Over last weekend, between our two Masses, the appeal for immediate aid to the Philippines received a hugely generous response. Our community donated €4,298.40 — which was matched from parish funds. This means we have sent a total of €8596.80. Along with €1,500 from other sections of the Paroisse Européenne, this money is going directly to the Redemptorist mission, which is currently host to over 2,000 people, in Tacloban, the city worst-affected by the typhoon. Sincere thanks for your tremendous generosity.

Money is still coming in, and will be forwarded on. If you wish to donate directly, the bank details are below (note, however, you cannot pay by BIC/IBAN transfer; certainly for payments from our BCEE parish account, online transfer was not possible, and a visit to the bank was necessary. If you prefer to pay directly into the parish account, those details are below also. Cash donations will also be banked and forwarded.

Name of Bank: Bank of the Philippine Islands  Branch: Cebu Business Park Branch
Address: Cebu Business Park, Cebu City, Philippines
Account Name of beneficiary: Redemptorist Province
Accont number: Philippine Peso (PHP) 2931-0026-54.
Address: Redemptorist Compound,  R. Aboitz St. Cebu City Philippines
Swift Code: BOPIPHMM
Reference: Tacloban Appeal, Anglophone Catholic community, Luxembourg

Our parish account details:
Name of a/c:  Paroisse Européenne/Section Anglophone
BIC: BCEELULL

IBAN: LU18 0019 3755 5648 2000

Help the Philippines — Spaghetti fund-raising, Sunday 24 November in the Salle of Sacred Heart church, 3.30pm onwards. All proceeds to to the typhoon appeal. Full details can be found here

Pope Francis has called a meeting of bishops from around the world to discuss the present state of family life in relation to Catholic teaching and pastoral practice. He has initiated a worldwide consultation, seeking to discover what Catholics actually think and do in relation to important issues. Each diocese will seek to elicit the information, and forward it to Rome for the end of January.

The archdiocese of Luxembourg is currently preparing its response to the Holy Father’s request, and hopes to have a consultation in place by the end of November. As soon as details of this are released, they will be published here (as elsewhere). In the meantime, you can find the survey, along with supporting documentation, on the website of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales: Family Life Consultation. The questionnaire is quite detailed, and some parts complex — so advance preparation is recommended.

A consultation exercise on this scale is unprecedented in the Church, and it will be interesting to follow its course. Topics covered in the survey include: living together before marriage; divorced and re-married Catholics; same-sex unions; contraception and adoption.

I received the following link from my Redemptorist colleagues, concerning the devastating typhoon last week in the Philippines. Our Redemptorist church in Tacloban, one of the worst-affected regions, is currently home to over 2,000 people whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed. The need is desperate.  At the end of the BBC news clip, you can see the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help over the door of the church — a real family connection for us… See the video

Our parish council has decided to give the proceeds of our collection this weekend to this cause — and we will match the amount raised from our parish account. We will send the amount raised directly to Fr Aidan McMahon CSsR (from the Dublin Province of the Redemptorists) who is the bursar of the community in Tacloban. And of course, we keep the whole awful situation in our prayers. See photos which dramatically illustrate the emergency…

And a BBC report on the devastated city of Tacloban: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24953433

Fr Ed

Congratulations to all who were so generous in the shoe-box appeal. We collected over 100 boxes

 which are now on their way, with the rest of the consignment, to Romania and Moldova. You can see the scale of the project on the Shoe box results’ flyer and imagine the joy the boxes will bring to so many children and young people!