Damiaan Vandaag goes digital.
Damiaan Vandaag, quarterly newsletter of the project "Damian Today" wants to continue to share the inspiration and spirituality of Damien. Thanks to the generous support of our readers we want to continue this mission. To continue doing so we feel the need to move from the print edition to a digital one. With this we can reduce some of the costs of printing and mailing. For the rest of the year 2013 our readers will continue to receive the printed version in their mailbox. From January 2014 it will only digital publishing.
Visit the Museum of Father Damien, last chance
After years of waiting and planning finally the renovation of the Father Damien’s birth house has started, also known as Damien Museum, in Tremelo. Whoever wants to visit it can do so until Sunday November 3, 2013. Then, as during the renovation, the museum will be closed to the public.
Activities in Damien Center
May was marked by celebrations around the memory of Father Damien. In the chapel of Saint Anthony a liturgy was held on May 12, presided by Julian Vandekerhove, the provincial. On May 27, in the Damien Center, the American professor Fred E. Woods, a member of the Mormon community, made the presentation of a documentary called "The Soul of Kalaupapa". The documentary includes several visits made by Professor Woods to Kalaupapa, with emphasis on multi-religious reality of the leper colony.
On June 1 a large delegation Damian Today Project participated in the celebration of the feast of Father Damien in Zele, in the East Flanders province. Also this was the occasion to make known outside the precincts of the Damien Center the exhibition "Hero and holy", which collects various moments in celebration and transmission of the legacy of Father Damien through time.
In the summer Damien Center facilities are visited by groups and / or individual persons that during their visit to greet Father Damien.
Exhibitions
In the chapel of Saint Anthony there is an exhibition of various photographs of Father Damien, indicating the year in which they were taken and the photographer. At the Damien Center there is a exposition called “Men-Women in Mission”, which refers to spirituality and missionary work of the church in Asia, Africa, Latin America.
Towards 2014
2014 will be an important year regarding Fr. Damien’s anniversaries. It will be five years after the canonization (2009), 125 years after his death (1889) and 150 years after his arrival in Molokai and ordination (1864). For this reason the project team of Damian Today is thinking of ways to celebrate. A blog to follow step by step the events of the year, an activity of solidarity to support a project in another part of the world, and a well maintained liturgical celebration are some of the ideas that have emerged.
More information on Project Damian Today: www.damiaanvandaag.be (in Dutch)
16/08/2013