The KEYS, the Catholic Writers Guild...

... held an excellent meeting  at which author Paul Shrimpton spoke about his book on John Henry Newman's influence on the young German anti-Nazis, Hans and Sophie Scholl. They were also influenced by a range of other great writers from the ancient to the modern era including Maritain and de Lubac...

The Scholl story is of great importance, with useful messages for our own era. Read here.

The Keys is proud of its history which dates back to its foundation by a team of writers working for GK's Weekly in the 1930s. I have been a member since the 1970s, when Fleet Street was still the heart of Britain's journalism. At one time, Guild meetings were held in various Fleet street pubs where a room could be hired. The Universe newspaper had an office at 21 Fleet Street and then moved to Bowling Green Lane...Then for many years, the Guild Church was St Etheldreda's, Ely Place, where a plaque in the crypt (where we had supper, following Mass in the main church above)  now records the fact. We then moved to St Mary Moorfields - again, wonderful cheery evenings with Mass, dinner, and a talk - and now we are at Farm Street, where the beautiful church welcomes us. The atmosphere, the friendship, and the sense of being a Guild with its own unique story, thrives...and in a decade or so, we will reach our Centenary...

Over the years, there have also been branches of the Guild in, among other places, Manchester and the North East. The Keys - honouring St Peter of course -  has always been the special name of the London branch.