Since I was little and frequenting the Sultana tal-Angli Praesidium at the Good Shepherd Pastoral Centre in Victoria, I had become aware of the PPC or Pelegrinatio Pro Christo experience which the Legion of Mary organizes as part of its evangelization projects. My first opportunity to participate in such a project was in July 2009. We were scheduled to leave Malta on Saturday the 11th and return on Saturday the 18th and our destination was St Aloysius? Parish in the city of Oxford, UK.

There were ten of us in the project; I was the only priest and there were six of us from the isladn of Gozo and the remaining ones were from Malta. Though we came from different backgrounds and were of different ages, the group was really fun. It seemed as if we had know each other for a long time. We arrived at Gatwick airport on Saturday morning but it was about three in the afternoon when we arrived in the parish. St Aloysius in Oxford used to be run by the Jesuits but since 1993 it has been administered by the Oratorians, a congregation established by Saint Philip Neri in Rome in the sixteenth century. The most famous British Oratorian was definitely the English Cardinal John Henry Newman, renowned as on the greatest theologians of the ninteenth century. St Aloysius has a community of about seven priests and one novice whom we had the chance to meet at different moments during our visit. We were warmly welcomed by the parish priest Fr. Daniel Seward who recognized me from his visit to Gozo two years ago when he was on the island during the festivities of St George in July 2007. He invited to us for Benediction at 4.30 pm; as we entered the church we heard the melody of a familiar hymn, the Georgius Natus Est whose lyrics and compostion were written by Can. Joe Mejlak and Mr. Joseph Vella respectively. Those of us who hailed from Gozo were took by surprise; little did we know that the organist was Fr. Dominic Jacob who had also visited Gozo two years ago for the feast of St George and had fallen in love with the melody of the hymn himself. In the evening the members of the Legion of Mary praesidium at St Aloysius welcomed us and brought food over into the parish centre; we all had a good time.

Sunday was a special day for the parish; on the previous Saturday (the 3rd) Pope Benedict XVI had declared that the process leading to the beatification of Cardinal Newman had come to its end and therefore Newman was to be beatified sometime during 2010. The Oratorians were all obviously thrilled; on Sunday the 12th the Solemn Mass at 11. 00 am was to be a special Mass. The preacher was Fr. Paul Chavasse, the postulator for the cause of the beatification of J. H. Newman who had travelled from the Birmingham Oratory for the occasion. We could also notice a knight of Malta in his robes sitting in the sanctuary along with the concelebrating priests and the assisting members of the clergy.

Our week began on Sunday afternoon; our group leader who turned out to be the head of the Pathology Department at the University of Malta divided us into pairs and we were all assigned divers streets in the heart of Oxford where we could go to to our work. For those who are not so familiar with how the PPC works, it actually consists in legionaries going in pairs and knocking on each and every door of a particular street or road and inviting the residents to pray and practice their own faith and trying to bring back to church any lapsed Catholics. The process was repeated throughout the whole week; twice a day we went out ? once in the morning and once in the late afternoon ? knocking on people's doors and bringing them the good news! It was hard work indeed! As to myself I can say that it was not easy; we came across people from all walks of life! Some people were not interested at all! Others told us straight away that they were atheists! ?We don't do God!? was an expression we were told more than once. A legionary from Victoria who was with me on one of the days said to me that this particular expression was uttered by Alistair Campbell, secretratry to ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he was once interviewed about the Prim Minister's faith. We also came across many Anglicans some of whom practice their faith regulary and others do so at random. We came across a couple of Buddhists and Muslims too! One particular resident was very good ? he actually spoke from behind his door informing us that he was suffering from the Swine Flu! It was also interesting to come across a couple of Oxford dons who lecture at the University; thought some of them were self-proclaimed atheists they still found our work interesting!

During our week we also had the chance to visit places of interest! The place we agreed upon was the glorious Blenheim Palace ? the official residence of the Dukes of Marlborough and the birthplace of British statesman Winston Churchill. The palace is a must for those who happen to be in Oxfordshire and the old town of Woodstock is a ?historical town?.

All in all, a Pelegrinatio Pro Christo is a very challenging experience! I wouldn't suggest it to the faint-hearted! However it is an experience I will not easily forget, an experience which I would encourage others to do since it forms part of what real and practical evangelization is all about! God wills it!