We'll be in London for Easter and would like to attend a church service on that day. Which church would you recommend for a Catholic mass? Besides Catholic, is there any church in particular that is especially good for an Easter celebration? We were planning on St.Paul's, but are not too sure. Any suggestions? We'll be staying in the S.Kensington area.

Thanks in advance.

We attended St. Paul's for Easter service once. I'm Protestant and have been to services at Westminster Abbey and at St. Stephen's on Gloucester Road. I much prefer St. Paul's.

We were in London for Easter about 2 or 3 years ago. We stayed at Charing Cross and the great part was getting up early, walking around and listening to the bells, it was amazing!!!

I am just about alone in the world in this, but I think the Westminster Cathedral catholic church, not to be confused with the famed Abbey of the same name, is quite nice inside. I don't know what it does for Easter.

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/e...-cathedral.htm

Bear in mind that if you go to St Paul's on Easter during a service, you will probably not be allowed to "see" the church (i.e., wander around, noting the architecture).

I'd suggest the Brompton Oratory - most of my Catholic friends in London seem to prefer it. They do Latin masses and have great music

http://www.bromptonoratory.com/index_files/Page320.htm

Just for the record, since I've got nothing against Brompton Oratory, but the Westminster Cathedral choir is quite famous and somewhat important in British music history.

I was looking for a bit of the choir's singing to link to, and came up with last year's Easter service taken by a tourist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_vKM...eature=related

Thanks everyone for your input. At this point it looks like the Brompton Oratory for us, but we'll decide as we get closer to the day - a lot depends on how jet-lagged we are after we arrive.

Thanks again.

Are we talking the 10.30 - 11.00 High Mass, or the midnight Easter Vigil?

Personally I find the London Oratory's sermons and liturgy pompous, its congregations sparse and reticent, its Baroque architecture unEnglish (if that's what you want, Vienna and Rome do it far better) and its music - by London catholic (note the small "c") standards at any rate - mediocre. Which of course means outstanding by the standards of practically anywhere else in the world, but not up to what you'd expect in, say, Liverpool or Leeds cathedrals or any decent Anglican church in London or Oxfordshire.

For congregational oomph, 1100 Mass at the Jesuit church in Farm St is:
- sung in Latin
- by a choir and congregation that joins in, enthusiatically (www.farmstreet.org.uk/diary_sept06.htm),
- in a Victorian Gothic church that feels close to one of the 7,999 beautiful medieval churches the Prods stole from us and won't give back.

For liturgical; splendour, the Easter Vigil (at 2100 on Saturday) at St Ethelreda's is:
- sung in Latin
- by a slightly smaller, but infinitely more liturgically educated choir and congregation
- in the only medieval church we managed to get back
- almost unparalleled in the English Catholic liturgical system (except, of course, at the London Oratory's Oxford sister) for sheer Easterness. (http://www.stetheldreda.com/Music%20...2009%20web.PDF)

The 1100 Sunday Mass at St Ethelreda's is also a nose ahead of the other architecturally interesting central London churches that sing Mass in Latin with a committed choir. The others, apart from the Cathedral and the Oratory, BTW, are:
- St James, Spanish Place (Victorian Gothic)
- St George's cathedral, Southwark (not just Victorian Gothic, but originally Pugin!!)

hi violet,

here's the link for westminster cathedral. havnig looked at the music section, I should thing that the choir wil be pretty good - they maybe of the catholic faith but they seem rooted in the english cathedral tradition of church music.

http://www.westminstercathedral.org....usic_home.html

i think they would be my pick.

i hope that your easter celebrations are everything you could desire.

regards, ann

ps - should you attend Westminster Abbey, you may get a chance to hear a young friend of mine play the organ - he is what they call the "sub-organist" there. i am sure that the music there will be excellent.