Welcome to the Jubilee Year 2023!
There are many reasons we can think of to celebrate. After having cancelled or postponed many celebrations during the pandemic, we now look for reasons to get the community back together, to socialize with each other, and create that family spirit for which COS is so well known.
In the past we used to have a large annual International Food Fair, Jazz Evenings, Cultural Dinners, Art Auctions, Kids Discos, the COS Spiritual Academy, Parish Galas and Dances, Parish Overseas Trips, etc. In addition to all our pastoral and liturgical events, these social and formation events help to create a stronger bond in our parish community. Many of our alumni still remember these initiatives and events with great fondness.
This year we will celebrate ‘’One Generation of COS’’.
During the weekend of 10-11 June, it will be exactly 25 years ago that I started my work as the 13th pastor of the Roman Catholic Church of Our Saviour. The parish started in 1952. (Fr. Van Schaick stayed with the parish for 23 years from 1956-1979).
During the last 25 years, we have moved from the chapel in the Aloysius College to the church where we are now with the help of numerous prayers, volunteers, and benefactors. COS is what it is today because of what countless people have invested in the past 7 decades.
Since this is a milestone that we can be very proud of, we plan to contact all those whose baptisms and marriages were celebrated in the Church of Our Saviour for the past 25 years. They will receive an invitation for the Jubilee weekend as will our alumni and current parishioners. It will be a nice occasion to share memories, raise a glass, and thank God for all the lives that this parish has touched in a positive way throughout her existence.
For the Jubilee weekend, we will have Food Fair stalls around the church, a big party tent in the parking lot, a dinner dance evening, and a photo exhibition. Of course, there will also be a festive mass on Sunday morning.
At the start of the new pastoral year on 9 September, Professor Rik Torfs will give a lecture in our parish on one of his latest books entitled: “The Church is Fantastic”. Prof. Torfs is a distinguished former rector of KUL Leuven, one of the oldest catholic universities in Europe. As a canon lawyer, he is very well known in the media, has a great sense of humor, and looks at the positive side of the church in a very contemporary way. Despite all the human imperfections within the Church, there is still a lot to celebrate and to be proud of.
We hope to make 2023 a special year and look forward to creating many beautiful moments together.
Fr. Sjaak