Author: Gregory Pearson

Sponsored Skydive Successfully Completed

Sponsored Skydive Successfully Completed

In response to the fundraising campaign for the Rosary Shrine, parishioner Wendy Searle volunteered to do a sponsored parachute jump to raise money for this new project. Her courage has already generated a great response, with over £1,200 given in advance of the jump, and further sponsorship pledged. Last Saturday, 29th April, Wendy successfully completed her skydive, and has provided us with the evidence to prove it!

If you would like to sponsor Wendy after this brave endeavour, you can do so here.

St Thomas as Guide to the Rosary Mysteries

St Thomas as Guide to the Rosary Mysteries

On Saturday 25th March the Rosary Shrine hosted its first day conference in Blackfriars Hall. Four talks were given on the insights into the mysteries we contemplate in the Rosary which are found in the works of the great Dominican theologian St Thomas Aquinas.

Three of the talks are available to download at the links below:

Holy Week and Easter Service Times

Holy Week and Easter Service Times

Holy Thursday
13th April

Good Friday
14th April

10am Tenebrae followed by retreat talk

10am Tenebrae followed by retreat talk

8pm Mass of the Lord’s Supper followed by watching until 11pm

12noon Stations of the Cross especially for children & families
2–3pm Confessions
3pm Liturgy of the Passion
7-8pm Confessions
7.30pm Stations of the Cross

Holy Saturday
15th April

Easter Sunday
16th April

10am Tenebrae followed by retreat talk 8:30am Mass
10.45-11.15am Confessions 10am Mass with Children’s Liturgy for Easter
8-8.45pm Confessions 12noon Solemn Mass
9pm Easter Vigil 6pm Mass

In Easter Week, there will be Mass at 10am only on Easter Monday (17th April), and there will be no 7:30am Mass from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd April, but the 10am and 6pm Masses will be celebrated as usual on those days. Mass times return to normal from Sunday 23rd April.

Bishop Nicholas visits St Dominic’s

Bishop Nicholas visits St Dominic’s

Bishop Nicholas Hudson, who is responsible for the parishes in our part of the Diocese, made a visitation of St Dominic’s on the weekend of the 18th and 19th February. During his visit, Bishop Nicholas met with representatives of various groups of parishioners such as the Parish Pastoral Council, the Shrine Fundraising Committee, and Catechists, who helped him to get a sense of the life of the parish. He thanked them, and all those who help in any way, for their contribution to the work of the parish, and their support of the parish clergy.

Bishop Nicholas also preached at all the Masses. He spoke about the importance of forgiveness, giving the example of St Josephine Bakhita, whose feast we recently kept, and her forgiveness of those who enslaved her. He also spoke of the work of Bakhita House, set up by the Diocese to help victims of human trafficking.

On the Sunday afternoon, the Bishop visited Maitland Park Care Home and spoke to the Catholic residents about their important mission of prayer for the Church, and in particular the parish. During the week, he also visited our two parish Primary Schools, St Dominic’s and the Rosary School.IMG_2427IMG_2420

Rosary Shrine Vigil of Thanksgiving

Rosary Shrine Vigil of Thanksgiving

Following the inauguration of the Rosary Shrine at St. Dominic’s, a prayer vigil was held that same evening in thanksgiving for the elevation of the Church to shrine status, to ask the the mission of the Shrine to promote the rosary as a way of prayer would be blessed, and for the renewal of the Church in this country.

The vigil began with a reconciliation service during which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed on the throne above the High Altar. The evening was hosted by the Dominican Youth Movement who had taken great pains to ensure that the dimly lit Church was ablaze with candles. A choir made up of members of the Dominican Youth Movement, participants of the Spode music week, and the schola of Blackfriars Oxford added to the beauty and prayerfulness of the occasion with their renditions of a range of polyphonic pieces, a duet, as well as instrumental pieces on the organ, flute and cello. Throughout this service priests were available to hear confessions, and there were a number of readings from Scripture and reflections led by lay Dominicans and members of the Dominican Youth Movement.

