Festival of Mercy in the Big City

It’s June, so that means it’s time for the Spirit in the City Festival in the centre of London. It’s based in the parish of Notre Dame de France, home of the wonderful Marist Fathers and their passionate team of laity. Over four days of music, cinema, outreach, and liturgy we reached out to the 250,000 thousand who pass through Leicester Square every day.

 

We started on Wednesday with the European premiere of Full of Grace in the Prince Charles Cinema. It normally holds Rocky Horror Picture Show sing-alongs and John Carpenter retrospectives (I was at one the month before – Big Trouble in Little China is a classic!). This was something entirely different. It was a reflective, prayerful film on the life of Mary after the Resurrection. I was on usher duty, which was no mean feat, as we had a full house. The movie was followed by a discussion of the role of Mary in the early Church and her continuing impact today as an example of Mercy. (more…)