Harry Elias SJ

Why I am doing what I do is largely a matter of history.  I lived and went to school in India, where I mixed with Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Jews.  I can understand a little the anxieties of those who come new to this country.  I did my Regency in St Ignatius College, Chishawasha, now Zimbabwe.  In the sixties and seventies, when I was in formation, I was captivated by the ethos of preferential option to the poor and marginalized.  I balanced my teaching in school with community work, and concerned myself with refugee issues.

On retiring as a schoolteacher, I worked in a community centre for asylum seekers and refugees, in Canning Town for five years, starting off as ESOL teacher and then becoming coordinator.  After that, I spent a year in Brixton and got involved in prison visiting.  Then came along last year a request for a RC chaplain at Colnbrook detention centre and the Provincial, David Smolira, spotted me as suitable for the post.  From the beginning of this year, I was also appointed to Harmondsworth detention centre which is alongside Colnbrook.