....The 2011 Towards Advent Festival was perhaps the best-ever....large crowds, glorious music, excellent speakers, and a wonderful buzz in the Westminster Cathedral Hall as people met and talked and enjoyed tea and cakes and bought books and cards and craft goods and rosaries and DVDs and statues and icons and learned about the work of so many different Catholic groups and organisations...
The Society of Catholic Artists had a wonderful display of paintings, there was singing from the Gallery Choir of the Cathedral Choir School, there were some beautiful hand-crafted goods made by a number of different groups and charities, the Association for Latin in the Liturgy was showing a DVD of a splendid Mass,there were books from Fisher Press and the Catholic Truth Society and other publishers, there was a lovely Mass book for children produced by Second Spring, and a great range of Christmas cards and gifts from Aid to the Church in Need...the Hinsley Room was packed to capacity for the excellent talk from Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate, and then packed out again for the presentation celebrating the life of Blessed John Paul II by the Divine Comedy young people's drama group from Oxford.
Various religious orders were represented and it was a pleasure to welcome the new Community of Our Lady of Walsingham in their blue-and-white habits.
Knights of St Columba, the Catenians, and the Association of Catholic Women, all of whom are reprersented on the organising committee, worked with enthusiasm all day and this was a wonderful community effort which showed the Church at its best...and, yes, we're already planning for 2012!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Read about...
...the story of the TOWARDS ADVENT FESTIVAL here...in an American magazine dedicated to fostering good liturgy and authentic Catholic culture...
Thursday, October 6, 2011
TOWARDS ADVENT 2011
All Catholic parishes in the dioceses of Westminster, Southwark, Brentwood, and Arundel and Brighton have now been notified about the Towards Advent Festival.
DO COME ALONG! And bring friends and family!
Music, talks, a chance to browse stalls selling DVDs, books, Christmas cards, Advent calendars, rosaries, statues,and more...
Refreshments served all day, play corner for children...
DO COME ALONG! And bring friends and family!
Music, talks, a chance to browse stalls selling DVDs, books, Christmas cards, Advent calendars, rosaries, statues,and more...
Refreshments served all day, play corner for children...
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
TOWARDS ADVENT 2011
...plans are now well advanced, and material about this annual celebration of Catholic life and culture will be going to parishes soon.
COME ALONG AND JOIN IN! The date is Saturday November 19th, and the venue Westminster Cathedral Hall, London SW1.
The main guest speaker this year is Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
There will be stalls and displays by a wide variety of Catholic groups and organisations: charities working at home and abroad, caring for children in India, for persecuted Christians in lands where the Church is not free, for struggling families, for unborn children under threat of abortion,for young people seeking faith. There will be bookstalls and craft stalls, home-baked cakes and hand-crafted jewellry, rosaries and DVDs and tapes.
It's an opportunity to engage with the Catholic Faith - to be challenged, to find out about glorious Church music, how to teach the truths of the Catholic Faith to the young, how to defend and uphold great moral truths, and more...
Admission is free. Just come along and enjoy. Official opening 10.30am with the Archbishop of Westminster and the Gallery Choir of the famed Westminster Cathedral Choir School.
HOw to get there? Nerest tube stations are VICTORIA or St James Park.
COME ALONG AND JOIN IN! The date is Saturday November 19th, and the venue Westminster Cathedral Hall, London SW1.
The main guest speaker this year is Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
There will be stalls and displays by a wide variety of Catholic groups and organisations: charities working at home and abroad, caring for children in India, for persecuted Christians in lands where the Church is not free, for struggling families, for unborn children under threat of abortion,for young people seeking faith. There will be bookstalls and craft stalls, home-baked cakes and hand-crafted jewellry, rosaries and DVDs and tapes.
It's an opportunity to engage with the Catholic Faith - to be challenged, to find out about glorious Church music, how to teach the truths of the Catholic Faith to the young, how to defend and uphold great moral truths, and more...
Admission is free. Just come along and enjoy. Official opening 10.30am with the Archbishop of Westminster and the Gallery Choir of the famed Westminster Cathedral Choir School.
HOw to get there? Nerest tube stations are VICTORIA or St James Park.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
It seems a long way ahead...
