Friday 16 February 2018

Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2018

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Full details of Masses, Confessions, the Parish Lent Project, Saturday Talks for Lent, Musical Oratories and more can be found in the Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2018 booklet. Copies of the booklet are also available from the back of church.

Lent Project: The Oxford Life House

Life exists to make abortion a thing of the past. The charity has saved thousands of lives across the UK since 1970 through prolife advocacy and practical help. The Life house in Oxford has already given hope and a future to almost 200 pregnant young women who had been homeless, escaping abuse, vulnerable or at risk, and who had previously seen no option but abortion. Life gives these woman the freedom to choose life for their children. In the Life house, they are given supported accommodation, practical aid and emotional support along with guidance and life skills aimed at equipping tenants for independent living. It costs just £11 to house a mother and her child for a day and to provide them with this dedicated support. This is our chance to do something practical to save the lives of the unborn. There will be collection boxes at the back of church to take away and a second collection on Sunday 11th March, after which there will be the opportunity to meet some of those in Life to find out more about their life-saving work in Oxford and beyond. Find out more: www.lifecharity.org.uk

Musical Oratory: The Seven Last Words
Wednesday 21 February 6:30pm

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The seven last words of Christ from the Cross have been a focus of Catholic devotion for many centuries. This Musical Oratory provides an opportunity to meditate on them with the aid of congregational hymns and sacred choral music from a wide variety of the Church’s musical traditions, sung by the Parish Choir and the Oratory Young Adults’ Choir.

Musical Oratory: The Crucifixion
Wednesday 21 March 8pm

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Sir John Stainer’s The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is a choral presentation of Christ’s Passion and Death. Written in 1887, it is one of the high points in the evolution of the musical oratorio, with parts for choir, organ and congregation. Many will be familiar with the congregational hymns Stainer composed for the work, including Cross of Jesus, Cross of sorrow, Jesus the Crucified pleads for me, and All for Jesus. But most famous of all (possibly the best known of all Stainer’s compositions) is the stunning chorus, God so loved the world. Come and hear them sung in their proper context, and let the music take you back to Calvary. There meditate on the love God has shown us by sending his Son to suffer and to die for us.

Parish Day of Chant
With Fr Guy Nicholls, Cong. Orat.
Saturday 10 March

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Gregorian chant is the Church’s own music, the voice with which Christ’s Bride sings his praises. The chant developed in the earliest years of Christianity and has been sung continuously to the present day. If you want to know more about the chant itself, or want to learn how to sing it, or just want to spend time singing it, this day is for you. Fr Guy Nicholls will lead a Parish Day of Chant. The day will include practical training sessions in singing, a talk on the sung propers of the Mass (as part of our Lenten series), and periods of sung prayer, finishing with a sung Mass in the afternoon. The day will start at 9:30 and finish at approximately 17:00.

Source & Summit: 
Saturday Talks for Lent
Saturdays at 11am

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The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. Our Lenten series explores the history of the liturgy, music and art used to serve the Mass, the language, ceremonies and scriptural roots of the Mass. Cafe Neri will be open before each talk from 10:30.