The reconciliation service concluded with compline, and was followed by a Eucharistic rosary procession which underlined the extent to which the rosary is built into the very architecture of St. Dominic’s Priory Church. The newly erected Shrine has fourteen side chapels, each dedicated to a mystery of the rosary. The high altar completes the set, dedicated as it is to the fifth glorious mystery: the crowning of Our Lady as queen of heaven. The Blessed Sacrament was carried in a candlelit procession around the Church, stopping at each altar to meditate on each mystery in turn and to offer prayers for various intentions. The vigil concluded at just gone midnight with Benediction at the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary in the Lady chapel. While most people went home at this point, a handful of hardy souls stayed on to pray through the night until dawn for the work of the pro-life movement in this country.

Thanks to Sr Mary Catherine, of the Dominican Sisters of St Joseph, for the photographs of the Vigil.

Rosary Shrine Inaugurated

Rosary Shrine Inaugurated

On Saturday 22nd October, our church was packed as people travelled from far and wide to witness the inauguration of the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary at St Dominic’s. Parishioners were joined by friends of the Dominican Order from around the country, as well as clergy from across the diocese, Dominican friars and sisters, and others who had heard about the new shrine and were keen to be part of this historic occasion.

We were pleased to welcome the Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Antonio Mennini, and the Mayor of Camden, Cllr Nadia Shah, to the inaugural Mass, celebrated by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols. The Archbishop of Birmingham, Most Rev Bernard Longley, an old friend of the Priory, was also present, as was Rt Rev Nicholas Hudson, the Auxiliary Bishop for our part of London.

Thanks to days of hard work by many parishioners, the church was looking more beautiful than ever, adorned with eye-catching floral arrangements of red and white roses. At the beginning of the Mass, banners embroidered over 100 years ago by Dominican sisters and depicting each of the mysteries of the Rosary were borne in procession. These were then hung round the church on the side chapels devoted to each of the Rosary mysteries.

Cardinal Nichols preached on the importance of the Rosary as ‘a most precious prayer’, a way of prayer combining contemplation with meditation on the life of Christ, and which offers a light in the ‘valleys of darkness’ through which we must often travel. The full text can be read here.

During the Mass, the Cardinal’s decree inaugurating the shrine was solemnly proclaimed. As he granted the official status of a Shrine to St Dominic’s, Cardinal Nichols invited the faithful to come to the new Shrine on pilgrimage and discover the riches of the Church’s tradition of prayer embodied in the Rosary. At the end of the Mass, the Cardinal venerated the image of Our Lady of the Rosary which adorns her altar in the Lady Chapel.

As well as welcoming pilgrims and visitors to the new Shrine, there will be a series of Shrine events in the coming year, including:

  • The first annual Rosary Shrine lecture, to be given by Scott Hahn
  • Monteverdi’s Vespers, performed by Camerata of Curiosities and His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts
  • St Thomas Aquinas as Guide to the Rosary Mysteries: a one-day conference
  • Four illustrated talks on the Rosary Mysteries in art
  • A youth retreat weekend
  • A pilgrimage to Italy’s Rosary Shrine at Pompeii

Below is a selection of photos of the day:

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Dominicans, Solemn Mass, Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, St Dominic's Priory NW5 Copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe +44(0) 7801930456. Email kayte@brimacombe.org

Please note all photographs are copyright © 2016 Kayte Brimacombe.

Sponsored Walk raises money for Rosary Shrine

Sponsored Walk raises money for Rosary Shrine

img_20161008_135246281On Saturday morning, a group of parishioners walked from St Dominic’s to the site of the mediaeval Dominican priory, which gives the name – Blackfriars – to the area of London where it once stood. Covering a distance of over 5 miles, they endured the vagaries of English October weather (heavy showers, cloudy skies and the occasional burst of sunshine) raising money for the Rosary Shrine appeal. The final total raised is yet to be established, but over £500 has already been handed in. Congratulations and thank you to all who took part or sponsored a walker.

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Sponsor a Lamp

Lighting a Votive Lamp for Your Prayer Intentions Use the secure form below to sponsor one or more lamps in our church. A week-long lamp will burn for your intentions before the Altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, or

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