Dolgellau Carmelites have always tended to rely on word of mouth, personal introductions and a good old fashioned letter or phone call when women have wanted to test their vocation. However this year they are breaking with tradition and launching a series of ‘Come and See’ weekends, to enable single women who feel they might have a vocation to get a taste of the sisters’ life of prayer.

The Universal Church will celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family on Friday 27^th December this year. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate the gift of family life, and of the vocation to marriage and family.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference have created some resources to help you make this feast day a special day in your parish.

The 70th anniversary of the Carmelites’ return to Aylesford Priory in Kent has been celebrated with a special Mass presided by Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark and attended by around 300 people. The Carmelite Friars first came to Aylesford in 1242, but left at the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538. However, they were able to return in 1949. 

A new feature documentary about the monks of Mount St Bernard Abbey, called “Outside the City”, is being premiered on November 9th at Cinecity Brighton Film Festival. This artistic film documents the lives and deaths of the monks living behind the walls of this closed monastic community in Leicestershire, as they transition from dairy farming to brewing the UK’s first Trappist beer, the world famous Tynt Meadow.

The premiere of the film will be an afternoon screening at 2pm at the Depot Cinema in Lewes. The bar will be serving Tynt Meadow and there will be a chance to discuss the film after the screening with filmmaker Nick Hamer. For more details and to book your ticket please click here.