Posted on: February 19, 2021
Message on the 1st Sunday of Lent (Yr B)
Friday 19th February 2021.
My dear people,
How great it was to hear on Wednesday morning that Lockdown 3.0 would come to an end. As announced by the Premier, Places of Worship are opened once again and religious gatherings are now permitted. This means we re-commenced Mass yesterday in the parish and everything is ready for a return to normal this weekend. Bookings for this weekend’s Masses are open and can be made via our website.
One of the consequences of Lockdown 3.0 is that we were not able to impose ashes on Ash Wednesday this year. Therefore, this coming Wednesday, 24th February 2021, there will be three Masses in the parish and they will each include the imposition of ashes. This is the best way forward to enable all parishioners who desire to receive ashes to do so as well as being compliant with all COVID-19 cleaning regulations. The three Masses will be at 9:30am, 6pm and 7:30pm. Bookings for these Masses are now open and I invite you to book.
Our Bible Study program, “Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible” will start on Tuesday 23rd February at 7:30pm in the church. Again, I would like to point out that this program will indeed be a bible study which is different from bible sharing or Lectio Divina. We will be following a rigorous plan of getting to know the bible. Presenter, Jeff Cavins, will show us how to read the Bible so that we can understand it. It is necessary for you to book to attend. Bookings for the Bible Study are currently open and can be made via our website.
Last week, I mentioned that I would announce the activities to honour St Joseph in this year dedicated to him. I am pleased to announce a Novena to St Joseph which will include Mass at advertised times followed by novena prayers. On the last day, the Solemnity of St Joseph, we will conclude with Mass at 7pm followed by a procession. When we return to the church, we will finish with some fellowship and refreshments.
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
Posted on: February 12, 2021
Message on the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time(Yr B)
Friday, 12th February 2021
My dear people,
It is with great consternation that we all heard the news that the state of Victoria is going into Stage 4 lockdown from tomorrow. As announced by the Premier, Places of Worship are closed except for broadcasting and religious gatherings are only permitted in very restricted circumstances. This means that Masses are cancelled until the end of the day on Wednesday. Unfortunately, this also means there will be no Masses in the church on Ash Wednesday. We are doing our best to resume the livestreaming of daily Masses at the regular parish Mass times. Livestreaming of Mass will start on Sunday at 9am on our YouTube channel. As usual, Masses can be watched at any time after that.
The launch of Alpha last Tuesday 9th February went beyond my expectations. There was a much greater number of people in attendance than I had hoped for and the people present all seemed to have had a great time. It shows that the Holy Spirit is indeed blowing in our corner of the world. Let us pray that many of those who were motivated to come to the “come and see” of last Tuesday are now inspired to book for Alpha. If you are interested to participate in Alpha but could not attend the “come and see”, please do not hesitate to book. Alpha will proceed on Tuesday as planned but will be via ZOOM instead due to the recently announced lockdown. For more information, please contact Natasha.
We also look forward to the start of the Bible Study program, “Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible” on Tuesday 23rd February at 7:30pm in the church. Please note the change of date brought about by the lockdown. I would like to point out that this program will indeed be a bible study which is different from bible sharing or Lectio Divina. We will be following a rigorous plan of getting to know the bible. Presenter, Jeff Cavins, will show us how to read the Bible so that we can actually understand it.
Fr Simeon and I celebrated the Opening of the School Year Masses for St George Preca and Christ the Priest respectively this week. We both found the experiences to be reinvigorating as we look forward to more visits to the schools and to the individual classrooms in particular, when the lockdown is lifted.
You may have noticed a statue of St Joseph at the back of the church. What an act of Divine Providence that we were gifted this statue in the year proclaimed as the Year of St Joseph by Pope Francis. After discussion with some parishioners, I plan to place the statue of St Joseph next to the statue of Our Lady in our devotional corner. If you have any comment or suggestion to add, please do not hesitate to talk to Fr Simeon, any staff member, members of the parish pastoral council or me after Mass when we are back in church. We are presently getting a stand for the status of St Joseph which is similar to the one for Our Lady so that they match. I will also soon announce some activities to honour the foster father of Jesus in this year dedicated to him.
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
Posted on: February 5, 2021
Message on the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time(Yr B)
Friday, 5th February 2021
My dear people,
We have the clear impression now that the year has well and truly started. There is nothing like the morning and afternoon school traffic in our suburb to indicate that. I also had the great honour of celebrating the Opening of the School Year Mass for CRC Caroline Springs this morning. Fr Simeon will celebrate this Mass for St George Preca on Tuesday and I will celebrate it for Christ the Priest on Wednesday. Let us continue to pray for our children and teachers.
Yesterday I had the privilege of being present at the Carmelite Sisters in Kew for the election of the new prioress. I was there to emcee Mass for the Archbishop, which he celebrated before the elections. I found it to be a great privilege to be there for that. I invite you to join in praying for the sisters for they do a marvellous job in the archdiocese. Let us pray also for more vocations to the order and while in prayer, why not pray that one of our parishioners may join them in religious life.
I hope that you are not finding the latest discovery of a positive case of COVID-19 in our community too concerning. It seems to me that we are good at contact tracing, testing, isolating and doing everything to limit the transmission of the virus. Let us all play our part and do all we can to help with that. Of course, we again have to wear masks in our church for Masses even when we are able to social distance. So I ask for your patience and understanding with that.
I look forward to seeing you at Mass. Please come and say hi to Fr Simeon and me either after or before Mass.
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