The Society of St Columba offers evening chapel services eight times per year in the Celtic Christian and Liberal Catholic traditions as well as quarterly seasonal ceremonies. Our Chapel services combine the beauty of traditional sacramental worship and liturgy with a nature-centered and mystical approach to Christian Spirituality. We offer a welcoming, spiritually nurturing sanctuary where people from various backgrounds can come together to celebrate the changing seasons and connect to God through meditation, prayer, sacramental worship, and ceremony.
The Society is a chartered ministry of The Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, an independent sacramental church in the Mystical Christian Tradition. The Church was founded in 1958 by German born Herman Adrian Spruit who had been consecrated a bishop by Charles Hampton, the Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church for the USA. The Seminary associated with the Church, Sophia Divinity School, was also established in 1958. The Apostolic succession of the church comes from the Roman Catholic Church, through the Dutch Old Catholic Church and the Liberal Catholic Church in England, as well as through Orthodox, and Celtic/Scottish Episcopal lines.
While anyone is welcome to attend the public chapel services, regular attenders are invited to join the Society as members so as to help support our spiritual work and activities. Membership donations/koha to help towards covering costs and expenses are $120 NZ per year ($10 per month). We also provide a quarterly newsletter, a lending library of spiritual books and host an annual weekend retreat.
Chapel Services
The Society of St Columba was established in 2016 as an ecumenical, religious community in the Celtic Christian and Contemplative Traditions.
Join us in a beautiful historic church for monthly evening chapel services. Our sacraments are open to all people. The services combine traditional liturgical worship with candles, incense, sacred music, poetry, and contemplative prayer and meditation and the eucharist. Steeped in tradition, the services evoke an atmosphere of spiritualstillness and peace.
Seasonal Ceremonies
Seasonal Sanctuary Ceremonies are held four times a year in March, June, September and December to mark the seasonal cycles of Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer. The Ceremonies are participatory and held in the sacred space of a circle with candles and incense and draw on Mystical Christian as well as Celtic spiritual traditions. During the ceremonies we honour the four elements of creation and the Archangels, and take part in meditation, prayer, chant, seasonal readings or ceremony, and the Eucharist.
Celtic christianity
Celtic Christianity draws on ancient religious and monastic traditions, yet this spiritual path is relevant for the contemporary world today. Revering nature as God's Creation and incorporating sacred music, art, and poetry in worship are integral elements of Celtic Spiritual and Monastic traditions. Through a deep personal spiritual journey a close relationship to Christ, Mary, and the Saints is developed. Distinctive features of this path include: Hope, equality, mystery, nature, holism, simplicity, and community.
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