Catholicism-DON'T MISS OUT!!!

Catholicism – An adult’s study formation programme in the Catholic Faith.

Wednesday evenings starting 18 April 2012 at St Patrick’s Church in Soho running for eight consecutive Wednesday’s from 7.00pm – 9.00pm. There will also be one Saturday session in May. We will start to gather from 6.30 pm for light refreshments, giving us a time of fellowship.

Catholicism is a programme of 10 films made by Fr Robert Barron from the Archdiocese ofChicago as part of the “Word on Fire” on-line ministry of Catholic evangelisation (seewww.wordonfire.org). Fr Barron presents a modern-day pilgrimage to places across the globe where God has touched the earth and revealed something of His mystery.

Do you want to understand your faith better? Do you want to equip yourself to explain it to friends and colleagues? Do you want to discover the relevance of your faith in daily life? This study programme will help you to do just that. Sessions combine DVD, catechesis and group discussion to help you understand the Faith thoroughly and apply it to your everyday life.

You are warmly invited to register for the Catholicism series and bring a friend! Please get in touch, for further info and registration, contact: Deanna at stpatcatholicism@gmail.com or on 0207 434 9965.

Watch the trailer for this series here!

Another COOKATHON over!

Yesterday, we had a cookathon... YES our infamous cooking marathon where we cook dishes en-masse for a month or so to freeze. After dividing up all the food cooked, we counted up 375 portions of yummy food to be consumed out of this batch of cooking!


Ciara came up with the idea of cooking colcannon! Claz cooked a Thai vegetable curry for Fridays. Carmelo was on the meatloaf and burgers, and Tatiana on pasta tuna bake! Laurie made some totally mouth-watering and attractive cupcakes for the tea social after Mass this morning, as well as Moroccan chicken... mmmmm! The chicken curry was cooked by Anne-Marie. So you can probably tell, we have a great time preparing the meals that we share together.

Of course, we could never do it without the awesome DELLA!! She is the mastermind (along with Deanna) on the cookathon - we're so grateful to her for giving up her Saturday and evenings leading up to the cookathon to help buy the ingredients and provide all the cooking equipment we needed. Neither could we do it without the generosity of parishioners and wonderful benefactors who support the school financially for us to be able to buy the food with! So to all of you guys... THANK YOU!!



What started at 9am in the morning, finished at 3pm... so for all you potential students interested in the school, get ready to test and share your culinary skills with each other, spending the day in fun (and funny looking aprons)!

LAST Love and Responsibility TOB talk of the series

'Redemptive Suffering - Offering Christ Crucified in our own Flesh'

The last of the series of talks for young Catholics during Lent by Fr Samuel Medley based on...

BL. JOHN PAUL II'S

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

Wednesday 28th March

6:30pm - refreshments and social!

7pm - talk

St. Patrick's Catholic Church

21a Soho Square

London, W1D 4NR (community centre)

Update from 'CYMFed Congress' week!

So last week was, as always, a pretty busy week! Academics wise, we didn't look at the Catechism, but instead took part in a Life in the Spirit Seminar, led by Kate Moir, Gabriel Sedda and Fr Angelus. Some of us had engaged in Life in the Spirit Seminars before, 2 of us with Soul Food, a Catholic group based here in London. Since the reopening of St. Patrick's, and the building of the brand new community centre, lots of exciting things have been happening. Currently, the Theology of the Body series of talks with keynote speaker Fr Sam Medley from the Southwark Diocese have been taking place. We'll have the last of the series happening this Wednesday. We've been totally inspired by Fr Sam's witness, and delivery of the beautiful teaching of TOB (Theology of the Body).

One of the highlights of this week was most definitely the CYMFed congress that took place at Wembley Arena on Saturday. There were some amazing Christian Olympians testifying to their sporting gifts as God-given, gifts to offer back to God in the everyday living of their Christian values - Stef Reid and Debbie Flood. We also heard the testimony of Sr Catherine CFR who gave up her Olympic speed skating career to dedicate her life completely to God as a bride of Christ. The day's theme was based on three principles of the 2012 Olympics taking place here in London this summer: Respect, Friendship and Excellence. With 5000 other young people there, the day was packed with fun and faith… ending with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

Love and Responsibility TOB talks

Single Blessedness - Vocation to be present to the Lord

The third of a series of talks for young Catholics during Lent by Fr Samuel Medley based on...

BL. JOHN PAUL II'S

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

Wednesday 21st March

6:30pm - refreshments and social!

7pm - talk

St. Patrick's Catholic Church

21a Soho Square

London, W1D 4NR (community centre)

Back in BUSINESS!!

... and by business, we mean the business of the Lord, in the Lord's vineyard!! Firstly, please do allow us the privilege of apologising for our lack of communications over the past 6 months! Sooooo... we thought we'd celebrate our 'coming back' with a massive

RE-LAUNCH

of our blog!

There's a fresh, new look to the blog, because you know... God is always fresh, and can never get 'old'! Let us introduce ourselves based on this photo from left to right:

Claz, born and raised in London but of Filipina-Spanish heritage is the furthest left. She's the straggler and the merry musician of the community, who's deeply into her faith and professes to be a truly unique child of God!

