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Carolfest 2023 comes to Enniskillen to bring local schools together to sing carols

 


Enniskillen primary schools in Enniskillen Cathedral.

Carolfest 2023, an event which unites children through the joy of choral singing, took place in Enniskillen this year.

Pupils from Holy Trinity Primary School, Enniskillen; Enniskillen Model Primary School and Enniskillen Integrated Primary School came together to sing Christmas Carols for each other and the congregation.

Carolfest 2023 was invited to Enniskillen by Dean Kenneth Hall, of St Macartin’s Cathedral, and the Monsignor Peter O’Reilly of St Michael’s Parish Church. The two church leaders hosted the late Queen Elizabeth II during her visit in 2012 - an occasion which has gone down in history as it was the first time a monarch had been in a Catholic church on the island of Ireland.


The Dean and Monsignor lead the schoolchildren across the road.

The service was led jointly by both Dean Hall and Monsignor O’Reilly, who shared the Bidding and Blessing. It began in St Macartin’s Cathedral at 11am on Wednesday December 13 and then, retracing the late Queen’s steps in 2012, the schoolchildren, teachers, parents and grandparents and all attending walked from St Macartin’s, crossing the road to St Michael’s, singing as they went - one service of unity in two locations.

Enniskillen Carolfest 2023 is organised by The St Anne Trust formed in 2015 to foster cross-community relations and build friendships through the medium of music. It began with a single service held annually in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, but last year the festival expanded to include St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh and the Parish Church of St Phillip and St James, Holywood.

Trust Chairman, Mr Joseph Watson, said: “Choral singing enriches cultural diversity. This event provides opportunities for shared experiences, mutual appreciation and it enriches cultural diversity. Musical traditions can be shared without losing their distinctiveness.

“It provides something for everyone, and it can establish a real sense of shared identity and a new sense of participation, which is very important. This Carolfest seeks to play a part in expelling sectarianism and build peace and mutual understanding amongst our people.”

Dean Hall said: “The churches have expertise in forgiveness, justice, truth, and repentance - the components of reconciliation. We in Enniskillen see the need to examine and to re-define our role and purpose as being ‘open and available’ churches in order to give a new incentive for reconciliation work at a local level.


“The churches have so much common ground in their acceptance of the basic tenets of the Christian Faith and we gain enormously from bringing to and sharing with each other the riches of our own traditions and denominations. This service should further encourage the work that is already taking place.”

Monsignor O’Reilly said: “Following the 2012 visit of The Queen for her Diamond Jubilee, her footsteps became iconic. That ‘Crossing of the Street’ summed up so much of the goodwill that already existed in Enniskillen.

“Now, in the Community Carol Festival encouraged by the St Anne Trust, we have another opportunity to give expression to that goodwill. Feelings follow footsteps. I hope that this service will be the occasion of the warm feelings that can come from working together for a better community, a better world.”


The schoolchildren make their way from the St. Macartin's to St. Michael's.



Some of the schoolchildren singing in St. Michael's Church.