Happy Birthday Teresa!
On Tuesday 1st December Teresa O’Donnell will celebrate her 100th Birthday.
We wish Teresa every grace and blessing. 100 - not out - and still coming to Mass during a pandemic!
A great witness to a life of faith.
Parish Redevelopment Milestone
Pat Kelly, Friday 13 November 2020
Following consultation with the Archdiocese, six contractors have been invited to tender for our redevelopment project. The tenders closes later this month and will be evaluated by the Archdiocesan Building and Property Committee, the architects and ourselves. Advice of the selected contractor will be provided following approval by the Archdiocese.
Parish Office Opens - And our New Office Administrator Starts
Friday 30 October 2020
After four months of no parish secretary, and a closed parish office, the office is open again and Teana is now at work and finding her way around our new office at Mother of God Church. Our office hours are Tuesday - Friday 9.30am - 2.30pm. Please make Teana welcome to our parish family.
Appreciating and discovering hope in Pope Francis' 3rd Encyclical Fratelli Tutti: Seeking the common Good
John Costa, 16 October 2020
When human values around the world become increasingly diluted and polarised both by extreme 'Left wing' and extreme 'Right wing' politics, it's very timely to receive Pope Francis' 3rd encyclical Fratelli Tutti: Seeking the Common Good. For all peoples of the world regardless of beliefs trying to make sense of increasing conflict and confusion and looking for ways to move collectively towards something more morally and humanly based amidst the realities around us this encyclical offers a hopeful way forward. We can immediately start reading Fratelli Tutti as it is very accessible, however a little prior background reading can provide further context and fuller sense of its direction. I can suggest two background papers on the encyclical as a helpful lead-in. The first 'Saving liberalism from itself' is by Jesuit Damian Howard SJ and can be accessed HERE , from Thinking Faith. The Second, 'Pope Francis’s new encyclical On Human Fraternity and Social Friendship' is by Fr Bruce Duncan and can be accessed HERE from Peals & Irritations. Finally the (3rd) Encyclical Fratelli Tutti itself (with Index added) can be accessed HERE. The two prior
Encyclicals of Pope Francis are Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith, June
2013), and Laudato si (On Care For Our Common Home, May 2015). The Cardijn Institute and Social Policy Connections invite you to a (free) Zoom Seminar on Fratelli Tutti by Fr Bruce Duncan & Danusia Kaska on Thursday 22 October from 7:30 - 8:30 pm. Details and registration above or HERE
German churches to continue talks on shared Communion
Extract from CathNews, Crux, 9 October 2020
The German Catholic bishops’ conference and the council of the Evangelical Church in Germany plan to continue their discussions about shared Communion. German Catholic and Protestant theologians and bishops had published an appraisal of the topic in May, and it was scheduled to be discussed at the German bishops’ plenary assembly in Fulda at the end of September. However, on September 18, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith voiced strong objections to the appraisal, saying that differences between Catholics and Protestants in the understanding of the Eucharist and the ministry were “still so grave” that they ruled out the attendance of at each other’s services, German news agency KNA reported. On October 6, leaders of both churches identified questions that “still need to be clarified” and addressed by Catholic and Protestant sides in different ways, KNA reported. “For the Catholic Church, the open questions are so weighty that it does not feel able to allow mutual participation in general before they are clarified, especially since the question of the unity of the Catholic Church is affected here as well,” said the statement from the church leaders. Germany has many mixed marriages — Catholic and Protestant — and the issue of being able to receive Communion at each other’s churches has long been an issue of concern.....(more). Photo: CNS Harald Oppitz KNA CathNews 20201009
Congratulations
Friday 25 September 2020
Last Thursday Bernie and Elaine Jowett celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. Married on grand final day at St. Anthony’s Alphington. As a Parish Family we rejoice with them and give thanks for the gift of the vocation of marriage.
May their witness to the gift of married love inspire all whose lives they touch.
May the God of love bless you both.
Mary Immaculate Church Closes!
Fr Bill, Friday 11 September 2020
I hope that headline got your attention. In preparing for the renovation of the church and the construction of our new Parish Centre, Yarra Valley Water has decommissioned the sewer easement that crosses our property. Consequently the site cannot be occupied until the project is complete. We hope the project will go to tender early October with work commencing late November. Estimated completion is December 2021 but that will depend upon many things - not the least being the Covid-19 restrictions. While the site is closed the Parish Office will operate out of Mother of God Church where a temporary office has been established. Many thanks to Vince Marino who has painted out the office and Eugene Ballao who has assisted in moving office furniture. When we are able to resume Masses there will be a new schedule of Mass times at Mother of God and St. Bernadette’s which will remain in effect until our new Parish Centre at Mary Immaculate reopens. Photo: John Costa
Mental health in Australia: Bishops release 2020-21 social justice statement
Extract from Mellbourne Catholic, Catholic Archdioceseof Melbourne, 27 August 2020
‘Our society tends to push away or draw away from those who confront us with our frailties and limitations. This is not the way of Jesus,’ writes Bishop Terry Brady, the Bishop Delegate for Social Justice on the release of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Social Justice Statement for 2020-21, To Live Life to the Full: Mental health in Australia. It was released ahead of Social Justice Sunday, celebrated on 30 August. Given the challenges our country and world are facing due to COVID-19, the issue of mental health is very much front and centre for many people. ‘The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many members of our parishes, schools and communities,’ Bishop Brady says. ‘Understanding mental health will help us to be aware of those who most need our support.’
Read full Statement HERE
One of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was that the Catholic Church in Australia conduct a review of diocesan and parish governance and management. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia accepted that recommendation and the Implementation Advisory Group was tasked with conducting and presenting that review.
The Implementation Advisory Group established the Governance Review Project Team to lead the review. The GRPT presented a version of the report to the Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia in May 2020. That version, which was not the final version, was leaked and published.
That version was subsequently amended, making a number of corrections and clarifications. The final version of the report, entitled The Light from the Southern Cross: Promoting Co-Responsible Governance in the Catholic Church in Australia, was presented to the Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia in mid-August 2020. The report was published online on August 21, 2020, along with an accompanying Reading Guide.
Click here to access a Reading Guide, which people are encouraged to read before the report.
Click here to access The Light from the Southern Cross.