The parish of the Immaculate Conception in Aarhus celebrated this weekend the 150 years of it’s existence after the Reformation. (Catholic communities existed in the city until 1537) The celebration began on Saturday at 12.00 with the Eucharist celebrated in the Chaldean rite in the Chaldean Church of St. Nicholas located in the parish. The liturgy gathered the Iraqi community who is an important part of the Catholic presence in our city. The Mass was presided by our Jesuit brother – fr. Antoine Audo SJ, who is the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo in Syria, and who accepted the invitation to preside over the Jubilee celebrations.
The afternoon was an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful concert given by our organist Tony Nguyen who is also a concert pianist accompanied by a soprano singer Julie Husballe. The main Sunday Mass of the Latin part of the parish gathered many people from our community as well as guests from the neighboring parishes and from other cities. The church was filled to capacity. Many of the guests followed the Mass on the screens set up in the parish house, since the church couldn’t accommodate all the guests.
Bishop Antoine presided the Mass accompanied by Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen, our Jesuit brothers from both danish communities and friend of Jesuits – Fr. Vasyl Bahlei from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Community. Fr. Mateusz Ignacik SJ represented Fr. Provincial of the Greater Poland and Mazovia Province of the Society of Jesus, to which Denmark belongs. Priests from the Danish Lutheran Church were also present at the celebration.
After the Mass the festivities continued in the neighboring Catholic school were the guests could experience the variety of tastes from almost all over the world in the plates prepared by parish groups from different countries. There were friendly speeches and the exchange of gifts. One of the gifts touched us in a particular way. The Ukrainian community offered us a special relic. It was a part of a rocket brought by soldiers from the front in Bakhmut, decorated with the image of St. Ignatius. Many Ukrainians expressed their gratitude for the warm welcome they received in our church. As a souvenir of the Jubilee celebration the guests could buy a Jubilee bell. The small bells were made for us by the same German bell foundry that made the four bells that hang in the church tower.
Monday will be a possibility to organize meetings with our Syrian guest. There is scheduled time for the press, a meeting with the parish council to discuss ways to continue supporting the church in Aleppo as well as a meeting open to parishioners and christian friends from other communities.
Reported by Fr. Kris Augustyniak SJ
