Category: Social Justice and the Environment

Posted on

CALL FOR PRO LIFE VOLUNTEERS

Pregnancy Counselling Australia runs a 24/7 telephone counselling for pregnant women in crisis, providing compassionate, non-judgemental support.
Volunteer counsellors are needed.  For more info. call Tahlia 9740 7378.

Posted on

PROJECT COMPASSION

Bach in Vietnam
Bach in Vietnam

Bach lives with his wife and four children in Thua Thien-Hue, one of Vietnam’s poorest provinces. He lost his fingers in a mining accident. His daughter is deaf and paralysed, requiring constant care.
Sadly, like many people with disabilities, Bach’s family lived isolated from their community until recently, struggling to make ends meet.
Caritas Australia supports the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development to improve the health, livelihoods and social integration of 750 people living with a disability, encouraging them to form Disability Support Groups to gain practical social and employment skills.
“We people with a disability started coming together, which had never happened before,” Bach explained. “We shared our experience of caring for our daughter, started accessing information, creating household plans and feeling more confident.”
The program provides a healthcare and rehabilitation fund for each group to manage, agriculture training and small loans. “I received finance skills and a loan to buy a pig,” Bach explains.
Caritas Australia also funds the province’s Disability Vocational Training and Employment Centre, training staff to teach employment skills to people with disabilities. Bach hopes his daughter can join these activities one day.
“Participating in this group has increased my hope in life. I’m earning an income from growing cassava, rice and beans. I want to invest more in pig-raising,” Bach told us. “Now I help others to participate, be confident and look for relevant jobs.”

Posted on

Parish Stewardship Program

Tuesday night before Ash Wednesday, Stephen Littleton was a guest of our parish to launch the Stewardship Program. We started with a welcome from Fr Kevin who led us in the Stewardship Prayer. Stephen Littleton then took over and summarised Christian Stewardship. He said it is primarily a personal call to renew ourselves, a call to holiness, worship, and action. Having renewed ourselves over the years it may be easier to visualise as refreshing ourselves through our prayers, our efforts, and our sharing, in love, of ourselves with others. I see Stewardship as carrying on with that which Jesus asked of us when he said: “I have called you friends” and “I chose you, and I appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
In this same spirit Stephen Littleton went over the recent history of our parish. What had been achieved in the way of bricks and mortar at our churches and our schools and what we needed to be concerned with in the future. Things such as the pastoral care of a much greater population, the foundation of one or more schools, increased ministry to the elderly and so many other functions required by a greater and greater community. All of which costs more money than we currently have. Our expenditure on maintainance, salaries, utilities, loan repayments etc is more than our envelope collection each week. Our average envelope amounts to $8.44. The message was that in order to meet our present costs and future expansion, we need to boost our income, but as followers of Jesus. We can’t get caught up in how little some give as that’s not our concern. Remember Jesus in Luke’s Gospel with his reaction to the widow who gave all she could, small as it was. Our reaction as the friends Jesus left behind to carry on as his stewards should first be to pray about it. Maybe we could ask what we should do, ask the Father for help. As Jesus said in the Gospel of last Sunday, “enter into your inner room……..and pray to your Father”. We will be answered in some way or other. It could be to take the message to others, to ask for the help of others, to contribute more ourselves, to pray more for the parish community, to put more effort in to the workload of the parish. We also evangelise by our example.
Stephen Littleton then threw the meeting open for questions and then Fr Kevin closed the meeting with a prayer.

Posted on

PARISH STEWARDSHIP MEETING

Last Tuesday night Stephen Littleton was a guest of our parish to launch the Stewardship Program. We started with a welcome from Fr Kevin who led us in the Stewardship Prayer. Stephen Littleton then took over and summarised Christian Stewardship. He said it is primarily a personal call to renew ourselves, a call to holiness, worship, and action. Having renewed ourselves over the years it may be easier to visualise as refreshing ourselves through our prayers, our efforts, and our sharing, in love, of ourselves with others. I see Stewardship as carrying on with that which Jesus asked of us when he said: “I have called you friends” and “I chose you, and I appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
In this same spirit Stephen Littleton went over the recent history of our parish. What had been achieved in the way of bricks and mortar at our churches and our schools and what we needed to be concerned with in the future. Things such as the pastoral care of a much greater population, the foundation of one or more schools, increased ministry to the elderly and so many other functions required by a greater and greater community. All of which costs more money than we currently have. Our expenditure on maintainance, salaries, utilities, loan repayments etc is more than our envelope collection each week. Our average envelope amounts to $8.44. The message was that in order to meet our present costs and future expansion, we need to boost our income, but as followers of Jesus. We can’t get caught up in how little some give as that’s not our concern. Remember Jesus in Luke’s Gospel with his reaction to the widow who gave all she could, small as it was. Our reaction as the friends Jesus left behind to carry on as his stewards should first be to pray about it. Maybe we could ask what we should do, ask the Father for help. As Jesus said in the Gospel of last Sunday, “enter into your inner room……..and pray to your Father”. We will be answered in some way or other. It could be to take the message to others, to ask for the help of others, to contribute more ourselves, to pray more for the parish community, to put more effort in to the workload of the parish. We also evangelise by our example.
Stephen Littleton then threw the meeting open for questions and then Fr Kevin closed the meeting with a prayer.

