King Charles III attends Advent service at Farm Street

News briefing Britain and Ireland

The King was at a special Advent service on Tuesday at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street in Mayfair, London, co-hosted by Aid to the Church in Need. The service celebrated the courage and perseverance of Christian communities and reflected on the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Mosul and the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq by Daesh or ISIS. The King was introduced to representatives of the London-based Iraqi Christian diaspora, including individuals who suffered persecution and forced displacement, and he also met members of the Jesuit parish – including those involved in supporting the homeless and others in need.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols celebrated Mass on Monday, 9 December to mark the 175th anniversary of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street in London. He described the Church which opened in 1849 on 31 July, the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola as “beautiful” and “an expression of the mission of the Society of Jesus”. The Jesuits, he continued had drawn many to faith “through preaching, spiritual guidance, confessional practice, social outreach and sponsorship of fine church music as an expression of cultural excellence”.

Vivaldi’s “Trumpet Concerto in C Major” was performed at the Mass, which concluded the Jubilee year, whose activities included a parish fundraising campaign that obtained more than £175,000. Fr Dominic Robinson, parish priest, described the year as a “wonderful celebration of thanksgiving” for the parish’s record “as a place of welcome and oasis of prayer in the centre of the city”. The jubilee began on 8 December 2023, with a Mass at Farm Street celebrated by Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, Apostolic Nuncio to the Court of St James. 

Guests on the popular podcast All Kinds of Catholic over the festive season include Jonathan Schranz, director of music in the Archdiocese of Southwark, talking about sacred music. For Epiphany, three “wise women”  will converse on where they are able to find hope for 2025. Podcast creator and host, Theresa Alessandro said, “The final document of the Synod encourages us to ‘nurture what binds us together’ and I believe sharing the podcast is one way to do that.”  Produced since June 2024, there are now nearly 30 weekly podcasts online. 

The Catholic Parish of Worthing and Lancing has been supporting a joint project between the Higaonon indigenous people on the island of Mindanao, Southern Philippines and the Missionary Society of St Columban. The parish said, “A whole rainforest is being reborn.” Trees are nurtured from rainforest seeds by the Higaonon and form part of the 84.5 hectares of rainforest land, cherished as their last remaining ancestral home.

Parish priest Fr Terry Martin said, “The urgent need to heal and to restore our planet cannot be overstated and it is small, important gestures like these that remind each of us that, both as individuals and as communities, we really can make a difference.”

Justice and Peace Scotland has joined with the Church of Scotland to urge members of the Scottish Parliament to recommit to providing free bus travel for asylum seekers. A pilot scheme was scrapped in August, but in October the Parliament voted in favour of a motion to reintroduce the policy. Jill Kent, chair, said, “We remind everyone of Christ’s teaching to welcome the stranger and to love our neighbour as ourselves.” In addition, Scottish bishops have welcomed the Scottish Government’s promise to lift the two-child benefit cap. They have asked for more details, particularly on time scale.

The Columban Schools Competition “Jubilee: Pilgrims of Hope” has been receiving entries from schools across Britain and Ireland. The Catholic Education Service in England and Wales has suggested it could be part of secondary schools’ “preparations for next year’s Jubilee celebration”. 

This is the eighth annual schools competition organised by the Columban Missionaries in Britain and Ireland. Young people 13-18 years are invited to submit an original piece of writing or an original image focusing on one community or group bringing hope in the world. Entries close 7 February: www.columbancompetition.com/

The leaders of the Catholic and Anglican Churches in Ireland have appealed for the “light of Bethlehem” to stream across the world, from Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Syria, and into homes, communities and workplaces. 

In a joint Christmas message, Archbishop Eamon Martin and Archbishop John McDowell said, “Where hatred, war and violence abound, the world falls deeper and deeper into darkness. Where the light of Christ is shared, love and peace shall be found.” They regretted that evil, sin, suffering and death are “a persistent daily reality, often in their most gruesome and demoralising forms” in many parts of the world, not least in the places where Jesus was born and “went about doing good”.

Jesuit priest Fr Tony O’Riordan SJ, who worked for three years in Syria, has warned that the country faces a humanitarian crisis where “millions of people are going meal to meal, day to day”. Based in Co Armagh since June, the former JRS director in Aleppo said Syrians, having lived through the last 14 years, have grounds to be cautious about the regime change. But the new leadership, having met with Christian religious leaders in Aleppo twice, gave “some grounds for hope”. 

Speaking to The Tablet, Fr O’Riordan said Bishop Antoine Audo SJ believed conversations with the new regime gave a basis for hope that they will respect them and that they understand the importance of minorities in Syria, including the Christian traditions.

The Irish bishops have signed an international letter calling for peace in the Holy Land. At their winter general meeting, they discussed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Archbishop Eamon Martin said signing the letter was “an expression of solidarity with those who suffer”.  He encouraged people to support peace in the Holy Land through prayer and by advocating for peace to end “the profound misery in Gaza”.

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