A heart-warming story appeared in the special December/January 2024 double edition of the Catholic Herald, and was brought to us by one of this page’s readers. It’s the story of the pigeons who have made the Piazza outside Westminster Cathedral their home, and the man who has made it his home, who looks after them.
Adrian, who has held The Big Issue pitch outside the Cathedral for the past 15 years, has a “gang” of some 40-odd feral pigeon friends, each of whom he recognises and to each of whom he has given a name. He not only feeds and waters them, but also acts as their vet – and their rescuer if they get stuck inside the building.
Fr John Scott of the Cathedral staff recently wrote that the congregation knows Adrian better than they know the cathedral clergy. Certainly the clergy and congregation alike hold him in high regard, acknowledging the example he gives of a shepherd to his particular flock.
In the sermon on the Mount, Jesus called on his audience to behold the fowls of the air: “for they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” It is part of a longer piece about not overly worrying about what might or might not happen, but trusting in God.
It is clearly through Adrian´s kindness that God’s care is there for the birds, and perhaps through the kindness of the clergy, the congregation and passers-by, that that same care is there for Adrian and other vendors of The Big Issue. It is often through simple acts of kindness that we bring value, worth and a sense of well-being to those around us – fowl or friend!
Read the Catholic Herald story here.