MESSAGE ON THE 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER (YR A)
Friday 17th April 2026
My dear people,
What a wonderful blessing it is to start the fortnightly message today by recounting what wonderful events Holy Week, Easter Triduum and Easter Sunday were for our parish. We realise that every year, with more and more people moving into the parish, the numbers at all the liturgies of Holy Week are much greater. Hopefully it is something that will continue. The Stations of the Cross on the morning of Good Friday around the oval opposite the church was a moving event. I think that celebrating the liturgy of the Solemn Passion of the Lord in the CRC Hall was the right decision to make. This enabled more than 1000 people to be seated and even then, there were some people outside. We will see next year how we can accommodate them. I would also like to mention here that the rubrics (instructions for the celebrations of liturgies) mention that only one cross should be used for veneration, which explains why we only had the one cross. We need to continue to find better ways of keeping the flow of people fluid as they come to venerate the cross. The Easter Vigil was likewise very moving with nine parishioners completing their initiation into the Catholic Church. Easter Sunday was a wonderful celebration, and we were very honoured to have Bishop Martin Ashe, the Auxiliary Bishop for the Western Region of the Archdiocese, here as Principal Celebrant of the 10:30am Mass. Again, I would like to thank everyone who has played a role, whether small or big, in making sure that our celebrations were so magnificent. All these blessings ought to be celebrated!
Our parish will be hosting a Marian Procession in the parish on the afternoon of 23rd May. The Solemnity of Our Lady, Help of Christians is celebrated on 24th May every year. Our Blessed Mother, under this title, is the patroness of Australia. This year, as Pentecost Sunday is on 24th May, the church in Australia will celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady, Help of Christians on 25th May. Nevertheless, we will hold the Marian Procession on 23rd May. Please keep your diaries free for the afternoon of 23rd May and I look forward to seeing many of you then. More information will be made available in the next week.
Another great blessing of the parish is that our 13th Alpha is going to start on Wednesday 22nd April. We heard the testimonies of various participants of Alpha last weekend. We are going to hear about Alpha again this weekend. We are holding a sausage sizzle to raise funds for the running of Alpha. The funds raised will be used to purchase the food that is an integral part of the running of Alpha. I will be very grateful for all the support you can provide with the sausage sizzle. Furthermore, I highly urge you to think about attending Alpha this year. We all have gone through times in our lives when we have questioned the very meaning of life. Perhaps you are going through this right now. Perhaps your daughter or son, brother or sister, or colleague is going through this. Alpha is the best way to come to reflect on the deeper meaning of life, over dinner, a short film and conversation. May I ask you to consider attending and warmly inviting others to attend Alpha? The transformation in people’s lives, their healing and closeness to Christ is testament to the fruits this wonderful program has to offer!
A reminder that our Parish Feast Day celebrations will be on 3rd May, immediately after the 12:30pm Mass. If you have not already done so, I humbly ask you to mark your calendars with this event. Furthermore, there is a signup sheet in the Gathering Space for you to indicate your presence and what you can bring to share with your fellow parishioners as we celebrate our Feast Day.
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