising group of Stop Killing Cyclists, told road.cc: “CS9 will reduce pollution and road danger for the congregation of Our Lady of Grace & St Edwards and the surrounding area.
“As we see time and time again speeding and distracted driving is a serious cause of danger to people.
“Creating an environment where cycling and walking are given priority will go some way to removing the dangers drivers present to us all.”
Anyone with an opinion about the proposed route may find it more beneficial to respond to TfL's consultation on it, which remains open until 31 October 2017 and can be found here.
One church in London that is rather more welcoming to people on bikes is St James's Piccadilly, which this Sunday holds its annual Blessing of Cyclists service, with tea and cake in the garden afterwards.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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49 comments
Made by a frame builder in Dunwich, no doubt (makes you think about the *real* purpose of the Dunwich Dynamo, doesn't it...?)
I' sure that Didi could change their minds:
Oh, magic sky wizard, please help us divert the evil Satan borne cycle highway so that your work of the created world may continue to be destroyed by traffic fumes and lead your flock to certain death by allowing them to access the busy road and play in the traffic. Amen etc.
Even if they do pray hard enough to convince their god to smite the bike lane, I have it on good authority that both the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Easter Bunny are pro-cycling. So, unless they can get Superman or Gandalf to fight on their side, that's two-against-one bitches.
And Santa must have delivered millions of bikes in his time, so that makes three against one...err..female canines.
Praying is what people do when they can't be arsed to actually do anything.
Eg. That scruffy old lady down the road could do with help getting herself washed and dressed each morning. It's terrible, something should be done, but I can't be arsed to do it myself so I will pray for her. When she has been found lying in her hall having been dead for a month, I'll pray for her soul. I can't be arsed to do anything for her, but praying lets me feel good about myself and superior to everyone else.
Is that photo Mark Williams from The Fast Show? Today I will mostly be opposing sustainable transport....
It is, he plays the role of Father Brown in the daytime BBC TV priest/detective show based on GK Chesterton's books (though the series was set in the 1950s, not pre-war).
When I lived in the Cotswolds, I'd sometimes happen across them filming while out on a bike ride, bit weird coming across a 50s film set at times.
BBC used to schedule it right before a quiz show he hosted, which was an interesting juxtaposition.
I'll get me cassock ...
Boris Johnson in fancy dress
Allahu akbar!
Down with the anti-cycling infidels!
The Rev Richard Coles is a cyclist - wonder if he can have a word with God ?
It's amazing what some people ask their god to help them with. It's also amazing how un-Christian some Christians can be.
Christians are as Christians do, in my book.
If they're praying for CS9 to be denied the go ahead, then that's a Christian act. If they want 'Christian' to be a nice thing, they should perhaps act with a little more compassion.
Did you read the article? The last paragraph describes a Christian church holding a blessing for cyclists. Why only take the bad?
Haven't you just done exactly what you are accusing harragn of?
He said: "It's also amazing how un-Christian some Christians can be", this led me to assume that he was referring only to the space-fairy worshippers in Chiswick and not those in Jermyn St.
And their blessings will be just as effective as their prayers...
Because a 'blessing' is the religious version of a typical council or transport minister's "target" or generic blurb about being entirely in favour of cycling in a general non-specific sense (before going on to do everything they can to suppress it in its real, particular, sense).
Haven't you heard of the theology of prosperity? If you pray hard enough, God will reward you. And if you're successful in life, it proves that you are a good person favoured by God (and if you are unsuccessful, clearly you are not a good person, or didn't pray hard enough, and/or God is punishing you for something (which explains a lot of Americans attitudes toward the poor). Prosperity theology tends to be Protestant and not Catholic, mind...
I hope they say a little prayer for me making my way through HGVs and buses if that scheme doesn't go ahead.
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