All Saints Margaret Street.

Dear friends,

I am pleased to announce an exciting opportunity for formation this Lent in the form of a parish theatre trip on Thursday 5th March to see the production of Shadowlands presently at the Aldwych Theatre starring Hugh Bonneville and Maggie Siff.

This will then be followed by a teaching session at All Saints’ on C.S.Lewis in the week after on Tuesday 10th March at 7.00 pm led by Fr Alan and Fr Peter, and which will look particularly at Lewis’ apologetic work, Mere Christianity.

Shadowlands recounts the story of the romance Oxford academic and author C.S. Lewis experienced late in life with Joy Gresham (née Davidman). By the time he met Joy, he was already a well-known writer and thinker, particularly noted as the creator of the Chronicles of Narnia. Joy bursts into the emotionally dry, fusty life of a bachelor don which Lewis had created for himself, but the love which gradually emerges between them challenges and changes them both. The play also charts Joy’s tragic early death, and the way in which this trauma radically transformed and tested Lewis’ Christian faith.

Shadowlands originally emerged as a television play written by William Nicholson in 1985. It made it to the stage soon afterwards with a very successful West End production which also then transferred to Broadway.  It came to much greater prominence, however, when it was turned into a film by Richard Attenborough in 1993 starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger.

The present West End theatre production of Shadowlands is directed by Rachel Kavanagh and began life at the Chichester Festival of Theatre.

We are very lucky to have got 15 tickets at the discount price of £55 per head. To book your place, simply pay through this Eventbrite link here. Tickets will be sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

To follow up on this dramatic exploration of Lewis’ life and thought on stage, we will also have a study evening at All Saints’ a few days later to explore some of Lewis’ writings on Tuesday 10th March.

In order to prepare for this, it will be useful to have read Lewis’ work Mere Christianity. You do not have to have been to the play to come to the study evening, but if you can’t get to the play, a good way to get a sense of the narrative it describes would simply be to watch the Attenborough film which is widely available.

I look forward to what promise to be two very stimulating and illuminating evenings in which we seek to explore our Christian faith, and the way in which this is shown in the remarkable life and work of Clive Staples Lewis.

Fr Peter

Candlemas 2026

Saturday 31st January 2026
6.00 pm  Confessions
6.30 pm  Vigil Mass of Candlemas
Sunday 1st February 2026
8.30 am  Low Mass
11.00 am  High Mass with Blessing of Candles & Procession
Preacher: Fr Peter Anthony
Music: Mozart, Missa Brevis in F, K192; Peter Phillips, Hodie Beata Virgo.
5.15 pm  Low Mass
6.00 pm  Candlemas Carol Service with Benediction of
the Blessed Sacrament
Music: Wood, Hail Gladdening Light; Byrd, Suscepimus Deus; Mendelssohn, Richte mich Gott; Schütz, Nunc Dimittis; Rheinberger, In Deo speravit; Sumsion, O Salutaris Hostia; Henschel, Tantum Ergo.

Zoom Theology

Our next Zoom Theology seminar will take place online this Tuesday 3rd February at 7pm. Our speaker will be Dr Colin Podmore.

In the wake of the appointment of a new Archbishop of Canterbury after a lengthy process that can sometimes seem shrouded in mystery, we have the opportunity to learn more about how an Archbishop of Canterbury is selected, the ins and outs of how a candidate assumes the office of archbishop, and what the role entails.

We are grateful that Dr Colin Podmore, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society who served in several senior roles in the Church of England, including as Clerk to the General Synod, will talk to us from his own extensive experience and study of the topic.

Zoom link for the online seminar, plus more information about our year’s teaching programme, can be found here.

RIP John Martell

John Martell, who worshipped at All Saints’ for many years prior to the Pandemic, has died. All are welcome at his Funeral Mass followed by burial and buffet on Thursday 19th February 2026 at 11.30am, which will take place at St Michael and All Angels, Harbledown, Canterbury, CT2 8NW. Fr Alan will be preaching.

At some point in the near future we will celebrate a Mass of Requiem at All Saints’ for people who cannot attend the funeral in Canterbury.

Fulham Lay Congress

The Bishop of Fulham is hosting a Lay Congress entitled ‘Ready with a Reason’ on 21st March 2026 at S. Alban’s, Holborn, from 10.00 am to 3.30 pm.

Bishop Linday Urwin OGS will be the keynote speaker, reflecting on sharing the Gospel with others. Please see the flyer attached for more details.

You can watch last Sunday’s High Mass here.

Flowers

The flowers by the Shrine of Our Lady of Margaret Street this week are given by Bernard and Francis Davis, in memory or their mother, Barbara, whose anniversary is on the 2nd February.

If you would like to make a donation for flowers or the courtyard garden, please contact Shawn directly or via the office.

Attendance last Sunday