LIVERPOOL A former gangster, a comedian and a peer will be among the speakers at a Catholic conference in Liverpool in May.
The Northern Catholic Conference aims to be an opportunity for spiritual renewal and will be modelled on New Dawn in Walsingham and Celebrate in Ifracombe.
Speakers include Frances Hogan, Lord Alton of Liverpool, exgangster John Pridmore, Fr Jimmy Collins, comedian Jimmy Cricket and Don Maclean, presenter of BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday.
It will feature Mass, exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Reconciliation, a healing service, talks, workshops and praise and worship. There will also be an evening of comedy.
The conference will take place at the Adelphi Hotel, Ranelagh Place, Liverpool, from May 20-22. Admission is free, but donations are welcome. To find out more or to register, phone 0781 206 4746 or 0151 546 3674 or go to www.northerncatholic. co.uk WESTMINSTER A new icon of Our Lady of the City was unveiled at an ecumenical service in St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Bunhill Row, London, last Friday.
For many weeks, visitors had been coming into the church to watch the Coptic icon artist, Dr Stephane Rene, working on the image, which is nearly three metres high and two metres wide.
A purple scullcap worn by Archbishop Oscar Romero will be displayed in the church as part of the parish commemorations of the 25th anniversary of his death.
Fr Bruno Healy, priest in charge of St Joseph’s, said: “Oscar Romero’s memory is not only something for Catholics to celebrate. His strong ecumenical commitment, remembered as he is in the Modern Martyrs Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral, or on the front of Westminster Abbey, is also a stimulus for us here at St Joseph’s.”