THE P RTAL
November 2014
Joanna Bogle enthuses that the
“Towards Advent” Festival is now an
established part of the Catholic Calendar
November
Auntie Jo a n
Towards Advent
Page 4
brings the TOWARDS ADVENT
Festival at Westminster Cathedral Hall. This year it has a
distinctly Ordinariate flavour. The Festival is on Saturday November
22nd. It brings together Catholic organisations from across Britain:
all sorts of groups from the Knights of St Columba to the Friends
of the Venerable English College, from OREMUS, the magazine of
Westminster Cathedral, to the FAITH Movement, the Catholic Truth
Society, the Catenians and the Association of Catholic Artists.
splendid ceremony, glorious music
na
wri tes
its craft goods, all very suitable as Christmas presents
Mgr Keith Newton, our Ordinary, will be opening – trendy twirly scarves, beautiful lacquered boxes,
the Festival in a ceremony at 10.30am – this ceremony lavender bags, home-made jam, special Ordinariate
is always rather splendid, with glorious music. This calendars…
year, the choir is from the John Fisher School in Purley,
Surrey – known to local Ordinariate members because popular support
The Festival works because people support it – they
they sang at the Ordinariate Evensong at St Mary’s,
West Croydon, as part of the “Called to be One” Day. run stalls, they urge people to come, they volunteer
They will be singing two pieces of music and then, by to help, they spread the word about it with posters in
tradition, leading us all in the Advent hymn “O come parishes. It was launched as part of the Millennium
O come Emmanuel”. Hymn sheets are distributed celebrations…and here it is, flourishing over a decade
beforehand, and hearing the whole hall erupt into later. Who would have thought, back in 1999 when the
thing was first being planned, that one day there would
song is always a superb moment.
be something called the Ordinariate of Our Lady of
During TOWARDS ADVENT, while there are Walsingham, and that it would be part of the Festival,
displays and stalls in the (always packed!) Hall, there are and playing a major role?
talks and workshops in the nearby
Hinsley Room. This year, the first
of these will be given by Mgr
Keith, on the theme: ”Anglicans
and Catholics – a way forward”.
This will be at 11.30am. Other
talks and workshops during
the day include Canon Luiz
Ruscillo (diocese of Lancaster)
on Catholic Education, and a
special workshop on learning
how to sing Gregorian chant, led
by Joseph Estorninho from St
James’ school, Twickenham.
LOGS craft goods
Among the stalls in the hall
will be one run by the Friends of
the Ordinariate, and another run
by the Ladies Ordinariate Group
(LOGS). Last year, the LOGS stall
proved immensely popular, with
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