16/12/2025
Dear parishioners,
Our hearts are full of gratitude and joy for this Jubilee Year, where we shared memorable moments of faith, festivals, service and formation. It has been an intense year for everyone. Thanks to all of you who dedicated time and energy to the numerous activities. You are contributing to spreading the Good News of Jesus, supporting people and creating bonds and friendships across generations.
Scalabrini Community London is a place where everyone can feel at home and can flourish in a new life as baptised members, spreading fraternity and love. We cultivate a sense of belonging to this Church, where London's diversity finds home. We come from different backgrounds, speak different languages, and celebrate in different ways, yet we are united by the same Gospel of Jesus, the Charism of Saint John Baptist Scalabrini, and a shared deep longing for peace, equality, and justice.
At the very beginning of this new pastoral year, we decided to walk as a Synodal Church, embracing communion, participation, and mission as Pope Francis and Leo XIV are calling us to do. This means promoting a synodal attitude that fosters mutual listening, shared participation and a genuine walk as a community of disciples in London. Here, we are called to be a sign of hope in a turbulent world. We would like to carry these desires and intentions through the next year.
We experience firsthand that it is a fruitful but hard way. In the day-to-day life of our Community, miscommunications, misunderstandings, gossip… can suffocate the beauty of the Gospel and our fraternity. At the end of 2025 and at the start of a new year, let's renew our desire to build bridges. Let's cultivate safe spaces where we can dialogue and share opinions. That is how people and communities grow and flourish.
We would like to raise a point about sustainability: Our mother Earth is crying. Let's increase our commitment to care and be more mindful of our impact on the Planet. We're thinking of personal and day-to-day choices, but also as a community. Let's avoid single-use plastic items, buying useless things, and creating mountains of rubbish. Let's commit ourselves to thinking about our impact and how to reduce it in every activity that we organize in our Church. Moreover, we would like to renew our Scalabrini Hall. Let's start planning it soon.
“I proclaim to you good news of great joy: today a Savior is born for us, Christ the Lord”. Lk 2:10-11
Our hearts are also with the population of Gaza, the Holy Land and places under war and violence. May the little baby born in Bethlehem bring peace into your hearts and light into the world.
We wish you and your family a pleasant Christmas time and Happy New Year.
Fr. Jonas, Fr. Tam, Fr. Geraldo
London, 17 december 2025
