MESSAGE ON THE 24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR A
Friday 15th September 2023
My dear people,
It was very sad to hear this week of the two tragedies in Morocco and Libya with the earthquake and floods respectively. In front of such loss of human lives, we can only turn to our Lord and pray to him for the repose of the souls of those who have died. We must also pray for all those left behind, who will have to mourn the loss of their family members and loved ones. We also pray for the rescuers and volunteers who are helping with all the required efforts to help the survivors. Caritas Australia has launched two emergency appeals and donations can be made on their website www.caritas.org.au.
I am pleased to announce that Ann O’Brien has been appointed the new Evangelisation Coordinator of the parish, starting from the 26th October 2023. I invite you to join me in welcoming Ann to the role. I look forward to working with Ann and to her contributions to the role and to the parish as our new Evangelisation Coordinator. As mentioned before, Natasha Berchy went on maternity leave last year and advised me in July that she would not return. Once more, we thank Natasha for her time as the Evangelisation Coordinator. Natasha will still be involved in the parish, and we will see her around. Nimmi Candappa has been in the role for the duration on the maternity leave, and her time with us will end when Ann takes over. We thank Nimmi for all the various ways in which she contributed to the parish in her role. There will be a proper farewell to Nimmi in due course.
Yesterday, we celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and today we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. The celebration of these two feasts seems to be counter intuitive when we consider celebrating the Holy Cross on which our Lord died and the sorrows of our Lady. However, we remember that it is through the cross that our salvation was won and that is certainly worthy of celebration. The sorrows of Our Lady remind us that despite the sorrows which Our Blessed Mother experienced here on earth she never stopped being faithful to God, which is also worthy of celebration. Happy Feast Day!
We congratulate and pray for our younger parishioners in Grade 4 who will receive their first Holy Communion this weekend. 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 (this coming Sunday). I hope to see many of you there!
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. During my absence there will be no weekly message.
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