Joanna Bogle visits

The well-known Catholic columnist and author, Joanna Bogle, joined us for Mass on Sunday 23rd December 2007 and spoke to the parents of our First Communion candidates about celebrating Catholic traditions in the home. This was very appropriate with the feast of Christmas just days away. Joanna painted a lovely picture of the Church's liturgical year, illustrating some customs that are very English but not much observed today since the Reformation, and others that are prevalent in other cultures, such as putting the initials CMB above door lintels at Epiphany, the initials signifying the supposed names of the Three Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar, who were guided to Bethlehem by a star.

A not particularly good photo of Joanna in full flight.

All parents said how much they enjoyed Joanna's entertaining talk.

Here Joanna poses with the Ebenebe and Horgan families

Joannal also promoted here book A Yearbook of Seasons and Celebrations, Gracewing (2007), ISBN 978 0 85244 129 9. The book goes through the Church's seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, as well as saints days and seasons such as Midsummer and Autumn.

You can find it at Amazon. If you order it via my other blog, the parish can benefit from a referal fee.

Joanna has her own blog too. Why not visit it?