Posted on

PROJECT COMPASSION

Please  take home a Project Compassion Box  and/or  a  set  of  Lenten  envelopes  and give generously to the appeal during Lent.

Posted on

THANK YOU

  1. For your generous response to the Christchurch earthquake.  $1158.30 will be forwarded to Caritas New Zealand.

  2. From St Vincent de Paul Society Rockhampton, Queensland ‘Thank you for your most generous donation of $1,940.00 towards the Society’s Flood Appeal.  The Society’s resources at these times of natural disaster are always stretched and it is only through the generosity of our donors and benefactors that the Society can give the assistance it does to those families who do enjoy the full support of the St Vincent de Paul Society.  May God’s choicest blessings be bestowed upon you…..Neil Dwyer, President’.

Posted on

SOCIAL JUSTICE

On February 7th seven elders journeyed from the Northern Territory for a forum held at Melbourne University on the impact of living under the intervention.  Copies of a request from the elders to the people of Australia to walk with them to bring about change together with copies of a media release can be obtained at the information desk.  Rosalie, one of the elders, spoke about recently going to Geneva to the United Nations Conference.  Initially worried about how she would be accepted she now feels very sad that she had to travel so far from her home to be recognised as an equal human being.

Posted on

STEWARDSHIP 2011

Today we shall hear a brief introduction to our program during March.
Our speakers are:  John Bracher, Michael McConville, Trish McCourt and Karen Rose.
Last Wednesday a group of eleven parishioners met to begin the program.

Posted on

CARITAS AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND

CARITAS AOTEAROA New Zealand has launched an appeal  to  assist  those  affected by the Christchurch earthquake.  Donations can be made directly to Caritas New Zealand by phoning 0800 221 022 for credit card donations; donating online using a credit card http://www.caritas.org.nz; posting to Caritas New Zealand, PO Box 12193, Thorndon, Wellington 6144, New Zealand (mark envelope ‘Christchurch Earthquake Relief’).
SPECIAL COLLECTION TODAY AT ALL MASSES.

Posted on

CATHOLIC CHURCH OFFERS PRAYERS AND PRACTICAL ASSISTANCE IN QUEENSLAND FLOODS

‘The Australian Catholic Bishops and people around Australia are united in prayer and practical support as the State of Queensland suffers its worst flooding in decades.  The bishops extend heartfelt sympathy to the victims and their families.
Archdiocesan priest, Fr John Conway, is currently the administrator of three parishes in an area at the bottom of the Toowoomba ranges.  He and people in the area are responding in the aftermath:  “I’d like to express my gratitude to all the people and priests across Australia who have rung to offer support.    Many places still have no drinking water, roads are damaged so trucks can’t get through.  We can’t get fuel, milk, bread.  We’re basically rationing everything”, he said.
St Vincent de Paul Queensland President Brian Moore hopes to assist people as quickly as possible:  ‘We are appealing for money to get to the conferences to give concrete support to those affected.  When the water subsides, Vinnies is going to be there for months meeting the needs of people.  It is really heart wrenching to see all the people affected by these floods.
For  those  who  did not have the opportunity last weekend to donate to the Special Collection last weekend for St Vinnies, Rockhampton, phone 13 18 12 or www.vinnies.org.au which will allow you to contribute to the St Vincent de Paul Statewide appeal’.

Posted on

WORLD MISSION DAY APPEAL

Catholic Mission thanks you for your response to the World Mission Day Appeal.  Your generosity empowers us to witness Christ’s love in 160 countries of the world.  In contributing $1,196.70 you have joined fellow Catholics throughout the world, even in the poorest areas, in supporting Christ’s mission to all people.

Posted on

OUT OF KENYA

This Sunday we were privileged to have Fr Antony return to us from Kenya along with Fr Patrick. They celebrated Mass with us this weekend. Fr Antony gave a talk about his activities since he was here for WYD a few years ago. He discussed a partnership program that he was hoping we would be able to join in with his parish and school in (near?) the Masai Mara in Kenya. More information will be published as it comes to hand. Anyone interested in joining a committee to kick some form of inter-parish partnership off, contact the Parish Office.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.