Every second Saturday of the month, Divine Liturgy in English of Sunday - Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family, Duke Street, London W1K 5BQ.
4pm Divine Liturgy. Next: 13th November 2021

Very sadly, the Divine Liturgy in English at 9-30 am on Sundays at the Holy Family Cathedral, Lower Church, have had to be put on hold. Until the practicalities we cannot use the Lower Church space. Hopefully this will be resolved very soon. Please keep checking in here for details.

Owing to public health guidance, masks should still be worn indoors and distance maintained. Sanitisers are available. Holy Communion is distributed in both kinds from the mixed and common chalice, by means of a separate Communion spoon for each individual communicant.

To purchase The Divine Liturgy: an Anthology for Worship (in English), order from the Sheptytsky Institute here, or the St Basil's Bookstore here.

To purchase the Divine Praises, the Divine Office of the Byzantine-Slav rite (in English), order from the Eparchy of Parma here.

The new catechism in English, Christ our Pascha, is available from the Eparchy of the Holy Family and the Society. Please email johnchrysostom@btinternet.com for details.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Lost in Melilla: Syrian refugees despair as Europe closes door

While in Britain, Spain's antagonism towards the historic strategic British naval base and enclave at Gibraltar disturbs diplomatic and economic relations with its EU partner, little is said of Spain's own enclaves on the coast of North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla. In the following Reuters report there is news of their refugee centres which are being overwhelmed with Syrian Christians and Muslims alike, hoping for a new and safe future in Europe. Spain is taking refugees but Britain and certain other northern European countries are not disposed to help - despite their military and diplomatic interventions which have helped to worsen the crisis.

* Syrian refugees find European dreams thwarted in enclave
* Spanish town on Moroccan coast hosts hundreds of refugees
* EU struggling for common approach to Mediterranean migrants

By Julien Toyer and Juan Medina
MELILLA, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Yahya Khedr has travelled for more than two years, through five countries and with six forged passports to get his family from the war-ravaged Syrian city of Homs to Europe.

But now that his wife and five children have reached Melilla, a small Spanish enclave on Morocco's Mediterranean coast, their chance of a European life seems as remote as ever.

"People make it to Melilla hoping to find Europe," said Khedr, who before his country's war owned a successful European truck-parts import business. "But here, it's an open-air jail."

Armed guards and razor wire lining the 12-km (7.5-mile) frontier around the town have long discouraged Africans fleeing poverty and conflict from seeing Melilla as a gateway to Europe, 180 km (110 miles) away across open water.

But desperation has driven hundred of Syrians like Khedr to brave long journeys - and Moroccan crime gangs that prey on migrants - to fetch up at the gates, turning the port town of 80,000 into a new pressure point for waves of destitute people struggling to reach the safety and prosperity of Europe.

Read the full report here:
Lost in Melilla: Syrian refugees despair as Europe closes door

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