Year of St Francis
In 2026 the Church has asked us to celebrate a special 'Year of St Francis' This year marks the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi in 1226. Proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV, this special Jubilee Year is dedicated to rediscovering the saint's timeless message of peace, fraternity, and care for creation. This page will capture some of the events for the Year of St Francis as they happen.
Parish Mini-Pilgrimage
Join us on the 12th September as we walk together to celebrate the Year of St Francis. Starting from St Augustine’s Church, Beehive Hill, Kenilworth and walking to St Francis of Assisi Church, Warwick Road, Kenilworth All ages and abilities welcome, pushchairs encouraged!
The walk is intended for young people with their families, with a stop in Abbey fields for a picnic. To find out more, or to volunteer to help, speak to Alice or Naomi.
The walk is intended for young people with their families, with a stop in Abbey fields for a picnic. To find out more, or to volunteer to help, speak to Alice or Naomi.
Prayer cards to Celebrate St Francis
Our school children at St. Augustine’s and Crackley Hall have created beautiful prayer cards featuring the peace prayer. They are available at the back of the church. We encourage you to take one for yourself and another to pass along to a neighbour, friend, relative, or someone else as a gift and a gesture of welcome from the parish. With my prayers and blessings, Fr. Ryan.
Carnival 2026
To help celebrate this year of St. Francis we thought that having a float in our local community carnival was a good way of highlighting the life of St. Francis. We incorporated many aspects of St. Francis life on the float. The chapel of San Damiano which St Francis rebuilt was re-built by our youth group using cardboard boxes covered with stone print wallpaper. We recreated the sermon to the birds with a flock of paper doves crafted by The youth group, the Liturgy group, St. Augustine’s school and Crackley school. The wolf of Gubbio made an appearance thanks to Richard.
The Doves were accompanied by many other other painted animals created by our young people. Our banners spelt out spelt out 'Make me a channel of your Peace' and displayed pictures of St Francis drawn by our school. St.Francis and St.Clare represented by Luke and Caro and of course Fr. Ryan was an enthusiastic participant.
So many people helped make this idea a reality. Especially the leaders of the Youth group and children’s Liturgy group. and all who worked to co-ordinate the artwork across schools, youth groups and the warm hub. Naomi Mottram produced some incredible costumes and masks for us to wear. The construction team of Richard, Alvin, Simon, Ray, Andrew and Francesco worked incredibly hard to build a safe float for us. Then afterwards helped strip it in record time so the lorry could get away quickly. We were very well supported by our Marshals who walked along side the float, thank you Theresa, Carrie, Maureen Alex and Vicki. There are many others who helped in many ways, some supplying bits for costumes and others who helped us dress the float, thank you, you know who you are.
Lastly thank you to those who were on the float the 9 children and 6 adult who smiled, waved and sang to crowds until our jaws ached and some of the children fell asleep. A particular joy was seeing people in the crowds responding and singing along to the hymns we had playing. Thank you everyone.
The Doves were accompanied by many other other painted animals created by our young people. Our banners spelt out spelt out 'Make me a channel of your Peace' and displayed pictures of St Francis drawn by our school. St.Francis and St.Clare represented by Luke and Caro and of course Fr. Ryan was an enthusiastic participant.
So many people helped make this idea a reality. Especially the leaders of the Youth group and children’s Liturgy group. and all who worked to co-ordinate the artwork across schools, youth groups and the warm hub. Naomi Mottram produced some incredible costumes and masks for us to wear. The construction team of Richard, Alvin, Simon, Ray, Andrew and Francesco worked incredibly hard to build a safe float for us. Then afterwards helped strip it in record time so the lorry could get away quickly. We were very well supported by our Marshals who walked along side the float, thank you Theresa, Carrie, Maureen Alex and Vicki. There are many others who helped in many ways, some supplying bits for costumes and others who helped us dress the float, thank you, you know who you are.
Lastly thank you to those who were on the float the 9 children and 6 adult who smiled, waved and sang to crowds until our jaws ached and some of the children fell asleep. A particular joy was seeing people in the crowds responding and singing along to the hymns we had playing. Thank you everyone.