This year’s festa week in Qala kicked off with the whole family of Meißer Sternberg, including parents David and Kristin and children Kacey, Tyron, Shane and Damon, receiving the sacraments of Christian initiation in the Qala Parish Church from Archpriest Edward Xuereb.
Kristin was received in the full communion of the Catholic Church, five members were baptised, three confirmed and received the Holy Eucharist.
Qala Parish explained that the function is part of a systematic journey of weekly catechesis to adults and of the regular catechism imparted to children by the Parish and the Girls Section of the Museum Society.
The celebration brought a novelty to the traditional programme of feast events by highlighting the current pastoral outreach to the ever-increasing number of foreigners coming to live for good in the locality, the Parish said.
In the homily, Fr. Xuereb stressed the need of “responding to this sign of the times represented by the challenge of conveying Christ to these persons who by now constitute a significant portion of the population.”
Along these lines, apart from the encounters for adults about the faith, catechism classes in English, before First Communion and before Confirmation will be launched, thanks to the assistance of Lynda Ann Sprong.
Starting from the 13th of August, a Holy Mass in English will also be celebrated every Sunday at 9.30am at the Parish Church of Qala.
The Qala Parish noted that it was certainly the first time in Qala, and most probably also in Gozo, that an entire family received the sacraments of Christian initiation.
The ceremony was attended by the Catenian Association of Malta and Gozo, whose assistance to the Parish of Qala in this field of pastoral ministry is already bearing significant fruit.
Viktorija Mercieca from Lithuania, another participant of the adult group, led by Chev. Dr. Raymond C. Xerri, received Confirmation from Bishop Anton Teuma on Ta’ Pinu parvis during the last Pentecost Vigil.