Next Saturday, August 16, 2025, the Diocesan Feast will be celebrated in Lohja at 11:00 am. During the Solemn Mass, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki will ordain Deacon Chien Nguyen, who is now serving in our parish, as a priest. Chien, who was born in Vietnam, arrived in Finland with his family in 2006. After studying at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, he began his priestly studies in Vietnam in 2015 and returned to Finland in early 2024. He was ordained as a deacon here in Tampere on January 4, 2025, and since then he has been actively involved in pastoral work in our parish.
We are very grateful to God that we will soon have a new priest, who is a great gift to the whole Church, to our diocese, and to our parish!
We are also delighted that our new priest, Chien Nguyen, will celebrate his first Mass with us here in Tampere, at Holy Cross Church, immediately after his priestly ordination. There is no better way to give thanks to God than to gather together around the Altar Table and celebrate the Holy Eucharist or the Thanksgiving. So, next Sunday, August 17, 2025, the new priest will celebrate his first Mass in three different languages: at 10:30 am in Finnish, at 1:00 pm in Vietnamese, and at 5:00 pm in English. All parishioners are therefore invited to attend the Primitiae Mass with the new priest!
Practical arrangements for church coffee after the celebration of the First Mass:
I would like to ask that each family please brings something to eat and drink on next Sunday, August 17, 2025. It would be good to bring both sweet and savoury nutrition for church coffee after the First Mass! Both sweet and salty food is needed!
Thank you so much for your help! God bless you all!
Fr Tri Nguyen,
Parish priest