New building: Week 10 - More bricks

...8000 more bricks in fact, in the last week.

Some work has been done on the foundations around the edge of the building:

And the ground floor ceiling in the Parish Centre has been removed to put in the steel bars that will take the weight of the library's 10,000 books.

A new performance of the Dream of Gerontius

On Saturday 12th May there was a performance of Julien Chilcott-Monk's setting of Blessed John Henry Newman's "Dream of Gerontius". "Vox Angelica" performed the choral parts, accompanied by an exotic assortment of percussion. Robert Hardy read the part of the Soul, with Neil Nesbit playing the Guardian Angel. Newman's poem tells the story of Gerontius, who is in his last agony and is then conveyed by his angel to judgement, before willingly being taken away to be purified in Purgatory.

One of the nineteenth century's greatest religious works, a copy was found on the person of General Gordon at his death. The work emphasizes the justice and majesty of God, but still more His mercy in cleansing us of sin in Purgatory. Julien Chilcott-Monk's music contains many references to Gregorian chant and brought out the passing of time, which leads us to judgement.

The performance raised over £1,000 for our "Reaffirmation and Renewal" Campaign.

New Building: Week 9 - Bricks

Solemn Mass for the English Martyrs

Friday 4th May was the feast of the English Martyrs - those 284 beatified or canonised men and women who gave their lives for the unity of the Church and for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass during the years of persecution in England.

Here are some pictures of the Solemn Mass celebrated in honour of their feast:

Photos courtesy of the Latin Mass Society

New Building: Week 8 - Floors and walls

Last week there were some important visitors to the site:

Here are the finished foundations.

Then some concrete beams arrived...

...to form a floor:

Here is another view of that gap where the stairs were. You can also see a glimpse of the first walls rising.

And of course, we wouldn't want to forget the drains.