A Mass dedicated to immigrant workers will be concelebrated on 1st May in Westminster Cathedral in London by Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, Primate of the Catholics of England and Wales, by the Archbishop of Southwark Kevin McDonald and by the Bishop of Brentwood Thomas McMahon. The Mass has been conceived as a tribute to the various communities of immigrants that make up London and will include readings and musical pieces that reflect their various traditions. The celebration will be preceded by an event in the piazza in front of the cathedral. It’s being organized by the association “London Citizens”, an umbrella organization that brings together various grassroots associations and pressure groups campaigning for such questions as a decent minimum wage and dignified conditions of work for immigrant workers in the capital. The arrival of immigrants, many of whom have recourse to the help of Catholic charities in order to survive, is repopulating many parishes in England, Scotland and Ireland. At Ardee, in Ireland, a parish priest has decided to print the readings for Sunday Mass in Polish and Lithuanian in order to make the many groups of immigrant countries from these countries feel more at home. The priest in question, Father Michael Murtagh, explained to the Catholic weekly “The Universe” that there are now some 250 Eastern Europeans living at Ardee, most of them Catholics.
