Author: MtCarmel

These offerings are given to support the 230 active and 92 retired priests of the Melbourne Archdiocese.

The Festival will be held next Sunday 22 December at 7.30pm at OLMC Church. Readings will be from the Old and New Testament beginning with the Fall of Adam and Eve and concluding with God’s coming at Bethlehem. Well-known hymns and carols will follow each of the Readings which have been used for 400 years in England.
A sausage sizzle, champagne and orange juice will be served after 5.30pm Mass for those who would like to stay. All we ask is for some assistance moving the pews in the church around and lots of singing.

The week before  Christmas Day, the Liturgy of the Church changes. At this point, the Advent focus shifts to the Christmas story and the Virgin Mary. These days serve to prepare more directly for the Lord’s birth. It is the best time to hold carols services and to begin to use Christmas carols in the liturgy. During this Christmas Novena weekday Mass will be celebrated in the evening to allow those employed to attend.

We offer our prayers and sympathy to Frank Ricciardo and his two sons Nunzio and Anthony as Maria Ricciardo entered eternal life last Thursday. Vigil Prayers and Rosary will be prayed on Wednesday at 7.30pm at St Anne’s Church and followed by Funeral Service next day at 11.30am and committal at Sunbury Cemetery. Both of Maria’s parents died in Sicily during the war when Maria was nine years old and she, the eldest child, was then the carer for her siblings.

The Catholic Church will be the focus of the public hearing in December when “Towards Healing” (the Church document used for handling allegations of abuse) will be examined. Church entities are also likely to be the subject of public hearings in 2014.
The TJHC have prepared some flyers for parishioners to take. They will be in the St Anne’s foyer on the Welcome Desk. We encourage all parishioners to access the website at http://www.tjhcouncil.org.au for regular updates. Also, please continue to pray for those who are suffering from the abuse and betrayal of our Church.
Also, a very important statement is printed in this Newsletter regarding the Churches committment to ensure a safe future for the vulnerable and children.

The Catholic Church in Australia, in its submissions to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and in its communications with both the Catholic and broader communities has made the following commitment:

The leaders of the Catholic Church in Australia recognise and acknowledge the devastating harm caused to people by the crime of child sexual abuse. We take this opportunity to state:

1          Sexual abuse of a child by a priest or religious is a crime under Australian law and under canon law.

2          Sexual abuse of a child by any Church personnel, whenever it occurred, was then and is now indefensible.

3          That such abuse has occurred at all, and the extent to which it has occurred, are facts of  which the whole Church in Australia is deeply ashamed.

4          The Church fully and unreservedly acknowledges the devastating, deep and ongoing impact of sexual abuse on the lives of the victims and their families.

5          The Church acknowledges that many victims were not believed when they should have been.

6          The Church is also ashamed to acknowledge that, in some cases, those in positions of authority concealed or covered up what they knew of the facts, moved perpetrators to another place, thereby enabling them to offend again, or failed to report matters to the police when they should have. That behaviour too is indefensible.

7          Too often in the past it is clear some Church leaders gave too high a priority to protecting the reputation of the Church, its priests, religious and other personnel, over the protection of children and their families, and over compassion and concern for those who suffered at the hands of Church personnel. That too was and is inexcusable.

8          In such ways, Church leaders betrayed the trust of their own people and the expectations of the wider community.

9          For all these things the Church is deeply sorry. It apologises to all those who have been harmed and betrayed. It humbly asks for forgiveness.

The leaders of the Catholic Church in Australia commit ourselves to endeavour to repair the wrongs of the past, to listen to and hear victims, to put their needs first, and to do everything we can to ensure a safer future for children.

First published in the Truth Justice and Healing Council’s Towards Healing submission to Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, September 2013

Truth Justice and Healing Council
PO Box 4593 KINGSTON ACT 2604 | Tel: +61 2 6234 0900 | Fax: +61 2 6234 0999