The influx of migrants from Zimbabwe to the United Kingdom in the late nineties and early two thousand prompted visiting Zimbabwe Priests and expatriate Zimbabwean Catholics to address a special concern among the faithful who, on account of their way or condition of life, could not sufficiently make use of the common and ordinary pastoral services of a parish priest such as liturgies, cultural programmes and preparations for sacraments in any Zimbabwean language.
In order to address the growing pastoral needs of the Zimbabwean Catholic population in the United Kingdom, in 2008 the Zimbabwean Catholic Chaplaincy (ZCC) was constituted in Britain under Catholic Canon Law (article 564 – 572) by His Lordship, Bishop Alan Hopes.
The Zimbabwean Catholic Chaplaincy (ZCC) is a direct response to the need for pastoral care of Zimbabwean Catholic migrants (“UK Migrants”).
From 2008, the ZCCEW community has continued to grow and has also started to make strides towards their integration with different host parish communities.
The coming together of a community of believers united by their connection to Zimbabwe, has continued to provide an avenue for the expression of faith, culture, sisterhood, brotherhood and humanity in ways that appeal to the inner being of its members.
Every weekend Zimbabwean Masses are celebrated in a total of 14 centres, on average two on each Saturday and the other two on each Sunday. The Chaplains link with the local parish priest at each centre in order to promote integration and communion with the local community.
“We dedicate our Chaplaincy under the patronage of Our Lady of Peace and St. Joseph.”