...happy day as the Towards Advent Festival of Catholic Culture celebrated its 10th anniversary. We had a full hall for the opening ceremony, with Archbishop Vincent Nichols, and the beautiful singing of the choir of Coloma Convent Girls' School. The Westminster Cathedral Hall is perfect for this event: we had displays and stalls from every sort of Catholic group and guild and organisation - books and Christmas cards and Advent calendars and more, beautiful jewellery on sale in aid of various good causes, hand-crafted Nativity sets and Christmas gifts from the Holy Land, CDs and books and pamphlets,honey and beeswax candles and other monastic produce...we had the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal and Youth 2000, the St Francis Leprosy Guild and the Society of Catholic Artists, the Friends of Westminster Cathedral and The Music Makers, EWTN Catholic TV, the FAITH Movement, and more, and more, and more...
Teas and sandwiches and home-made cakes were provided by the Association of Catholic Women, along with a play corner for children. The Catenians and the Knights of St Columba did sterling work handing out leaflets to everyone coming and going from Masses at Westminster Cathedral. We had a tour of the Cathedral - which attracted a large group - and a popular workshop on Gregorian chant by The Music Makers, and a splendid reprise of the glorious Papal Visit by Niamh Maloney and her young team, the group that produced those wonderful placards "We love you Papa more than beans on toast" and "Give it some welly for the Pope in the Park". Oh, it was all joy...
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I was on the laymens' committee with the unhappy job of advising the bishop about parish closures in Bradford. It was a depressing exercise. The main problem was the parishes weren't capable of maintaining their buildings, and we'd disguised the problem for a long time by putting off repairs to balance the books. Eventually that policy had caught up on us.
Naturally we had prayers before and after the session for some solution to the problem. I joined in, thinking we were going through the motions.
Next thing we knew, 5 Franciscan friars of the Renewal arrived from America and set up shop in central Bradford.
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