​Our Patron Saint

Saint Pope John Paul II

​Karol Joseph Wojtyla was born in Wadowice in Poland in 1920 and lived through the Nazi Occupation and Communist Oppression.  He was a gifted actor and performed the lead roles in many student theatre productions.  When the Nazis took over and closed all of the theatres, he and his friends (Catholic and Jewish) risked their lives by staging clandestine performances in the drawing rooms of people's homes.  As a priest, he used drama to reach out to people with the Faith. As a Bishop, he continued to write plays and poems and as Pope (from 1978-2005), he followed and enhanced the great legacy of the Church as a deeply interested supporter of the arts.  His Letter to Artists (1999) is a powerful testimony to the role of the arts in the life of the Church and the world.  As such, he is our Patron Saint.  Saint John Paul II, pray for us!

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A short video by AGAP Creative Director, Stephen Callaghan for the Feast of Saint John Paul II, on 22nd October 2021.

Every genuine art form in its own way is a path to the inmost reality of Man and of the world.  It is therefore a wholly valid approach to the realm of faith, which gives every human experience its ultimate meaning.  That is why the Gospel fulness of truth was bound from the beginning to stir the interest of artists...
Saint Pope John Paul II, Letter to Artists 1999