MESSAGE ON THE 20TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR A)
Friday 18th August 2023
My dear people,
As previously mentioned, there will be a parish mission 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. The Parish Mission will be run from 7:30pm until 8:30pm. John will also be here to talk to us at the Masses of 26th and 27th August. Since the mission will run on the evening of Tuesday 29th August, our parish Mass on that day will be at 9:30am, preceded by Adoration and Confession at 8:30am.
We congratulate and continue to pray for our younger parishioners in Grade 4 who will be receiving their first Holy Communion over the next few 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 weekends. 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.
We are fortunate to have a Men’s Group in our parish. The sessions start with a short period of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for half an hour 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 7pm and the next meeting is tonight, here at the church.
On Thursday 24th August, we will hold the second Leadership Summit in our parish. This provides an opportunity to show gratitude for the contributions of our ministry coordinators to our parish. It will also be an opportunity for formation and discussion and praying together as leaders of our parish. May I please ask that you keep our ministry coordinators, the members of our Evangelisation Team and Leadership Team in your prayers as we undergo the formation to enable us to be agents of missionary renewal in our parish.
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