This year we are celebrating the 23rd Anniversary of the Millennium Chapel. On the 8th December 2000. the then President of the Republic Prof. Guido Demarco officially inaugurated the Chapel during Mass at the Mother of Good Counsel Church. The germination of the idea of the chapel itself happened two years earlier when I relocated to live in Paceville from St. Rita of Bay Street. After 26 years there I returned to Paceville having previously been here in 1972 for a year or two. A lifetime here that changed my life after meeting so many people, especially those who embraced the same aims and values of the Millennium Chapel. A Chapel open to all, especially those in the margin of society.
During the past 25 years over 35 foreign adults have been baptised or accepted in the Catholic Faith at the Millennium Chapel. The Chapel has always been open to all faiths, gender and people of different races and was the first to embrace gay and transgender people when Maltese society was still unprepared to accept them. Meetings were held by them and their relatives here on various occasions.
After the opening of the Chapel the need for more space was immediately felt and in 2002 work on WOW (Wishing Others Well) started and a Foundation mainly formed of lay people was set up. The new premises of WOW were inaugurated in 2004 with the Auditorium , Counselling Rooms, spacious multi purpose room and games room for the use of Schools and NGOs. WOW has been used by various NGOs , received hundreds of students from all government and public schools in Malta, and has seen thousands of clients approaching our professional counsellors.
Following the publication of Peter Calamatta’s book Maltese Plants in the Bible, the creation of a meditation garden with plants that grow in the Holy Land and Malta accompanied by the scripture quotation of the same plants was opened on the 27th August 2018 and is very much in use especially during the summer months. The latest major events have been the opening of the Love Kitchen for homeless and needy people and the launching of a Mega screen on the precincts of the Chapel that will be transmitting positive messages to all passersby and traffic commuters.
All this will not have been possible without the voluntary work of so many Welcomers and many benefactors who believed in our mission and to them all goes our heartfelt thanks.