...but it's worth booking the date now. The 2011 TOWARDS ADVENT Festival of Catholic Culture is on Saturday Nov 19th 2011...
WHAT IS...
... the TOWARDS ADVENT Festival ?
It is a gathering together of a wide range of Catholic groups and organisations to celebrate the Catholic Faith. It happens annually at Westminster Cathedral Hall (Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1). There are talks by interesting speakers, there is music, there are opportunities to meet people working in all sorts of different fields,there is a play corner for children, there is food, there is friendship. Entry is free, and tickets for the talks cost £2.00 each. Anyone is welcome - Catholic or not.
We started the Festival in the year 2000 and it is exciting to see how it has quietly become a part of life in the capital for the many people who flock to it each year. It's run by volunteers, and there is a great spirit of goodwill - the Association of Catholic Women provides refreshments, the Catenians run the administration and deal with booking the equipment and so on, the Knights of St Columba hand out leaflets and help with publicity and promotion...school choirs come and sing, guest speakers honour us with their presence, and all sorts of groups and organisations book in and take part.
It is a gathering together of a wide range of Catholic groups and organisations to celebrate the Catholic Faith. It happens annually at Westminster Cathedral Hall (Ambrosden Avenue, London SW1). There are talks by interesting speakers, there is music, there are opportunities to meet people working in all sorts of different fields,there is a play corner for children, there is food, there is friendship. Entry is free, and tickets for the talks cost £2.00 each. Anyone is welcome - Catholic or not.
We started the Festival in the year 2000 and it is exciting to see how it has quietly become a part of life in the capital for the many people who flock to it each year. It's run by volunteers, and there is a great spirit of goodwill - the Association of Catholic Women provides refreshments, the Catenians run the administration and deal with booking the equipment and so on, the Knights of St Columba hand out leaflets and help with publicity and promotion...school choirs come and sing, guest speakers honour us with their presence, and all sorts of groups and organisations book in and take part.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Handbills are now available...
...promoting the 2011 TOWARDS ADVENT Festival of Catholic Culture, which takes place at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday Nov 19th. Organisations taking part in the Festival will receive their handbills this week...and every parish in London and the South East will be sent some in the Autumn for distribution and use on parish noticeboards etc...
Thursday, June 30, 2011
THE 2011 TOWARDS ADVENT FESTIVAL...
...will be held on Saturday November 19th 2011 at Westminster Cathedral Hall.
Special guest speaker: Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Come and hear about the Ordinariate, a sign of great hope and joy for the Church in England!
There's a special celebration of the life of Blessed John Paul II in drama, music and film featuring members of a youth drama team from Oxford.
The Festival opens at 10.30am, with Archbishop Vincent Nichols and the Gallery Choir of the Westminster Cathedral Choir School.
There are stalls and displays from a great range of Catholic groups and organisations - bookstalls galore, stalls selling crafts, statues, Catholic publications, rosaries and goodness knows what else (last year a chap selling scarves in the new Papal tartan sold out), plus opportunities to meet members of religious orders, charities, and communities, plus home-baked refreshments, and more...
Entry is free. Just turn up. There's a play corner for children alongside the refreshment area. Tea and coffee freshly brewed throughout the day, relays of enthusiasts selling sandwiches and cakes. Tickets for talks are £2, from the Welcome Desk.
Special guest speaker: Mgr Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Come and hear about the Ordinariate, a sign of great hope and joy for the Church in England!
There's a special celebration of the life of Blessed John Paul II in drama, music and film featuring members of a youth drama team from Oxford.
The Festival opens at 10.30am, with Archbishop Vincent Nichols and the Gallery Choir of the Westminster Cathedral Choir School.
There are stalls and displays from a great range of Catholic groups and organisations - bookstalls galore, stalls selling crafts, statues, Catholic publications, rosaries and goodness knows what else (last year a chap selling scarves in the new Papal tartan sold out), plus opportunities to meet members of religious orders, charities, and communities, plus home-baked refreshments, and more...
Entry is free. Just turn up. There's a play corner for children alongside the refreshment area. Tea and coffee freshly brewed throughout the day, relays of enthusiasts selling sandwiches and cakes. Tickets for talks are £2, from the Welcome Desk.
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