The guild is dedicated to the promotion and support of Catholic artists and this year’s conference will feature Alexander Stoddart, Sculptor in Ordinary for Her Majesty the Queen in Scotland.

I believe that this approach of where the artist describes form with line, rather than tonal or color variation offers artists a way of painting that eliminates the scourge of naturalism today which is sentimentality. I would encourage artists and patrons to look at this as an option for covering large areas of their church walls.

The goal of the group of singers to first to be able to sing the Office confidentally, and then for us to be able to pass it on to others. The hope is that the prisoners will learn to sing with us, then without us, and to be able to teach others to join in.

A Monasatic Experience Weekend: if you are exploring a religious vocation, interested in taking a retreat, or just curious about what it’s like to be a monk, this is for you!

The more ingrained the good habits and skills are, the better the quality of the work regardless of mood. In a totally different context, the South African golfer, Gary Player always used to say something that is nevertheless apropos: ‘The more I practice, the luckier I get.’

To the degree that we fail to engage with the art in our churches, no matter how beautiful, it is relegated to the role of mood inducing decoration, working through color and abstract shape. We might as well be sitting in the Rothko Chapel as the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

An aspiring Catholic artist needs to learn not only the skills of his or her art, but also an understanding our traditions, and how to depart from strict adherence to naturalistic appearances so as to reveal the invisible truths of the Faith. Andrew Smith's training offers an education in both the skills and the Catholic tradition of sculpture.

People care about the culture because it reflects and influences a worldview. We naturally desire a culture that reflects our own views. When we see a culture that does so, we see it as beatuiful and it reassures us, for ‘we feel at home in the world’

In the Western tradition of art, St Bartholomew can be shown an elderly man being flayed or holding a tanner's knife and a human skin to reflect the latter of these causes of death. 

Twenty-five inmates will form a new schola who will be taught to chant the Mass by the teaching choir of the Benedict XVI Institute.

We will discuss the wide range of topics that you are used to reading about on the blog. All relate to faith, culture and beauty - which is anything from prayer and economics to art, architecture, music and gardening!