Forgive the universal appeal for a local problem — I lost my keys last weekend — Sunday 13 June, to be exact. In the course of attending to my duties after Mass, I put them down somewhere, and haven’t seen them since. Prayers to St Anthony haven’t as yet helped… In a nutshell, if you remember seeing a bunch of 15 or so keys with a green lanyard/ribbon, can you please let me know?
Thankfully, my most important keys are with me, so the parish can continue to function!
Thanks,
Fr Ed
We received the following report from Judith Golooba on her recent trip to Malawi (photos below) as part of the mosquito net project:
Dear family & friends
You kindly contributed to my “Malawi mosquito net project” which came about after watching a TV programme, where children in Malawi were dying because their families lacked basics like mosquito nets.
You contributed money or mosquito nets yourself. Well, now I would like to report how I used your money or the mosquito nets you contributed.
I went to Malawi on 1st November 2015 and returned on 14th November. I travelled to Namitete, (a village about 60 km from Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi). Altogether I collected 100 mosquito nets and € 3,000.00 from individuals and friends in Luxembourg and the UK. (With € 3,000.00 I bought 320 mosquito nets locally in Malawi).
I was lucky to meet in Luxembourg a Catholic nun, Sister Veronique, who works for the Luxembourg NGO “An Open Hand for Malawi “ working in cooperation with St Gabriel’s Hospital based in Namitete, Malawi. She liked my project and said she would help me find families who most needed nets; and she would show me where I could buy more nets with the money that people contributed.
When I arrived at the airport in Malawi, a driver from St Gabriel’s Hospital welcomed me and we went straight to Namitete, where they also provided me accommodation.
The first thing was to visit two village antenatal clinics. The photos I took of the villages and the women who received the nets are enclosed in this email. In certain villages I was so touched that I participated in the process of checking blood pressures for some of the pregnant women before distributing the mosquito nets.
(See the photos)
On the first day 25 nets were distributed. On the second day 75 nets were distributed, the distances were getting longer. The rest of the distribution will be done under Sister Veronique’s supervision when she travels to Malawi in February 2016. I will keep you informed when they have distributed all the nets I left behind.
“An Open Hand for Malawi” is doing an amazing job in Namitete and the surrounding villages. They have built water holes, which provides locals easy access to clean water! They have built a wonderful medical centre, St Gabriel’s Hospital, which helps treat all in Namitete and beyond. They support a primary school, which only goes to year 6, but are hoping to complete two more buildings so that kids can be educated to year 8, the final stage of primary school in Malawi.
(See the photos)
As a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) “An Open Hand for Malawi” is co-financed by the Luxembourg Government. Due to this it might be very possible that in future the mosquito nets project should be included in the context of a larger program and in this way more people can benefit from your support.
If there should be another project, it would have to be helping some of the villagers with the education of their children. But that is another project, which can be taken up individually by those who might want to continue to help.
Altogether it was a humbling experience and to offer the precious nets and to see how grateful the recipients were, with their gleaming faces, was worthwhile. I would like to add that you may have helped to save lives!
Let me conclude by thanking you tremendously for your generosity. I have photos of many villagers who received the fruits of your contribution. I enclose them with this email. I will answer any questions as to how I used your money or the nets you donated.
Thank you so much for everything.
Judith
Here is our Christmas/New Year schedule for Mass and Confessions:
CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR
24th December, Christmas Eve: Mass 10pm, preceded by carols at 9.30pm
25th December, Christmas Day: Mass 11:15
26th December, St Stephen’s Day: Mass (in English) 10am
Vigil Mass for Sunday 7pm
27th December, Sunday: Mass 11:15 (Feast of the Holy Family)
1st January, Feast of Mary, Mother of God: Mass (FR &EN) 10:00
3rd January, Sunday: Mass of Epiphany 11:15
CHRISTMAS CONFESSIONS
Saturday 19th December 10:00 – 11:00, 15:00 – 16:00
Thursday 24th December 10:00 – 11:00, 15:00 – 16:00
All are welcome!
John Coughlan, our representative with the archdiocesan outreach to refugees here in Luxembourg makes the following appeal to our community:
Refugees in Luxembourg: appeal for volunteers from the International Parish
In September the Archbishop asked every parish community to do whatever it can to welcome refugees arriving in or relocated to Luxembourg from other European countries. Last week our English-speaking Catholic community was approached by the archdiocese about taking responsibility for coordinating the distribution of meals at the new reception centre for refugees to be opened next week in Gasperich under the auspices of the Red Cross.
To do this, we need volunteers from the parish who can either:
The coordinators will be John Coughlan and Marcella McCarthy. If you can help, please send an e-mail to costacoughlan@gmail.com indicating your availability.
Thank you for your (anticipated, but certain) generosity.
Fr Ed
Tonight (Friday 11th December) there’s an evening meet for young people (teenage) at St Alphonse, from 19:00. All are welcome to come for music, pizza and chat. We’ll be gathering in the meeting room in the garden/parking at St Alphonse. Can you pass the message on, please?
Thanks,
Fr Ed
International English-Speaking Community of the Parish of Luxembourg Notre Dame 