MESSAGE ON THE 23RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR A)
Friday 8th September 2023
My dear people,
Throughout the church, today, we celebrate the Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Many people have shared with me how much of a solemn event it is in their country of birth and we celebrate and rejoice together because of this great feast. Together with the birth of our Lord, the birth of Our Lady and the birth of St John the Baptist are the only births celebrated in the liturgical calendar. This points to the important role that Our Lady plays in the history of salvation. We are reminded of her fidelity which we are to imitate. We are also reminded that she is our mother in heaven, and we can always turn to her for her intercession for all the desires in our hearts. Happy Feast Day!
We congratulate and continue to pray for our younger parishioners in Grade 4 who will receive their first Holy Communion over the next two weekends. Most of these will take place at the 6pm, 9am and 10:30am Masses. Seats will be reserved for the first communicants and their families for these Masses. As these children progress to this most significant part of the initiation into the catholic faith, let us pray for a renewed sense of the presence of God in their lives and an increase in their desire to be disciples of our Lord.
A wonderful celebration of our parish occurs this month namely, the 10th Anniversary of the Dedication of our Church. To celebrate this wonderful event, our Social Committee is organising a gathering immediately after the 12pm Mass on Sunday 17th September. They have asked that it be a “Bring and Share.” We are kindly asking that you write your name down on the signup sheet in the gathering space and that you indicate there what you intend to bring. This will help with organising the catering for the day. I thank you in advance and look forward to seeing you there next Sunday.
On 28th October this year, there will be a Fund-Raising Concert for our parish. It will be a Live Show Tribute to Elvis Presley at the Performing Arts Centre of CRC, on site here. More details available at ELVIS – Greatest Hits Tickets (123tix.com.au). The funds raised will go towards helping with the operational costs of running our parish. With the increase in interest rates over the past several months, the costs of
financing the loan for the church have increased and we need another form of income to help with these costs. Your generosity will go a long way and is very appreciated.
A reminder that that I will be away from the parish for my annual leave from 18th September to 15th October this year. This year, Fr David Cartwright, Fr Greg Bellamy and I are off to Europe where we will visit England, Italy, Greece, France and Scotland. Fr Frank Buhagiar will be here for Mass and Confession from Monday to Saturday and one of the Columban Fathers from Essendon will be here for the three Masses on Sunday.
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