English Mass Utrecht

The Assel day is back after an hiatus of 3 years!

Assel Day again is the English Mass annual community day.
It will take place on Saturday, the 15th of June when we will have a day full of fun activities, potluck food brought by our parishioners, nice nature surroundings and prayers.
And Fr. Herman will join us!

As usual it will be in the Salesian Center in Assel near Apeldoorn.

If you are interested please fill in the form, so that we can better plan food and transport:

http://bit.ly/assel2019

We are looking forward to see the community again in Assel!

On last Wednesday, the 15th of May, there was a meeting of the parish board where it was decided that the renovation of the St. Augustine church will carry on to its completion, at which point it will be opened and continue to function as a city church for Utrecht.

The board concluded that the St. Augustine church is more oriented to serve as church for the city of Utrecht and the direct surroundings, and that the St. Catherine Cathedral has a special position, as the seat of the archbishop of Utrecht.

Although this means that the parish balance will have a significant hit on its financial assets, the board is convinced that this will give an important impulse to the development of the future of the whole catholic Utrecht. The policy regarding the other churches in the parish will not change due to this decision.

There is however a challenge and responsibility that is put to all of us parishioners: do not look back to what was before: something new is about to start, can you see it already?

It’s time for a spring cleaning in the St. Augustine church!

Due to renovation this hasn’t happened for a long time. The church is closed, but the chapel, the coffee and tea room and the pastoral centre can use a wipe and brush.

Thursday, May 23, from 19:00-21:00 we will grab the bucket, sponge and broom. More hands make the work lighter for everyone.

If you’d like to help, please mail info@augustinusutrecht.nl.
If you are unavailable at this date but would like to help some other time, please also send an email, so we might contact you at another time.
Thanks in advance!

After the Holy Mass in English on Sunday, the 26th of May, all parishioners are invited to the Catharijneconvent museum.

The museum will offer us coffee/tea and a lecture on the treasure of Münster.

After the lecture, everyone is invited to visit the treasure of Münster.

The same program is offered – in Dutch – to parishioners after the Holy mass of 10:30h.

Sunday, the 12th of May, there is a running event – the Utrecht Marathon.

The event starts around 09:30 in the Uithof and the runners will come in the direction of the city center.

Due to this, the St. Catherine Cathedral may be difficult to reach between 10:30 and 15:00.
More info here: https://www.utrechtmarathon.com/

If you plan to come to the mass please plan with extra time to avoid any delays.

Last Saturday, 13th of April, the action committee for the St. Augustine church sent a letter to auxiliary bishop Woorts.
In this letter there was a protest about the standstill situation and plans to the board. They are waiting for a reply.

Online petition
The petition about the standstill situation that started on paper is now online here:
https://sintaugustinuskerk.petities.nl/

If you didn’t sign the petition on paper you can now sign it online. Please do not sign the petition more than once.

To sign it please fill in your data and send. You will receive a link in your email. Please confirm it otherwise your signature is not registered.

If you know more people that are interested in signing the petition please share the link: https://sintaugustinuskerk.petities.nl/

Plans for collecting donations
There are already several plans to collect donations shared with the committee, but if you have more ideas please send them to the committee via this email address: info@augustinusutrecht.nl.

The committee will make an overview about their ideas next week in a presentation.

Upcoming Thursday, April 18, the doors of the Ki Tov chapel will be open for the 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.

For more information, you can also visit the Facebook event.

Be welcome in the beautiful and modest chapel of Ki Tov (Grave van Solmsstraat 4).

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

• The organization is looking for new musicians (preferably piano) and people to strengthen the team! Though the team is always present with much enthusiasm, they need to expand the 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 this enthusiastic team and support them once a month with the Taizé prayer preparations, to sing during the prayer or to support with the website/promotions. Please let them know via mail or reach out to them before or after the prayer!
• Related to the ‘Church night’ in Utrecht event, the prayer in June will be held on Saturday June 22 in the Gertrudiscathedral. Note, this is both a different date and location! (Stay up-to-date via the Facebook event).

We hope to see you Thursday evening!

On behalf of Reinier van den Assum, the organization of the Taizé meetings in Utrecht.

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, 21st April, at 12:30 in St. Catherine Cathedral, as usual.

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

17th April, Holy Wednesday
21:00 – (Dutch) Tenebrae with the Gregorian choir of Utrecht

18th April, Maundy Thursday
19:30 – (Dutch) Mass celebration with cardinal Eijk
21:30 – (Dutch) Tenebrae with the Gregorian choir of Utrecht

19th March, Good Friday
15:00 – (Dutch) Celebration of the stations of the cross, with veneration of the cross (please bring a flower for the veneration)
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

20th April, Holy Saturday
16:00-17:00 – Confession oportunity
21:00 – (Dutch) Pascal vigil with cardinal Eijk and the Cathedral’s Choir

21st April, Easter Sunday
10:30 – (Dutch) Holy mass with cardinal Eijk
12:30 – English Mass

Since September 2016 the St. Augustine church suddenly closed it’s doors due to renovation of the church. The costs for renovation had been paid by collections within the community and the subsidy of Foundation Erfgoedparels. The renovation has been put on hold for a considerable time now and the future of the St. Augustine is uncertain. The community of st. Augustine likes to restart and finish the renovations, so that the church can be re-opened and kept to regain it’s church and social functions. The St. Augustine still has a closely knit and active community in which many volunteers organize different activities. Also the choir Cantemus Domino has it’s basis in the St. Augustine. The church also has a social function for the inner city.

If you are interested in signing, you can find the petition in cathedral next to the other leaflets.

The organization is working on putting the petition online, we will let you know when it is available.

Don’t let the St. Augustine church close it’s doors permanently and let an important monument be lost to the highest bidder!

Keep the st. Augustine for Utrecht and Holland. Sign the petition!

Displaced Dishes is a cookbook that has its origin at the Samos Refugee camp, in Greece.

This book was born from the acknowledgement that food brings people together. Furthermore, some of our nicest memories are attached to the meals we share, thus carried in people’s hearts wherever they go.

The aim of the book extends beyond just providing the reader with exciting and authentic food ideas. It is also a snapshot of the complexity and ongoing tragedy of the European refugee crisis. On the macro level, the wide array of countries from which our contributors were forced to leave, and the sheer distance they travelled to reach Samos, demonstrates the scale of modern displacement. Whilst on the human level, these donated recipes provide an insight into the very personal loss displacement brings. Painful separation from one’s culture, homeland and family, are all tied up with the celebration of food from home. We’re extremely grateful to the contributors for sharing these meaningful recipes.

This book has been brought together by a group of people that volunteered in Samos with Samos Volunteers. But what is Samos Volunteers?

We are volunteers. Our amazing volunteers come from all ages, nationalities and backgrounds. People living in the camp also volunteer their time and skills.

We support some of the world’s most vulnerable people, offering safe spaces for women and men, recreational activities for children and adults, and emergency laundry services.

We empower, offering informal educational courses, particularly in languages and arts. Our community volunteers and community council ensure our work is led by the people it benefits.

We facilitate, working collaboratively with other NGOs as they bring their expertise to help the island’s refugee population.

If you would like to know more about the situation in Samos, about Samos Volunteers or simply to get your own copy of the wonderful Dislaced Dishes book you can’t miss this event!

On the 13th April, between 15:30 and 18:00, in the Bonifaciushuis (the cathedral coffee and tea room) there will be some bites and drinks, thus the event will have a cost of 10 euros per person!

Invite your friends, families and come to find out a bit more about this wonderful organisation while getting the chance to buy one of the amazing cookbooks for a minimum price of also 10 euros!