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Don’t miss out on a new exciting musical titled ‘The Man of Assisi’. This musical is staged by the makers of Call of Guadalupe. It follows the life of St Francis & is to be performed at 5 star performing arts theatre in 20 -22nd September. It is a very entertaining performance with stunning costumes, fantastic music & inspirational musical premier.  300 tickets have already been sold so get in quick to avoid missing out.
Contact  0413398528 or geraldine343@gmail.com  or to buy tickets 03)90175065 or visit www.lifemusicals.com

Bingo is turning 21 and are celebrating at the Sunbury Football Social Club on Thursday 26 September. Eyes down at 7.30pm and lots of prizes to be won. Books can be paid for in advance. See Gary on Thursday.

Our prayerful sympathy to Gerard and Carmel Duggan as their mother, Mary Duggan, entered eternal life last Monday. Mary was born into the Reddan family in 1924 and with her brothers Jack and Garry lived on a farm in Holden Road. Mary married the late Douglas Duggan. She and Douglas were involved in community organisations and were active visitors with St Vincent de paul Society. Mary donated the Mass Vestments used at her Funeral mass last Friday.
Our prayerful sympathy goes also to the family of Elvie Williams, especially to Johnny her husband and her daughters, Annette Byrne-Phillips, Pauline Drago, Maree Walsh, Margaret, Peter and John (dec) and their families. In recent weeks, Elvie called her family in and said goodbye. A week or so later, she was giving her grandchildren a tutorial on the necessity of prayer in our lives. Her Funeral Mass is on Wednesday at 11am.

The Conference was held in Adelaide over four days last weeks. 106 Catholics, men and women, married, religious, priests and bishops received wonderful presentations from Australian and overseas lecturers. Most of those present minister in marriage tribunals. Last year about 480 marriages were declared null. We heard the new Vatican Secretary of State is a very bright diplomat, fluent in five languages and will be a breath of fresh air for our Church and world.
……Kevin McIntosh

Reflection on the Gospel-22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time C, 1 September 2013
Sister Veronica Lawson rsm

(Luke 14:1, 7-14)

In Luke’s gospel, the Pharisees are generally depicted as hostile to Jesus. This almost certainly reflects the situation at the time the gospels are being written rather than the time of Jesus’ ministry when  the Pharisees were a minority group of well-respected experts in the Law. After the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple some four decades after the death of Jesus, Sadduccean and Essene Judaism disappeared and there followed a sad parting of the ways between the Pharisaic Jewish leadership and the Christian Jews who accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ or Messiah.

Today’s gospel has Jesus under scrutiny as he dines in the home of a leading Pharisee. Despite the hostility, he is not deterred from expressing his opinion and as usual he does so in the form of a story that comes from the experience of his hearers. He first addresses the guests and then the host. The guests are clearly not from the lower echelons of society. They are people who receive invitations to wedding banquets where places of honour are reserved for the most distinguished guests. Jesus appeals to their fairly normal fear of being shamed before others. He also reminds them of the principle of reversal that operates in God’s realm where the first are last and the last are first. This is consistent with Luke’s theology expressed most powerfully in Mary’s Magnificat. The reader of the gospel knows that God puts down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly.

Jesus’ advice for the Pharisee who hosts this meal is more removed from first century Palestinian experience than is his advice for the guests: when you have a luncheon or dinner, invite the destitute and those with disabilities. In other words, invite those considered unclean by observant Jews rather than those who have the capacity to return the hospitality. This was an outrageous suggestion in that culture, as outrageous and confronting and inclusive as is God’s dream for all people. Though we live in different, more egalitarian times, this teaching is confronting for us as well. It is easy to welcome like-minded people into our homes and to our Eucharistic table. It is not so easy to be open to those who see the world differently from us and have different sets of values, even if they have something to teach us about life and gospel living. At the very least, we are invited to look on them with love rather than hostility.

Thanks to Fr Adaikkala Raj Lourdusremy from Avondale Heights Parish and Archbishop Denis Hart for presiding at Mass last Saturday and Sunday, while Fr Kevin assisted Avondale Heights parish renew their Stewardship program.

