English Mass Utrecht

This Sunday, the 7th October, it will take place in the center of Utrecht the annual running event known as Singelloop. If you come to mass by car, bus or bike you should count with some delays. So please plan carefully your next visit to the English Mass.

For more information about the event you can check their website:

https://www.singellooputrecht.nl/singelloop-utrecht/

As a young girl from a French, bourgeois family, Thérèse Martin traveled to Rome to ask the Pope for permission to enter the Carmel Order at the age of 15. Despite the strict monastic life, she discovered that holiness can be achieved through small acts of charity and compassion. She called this simple but deep spiritual truth her ‘little way’. This film shows in a moving way the life of a remarkable young woman, who fell in love with God. Her life history, with setbacks and victories, is that of an ordinary girl with extraordinary mental power.

• Where: Coffee room St. Augustine Church, PASTORAAL CENTRUM, Rozenstraat 1, (next to Q-PARK parking garage LA VIE) Utrecht
• When: Sunday September 30, 14:30
• Speaker: Father James Smits

Upcoming Thursday, September 20, the doors will be open for our monthly Taizé youth prayer in Utrecht! In context of the Week of Peace (September 15 till 23), this will be a special edition. The prayer will be organised in collaboration with the Old Catholics in their beautiful Gertrudiskathedraal (near the Mariaplaats). Note the prayer will thus NOT be in the Wijkplaats.

As usual, doors will open from 20:00 on, allowing some moment of silence till the prayer starts at 20:15.

For more information, you can also visit the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/437528756739560/

In addition, we’d like to inform you about the following:

• Our Taizé prayer is only one of the activities in the Week of Peace as can be found attached (full program of the Old Catholics) or the PAX website (https://www.paxvoorvrede.nl/).

  Amongst others there will be a Walk of Peace (https://actie.paxvoorvrede.nl/actie/walk-of-peace-utrecht-2018/) on September 23 (Sunday) organised by many churches in Utrecht (will also take place in other cities in The Netherlands)

  {Unfortunately all info is in Dutch, but feel free to reach out for any questions}

• Next, we’re looking for new musicians (preferably piano) and people to strengthen our team! Though the team is always present with much enthusiasm, we do need to expand our team as no one is going to stay in the team till eternity. Would you like to join our enthusiastic team and support us once a month with the Taizé prayer preparations, to sing during the prayer or to support with the website/promotions. Please let us know via mail or reach out to us before or after the prayer!

We hope to see next Thursday evening!

On behalf of Reinier van den Assum, and the organizing team of the Taizé events in Utrecht.

There are still few news on the progress of the restoration procedures inside the St. Augustine church. But what we are happy to inform is that the parishes of Utrecht are going to setup a temporary Mary chappel, inside the church. We can’t at this moment use the usual Mary chappel. This one is closed because it’s space is being used as a storage space for organ material. After the interior of the church is ready to use the pipes of the organ can be put back into the organ closet.
But in the meantime the parish of Utrecht will setup a temporary Mary chappel in the space behind the Porta Sancta, the Holy Door. This door gave access to the church during the Holy Year. The church had to be closed in September 2016, because a rosette fell of the ceiling and the stability of the whole building caused concerns. Now we have the opportunity once again to access the Mary chapel, through the Holy Door, while we wait for the moment when our community can once again make use of our trusted St. Augustine church.
The space behind the Holy Door is now available. The parish has however still to clean up the space, specially the floor. This space will be temporarily setup. An image of the mother of God will be hanged up. Folding chairs will be placed and there will be oportunity to light up candles. The municipality of Utrecht gave permission to use this space, and there is no danger of fire.
For the cleanup and setup of the space we have a couple of volunteers needed. Bouwien Vermulst will coordinate the cleanup and the setup will be led by Albert Smit. In the chappel will be hanged an image of Our Lady of the Good Advice. This icon was brought to the St. Augustine church from Genazzano, nearby Rome. This image was specially chosen because we are in need of the good advice of Mary to help us speed up our come back to the St. Augustine church.
Whenever the space is setup, Fr. Boogers will be asked to inaugurate the temporary Mary chappel. We will inform when that happens.
If you are interested in helping, as volunteer, please contact the secretariat of the parishes of Utrecht: tel. 030-254 61 47 or send an email to secretariaat@katholiekutrecht.nl

