MESSAGE ON THE 14TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR C)
Friday 1st July 2022.
My dear people,
It is with great sadness that we farewelled Fr Simeon last Sunday and I was particularly sad when I shook his hand on Wednesday morning as he left to take up his appointment in Mernda. We will forever be grateful for all his contributions to the life of our parish. Again, we wish him all the very best in his new parish. If you have not seen them already, there are some beautiful photos and video clips of Fr Simeon’s farewell on our Facebook page.
Nevertheless, it is with great joy that we welcome Fr Joel to our parish. Fr Joel arrived on Wednesday, a few hours after Fr Simeon left. Fr Joel is settling in very well and I look forward to working together with him to make our parish even more vibrant than it already is as we continue on our path of missionary renewal.
The month of July is here and this is the month when Llewy, Ann and I will go to the Divine Renovation Conference in Dallas, Texas, US, followed by a visit to St John the Evangelist parish, St John, Indiana, US to hear from a parish who has been on the Divine Renovation journey for a few years. Ann and Llewy will talk to us at this weekend’s Masses about what their hopes are, why they desire to attend the conference and ways in which they will put all that we learn into practise in our parish. We will leave in two weeks’ time and return on 27th July.
Last Tuesday, we had a Ministries Coordinators’ Meeting where Natasha and I shared the reasons we have embarked on this missionary renewal journey. It was also an opportunity for our coordinators to interact and talk about their joys and struggles with their respective roles and in turn, for me to hear the support they need in their very important work for our parish. I had a fantastic time and trust that everyone involved also did.
Last month, a wonderful opportunity to purchase a van for the parish came up and I seized it. I did that for a few reasons namely, to transport older parishioners to Mass. Over the past few weeks, we have had requests from people to whom Holy Communion is brought to be taken to Mass. Parishioners who bring Holy Communion to people at home have been helping with that of late.
Youth Group – I was advised that one thing to help with the formation of our Young Adults and Youth Group leaders is to take them on a retreat together. Furthermore, there are many activities around the archdiocese aimed at young people. The possibility of bringing them to these events together can only be beneficial to them.
Outreach – A good way to bring parishioners together in general would be to go once a month, or more if possible, to one of the places where food is distributed to the poor. I understand these places are always in need of volunteers particularly in winter. Having a parish minivan will enable this ministry to start and to flourish in the parish.
We will shortly run our next Bible Study Program in the parish. It is called: “Lectio: Gospel of Mark: Faith not Fear with Dr Tim Gray.” The program starts on 18th July and will run until 17th October every Monday in the CRC cafeteria. Join us in this powerful 14-part series to discover the Gospel of Mark like never before!
I will be away next week for the Annual Conference of the Australian Confraternity of Catholic Clergy. Fr Joel will look after our wonderful parish in my absence. Since the conference is in Sydney there will be no weekly message next week. I will invite Fr Joel to tell us about himself and that will be in the bulletin.
We continue turning to our patron saint, and we ask for her intercession.
St Catherine of Siena, Pray for us.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Fr Richard Rosse PP