Dear Friends,
I hope that all is well as we reach the end of this first month of 2013.
This Sunday we will celebrate Feile Bride in the Chapel at 11h30 Mass. We hope to have some crosses from the Curragh to distribute on the day and also we will have our usual community lunch afterwards. Everyone is welcome!
We are now only six weeks from the Pilgrim Mass in Notre Dame on 16 March. It will be an historic moment. We look forward to celebrating together and to welcoming the many pilgrims who are coming from Ireland for the occasion. If anyone else wishes to volunteer for any of the various ministries (music, hospitality and liturgy), please give me your name soon. On 17 March there will be Mass in the College as usual at 11h30 but our big celebration will be the Pilgrim Mass on 16 March in Notre Dame at 12h00.
Over the next few weeks KTO, French Catholic TV will broadcast a number of programmes about Ireland. Details of these will be displayed on the Chaplaincy website at www.irishchaplaincyparis.fr
Lent is fast approaching and we will, as usual, have some fund-raisers for social justice projects over the weeks of Lent. There will be Mass in the College on Ash Wednesday (13 February) at 19h30 with distribution of ashes. We will also hold another reflection evening in conjunction with St Joseph’s on 20 March (in St Joseph’s Hall). Please feel welcome to any of these events.
Last week saw the death of a remarkable figure in the Irish community in Paris. Please remember Mabel Sully in your prayers. She was 100 years old and she had originally come to Paris in 1930. She was a remarkable link with the past and the history of the Irish community here in Paris. The funeral will be at 10h30 in St Joseph’s on Thursday. May she rest in peace.
As we approach the signs of hope and the longer days of the springtime, I hope everyone has time to appreciate the beauty of this wonderful city (as well as the rugby matches!).
God bless!
Sean
Fr Sean Maher
THE IRISH CHAPLAINCY