The African Community Group brings all the African parishioners together in a fellowship that expresses and shares love for family and neighbors displayed in liturgy and in the traditional African extended family custom. The Group helps to coordinate African representation and full participation in church, reaching out to new and departing members, caring for those in need. The African Group is extremely active during Food Fair and has also regularly hosted African Evenings as a fund raiser for the parish.

The coordinator of the group is Fidelis Nthenge.  She can be contacted via the parish office.

The African Community Group consists of more than 80 active members.  Keep a date with us and you will definitely have a taste of African each time.

Feel free to join our group’s WhatsApp page via the link https://chat.whatsapp.com/3rutftQvSzXBSYMvGc4AK2

This English-speaking group meets once a week in the COS Loft of the Pastoral Centre, on Wednesday evenings from 8 PM to 9 PM . This is not really a parish run group, but it is open to all our parishioners. If you are interested, then simply come along (entrance Helenastraat 8 at the back of the centre). For further information about available help go to www.aa-netherlands.org which is in English and gives general contact details.

Offering books for adults, teenagers and children at discount prices.

Open most Sundays after the morning Mass, from 11:30 AM to 12:15 PM.

For more information or special request, please contact the Parish Office.

Meditation is not what you think: it seeks God in the silence and stillness beyond word and thought.

Meditation is the art of paying attention, a simple practice, and a universal gift, found at the heart of all great traditions. Christian Meditation is based on the guidelines of Fr. Laurence Freeman OSB and originates from the Benedictine spirituality and the monastic wisdom of the Desert Fathers. The journey of meditation is like an inner pilgrimage. It is a simple method to learn, using a prayer word (a mantra), and it is also called the prayer of the heart or contemplative prayer. It can be practised by anyone from wherever you are on your life’s journey.

The meditation group meets on Monday evening at 7:30 PM for 1 hour. The one-hour meeting includes quiet music, a short audio recording on meditation, 20-25 minutes of silent meditation, followed by a question period. Newcomers are welcome to the group. If you would like to join, please contact the Parish Office. For more information on The World Community for Christian Meditation, please visit the website.

Serving simple food on Sundays when we have religious education has been what the COS Lunchroom has been all about. the money that has been raised over the last years has helped a number of great causes both inside as well as outside our church.

Because we are such an ethnically diverse parish we have been fortunate to have food from around the world featured at our lunches. Parishioner groups from Spain, Italy, Ireland, the Phillippines, Columbia, India, USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, Argentina, Sri Lank, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Thailand and Australia have voluntarily organized themselves to host a Sunday lunch featuring food from their country.

Whether you made liters of soup, served hot chocolate, baked some tasty food from your home country, operated the PIN machine, or just waited on the long line to purchase an empanada or Aussie meat pie. Thank you for helping the lunchroom to be such a great success. your contribution has gone a long way to helping COS as well as helping others around the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 made the COS Lunchroom impossible to continue but the good news is that it will be returning in 2023!

Read more here.

From time to time one of the groups or an individual in the parish takes the initiative to arrange a trip out for any interested parties. This could be a trip to a place of tourist interest, a lunch party or a foreign journey. Keep a look out for news of such outings or trips on the news section of our website and also, if you have an idea for such an event, do communicate this to the office.

Being part of this team is a great way to meet people! Hospitality includes a wide range of activities primary among which is providing coffee, tea, soft drinks, and cakes for the children, after Mass. However the team also coordinates special receptions from time to time especially on the big occasions such as Easter, New Year, Christmas etc. Volunteers to help are always welcome! If you are able to to be one of those volunteers, please contact Aileen Faulkner either after the morning mass or via the office.

The Justice and Peace Group meets most months with the aim of pulling together the outreach activities in the parish and and of helping to maintain a common focus on why we are carrying out these charitable activities. We believe that it is very important for us to show solidarity as a parish in carrying out the will of God with the aim of making His world a better place for the many who are suffering needlessly, by reaching out a helpful hand and – just as important – a hopeful voice.

Who makes up the Justice & Peace Group?

