THE murmuring of the traditional Latin Mass may be the closest this Oxford congregation has to a common language.

Because the 180-strong congregation at SS Gregory and Augustine Roman Catholic Church, in Woodstock Road, can claim links to nearly 40 different countries.

While many places of worship across England complain attendances are falling, the Roman Catholic church in Oxford is seeing a surge of people from different nations coming together to worship.

Parish priest Father John Saward said the diverse nature of his congregation had become increasingly apparent over the past two years.

Fr John said he could count people from at least 38 different nationalities who regularly attended his church.

He said: "If I look at people who are at masses every day of the week, it is English and Irish people who are at the core of the parish still.

"But when I meet new people, it turns out very often they are from overseas."

As well as parishioners from Poland, western Europe and North America, SS Gregory and Augustine boasts people from much further afield.

There are worshippers from East Timor, the South Pacific, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, India and even the Seychelles.

Fr John said: "What it really brings home is the universality of the Roman Catholic Church, which is made up of people of all the cultures and languages of the earth.

"That is why I am always delighted when I meet someone from a part of the world that is rather remote."

He said having a congregation with so many different mother tongues was not without its challenges.

"Because large parts of the congregation do not have English as their first language, Latin has a great value and is of great importance.

"If you go to Rome, to St Peter's Square, there is a huge international congregation but they are all singing the creed in Latin together. It is totally free from nationalistic associations."

Different countries have brought parts of their own culture to the church, with a choir from Brazil visiting to sing at Mass last October and the large Filipino community sharing their music at Maundy Thursday.

Fr John said: "It is a great enrichment of anybody's life when they meet somebody who has different experiences from their own and so many people come here from countries which are poor, or where the Church has been persecuted.

"It brings its challenges, but it is a blessing.

"Oxford obviously has had this dimension to it for a very long time, with the university drawing people from all over the country and all over the world.

"I think in that respect Oxford and Rome are quite similar, you always meet the most surprising people in Oxford, as you do in Rome. "