The WAF-E&W AGM will be held at St. Catherine of Siena Church in Chessington from Thursday, October 23rd, to Saturday, October 25th. All are welcome to attend! For further details, please see the poster above.
The Jubilee of Marian Spirituality is a special event within the larger 2025 Jubilee Year, focusing on deepening devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It will take place in Rome from October 11-12, 2025, with events centered around major basilicas and culminating in a Mass presided over by the Holy Father. The Jubilee aims to inspire reflection, prayer, and celebration of Mary's role in the faith, inviting clergy, religious, and laity to participate. View more here
The Promoter on-line formation is proving a great success and many thanks to all involved. Please note the next on-line TEAMS formation sessions will be held on 20th October and 15th December respectfully. Details will be made available nearer the time. New volunteers are always welcome to join us - find out more
September is the month traditionally dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, and the feast day for this falls on 15 September, the day after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Clearly, it is very appropriate that these two feasts, representing the sorrows of Christ and Our Lady, should be celebrated so close together, given that the Blessed Virgin was the one who stood so steadfastly at the foot of the Cross on Calvary during the awful sufferings of her Son. As Fr Jason indicated, there are also some other notable Marian feast days in September, including the feast of the Nativity of of the Blessed Virgin on 8 September, and the feast of the Holy name of Mary on 12 September. And there is also the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham on 24 September. These feast days are all part of a rich historical tradition. The celebration of the Nativity of Our Lady in the Eastern Church goes back to the seventh century, and it was likewise celebrated during the time of Pope Sergius I (687-701) in Rome, from whence it found it way to other European countries. There is no scriptural record of the birth of Mary, but it is mentioned in the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James , which dates from the second century. The Feast of the Holy Name of Mary expresses the idea that after the name of Jesus, her name represents the highest expression of holiness in the light of her extraordinary sanctity and her role as Mother of God. This feast day was celebrated in Spain originally but was extended to the whole Church by Pope Innocent XI after the defeat of the Ottoman army at Vienna by the forces of the Polish King Sobieski on 12 September 1683. Sobieski attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin. Traditionally, the seven sorrows comprised the following incidents from the life of Our Lady: the prophecy of Simeon that a sword should pierce her soul the flight into Egypt, when the Holy Family had to escape the wrath of Herod the loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, an incident which was a cause of such anguish to both Mary and Joseph Our Lady meeting Jesus on the way of the Cross the bloody Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary the piercing of his side by the soldier after his death and the descent of his body from the Cross and finally, his burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea nearby. These seven sorrows show how closely linked the lives of Jesus and Mary were, and that she was present at all those crucial moments of pain and distress, and so shared as fully as possible in his sufferings. And this is relevant to our own time and lives, too, since the theme of suffering is prominent in what Our Lady said to the children at Fatima. During the very first apparition, on 13 May 1917, after telling them that they would go to heaven, she said: “Are you willing to offer yourselves to God and bear all the sufferings He wills to send you, as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication for the conversion of sinners?” Lucia replied, “Yes, we are willing,” to which the response was, “Then you are going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort.” During the August apparition, the sadness and suffering of Our Lady at the plight of mankind in its opposition to God was also apparent. Sr Lucia tells us that at the end of this apparition, “looking very sad” she said, “Pray, pray very much, and make sacrifices for sinners; for many souls go to hell, because there are none to sacrifice themselves and to pray for them.” And she also records that this same sadness during the final apparition on 13 October 1917, once again saying that the Blessed Virgin was “looking very sad” as she said, “Do not offend the Lord our God any more, because He is already so much offended.” So during this month dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, we can certainly think about the historical sorrows of her life, which came about because she was the Mother of Christ, the Man of Sorrows, but it would also be good to remember her continuing sufferings as the Mother of the mystical Body of Christ, of all Christians, and do what we can to alleviate those sufferings through our prayers and sacrifices.
Join us for a brief video sneak preview featuring a group of our Fatima Pilgrims as they embark on the extraordinary experience of travelling together to Fatima, Portugal.
Our young people are showing a great enthusiasm for the message of Fatima. View a recent interview conducted by EWTN Great Britain about what Fatima means to them.
Have you recently participated in a WAF Five First Saturday Fatima Visitation? We would greatly appreciate your feedback on the experience. Please share your thoughts with us.
The World Apostolate of Fatima will be holding the international Fatima congress and pilgrimage on 5th-12 December 2025. The theme of the congress is based upon the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the Places of pilgrimage will be Pontevedra and Santiago of Compestela, Spain.
Some beautiful images from the Welsh National Shrine of Our Lady of the Taper visitation of the NPVS of Our Lady of Fàtima and the Relics of Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto this weekend. Ave Maria.
A beautiful homily delivered by Archbishop John Wilson of the Archdiocese of Southwark, focusing on the Immaculate Heart of Mary and its significance for us in the present day.
