English Mass Utrecht

We regret to inform that we won’t be able to resume the public masses starting on the 1st of June.
Previously we announced this would be possible but not in our community.

The previous announcement had to do with the general protocols for the Catholic church in the Netherlands, defined by the Bishops. The protocol can be found here in English and Spanish: https://englishmassutrecht.nl/corona-virus/

Each specific parish will need to come up with specific measures to make sure that this protocol is followed. At this point our parish coordination (the Catharinaberaad) still wasn’t able to find the best solution to implement the protocol.

The following meeting of the Catharinaberaad will be on the 8th of June. They will then determine if it’s possible to resume the public masses by the Sunday after (14th of June).

We will continue to follow the deliberations of the Catharinaberaad, and we will let you know when we have more information. Until then the masses will continue to be streamed as usual. For the time being the streaming will continue in the Rafael church and in due time from the St. Catherine cathedral.

We will keep everyone posted.

UPDATE: This post is no longer valid, please check the new post here: https://englishmassutrecht.nl/2020/05/29/still-no-public-masses-for-the-time-being/

Good news!

The protocol that will be send to the parishes and institutions by the bishop of his diocese, contains three parts. The first part is addressed to all the believers and provides guidelines to celebrate the liturgy in the churches together in a safe and dignified way. The second part is addressed to the ministers in accordance of the performance of their specific tasks in the liturgy. The third part is more specifically addressed and written for a safe use of the church buildings with rules for arrangements and logistics inside the church building, in accordance of the guidelines of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment and by the specific character of the liturgy.

Perspective of Celebrating Together

The bishops emphasize the importance for parishes and institutions to work with diligence to guarantee as good as possible the safety of the church buildings. They are glad that now there is again a perspective of celebrating the Holy Mass together. Starting with 30 and hopefully from the 1st of July onward, with 100 believers.

Reference and more details (in Dutch): https://www.rkkerk.nl/protocol-voor-publieke-vieringen-in-de-r-k-kerk-vanaf-1-juni-uitreiking-heilige-communie-vanaf-14-juni

Starting this Sunday, the 24th of May, the English Mass will start to be streamed from the Rafael church, in Utrecht-Overvecht, with Fr. James.
On the Pentecosts mass, the 31st of May, Fr. Boogers will be the celebrating priest, also on the Rafael church.

The mass will be streamed at the usual time – 12:30 – on YouTube instead of on our Facebook page, on the Rafael church channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr8q5bZoF_ySeppowhKN4Ew

We will provide the exact link to the streaming when the time comes.

Tomorrow, the 21st of May, the Catholic church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, in the Netherlands known as Hemelvaartsdag.

Fr. Hans will celebrate mass in English in the Gerardus Majella church at 12:30. We will stream the mass live on our Facebook page:

https://fb.com/englishmassutrecht

We hope that you can watch with us on this important festivity!

Br. John be giving a series of daily Talks on the Holy Spirit from this Thursday (21st May) until Pentecost Sunday (31st May) – the exact time called the “Cenacle” when the disciples gathered with Mary to prepare for receiving the Holy Spirit.

11am every day (except 26th & 28th, then at 4pm)

On the Katholieke Studenten Utrecht Facebook page: https://fb.com/katholiekesu

On the menu: what is the Holy Spirit, what are the 7 Gifts and why they’re so essential, what are “charisms” and who is “charismatic”??? the Holy Spirit in the Bible, and “living a spirit-filled life”… And all your many questions 😉

Each talk will be posted immediately so watch live or play later.

During the recent times we have been streaming live the English Mass every Sunday at 12:30 on our Facebook page – fb.com/englishmassutrecht – please check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.

But now we are also making available online our community moment after the mass, the coffee and tea. To join please follow this link:

https://meet.jit.si/EnglishMassUtrecht

Please join Sunday after the mass, between 13:30 and 14:30.
Here is a first topic to start with: “How has your life changed with the confinement?”

We hope to chat with you there!

During the Easter season Fr. John together with the community from the Gerardus Majella church will stream several events that you can follow on our Facebook page or on the Majella church page.

