PARISH LITURGY TEAM REPORT

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Liturgy Team Report

It was good to see quite a few new faces on the team. These were parishioners who had volunteered during the “Workers in the Vineyard” program.

Parish Target

The team looked at the Parish Target. (By the end of 2009 all the people of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish Sunbury, through their experiences and through structures of communication and participation, are aware of the value of every person.) This grew out of the program “Journeying Together” in August and September 2006 in which the parishioners arrived at their vision of the ideal parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. With the end of 2009 almost upon us we need some reflection on the target.

Neighbourhood Letter

The final letter to all the parishioners on the parish list will have the theme of “Acceptance and Hospitality” and this will be the theme of this years Advent. As the letters are delivered there will be an invitation to any Catholics who are not on the parish list to consider sending in their details and also a timetable for the Christmas Masses. This invitation will be dropped in all the other letter boxes that don’t get a copy of the Acceptance and Hospitality letter.

Advent

The theme will be “Acceptance and Hospitality”.
An Advent Wreath needs to be organised for Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church.
The Tuesday 9.15am Mass at St Anne’s Church will be cancelled and there will be a 7.00pm Mass at Lady of Mount Carmel Church on Tuesdays instead. This will enable those whose working hours preclude them from attending Mass during the week to be able to come. The Wednesday 9.15am Mass will move from Lady of Mount Carmel Church to St Anne’s Church.
Once again we will have the lighting of the Advent Candles with a community prayer and a community sung response.
There will also be an Advent Hymn.
The audio/visual has been optimised so all the congregation will be able to read from the screens.

Christmas Music

A sub-committee was formed to look at the music for the parish Christmas celebrations, as well as the requirements for Advent. This will involve writing the community prayers, composing the sung responses and composing the Advent Hymn.

Consecration of the New Altar

On February 7th 2010 at 10.30am Bishop Tim Costelloe will come to at St Anne’s Church in order to consecrate the new Altar and dedicate the new Font, Ambo and Presiders Chair. This is an exciting occasion in the Church and the liturgy contains elements that go back through the mists of time to the very early church practices. We hope to be able to inform parishioners of the Why, What, How, etc so that they may get the most from the occasion.

Blessing of the Mount Carmel Bell

This will take place at 9.30am on the 21st March 2010. The Blessing will take place outdoors at Lady of Mount Carmel Church and will then move to St Anne’s Church for the Eucharist Celebration. Afterwards we will gather in the Parish Centre.

October 30, 2009October 30, 2009

PARISH COORDINATING TEAM MEETING

A report from the meeting of the 22nd Oct 2009

Prayer Led by Jill Gibbs with a reading from 1 Peter Ch5 1-5

Sacramental Program Confirmation organising is fine. We need more resources.(people) The focus is on the students growth and conversion. In the Holy Communion program, First Communion will take place in the middle of the program in order to build towards there being a second Communion, and third etc. We still need animated Neighbourhoods and broad parishioner support and enthusiasm for this to be successful.

Renewal and Parish Retreat This was discussed at length. It was felt that the numbers on Wednesday were somewhat lacking, those that attended felt it was very enjoyable.

Youth Group They have had a couple of gatherings but they, like so many other groups need to become visible so that the Parish can feel a part of their successes.

Mass of Thanksgiving This will be on Nov 22nd at 10.30am Mass. All asked to bring a plate. Some volunteers required to setup the Parish Centre.

National Committee for Professional Standards A sun-committee was set up to investigate a “Code of Conduct” and report back.

Centenary Celebrations Report It will be a busy year with a great range of activities for all. Bulla will be involved, Parish Ball, Car Rally, etc. Raffle tickets and other fundraising will take place after Masses on Sunday 25th.

“Year for Priests” A letter with various suggestions was recieved from Bishop Tim Costelloe. One of our main activities will be celebrating the 40th Aniversary of our Parish Priest on Sunday the 23rd May 2010. Further information on the Year for Priests can be found at this website.

PCT Membership All Neighbourhood coordinators or a permanent representative will be permanent members of the PCT from the Parish AGM on the 27th Feb 2010.

Parish Assembly or AGM Will be held on the 27th Feb 2010 and written reports from all Parish groups will be hung on the walls and each group will be asked to give a verbal report of about half a minute.

Parish Census Neighbourhoods will deliver the cards as they deliver the final letter for the year and it is expected that some will need extra “Posties” to cover their areas. We will need calls for help to be in early and we will need all the volunteers we can get.

Next meeting 25th Nov to setup for the AGM among other things.

