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School Age Baptisms will be celebrated at 6pm Mass on Saturday 2 August.

Study Tour and Pilgrimage: “The Experience of Catholic Culture” 3 September – 3 October 2015 Ireland, Scotland, England and Italy. Tour Leaders: Rev. Prof. Austin Cooper omi AM and Dr Frances Baker rsm.
Details on College website at  www.ctc.edu.au
Information Session at Catholic Theological College: Saturday 26 July at 2.00pm
RSVP & further information: Jenny Delahunt T: 9412 3314
E: jenny.delahunt@ctc.edu.au

Our bishops put out a statement on 8 May 2014 speaking to the entire Australian community urging respect for the rights of asylum seekers. The bishops questioned is there an underlying attitude of racism and also of the selfishness of the rich. The bishops call on parliamentarians of all parties to turn away from harsh policies to the path of a realistic compassion that deals with both human need and electoral pressure. They “call on the nation as a whole to say no to the dark forces which make these policies possible. The time has come to examine our conscience and then to act differently”. The full text is available on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference website.
The Australian Council of Priests endorsed the bishops’ statement on 14 May 2014.

OLMC Youth Group will be hosting Christmas in July Dance in the Parish Centre on Saturday 26 July from 6pm.
Tickets cost $15.
Pizza and drink provided with cost of ticket.

You would be aware of the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse in Institutions which is currently hearing of the many unfortunate cases of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church and other Institutions. For those who have been impacted by institutional abuse, a special helpline exists to help the healing process begin.
It is  poignantly called the “Starting Point” Helpline. The number is 1800 99 10 99. If you need help and don’t know where to start, this may be the first step you take to begin your healing. Flyers are on the St Anne’s Welcome Desk in the foyer.

Hello to all supporters,

Many of you will have seen the segment on ‘A Current Affair’ this week slamming ACCESS Ministries and the work done by volunteers teaching CRE in schools.  As often happens, the media got it wrong!  Attached is a response by ACCESS setting the record straight.
Please note this is about SRI (Special Religious Instruction, or CRE as we know it), not Chaplaincy, but it will still be of interest to you all, I’m sure.
If you’re confused about the acronyms SRI and CRE (so was I! I still don’t know why the 2 terms!) ) – here is an explanation from the ACCESS website:
ACCESS ministries Christian Education program serves students and school communities in Victorian government schools by providing Christian Special Religious Instruction (SRI), which we refer to as Christian Religious Education (CRE).
Please feel free to forward or share this Statement (Click here for the statement) with anyone who is unclear about the role played by CRE teachers, or with anyone who has been misled or is confused by the media report.  I’m going to put it on the Uniting Church Facebook page.  It would be worthwhile to inform your congregations in some way too, if possible.  Let’s get the GOOD news out there!!
And let’s focus on the fact that over 90,000 children in 800 schools benefited from the CRE program last year!  What the TV report didn’t say much about is that parents can opt their children out of the program any time they want to – this has never changed!  Clearly thousands of parents are happy about their children participating and the ‘stars’ of the TV program are a minority.  Funny how the minority is always heard above the majority – people will often complain but rarely compliment, no matter what the subject!
It’s worth taking a look at the ACCESS Ministries website which has lots of useful information about CRE and Chaplaincy.
www.accessministries.org.au

Blessings to you all and thanks for your ongoing support!

Helen Hall
on behalf of the Sunbury Chaplaincy Committee
sunburychaplaincy@hotmail.com

PROCLAIM 2014, CONFERENCE ON THE NEW EVANGELISATION

“LIVING THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL IN PARISHES”

PROCLAIM 2014 is for priests and key lay people who
want to build and grow their parish through outreach and evangelisation.  Come along to hear what one parish has done to grow from 1400 to 4000 committed parishioners… Keynote speakers are Fr Michael White and Tom Corcoran, Parish Priest and Pastoral Associate of Church of the Nativity, Timonium (North Baltimore) and Authors of Rebuilt.  Together they successfully rebuilt their dying parish and created a thriving community.
 Workshops will provide practical ideas and tools for participants to take back and apply in the parish.  Registrations are open. For more information see www.proclaimconference.com.au
Early Bird Closes: 30th June 2014. The Concourse, Chatswood (Sydney) from Thursday 21st to Saturday 23rd August.

On Wednesday 9 July at 7pm, St Anne’s Church will host the 2014 Healing Mass celebrated by Fr Varghese Parachkal and Fr Benny Mundanatte.
All welcome.

