Every priest in England and Wales has been invited to Westminster Cathedral for a Mass of Thanksgiving and for the Renewal of Priests.
With about 5,000 priests on the invitation list, it would be reasonable to assume that Cardinal Vincent Nichols and the other organisers expect the majority of them to decline.
Nevertheless, more than 1,000 priests are expected to attend the event on June 28, Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
The date also marks the 450th anniversary of the founding of the English College at Douai, now in France, which prepared and dispatched a constant stream of priests to England and Wales throughout the darkest years of persecution, some dying as martyrs as they sought to keep the faith alive.
