The official website of the Franciscan Order, www.ofm.org, featured an entry by Ramon Farrugia OFM, Guardian of the Valletta fraternity, who described how four Christian communities celebrated Christmas in Ta’ Ġieżu Church in Valletta, namely the Maltese local community and the three foreign Christian communities who meet regularly in this church, the Indian, Pakistani and Filippino communities.
On 23 December Br. Jhoan Dalmaceda Pader from the Province of San Pedro Bautista in the Philippines joined the Valletta fraternity in order to minister to the Filippino community. In the same fraternity reside Br. Thomas Manakuzhyil from the Province of St. Thomas the Apostle in India and Br. Arslan Amanat Masih from the Custody of St. John the Baptist in Pakistan. The pastoral work among the communities of resident foreign workers is centred in our Valletta church and has been a new way of celebrating our 450 years of presence in Ta’ Ġieżu church and friary.