Acts 1:8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witness in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

This weekend of 7-8 June, Marian O’Callaghan will be fundraising for MND. She will be at all masses in St Anne’s church to support this worthy cause.
Please give generously.

For more information start here: https://mnd.asn.au/

Reflection on the Gospel – Easter 3A, 4 May 2014 (Luke 24:13-35)

Extraordinary things can happen if we open ourselves to the presence of a stranger or “foreigner” on the road of life. That seems to be a key element in today’s gospel passage from the well-known and well-loved Emmaus story. Imagine two dejected disciples (Cleopas and possibly his wife) on Easter Day, on the road back from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus, a few kilometres away. On their journey, they encounter the risen Jesus. At first, they fail to recognise him. Their sadness at his violent death has blinded them to the significance of the women’s account of the empty tomb. It has blinded them to what is happening before their very eyes.

Jesus engages them in conversation and holds up a metaphorical mirror to their experience of loss and grief. Their hearts ‘burn’ within them as he reveals to them the meaning of his death and resurrection in the light of their sacred scriptures. Yet still they fail to recognise the one whom they have described as “a prophet mighty in deed and word.” They invite him to share a meal with them and their eyes are opened: they recognise him in the blessing and breaking of the bread they share with him. He disappears from their midst. They cannot contain the joy they have experienced in realising that Jesus is now alive and once more present to them, but in a new and transforming way.

Cleopas and partner go straight back to Jerusalem to share this good news with the other disciples. Now all the assembled disciples experience powerfully the presence of Jesus in their midst. They too pass over the women’s story; the appearance of the risen Jesus to Peter is the ground of their new faith. As the story continues beyond today’s reading, we learn that they too will share a meal with him and he will open their minds to understand the scriptures. Everything will fall into place. The fear that has paralysed them will fall away. They will not only understand Jesus’ death and resurrection in the light of the scriptures. They will be ‘clothed with power from on high’ to exercise their role as witnesses to this great mystery.

Extraordinary things can happen to those who are hospitable enough to “break bread” with “foreigners” in whom they do not immediately recognise God’s presence. If we open our hearts and our homes to those who seek a welcome on our shores, we might come to participate a little more deeply in the joy of the resurrection.

 

 

Reflection on the Gospel-Easter 2A, 27 April 2014 (John 20:19-31)

Not so long ago we used to speak of the Sundays ‘after’ Easter. The terminology has changed and we now speak of the Sundays ‘of’ Easter. In other words, we now recognise that the liturgical readings and prayers for each Sunday between Easter and Pentecost invite us into different movements of the one great symphony of resurrection faith.

The first scene in today’s gospel has the disciples hiding behind closed doors ‘for fear’ of those who had handed Jesus over to be executed by the Roman authorities. As supporters of someone executed on a political charge, they had reason to be fearful. Jesus appears among them, offers a greeting of peace, and tells them that he has been sent by God, his ‘Father’. They receive from him the gift of the Holy Spirit. He sends them in turn to bring peace and to mediate the forgiveness of God through the power of the Spirit. The story invites us as believers to place ourselves in the shoes of the earliest disciples. It invites us to receive the gift of the Spirit, to emerge from behind the doors that close us in on ourselves and that prevent us from rising above the fear of reprisals in the pursuit of justice and peace.

The second and third scenes in today’s gospel focus on Thomas who was not with the other disciples when Jesus first appeared in their midst. Thomas seems to trust only his own first hand experience. We all know people like Thomas. They test our patience because they seem to lack imagination. Then they make big statements when they come around to understanding what everyone else has known for a while. If we think, however, that those who hear in the first place are any better than Thomas, we need to note that the doors are still closed eight days later! The simple fact of knowing has not dispelled the fears. Even those who do believe and trust often need time to take the gospel message on board.

While Christians continue to celebrate Easter, our Jewish sisters and brothers have been marking Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (April 27-28). We might join our prayers with theirs for the many who died at the hands of those who allowed their racial fears and prejudices to take unimaginable directions. We might also pray for the courage to challenge all forms of discrimination and shameful brutality in our own times and the strength to open our hearts and our homland, without fear, to those who seek refuge among us.

 

Anzac Day will begin with Mass at OLMC at 9.00am followed by the march in Sunbury at 10.00am concluding with the Prayer Service led by the Anglican Vicar and Catholic Priest. The wreaths will be laid within the Prayer Service at the War Memorial.