Catenians West Midlands

07/10/2026

Save the Date and Register Your Interest: Archdiocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage 2027.

We are delighted to announce the provisional dates for the 85th Archdiocesan Lourdes Pilgrimage: Saturday 29 May to Friday 4 June 2027.

Under the Lourdes theme of The Visitation, pilgrims are invited to follow Mary's example of joyful service, charity and care for others.

Whether you are a returning pilgrim or considering your first journey to Lourdes, we warmly encourage you to register your interest now so we can keep you updated as plans develop.

06/10/2026

This is beautiful. Pope Leo's tweet this morning is profound.

"There exists a martyrdom of those who offer their lives in a single moment, and the more hidden martyrdom of those who give their lives day after day. This is exactly what all Christians are called to do: to give our lives with love, every day

"Our age needs men and women who have the courage to do good even when it comes at a cost. Draw close to those who are alone, support those who are weary, and seek out those who have drifted away. Have the courage to forgive, to begin again, and to engage in dialogue."

"Doing good does not always receive recognition and often requires effort, but this is the daily courage of charity. Friendship with Jesus Christ gives us the strength to live this way."

06/10/2026

04/10/2026

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟔 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝟐 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬

Walsall & Streetly Circle Monday 5 October 7.15pm Circle meeting
Wolverhampton Circle Wednesday 7 October 7.15pm Circle meeting
City of Coventry Circle Thursday 8 October 7.00pm Circle meeting + Golf day
Leamington Spa Circle Thursday 8 October 7.30pm Circle meeting + Friends of Parish evening

North Warwickshire Circle Monday 12 October 7.00pm Circle meeting + ladies informal and 50 year scroll
Birmingham 9 Circle Tuesday 13 October 7.00pm Circle meeting
Stourbridge Circle Tuesday 13 October 7.00pm Circle meeting + ladies informal
Redditch Circle Thursday 15 October 7.00pm Circle meeting + past Presidents night
Sutton Coldfield Circle Friday 16 October 7.00pm Circle meeting + 60th anniversary dinner

For booking in please contact the Circle directly or see booking details on the Provincial Calendar at Catenians-province6.org

03/10/2026

"Family fun awaits with the Catenians." Enjoy quality time at our relaxed, family-friendly events.

For more info see: (1) Click the link in the Bio (2) Choose the Membership Tab
(3) Have a read and fill in the form at the bottom of the page & our Team will be in touch to help you visit your local Catenian group.

01/10/2026

Reflection:

“Give me the child until the age of seven and I will show you the man.”

This well-known Jesus maxim is often attributed to either Aristotle or St Ignatius Loyola and is used by educators to express how habits formed in the first seven years shape a person’s character, beliefs and adult personality.

This weekend at St Chad’s Cathedral, we will be celebrating the exception that proves the rule. At noon on Saturday, we have the annual Guild of Saint Stephen Mass of Thanksgiving. Last year, 324 altar servers, together with their family and clergy, filled our cathedral for what is the biggest annual gathering of young Catholics in our Archdiocese. Most begin altar serving at the age of seven or eight, but there are also those wearing silver medals who have continued service at the altar into adulthood; those with gold medals have been serving for over 50 years!

Altar serving is habit forming - it helps us to become more like Jesus Christ, who “came to not to be served, but to serve.” (Mk 10:45) Helping the priest and the people of the parish in practical ways during the liturgy helps lay the foundations for taking this Christian service into our homes, schools, places of work and communities.

Whenever I’m asked how I recognised a call from God to be a deacon, I trace it back to shortly after my First Holy Communion, when my parish priest told my mother - and it was definitely told, not asked! - that I should be serving on the altar.

If you ask a priest in your parish, the chances are he’ll have been an altar server as a boy. He might tell you how his early experiences of serving helped shape his vocation.

Those enrolled into the Guild of Saint Stephen wear a medal inscribed with the Latin “Qui servire regnare est” - “To serve is to reign”. Whilst most altar servers do not go on to become priests or deacons, the vocation of every baptised person is one of service. Serving at the altar teaches us something that the world can easily forget: that greatness is found in giving ourselves for others.

And so, perhaps we might turn the old saying on its head. It is as if Jesus is saying: “Give me the altar server from the age of seven, and I will show you my disciple.”

Deacon Owen Gresty
Diocesan Promoter for Vocations

29/09/2026

GBNC Annual Conference 2027.

27/09/2026

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝟔 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝟐 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬

Stratford upon Avon Circle Wednesday 30 September 7.15pm Circle meeting
Droitwich & District Circle Thursday 1 October 6.45pm Circle meeting

Walsall & Streetly Circle Monday 5 October 7.15pm Circle meeting
Wolverhampton Circle Wednesday 7 October 7.15pm Circle meeting
City of Coventry Circle Thursday 8 October 7.00pm Circle meeting + Golf day
Leamington Spa Circle Thursday 8 October 7.30pm Circle meeting + Friends of Parish evening

For booking in please contact the Circle directly or see booking details on the Provincial Calendar at Catenians-province6.org

27/09/2026

Kidderminster & District Circle are now on Facebook! Check them out!

24/09/2026

𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐠𝐞𝐞𝐬.

On Sunday 27 September, the Church marks the 112th World Day of Migrants and Refugees. This year’s theme, ‘Even just one of these children’, comes from Pope Leo XIV’s message and invites us to reflect on the dignity, needs, and hopes of migrant and refugee children and young people.

For many children, home is not a place of safety. Conflict, persecution, poverty, and climate change can force families to leave behind everything they know.

As Christians, we are reminded that Jesus himself knew what it meant to be a refugee. In the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph is warned to take Mary and the child Jesus and flee to Egypt because Herod seeks the child’s life.

Pope Leo XIV’s calls us “to recognise the dignity of each child, even before considering the condition of being a ‘migrant’, and to safeguard his or her fundamental rights”.

Refugee Sunday is an opportunity for us to pause, pray, and consider how we respond to those who are seeking safety and a place to belong. We are invited to look beyond headlines and statistics, and to recognise the person in front of us: a child, a parent, a brother or sister, a neighbour.