July 31, 2009July 31, 2009

PASTORAL COORDINATING TEAM MEETING

The Pastoral Coordinating Team meeting was held on Tuesday night 22nd July. The night commenced with the recitation of the Litany of Blessed Mary MacKillop and then proceeded to the General Target which is to be found at the bottom of this Post. The Target, which was decided by the parishioners, was to be achieved by the end of 2009 and the next step we need to take is a census so we can make contact with:

“All the people of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Sunbury“

A sub-committee was setup to look at how best to implement this.

There was a discussion of the “Workers in the Vineyard” program and the formation that has already been done with the lectors and the extraordinary ministers of Communion. Rosters are under construction and will be communicated as completed.

August 26th will be a day when the Parish Leadership Team etc plan the calendar for the next year. It was requested that the full 12 month parish calendar be published on the parish websites and this will be done.

Fr Bert’s Golden jubilee will be celebrated on the 13th September with Mass at 10.30am followed by a morning tea.

The Youth Group Coordinators were starting on the night of the 26th July with a get-together an Pizzas kindly provided by the Sunbury Branch of the Knights of the Southern Cross.

Later in the year Jill Gibbs will hold a Parish Retreat on Communitarian Spirituality which will be a follow on from the retreat held to coincide with our recent Parish Evaluation.

The Centenary Committee asked for some funds for a deposit in order to book the venue for the Parish Ball to be held in October next year. This will cost $55 per head for drinks, meal and band. The timetable for the Parish Centenary events are on the History page of either website.

The Sacramental Program with parish integration is underway and we will be looking for wider neighbourhood support with practices etc.

A Neighbourhood map has been put up in the gathering space of St Anne’s Church and the program of sending a card to all Baptismal families from the pertinent Neighbourhood is about to get underway.

The next meeting will be held on the 9th Sept 2009

Our Parish Target

As resolved by the parishioners following the Parish Renewal Program

“By the end of 2009 all the people of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish Sunbury, through their experiences and through structures of communication and participation, are aware of the value of every person.”

Explanation of the terms used in the target.

all the people: all the Catholics and their families, the parish priest and the religious, those who live within the boundaries and those who live outside the boundaries who choose to make this their parish, different generations, those aspiring to become Catholics, non-Catholic students, staff, and their families who identify with the Catholic schools in the Parish, and all those who choose to associate with us.

through their experiences: not just through words but through what actually happens, e.g. neighbourhood gatherings, personal contact, greeting and smiling, making oneself known to, showing an interest in, remembering other people’s names, being friendly towards, expressing care for, offering practical assistance to, working together in some common action.

structures of communication: ways of decentralising the parish such as area teams, the parish Good News letter, visitation to families, mailings, internet, email, parish web site.

and participation: pastoral care, assemblies, and open parish gatherings,are aware of, have a sense of, get used to the idea of, are awakened to, have an initial realisation of, are conscious of.

the value of every person: respect for the dignity of a person, the worth of each, the uniqueness of each.

Reasons to justify the target.

From the situation: on the one hand we are fragmented, unknown to one another,many have little sense of belonging, there is a lack of confidence and a lack of self-esteem. On the other hand some of us in the parish really want others to feel involved but don’t always know how to go about it.

From the ideal: Through the word of God in St Paul’s letters we are reminded that we need every member of the Body of Christ. Every part of the Body has it’s own purpose in the whole.

The conversion or step of growth we want to help happen is: That we move from letting people remain anonymous and go towards helping them to be recognised, connected, accepted, and to have a sense of belonging in the parish.

April 24, 2009

God’s Call to Community

God’s Call to Community

In the readings of Sunday 7th Sept 08 we looked at God’s call to community. In Ezekiel, God commissions the prophet to serve as a spiritual sentinel for Israel, responsible for calling the people to repentance. In his letter to the Romans, Paul concludes that all of God’s commandments are fulfilled when we attend to the well-being of our neighbour.
And in the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to persist in their pursuit of reconciliation.
Our attention is turned to two of the basic ingredients of love: the willingness to communicate, and acceptance of others. Love does not just happen; it is not simply a nice feeling; it isn’t always easy; it is a process that needs plenty of work and attention. Arguments happen. Anger flares. Continue reading “God’s Call to Community”

April 24, 2009

CAMPAIGN FOR THE DIGNITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

CAMPAIGN FOR THE DIGNITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT

We are endeavouring to promote the gospel values in our society as urged by Pope Benedict XV1 in March 2008. We are printing another special letter for every Catholic family in our parish which will be delivered by our ‘parish posties’. We have now coordinating teams in 28 of our 30 parish neighbourhoods of about a hundred Catholic families each. These teams are coordinating the distribution by the parish posties.

“..International action to preserve the environment and to protect various forms of life on earth must not only guarantee a rational use of technology and science, but must also rediscover the authentic image of creation.”

……………………..Pope Benedict XVI