Message on the 4th Sunday of Lent (Yr A)
Friday 13th March 2026.
My dear people,
A very big decision has been made to host the 3pm Celebration of the Passion of the Lord on Friday 3rd April in the CRC Hall. This decision has not been made lightly at all. As you would be aware, we are very blessed to have about 1,800 people coming to Mass every weekend in our parish. Our church can sit around 600 with the chairs in the meeting rooms. As such, having the Good Friday liturgy in the church would mean that two thirds of our regular Mass goers will not be able to have a seat. Since many of the people are elderly, it is better to have about 1,300 seats available for the larger number of people who will be coming to that liturgy. The CRC Hall will make this possible. We shall see how this works this year. I am very grateful to Mr. Jamie Madigan, CRC Principal for making this possible.
The Chrism Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday 31st March at 10am at St Patrick’s Cathedral. The Chrism Mass is the Mass when Archbishop Comensoli will consecrate the Oil of the Sick for the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick for the year. He will also consecrate the Oil of Chrism to be used at Baptisms, Confirmations and Priesthood Ordinations. The Oil of Baptism will also be consecrated for use during the celebration of Baptism. Priests of the archdiocese will also renew the promises made on the day of ordination. You are all welcome to attend the Chrism Mass. We are organising a bus to facilitate this. Signup sheets are available in the gathering space. To assist with the costs of hiring a bus, there is a charge of $15pp.
On Thursday 19th March, the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated in the universal church. To honour St Joseph, we shall celebrate an additional Mass at 6:30pm here in our parish, to which every parishioner is welcome. Following the Mass, the St Joseph Men’s Dinner will take place. All men are invited to the dinner which will include a keynote by Mark Wolfenden. More information about the dinner is available in the gathering space.
This evening, we will hold our second Men’s Group gathering of the year. It will start at 7:30 PM because of Stations of the Cross at 7 PM. The Sacrament of Confession will be available from 7:30 to 8:15 and we will proceed to the presbytery for some fellowship to conclude the evening. This Season of Lent is a wonderful opportunity to spend additional time with our Lord in prayer, one of the three pillars of Lent.
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