English Mass Utrecht

On Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th of March there will be a 24 hours of adoration for the Lord event in the St. Catherine cathedral.

The schedule is as follows:

29th March, 19:00 in the St. Catherine Cathedral: Way of the cross;
29th March, 20:00 in the Peace Chapel: Adoration and reconciliation;
30th March, 10:00 in the St. Catherine Cathedral: Worship and reconciliation;
30th March, 18:30 in the Peace Chapel: Evening mass.
Please come and take part in this celebration of praying and reflection during this Lent periode.

On the 10th of March, the English Mass Utrecht community celebrated its 16th anniversary. We had a nice potluck lunch with food brought from everyone from the community and we played some board games after the lunch.

Check out the photos in our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/englishmassutrecht/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2189471027798280

A decision was made regarding the cathedral:

The St. Catherine church will NOT be sold and will stay cathedral and at the service of the community.

Taking into consideration the lack of vitality of the community of the cathedral the coordination of the parish considered selling the cathedral.

The archbishop of Utrecht, cardinal Eijk, was made aware of these plans and due to several protests of the community and the role of the St. Catherine church as cathedral, and the national seat of the catholic church in the Netherlands, the plans were abandoned.

The coordination of the parish will now take into consideration other means to collect funds for the parish and to assure a healthy vitality for the future. For this the archbishop encourages the speed-up of the plans to fuse the parishes of the center of the city – Salvator, St. Ludgerus and St. Martinus.

The coordination of the parish is also arranging with the Catherijnconvent museum for a stronger collaboration and further promote the public access of the cathedral as part of the unique late middle age monastery complex where the museum is placed.

Source: https://katholiekutrecht.nl/2019/03/02/catharinakerk-blijft-kathedraal/

This wednesday, the 6th of March, the Lent period will start with the Ash Wednesday.
There will be a celebration at 19:00, in the St. Catherine Cathedral, but it’ll be in Dutch.
We hope nevertheless that you can attend and mark the beginning of the Lenten season.

During Lent we focus on God and Jesus and prepare ourselves for Easter. A great way of doing this is by studying the Bible. Fr. Smits and Martens are organising four Bible study evenings in English during this coming Lent. You can join one or all of the sessions, as you are available. Please let them know you are coming in advance: secretariaat@katholiekutrecht.nl. Please join us.

Time: 19.30 – 21.00

• On March 13, in the St. Augustine’s coffee and tea room (Rozenstraat 1), led by Gérard Martens. Topic: Lucas 22, 7-27: The last supper;
• On March 27, in the St. Augustine’s coffee and tea room (Rozenstraat 1), led by Gérard Martens. Topic: Lucas 23, 1-12 + 32-47: the Passion;
• On April 3, in the St. Catherine’s sacristy (Kapittelhall, Lange Nieuwstraat 36), led by Fr. James. Topic: Lucas 24, 1-35: Ressurection;
• On April 10, in the St. Augustine’s coffee and tea room (Rozenstraat 1), led by Fr. James. Topic: Acts 2, 1-12 + 41-47: Pentecost.

Monday 25th of February the first Café Damiano will start. This is an intiative for young catholics between the age 18 till 39. In this first edition father Boogers, father Ten Klooster and father Ignatius-Maria will talk with the participants about how young people see the future of the catholic church in Utrecht. Afterwards there will be opportunity to talk to each other while enjoying some refreshments and a bite. You are most welcome to join.

Time: 20:00

Location: Werfkelder (basement) Nieuwegracht 61, Utrecht

Upcoming Thursday, February 21, the doors of the Joseph church will be open for our monthly Taizé youth prayer in Utrecht! Note, this is a different location than usual! You are welcome (as usual) from 20:00 on. There will be the possibility for silence, before the prayer starts at 20:15.

The meeting will take place in the Sint-Josephkerk: Draaiweg 44, 3151 EM Utrecht.

In addition, we’d like to inform you about the following: 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. It would be a pity when the prayers would end. 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 reach out to us before or after the prayer! We hope to see you Thursday evening!

The English Mass community will celebrate its 16th birthday on the 10th of March!

After mass we’d like to celebrate this together by sharing our food and friendship together. We ask you to bring a dish or cake from your home country, so we can celebrate our diversity and our shared Christian Faith.

After eating we can enjoy each other’s company by playing board games. Please bring your favourite one!

This Monday, the 18th February, there will be another information session about the intentions to sell the St. Catherine Cathedral.

In this session the parish board will give further details about the current process. The session will have an informative nature. There will be an opportunity for express opinions and stand points in a future hearing, to be announced later.

This meeting will take place in the coffee and tea room of the Cathedral – the Bonifaciushuis, Nieuwegracht 61 – at 20:00.

Last Thursday, the 7th February, the parish of Utrecht board announced their plans to sell the Cathedral to the Catharijne convent for a symbolic amount of 1 EUR. After which they intent to restart the renovation of the St. Augustine church. Their goal is to keep one church open in the city center where all activities will be centered. Their planned timeline is within 2-3 years. These plans are in line with the plans of the Diocese. The board uses arguments of vitality as main reason, financial reasons as secondary arguments. They will start up the official procedures starting with a hearing on the 18th of February. During this hearing well founded objections can be made by the parishioners, these objections will need to be considered and addressed in further decision-making. Therefore we need to hear your voice now.

The English Mass coordination team would like to hear the opinion of our community. Therefore we invite you tomorrow(!), the 10th February, after mass at 14:00 in the coffee and tea room of the Cathedral, Nieuwegracht 61 to share your thoughts with us.