Lunar House - Croydon

Lunar House, almost opposite St Michael’s, is another significant institution right on our doorstep. It houses the Headquarters of the UK Visa and Immigration Department, which is a division of the Home Office.

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We at St Michael’s take very seriously the Biblical imperative to welcome the stranger within our midst. Not a week goes by without visitors crossing the road to Church from Lunar House to pray, light a candle, or just to be still, as they await the outcome of the adjudication of their immigration status.

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Several of the Lunar House Staff also come to worship with us during the week, and at present the Staff Choir meets once a week for rehearsal in our parish hall.

 

In October 2016 we were pleased to welcome Bishop Rowan Williams (formerly Archbishop of Canterbury, now Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge) and Canon Giles Fraser to St Michael’s in connection with Lunar House and the arrival into the UK of the first minors from the Jungle in Calais.

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Children from the refugee camps in Calais came to Lunar House before being reunited with family members who had already arrived in the UK.  

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A team from St Michael’s comprising parishioners, pastoral assistants and students from St Stephen’s House, Oxford, assisted on the day, acting as appropriate adults when the children were interviewed at Lunar House.

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