The groups which are represented presently include:
Hand in Hand Refugee Project, Amnesty International, Fair Trade
New members are always welcome. Meeting dates are published in the monthly calendar. Any parish member who can spare time to contribute to ideas and their development is very welcome to join us – we need all the support we can get so just come along to a meeting. Coordinators: Dianne Luping and Saki Lee.

Download the latest Justice and Peace information flyer here.
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The Group is also responsible for our annual Parish Lenten Campaign. Most years, during Lent, the Group designates a particular project to feature as our Campaign. We try to get all our families involved in these Campaigns as a way to strengthen the significance of these special months through active contribution to others. Some of our past campaigns have included buying mosquito nets for a project in Kenya, sponsoring the building of houses in The Philippines, sending support to help the ‘butterfly children’ (sufferers of Epidermolysis bullosa) of Chile, gathering funds for refugee projects in Holland and Lesbos (Greece), and many others. Information is always placed in the website.

We have a small group of people, headed up by Hans Bloemen, who are prepared to carry out minor repairs and maintenance within the church. From time to time special Saturdays are arranged when we ask for volunteers to donate some hours of their time to work with the core team to carry out a pre-detailed list of repairs. Extra hands are always welcome!

Click here for more information.

We are a group of recently married couples that meets occasionally for social get-togethers and events/workshops exploring the joys and adventures of married life. All members of the parish who have been married less than five years are welcome to join.

For more information, scan or click on the QR code below.

The online Rosary Prayer group meets every Wednesday and Sunday at 8 PM via Zoom. The coordinator is Elias Christofi, a member of the Evening choir, who has since moved back to Cyprus but continues to lead the praying of the Rosary online. Elias starts off with a Bible reading, then for every decade, he assigns someone to lead (with someone else doing the antiphon for all the decades). Everyone is given the opportunity to say their individual prayer intentions before each decade. After the Rosary, he finishes off with a few more prayers (Prayer to the Lady of All Nations, the Memorare, etc.), and finally, he recites one of the messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje.

The Zoom meeting is free, which means the meeting is limited to the allotted 40 minutes. Please feel free to join The Rosary Prayer Group. Contact the Parish Office for the link.

Medjugorje Message,  25 April, 2001

“Dear children! Also today, I call you to prayer. Little children, prayer works miracles. When you are tired and sick and you do not know the meaning of your life, take the Rosary and pray; pray until prayer becomes for you a joyful meeting with your Savior. I am with you, little children, and I intercede and pray for you. Thank you for having responded to my call. ”

The community should be able to celebrate and pray without distraction. Making sure that the environment allows this to happen is the responsibility of the sacristan. Therefore, before any of our liturgies take place, there are many things that need to be done.

In the Church of Our Saviour, the head sacristan is a member of the Liturgy Committee and attends monthly planning meetings. He/she has accurate knowledge of the liturgical year – its seasons, feasts and their colours, as well as  knowledge of the use of vestments, linens, and other ecclesiastical equipment.

Before the start of liturgical celebrations, the sacristan makes sure that:

• the liturgical books are marked at the right page and in their proper place.
• the right vessels are clean and ready to use.
• the sound system is working and the microphones switched on.
• the flowers and other seasonal decorations are in place.
• charcoal and incense are prepared when required.
• the church bells are rung at the right time.
• lay ministers and altar servers are welcomed and assisted when necessary.
• he/she arrives early enough to lay out the special requirements for baptisms, weddings and funerals.
• that everything is put away or returned to its proper place afterwards.

In addition:

• vestments and other textiles are cared for, laundered or cleaned when necessary.
• the stock of bread, wine, charcoal, incense are replenished regularly.
• the Paschal candle is chosen and ordered in good time
• the candles and candlesticks are in good order.

The sacristan’s dedication is rewarded when everything runs smoothly and to plan

At the back of the church we have a Welcome Desk available after each mass. Here you can find current parish information and announcements, and ask any questions you may have. If you’re new, please drop by and pick up your Welcome Envelope.

If you would like to volunteer for the Welcome Desk, please contact the Coordinator Amarachi Iwuagwu via the Parish Office.

We offer a Youth Group for teens aged 12 to 18. This program aims to provide a physical and spiritual space for teenagers and young adults to meet, talk, learn, grow in their faith and relax.

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