MESSAGE ON THE 6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR C)
Friday 14th February 2025.
My dear people,
As we arrive at the end of the second week of February, we realise that the year is well under way. As the activities in the parish resume at full speed, I realise how many activities there are in the parish, and I am very grateful to God and all of you that we are such a thriving parish.
Last Sunday afternoon, we held an Information Session with afternoon tea for the parents at the two parish catholic primary schools whose children will receive sacraments this year. I spoke briefly about the sacraments and the importance of ensuring that the celebration of the sacraments is part and parcel of an active life of faith and participation in Sunday Mass. Ann O’Brien spoke of the different activities in the parish and Natasha Berchy gave a testimony of the importance of faith for her family. It was a wonderful afternoon.
The church extension project has had to be put on hold. The Parish Building Committee spent a great deal of time working on this very important project and I am very thankful to them for that. The reason for putting the project on hold is our present financial situation. As we all know, our parish is running at a deficit at the moment, owing to the very large quarterly repayment of the loan. Given this deficit, the Finance Department of the Archdiocese has informed me that we are not in a position to service a bigger loan. It is likely that the whole project will cost around $3M and we already owe $2.2M on the church.
As a result, we are going to start different means of fundraising in the parish for the project of extending the buildings. The plan is to turn the meeting rooms into an area that is completely part of the worship space, with permanent pews. There is also a plan to build a hall at the back of the presbytery where we will have the space to conduct all the other activities we need for the parish. The principal activity for fund raising will be fortnightly bingo which is starting on 28th April. We will also open a bank account solely for the purpose of fund raising and will invite you to donate funds for our project when you are able to do so.
As we start the new year, the PLT will have a planning day tomorrow. We will be together for Mass at 9:30 and then move to the presbytery for a day of prayer and meetings from 10am until 3pm. We kindly ask for your prayers as we discern the best ways to strengthen the tools we are already using for missionary renewal in the parish. On that note, I would like to share with you that I was invited by the rector of the seminary to speak about what we are doing in our parish in terms of missionary renewal. It is immensely encouraging to know that the staff of the seminary are eager to teach the seminarians how important missionary renewal is. It was wonderful to catch up with Greg last Monday while I was at the seminary for the day.
I finish with a note on Valentine’s Day. Today, we celebrate Valentine’s Day which occurs on the Feast of St Valentine. St Valentine was a priest in the third century who was martyred for his defence of the Sacrament of Marriage. As we celebrate his feast today, let us pray, through the intercession of St Valentine, for married people everywhere and people who are preparing for Marriage, that their vocation will lead them closer to God. Happy St Valentine’s!
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