MESSAGE ON THE 30TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR A)
Friday 27th October 2023
My dear people,
As mentioned previously over the past year, I have held discussions with FPPV, the architects employed for the Masterplan of our property, as well as members of the Property and Building Services Department of the archdiocese. We are tremendously blessed to be a parish in the growth corridor of the state and our Mass attendance continues to grow. As a result, our worship space has become too small. Yesterday, there was a meeting with the Ministry Coordinators to present to them the very first plans, ideas, and concepts for what can be done for our church. Our ministry coordinators have made wonderful contributions to the discussions, and these suggestions will be taken on board by the architects, and they will come back to us in due course. The plans, ideas and concepts are on the front page of the website and in the gathering space. I must stress very strongly that no decision has been made yet and that we are now starting the discussions about the future of our church building.
While we were having these discussions, I also initiated a conversation about changing the Mass times on Sundays in our parish. Over the past year, it has become obvious there is a great challenge for us to have the flow of cars in and out of the car park between Masses. Again, this is due to the growing number of people coming to Mass here which, in itself, is a great blessing from God. The proposal is that we change Mass times on Sundays to 8am, 10am, and 12pm. This will provide one hour between the end of Mass and the start of the next Mass which will make the flow of cars much easier. We shall continue to discuss these and get your input as time goes on. Again, this is just for discussion and no decision has been made.
I am delighted to announce that our parish will host a “life in the Spirit course” based on “the Gift” video series format. It is an inspiring and practical series for all age groups to help you encounter the Holy Spirit and empower you to share your faith. The course will start on 9th November and will run every Thursday from 7pm until 9pm for 6 weeks until 14th December. This course is well aligned to Divine Renovation since one of the three keys of Divine Renovation is “The Power of the Hoy Spirit: through the power of the Holy Spirit, transformative renewal happens, and parishes come to life.” Please register via https://www.trybooking.com/CMMJW. Light dinner & refreshments will be served.
Tomorrow is the day of the Fund-Raising Concert for our parish. It will be a Live Show Tribute to Elvis Presley at the Performing Arts Centre of CRC. More details available at ELVIS – Greatest Hits Tickets (123tix.com.au). The funds raised will go towards 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 other forms of income to help with these costs. Your generosity will go a long way and is very appreciated.
The next meeting of the Men’s Group is tonight. We will start with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at 7pm followed by Benediction at 7:45pm. During that time, the Sacrament of Confession will be available. Fr David Cartwright will be here to help with Confessions. This will be followed by supper in the presbytery.
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