15^th March 2007

Dear Fr Victor and dear Parishioners of the Maltese Community at St Boniface's;

Please accept my many thanks for the warm welcome I received when I came to celebrate Mass with the members of the Maltese Catholic Community during my Pastoral Visitation on Sunday 11 March 2007.  I am particularly grateful to Fr Victor and Fr Heinz for making all the arrangements for the visitation.

I was pleased to witness the strong support for individuals and families within the Maltese community and I noted your own sense of belonging.  It is good to see that St Boniface provides a real home-from-home for your community, both in the church for the celebration of Mass and in Wynfrid House where there is an opportunity to meet and socialise together.  Thank you for your great hospitality during the party after Mass!

Many parishioners expressed their appreciation for the pastoral care they have received from Fr Victor over more than thirty years.  It is also clear that Fr Heinz Medoch has become a good friend to the Maltese community during his time at St Boniface's and that the German parishioners regard the Maltese community as part of their extended family.

During the Sunday Mass it was good to see the readers and the altar servers carrying out their tasks with care and reverence for the Scriptures, the Blessed Sacrament and the People of God.  I was very pleased to hear everyone singing the traditional Maltese hymns and I congratulate your organist Emmanuel on playing so well for the first time at St Boniface's.

Once again, I thank you for making the visitation so informative and enjoyable for me and I assure you of my prayers for your families and for all the members of the Maltese Catholic Community.