Celebration

For the 35th year running teenagers from various Milton Keynes parishes gathered at Thornton convent for Celebration.

Founded in the days before St, Paul’s was built to provide religious education it now allows teenagers to gather, to explore their faith and to build a town-wide community.

This year we chose the new translation of the liturgy as the basic theme. It allowed us to learn a little Esperanto, and a little more Latin. We looked at the shape of the liturgy down the centuries and wondered how, as architects, we would design churches which met the needs of the liturgy and of the congregation.

Work done for the day the teenagers then made full use of the sports hall, swimming pool and endless acres of grass. There was even time to fit in the tradition ‘surprise’ flour fight between young helpers and slightly younger participants.

What is Celebration?

Celebration is open to all young parishioners in School Years 6 or older.

Celebration is an annual residential week held at Thornton Convent for up to 40 young Catholics from the Milton Keynes area. It was founded in 1978 by Fr. Paul Hardy and Fr. James Cassidy CRIC.

Celebration aims to bring young Catholics together in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere to explore and deepen what they have learned about their faith at home and in school.

Celebration does this through informal classroom discussion, art, drama and music ... and through the preparation for the daily Mass and night prayer. The programme leaves plenty of time for the participants to enjoy the special attractions of Thornton. They have full use of the extensive grounds, the tennis courts and the outdoor swimming pool.

Celebration is led by a team of catechists and teachers drawn from local parishes, and by the chaplain, Fr. Paul Hardy.