Here is the agenda:

Keep an eye on these Facebook pages:

• The English Mass Utrecht page: fb.com/englishmassutrecht
• The Gerardus Majella parish page: fb.com/hgerardusmajellaparochie

Starting today, the 8th of April at 11:00, Fr. John will live stream an Easter Retreat on our Facebook page (fb.com/englishmassutrecht). It will stay available on our page if you are not able to check it as it is streamed.
This retreat will be streamed on the following dates:

• Wednesday, 8th April, 11am and 7pm
• Maundy Thursday, 9th April 11am
• Good Friday, 10th April 11am
• Holy Saturday, 11th April 11am
• Easter Sunday, 12th April 11am

Beside the Mother of Our Saviour
As Mary stood before her crucified Son, a handful of His disciples stood beside her… John, the beloved disciple, Mary Magdalen and a couple more. John indicated clearly in his Gospel that he was there thanks to her, Jesus’ mother. It was her Faith, her Love, and then her Hope which made it possible for her to follow Jesus in his distressing pathway through terrible misery and suffering, to the immense joy and peace of the Resurrection. She was a light in the dark, like the moon is a light reflecting the sun’s light during the night. How did Mary live the Passion? How did she follow her Son, what did she think and pray while He was tortured by anguish in the garden? How did she keep her Love alive as she saw Him beaten and abused? How did she Hope when she saw His life slowly draining away on the Cross, her Son drifting away from her? She knew Him deeply she followed His Heart and His Wisdom which she had heard and treasured for years as her light in a dark place.
In 6 talks I propose to follow Jesus’ passion, looking at how Mary saw and lived it… for she didn’t find death in Jesus’ Passion but life from the Giver of Life. Her eyes of Faith and her heart-to-heart of Love with Jesus gave her a strong Hope which lead her to live the Resurrection with Jesus.
Jesus wants the same for us as He did for St John and St Mary Magdalen… He gives us the Blessed Mother to lead us in His pathway to Life.

Again if you are interested in watching live, check the schedule above.
Otherwise the videos will stay available online to watch later.
The streams take place on our page: fb.com/englishmassutrecht

In reaction to the stricter measures announced by the Dutch government on the 23rd of March to prevent the spreading of the coronavirus, the Dutch bishops decided to implement additional measures. All public liturgical celebrations, also the ones in small communities during the week, are cancelled for the period of Easter and until the Pentecosts, on the 31st of May.

The Dutch government has forbidden all gatherings until the 1st of June, also the ones with less than 100 people.
Before were already the public celebrations on Saturdays and Sundays cancelled, now are therefore the public celebrations throughout the week also cancelled.

Closed celebrations are only still possible with the strictly required servants for the celebration of the mass and without the participation of other faithful. The churches can still remain open for individual visitors, whom come for a prayer or for lighting a candle and/or to bring a contribution to the food bank (voedselbank). They have to comply with all the measures announced by the government concerning distance, hygiene and health.

The government will issue later exceptions regarding funerals and church weddings. Whenever more information about these are available, we will then make is known as soon as possible.

Decree
Concerning the closed celebrations in the Easter period, the bishops refer to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the sacraments, of 19th of March 2020, relating the coronavirus, entitled “In time of Covid-19”. The text of the decree can be found in English in the congregation website (http://www.cultodivino.va/content/cultodivino/it/documenti/decreti-generali/decreti-generali/2020/decreto-triduo-pasquale-2020.html)

The bishops emphasize the importance of praying in these times when the coronavirus is among us.

You can follow the Eucharist through the media, as suggested before:

• Our community will arrange so that celebrations are streamed in our Facebook page – fb.com/englishmassutrecht – as often as possible, including the Sunday mass, stay tuned;
• We also recommend the English mass broadcast by the Dublin diocese on their website: https://www.dublindiocese.ie/watch-listen-live/
• The live stream from the Vatican in English: https://youtu.be/VJHI8bI0LWg
• On Dutch television (in Dutch) through the KRO-NCRV, every Sunday 10.00 on the Dutch television channel NPO 2;
• Radio Maria broadcasts the Eucharist every morning at 09:00 and evening at 19:00 (also in Dutch).

Official publications:

• from the diocese (in Dutch):
  https://www.aartsbisdom.nl/alle-publieke-vieringen-afgelast-tot-en-met-pinksteren/
• from the Dutch government: https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2020/03/23/stricter-measures-to-control-coronavirus

We are happy to inform that tomorrow, the 22nd of March at 12:30, we will be streaming mass in English with celebrant Brother John Mary Jesus, from the Majella church in Utrecht.
There will be also a small choir group (around 5 people) to sing for this celebration.
You can watch the stream from our Facebook page, available from 12:30:

facebook.com/englishmassutrecht