Latest Parish News

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PALMS AND CLOCKS

This coming Sunday (29th March) we begin Holy Week with the celebration of Palm Sunday, commemorating the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. Palms will be blessed and distributed at both Masses (Saturday 19:00 and Sunday 11:15), with an indoor procession beginning at Our Lady’s altar at the back of the church.

On Saturday night/Sunday morning, the clocks go forward 1 hour here in Luxembourg: if you forget to put your clock or watch forward, you will arrive at church an hour late — and miss most of the Mass. Spring Forward!

Fr Ed

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ST PATRICK’S DAY THANKS

On 16th March we had our Feast Day Mass celebrating St Patrick. Thanks are due to so many people who made the evening memorable: the choir, singing the O’Riada Mass and hymns in Irish; the musicians who provided accompaniment and moments of meditation; the dancer, who danced before the Lord at the Presentation of the Gifts; the Irish ambassador, who read (in Irish) at the Mass; Fr Eamonn, who narrated the life of St Patrick; our Eucharistic Ministers; and last, but certainly not least, those who prepared the wonderful feast of eatables and drinkables after the Mass.

It was notable that there were numerous people at the Mass who had never celebrated St Patrick before, and who were thrilled at discovering more about this great apostle of the faith — people from different countries and continents. It was indeed satisfying to see so many people attending, appreciating the efforts made in Patrick’s honour. We are already looking forward to the celebration next year.

Fr Ed

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OUR MALTESE PARISHIONERS

Last week I had a chance to meet and talk with Fr Alfred Vella, the priest from Malta who visits Luxembourg regularly offering additional pastoral care to the Maltese community here. On behalf of the parish, I was able to express my great appreciation for the presence of Maltese people in our community, people who are frequent Mass attenders, who are involved in our various Sacrament preparation classes, and are generally supportive in so many ways. Our Maltese parishioners give so much, enriching further our culturally diverse international parish. I look forward to meeting Fr Vella again next month.

Fr Ed

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MANY, MANY NATIONS! updated

A Church of Many Nations
On the weekend 28/02-01/03 I invited you to place a pin in your country of origin on the world map on our noticeboard, and you responded wholeheartedly. Some of you were so proud of your country, you added numerous pins — only one was counted for each country, however. The result was amazing, and I have to confess way above my predictions: Between the Saturday Vigil Mass and the Sunday morning Mass, we had 41 nationalities represented, with a further 3 being added this weekend — bringing the total to 44. The full list is below, and of course more countries could well be added over time. Our parish is truly international, representing so many different nationalities and cultures: all of us expressing our Catholic faith through the medium of the English language. That we are such a multi-nation community should be a source of great pride for us — and equally a challenge: how can we fully represent and celebrate our unity-in-diversity? This is something we can continue to ponder and discuss. And we give thanks to the God who calls us together in worship each week, and who gives us so much more.

Fr Ed

The full list, just added!

Albania
Australia
Bangladesh
Belgium
Brazil
Cameroon
Canada
Colombia
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Great Britain
Greece
Honduras
Iceland
India
Ireland
Italy
Jamaica
Latvia
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Mexico
Nigeria
Norway
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Tanzania
United States
Venezuela