English Mass Utrecht

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.

Easter is approaching and there will many festivities in Utrecht. Unfortunately most of them will be in Dutch. In English we will celebrate the Easter Sunday at 12:30 in St. Catherine Cathedral, as usual.

Below is the rest of the schedule, in case you are interested in participating:

24th March – Palm Saturday
18:30 – (Dutch) Holy mass with Palm consecration

25th March – Palm Sunday
10:30 – (Dutch) Holy mass with Palm consecration and procession
12:30 – English mass

28th March, Holy Wednesday
21:00 – (Dutch) Tenebrae with the Gregorian choir of Utrecht

29th March, Maundy Thursday
10:00 – (Dutch) Sung pray
18:30-19:15 – Confession oportunity
19:30 – (Dutch) Mass celebration with cardinal Eijk
21:30 – (Dutch) Tenebrae with the Gregorian choir of Utrecht. Finishing with prayer un silence until the closing of the church at 00:00.

30th March, Good Friday
10:00 – (Dutch) Sung pray
15:00 – (Dutch) Celebration of the stations of the cross, with veneration of the cross (please bring a flower for the veneration). With the Gregorian choir of Utrecht
18:30-19:15 – Confession oportunity
19:30 – (Dutch) Memorial of the suffering and death of the Lord, with veneration of the cross (please bring a flower for the veneration).
21:30 – (Dutch) Tenebrae with the Gregorian choir of Utrecht

31st March, Holy Saturday
10:00 – (Dutch) Sung pray
16:00-17:00 – Confession oportunity
21:00 – (Dutch) Pascal vigil with cardinal Eijk and the Cantemus Domino Choir

1st April, Easter Sunday
10:30 – (Dutch) Holy mass
12:30 – English Mass

2nd April, Easter Monday
10:30 – (Dutch) Mass celebration

This Sunday, the 18th March, there is annual Utrecht Science Park marathon.

Due to this reason the cathedral may be difficult to reach, so please plan accordingly if you reach mass on time.

For more information visit their website: http://www.utrechtmarathon.com/

Our community is celebrating it’s 15th anniversary. We want to comemorate this special event with our parishioners. We also want to ask YOUR help. Please bring your country’s cuisine and share it with our international group.

After the Sunday mass we will celebrate and enjoy the tasty food everyone brought!

If you are interesting in coming, let us know by registering in this link: http://bit.ly/EMU15birthday

We hope to count on your presence!

On the 29th of March, on the Maundy Thursday, the rite of the washing of the feet will take place during the Dutch evening mass.

If you want to take part of this rite, you can register by sending an email to: secretariaat@katholiekutrecht.nl

St. Patrick (born between 385 and 401, died on March 17, 461) is the most famous canonized missionary of Ireland. He has worked in the fifth century. The precise date of the beginning of his activities is not known or from his birth.

He was brought from his home, Britain, to Ireland as a boy, when he was 16, by Irish pagans. There he became a shepherd and learned the local language. After he had a vision he fled and he returned to his parents, but according to another legend he was brought to Gaul by a pagan Irish after 6 years. He went to the priesthood training in Auxerre in the then Gaul. Today he is regarded as the most known Irish saint.

The holiday of St. Patrick, March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, is the national holiday of Ireland.

On Sunday the 18th of March, at 14:30, there will be a movie afternoon where we will talk about St. Patrick’s life and work.

It will take place in the Pastoral center of the St. Augustine church, and Fr. Kuipers will be the speaker.

Hope to count on your presence!

The parish of Utrecht invites you to join a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
This will take place from the 28th of April to the 5th of May. The trip will be done by TGV to and from Lourdes. The stay will be on a 3-star hotel.
We will have pastoral and travel guidance in English.

The price indicated is 599 EUR, which includes a sponsoring price of 300 EUR per pilgrim to support the English speaking community to join the pilgrimage.

This pilgrimage is open for everyone of all ages.

More information you can find on the travel agency leaflet available here: http://bit.ly/lourdes08

This is a a great opportunity for our community, don’t miss it!

We have a group of 7 children interested in preparing for their First Holy Communion.
The preparation date and actual day of the ceremony are still to be determined, but if your child wants to be part of this group don’t miss this chance!
Send us an email to team@englishmassutrecht.nl and let us know about:

• Child’s name;
• Age;
• Address;
• Email of the parents;
• Telephone number.

We are looking forward to see a big group doing the ceremony this year!

We want to invite you for a weekend retreat in Wageningen from February 16-18. It will be a time of prayer, talk, preaching, worship and singing. This retreat is organised by the School of Christian Life and Evangelism. Everyone is welcome. Participation is free of charge. If you are only able to come to a part of the retreat, this is not a problem.

When: February 16-18

• Friday: 19:00 – 20:30
• Saturday: 08:30 – 20:30
• Sunday: 08:30 – 12:00

Where: Johannes de Doper church in Wageningen

Main topics of the talks:

* Level 1 group: “Encounter with the living God”

* Level 2 group: “How to be a disciple of God. My personal formation and growth”

Please email Gosia: schoolofmary.nl@gmail.com
or call on +31 6 17493487 to register or to get more information.

Due to prolonged absence of our sacristan Maikel we are urgently looking for people that are willing to help preparing the vessels, vestments, books, candels before the Sunday mass and cleaning up and closing the church after mass. We want to form a group of people willing to help out.

Currently the volunteers of the Dutch mass help out, but they already do this for the Dutch mass and spend a large part of their Sunday in church. Therefore if you are willing to help out please contact us: team@englishmassutrecht.nl