Besides her is Carmelo, the sleeper from Indonesia. With a long background of faith formation, he is considered the wise and spiritual peacemaker in the community, and gives so much through the many talents and virtues he has been graced with!

The other girl besides Carmelo is Irish Ciara, from County Derry (although is a Tyrone Gaelic supporter). She's pretty fiery, not only in character, but more importantly she's most definitely on fire for our Lord Jesus Christ! She doesn't like bus journeys (we learned this the hard way!), but she's most definitely on the right mode of transport to heaven... the Catholic Church!

The girl with the purple hat is Tatiana, the wonderfully talkative Brazilian who brings much laughter and charisma to the community. She's totally in love with the word of God (and of course the Word of God), and she has a real gift for the various hospitality ministries you're likely to find within the environment of the Church.

Anne-Marie is the furthest to the right, and she's our other Irish gem. She's got the passion and drive (not to mention the sporting expertise) to share with all who she meets how our bodies are a gift from God, and that we can engage in different sports activities to express this gift of life. She's über friendly, and is quite creative with the Bible!

Last, but not least, is Laurie, our speedy Scotsman. He's certainly a pilgrim of body, mind and soul... with major plans for the future, and big experiences of the past to shape his bright future. Formally a mixologist and landscape gardener, we look forward to what the rest of the year has for him!


So that's the 'student-ele' of the St. Patrick's Evangelisation School this year. We're really excited to let all of you around the world know what we've been up to these past 6 months in forthcoming blogposts. We've been blessed with so many experiences like retreats, pilgrimages, academic lectures, outreach projects, missions, and a vibrant and active prayer life. So we'd really like you to stay tuned and to check us up on a weekly basis where we hope to catch up with 6 months of news and action from SPES!

Please do pray for us, and if you have any prayer requests, we will soon set up a widget where you'll be able to send in any prayer requests in a jiffy!


For the greater glory of God!
The SPES team

SPES at " Youth Festival" in Medjugorje

Deanna went to Medjugorje at the end of july for the Youth Festival, she was so happy it was made possible through all our prayer.

She enjoyed her time that it was a time of grace and much blessings.

The opportunity to share the joy and hope with other young people from all around the world.

First Friday Vigil, in honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Next Friday, 4 March 2011, is our First Friday Vigil which will begin at 7 p.m. with the celebration of Holy Mass. At 9 p.m. the vigil will start with Night Prayer and carry on through the night with songs, praying the Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and time of being quiet and still in the presence of the Lord. The vigil will come to a close with praying Morning Prayer together at 6 a.m. The evening is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus praying especially for vocations, young people, and the School of Evangelisation (SPES). All are very welcome!

SPES in " The Little Way " to Lisieux

SPES has received an invitation to meet Therese at Lisieux last week. Deanna and I joined this pilgrimage with Monsignor Keith Barltrop, Parish Priest of St Mary of the Angels, Bayswater, who organized in 2009 the visit in England of the relics of Therese and all the parishioners of Ealing Abbey and St Patrick Church, Wapping. We stayed in L’Hermitage, a guest house close to the Carmel Convent.

From her writings “The Story of a Soul” to

a real journey to Lisieux to came to know and understand more deeply Therese’s life and her message “The little way” is the path of hope and saintliness, it is the path of confidence and abandonment, …”of the child who sleeps without fear in the arms of his Father.”

We visited very important places in Therese’s life, St Therese’s family settled in this house. Therese spent her chilhood here.

This is the room where Therese was cured of a serious illness by the smile of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saint Peter's Cathedral where Therese sat every Sunday at Mass and where she received the grace of understanding to her missionary vocation. The main altar was donated by her father ( Louis Martin). Near the entrance of the chapel where Therese made her first confession.

The Basilica of Saint Therese where mosaics illustrate the message of St Therese and also the relics of St Therese are displayed there.

We had Mass and also we said Vespers with the Carmelite nuns, we had access also to the reliquary.

These 3 days were a blessed experience for Deanna and I which we want to share and to pray with Therese asking for her intercession and her teaching “ The Father doesn’t need our great deeds, but only our love”.

St Therese of the Child Jesus –

Pray for us

St Claude De La Colombiere's Relic

After the beatification of John Paul II and Divine Mercy Sunday ( first Sunday of Easter), it was a very special and blessed day. Fr Alexander Sherbrooke ( Parish Priest ) returned from Rome and brought with him a Relic of St Claude De La Colombiere the Patron Saint of St Patrick's Evangelisation School. Deanna and I were very happy and blessed to receive it, particularly as we have seen this year how important the intercession and devotion of St Claude De La Colombiere has been and is for SPES.
The Jesuit Priest St Claude De La Colombiere was the first to believe in the mystical revelation of the Sacred Heart given to St Margaret Mary in Paray le Monial Convent, France . He dedicated his life to propagate the devotion to the Sacred Heart.In October 2010, SPES started our Vigils on 1ST Friday of each month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. A time to bring others to Adore the Lord, to pray for those in need and also pray for the work of St Patrick's Evangelisation School .<span class="Apple