There are still few news on the progress of the restoration procedures inside the St. Augustine church. But what we are happy to inform is that the parishes of Utrecht are going to setup a temporary Mary chappel, inside the church. We can’t at this moment use the usual Mary chappel. This one is closed because it’s space is being used as a storage space for organ material. After the interior of the church is ready to use the pipes of the organ can be put back into the organ closet.
But in the meantime the parish of Utrecht will setup a temporary Mary chappel in the space behind the Porta Sancta, the Holy Door. This door gave access to the church during the Holy Year. The church had to be closed in September 2016, because a rosette fell of the ceiling and the stability of the whole building caused concerns. Now we have the opportunity once again to access the Mary chapel, through the Holy Door, while we wait for the moment when our community can once again make use of our trusted St. Augustine church.
The space behind the Holy Door is now available. The parish has however still to clean up the space, specially the floor. This space will be temporarily setup. An image of the mother of God will be hanged up. Folding chairs will be placed and there will be oportunity to light up candles. The municipality of Utrecht gave permission to use this space, and there is no danger of fire.
For the cleanup and setup of the space we have a couple of volunteers needed. Bouwien Vermulst will coordinate the cleanup and the setup will be led by Albert Smit. In the chappel will be hanged an image of Our Lady of the Good Advice. This icon was brought to the St. Augustine church from Genazzano, nearby Rome. This image was specially chosen because we are in need of the good advice of Mary to help us speed up our come back to the St. Augustine church.
Whenever the space is setup, Fr. Boogers will be asked to inaugurate the temporary Mary chappel. We will inform when that happens.
If you are interested in helping, as volunteer, please contact the secretariat of the parishes of Utrecht: tel. 030-254 61 47 or send an email to secretariaat@katholiekutrecht.nl

In the past Friday, the 29th of June, there was a ceremony in the St. Catherine cathedral to install Fr. Hans Boogers as the priest of the parishes of Utrecht, replacing Fr. Ton Huitink.

Lucas Buiting of the coordination team of the English Mass Utrecht had the opportunity to offer a candle for this occasion during the ceremony and whishing him, in the name of the community, a heartly welcome.

The coordination team will work together with Fr. Boogers, has it has with Fr. Huitink, to make sure that the English Mass Utrecht continues to serve the needs of the international catholic community of our city.

On the 21st of April, our parishioner Kees Broers celebrated his 70th anniversary with a celebration in Het Brandpunt, Amersfoort. For this celebration were invited the Sri Lankan community of Amersfoort, the English Mass Utrecht community, and also some members of the choir were present. Fr. Herman Lieberom was the presiding celebrant. Happy birthday Kees and many more years to come!

Check the photo album here: 

http://bit.ly/EMUKees70

One of our parishioners asked us to share a fund raising campaign for Cynthia Dawie, a Syrian refugee in the Netherlands, 20 years old, who is in need of donations for a heart implant.

https://www.gofundme.com/cythia-is-pas-20

Since the funding website is in Dutch, we leave here a translation:

“Save Cynthia

20 year old Cynthia Dawie from Syria has a heart that no longer functions properly. The only option that the doctor has recommended is a heart implant.

Cynthia studies interior and decoration in the university. As child, Cynthia suffered from cancer. After many treatments this problem disappeared, but her heart got weaker throughout the years, and now reached a point where it no longer works properly. The only salvation is a heart implant!

Save Cynthia Dawie thorugh a contribution and doing so you will let Cynthia once again laugh and study further, with a new heart to fulfill her dreams.”

The donations can be done through the website below or to:

Cynthia’s uncle – Sobhi Dawie

0655834868

Bank account: NL22RABO0328775339

And with the description: DONATIE

This Thursday, the 10th of May, the Catholic Church celebrates the Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in the Netherlands known as Hemelvaartsdag.
It’s a holiday in the Netherlands and also a day of obligation.
Unfortunately our community does not celebrate a mass in English for this occasion.
You can however attend a mass in Dutch in the St. Catherine Cathedral at 10:30. Other option is the evening before (the 9th) at 19:00, also in Dutch.

On the 8th of April the archdiocese of Utrecht made known that Fr. Ton Huitink, our parish priest, will leave us.

Fr. Ton Huitink was asked to assume the leadership of the fusion of a couple of parishes in the vicariate of Deventer. Fr. Huitink himself will move to Zwolle.

The archdiocese and our community – the English Mass Utrecht – are most grateful to Fr. Huitink for his good and often difficult work he did for the parishes in Utrecht.

The coordination of the parishes of Utrecht, to whom the news came as a surprise, whishes to invite all parishioners and other interested to be part of a farewell celebration.

This celebration will take place on the Corpus Christi Sunday, the 3rd of June, in de Aloysius church (Adriaen van Ostadelaan 2). The celebration will start at 10:30.

Starting on the 1st of May, Fr. Hans Boogers will assume functions as the new priest of the parishes of Utrecht. He works at the moment in Zwole. In June he will start his pastoral work in Utrecht. His place of residence will be in the presbytery of the Aloysius church.