MESSAGE ON THE 16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR A)
Friday 21st July 2023
My dear people,
We are very fortunate to have a Youth Group in our parish in Ablaze Youth Group. As I mentioned several weeks ago, our youth group sessions are now led by members of the Alliance of the Holy Family International. I am pleased to report that they have been going very well over the past couple of months since meeting weekly. In order to help with their ongoing activities, the Youth Group is organising a fund raiser on Saturday 5th August 2023. I invite you to put this date in your diaries now. It will be a fun night of trivia and will provide an opportunity for the parish to come together for some fellowship.
We are likewise fortunate to have a Men’s Group in our parish. The format of our Men’s Group has changed a lot since it first started back in 2018. We are going to start with a new system as follows: A short period of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour which will include a brief homily and the celebration of the Sacrament of Confession. It will finish with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed by supper in the presbytery. At different times, we will invite members to share a particular topic with us whether that be a hobby, previous life experiences, or any topic they want to share with the group. The Men’s Group will meet on the third Friday of the month starting at 8pm and the next meeting will be on tonight here at the church.
I am pleased to inform all of you that we will have the Relic of Our Lady of Tears with us for a novena starting from this weekend. It is the same relic which has been with us twice now but only for weekend Masses on both occasions. Some of the Masses during the novena will be followed by prayers for the intercession of Our Lady of Tears. The exact details are in the bulletin, and I invite you to check them there. It is indeed a blessing that we were able to secure the relic for nine days. Let us commend our petitions, intentions and prayers to our Lady under her title of Our Lady of Tears.
I am pleased to announce that we will be organising a parish mission to be held here from 28th to 30th August. The archdiocese has invited Mr John Pridmore to lead the missions in five parishes of the archdiocese and we are one of them. The title of the mission is “Gangland to Promised Land – Melbourne Tour.” Please refer to the flyer in the bulletin as well as in the gathering space for more information. I will provide more details over the next few weeks, but for now, I invite you to put these dates in your diary.
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