Traditional Catholic Events 2009

I've received this list from the office. It doesn't have all the details for each event but there should be more information on the website, the office (email), and from the local reps.

It gives a good indication of how much is going on. Most of these events have been annual events for many years; a few are new this year, such as the priest training conferences in Ushaw and at London Colney.

I've been a number of them over the years. Downside is a wonderful setting for a Solemn High Mass; I think it is the only church in England to be awarded the title 'Minor Basilica' by the Holy See.

The pilgrimage to Glastonbury is a moving experience, with its procession through the ruins of the Abbey, which is very near the parish church.

Holywell in Wales is the only Medieval shrine to have survived the Reformation, and can boast continuous Catholic devotion since its foundation in the 7th Century, making it one of the oldest shrines in Europe; it is the National Shrine of Wales.

Walsingham, the National Shrine of England, was once one of the greatest pilgrimage places of the world. Totally destroyed at the Reformation, the Catholic shrine is now in the medieval 'slipper chapel', where pilgrims left their shoes for the final mile to the Holy House, built to the plans laid out by angels before the Norman Conquest.

The Oxford Pilgrimage, of course, is my own initiative; last year we had a spectacular event with the blessing of a plaque to four Catholic martyrs by a bishop.

All these events are well worth making the effort to attend: naturally, the draw people from a wide area, with coaches from London and so forth.

April

20-23 Ushaw Training Conference

May

Sat. 23 Guild of St Gregory Pilgrimage and High Mass (2.30pm) at West Grinstead

June

Sat 6 Fr Goddard’s first Mass in London at St James’ Spanish Place

Sat 20 AGM (11am probably) and Annual High Mass (2.00pm)

Downside High Mass

July

Sat 11 Day of Recollection at Ware

Sun 12 National Pilgrimage to Holywell Mass at 2.00pm Bishop Rifan celebrant

August

2-9 St Catherine's Trust Summer School

Sat 15 Welsh Pilgimage to Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper

24-28 London Colney Training Conference

September

Sat 5 Pilgrimage to Glastonbury Mass at 12 noon Benediction 2.15pm

Sat 12 National Pilgrimage to Walsingham

Sat 26 Southwark Diocese Pilgrimage to Aylesford? tbc

November

Sat 7 Confirmations at St James’ Spanish Place 11.00am

Sat 14 Dio Reps meeting am Annual Requiem in Westminster Cathedral 2.00pm

Towards Advent Westminster Cathedral Hall

Sat14/Sun15 Una Voce Rome Conference