Forum Christi on the C.A.S.E.

On Sunday 9th December Emily Davis (from the Catholic Agency for the Support of Evangelisation, CASE) spoke to the group about 'Living Faith' - A response to JPII's statement that a natural consequence of a real encounter with Christ is a desire to share him with others. She explained that there were three parts to evangelisation - living the faith, sharing your faith with others, and a chance to respond. She asked us to think about and share recent experiences of having been evangelised ourselves (easy for those of us who'd heard Kenny Thomas), and we also spoke about practical ways of sharing our faith with others.

Pop star pops into the parish

On Friday 7th December the pop singer Kenny Thomas visited the parish to speak to the Post-Confirmation and Faithform groups. Kenny had a string of hits in the early 1990s, and appeared on Top of the Pops nine times, and also made appearances on Wogan and The Big Breakfast. He was last seen on television on the ITV series Hit Me Baby One More Time a couple of years ago. (See www.kennythomasmusic.co.uk)Kenny talked to the groups about his life growing up on a council estate in Hackney, and about how his Catholic faith developed as a teenager, particularly after meeting some young Jehovah's Witnesses on holiday and becoming interested in finding out what "The Truth" was. He related stories about how there were times when he was performing on television, or shooting pop videos, when he had to stop and stand up for his faith, even though others may have considered him weird for doing so. He explained how important it is for all of us to do this, whatever career we may end up in. Kenny also discussed the importance of prayer, and particularly the Rosary, in his life. He helped lead a time of prayer in church, and there were also opportunities for confession, which is an important part of our Advent preparations.