After his visit last Saturday evening, the Archbishop said how impressed he was with your singing at Mass and how he admired the Altar, Ambo and Font installed in early 2009 which helped to bring the congregated people closer to the liturgical action and more intimately with each other.
…Kevin McIntosh

Human Dignity is the basis of the Catholic Bishops’ statement. “Each and everyone of us must rise above indifference and have the courage to open our hearts to asylum seekers, to listen to their hopes, to empathise with their despair and to welcome them into our community, “ said Bishop Gerard Hanna, representing the Bishops of Australia.
The Catholic Bishops of Papua New Guinea are concerned that Australia is asking the people of PNG to show a level of generosity far beyond their economic means.
The Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office says “An alternative way to prevent tragedies at sea is to accept more refugees from source countries and provide the possibility of reaching Australia through a regular legal pathway.”

2013 Fundraising Dinner on Friday 30 August from 7pm at Mount St Joseph’s Girls College, 133 Maidstone St, Altona.
$40 per person (3 course meal, BYO drinks)
Call 9926 9300 for bookings.

Welcome to Fr Adaikkala Raj Lourdusremy from Avondale Heights Parish who is preaching at our Sunday morning Masses today while Fr Kevin is presiding on the renewal of Stewardship giving at St Martin’s Parish, Avondale Heights.

Next Saturday Evening Mass will be celebrated by our Archbishop as Fr Kevin is preaching the renewal of the Stewardship program at Avondale Heights.
Archbishop Denis will meet and greet us in the Gathering Space from 5.40pm and the usual Mass will follow at 6pm.
It is ten years since the Archbishop visited us.

RUPERTSWOOD CRICKET CLUB
“BIRTHPLACE OF THE ASHES”
REGISTRATION DAY
Saturday 24h AUGUST 2013 9am – 12noon
SportsCo  Sunbury Square  Evans Street Sunbury
Enquires 0459 098 664 or 0421 991 519

Tuesday 13 August at 9.15am, Mass at St Anne’s will be celebrated in memory of Tim Fahey who established the Legion of Mary in Sunbury Parish over 20 years ago.
All welcome.
Cuppa will be served afterwards.

Congratulations to Melton Parishioners on the dedication and opening of their new Church of St Catherine of Sienna last week. They followed similar process of discernment as we did in 2007 with the same liturgical architect Randall Lindstrom. Their priest, Fr Michael Moody, served here between 1984 and 1987. The illuminated cross on left of their church can be seen from afar.

Some of the construction can be seen below.

The Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop was celebrated at St Anne’s Church on 8 August with the children from St Anne’s Primary School who had Sr Jose` pray with them. Sr Jose` is the Pastoral Associate for our Parish, and she is also part of the order established by Mary MacKillop, the Sisters of St Joseph. It was very special to have her celebrate this special feast day with the parishioners and children from our school. Mary MacKillop being the first Australian Saint is remembered for her devotion to helping those in need. As related to todays Gospel where Jesus says, “happy those servants if he (the Master) finds them ready…” Mary MacKillop certainly served her Master by serving those in need. May we remember the goodness of Mary MacKillop and be inspired to do the same.

ANNUAL PRIESTS’ CONFERENCE
Last week, Archbishop Denis requested all Melbourne Priests to undertake professional development at this Conference over four days. 131 priests including Fathers Martin Ashe, Greg Bourke, Philip Le and Linh Tran, who served us here in the past, lived in at the conference centre where we prayed, enjoyed each other’s company and heard four wonderful presenters: a theology lecturer, a biblical scholar, a Burmese asylum seeker and the Catholic coordinator  working at the Royal Commission into institutional child abuse. We prayed the Prayer of the Church and the Eucharist but also prayed in small groups of eight. We viewed the movie “The Lady” about the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, how she sacrificed her life for her country.
The topics were well-integrated with each other. It was great to catch up with fellows from other parts of our large diocese. I consider our conference was excellent as it was inspiring and thought provoking.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH & SAFETY INSPECTION
The regular inspection last Friday found our parish is complying with the government regulations.
…..Kevin McIntosh

WYD 2013 ran for six days concluding last Sunday when 3.2 million people gathered on Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janiero for Mass with Pope Francis as presider. The City Mayor’s Office estimated the crowd, the biggest since World Youth Day in Manila in 1995 where 4.5 million attended the final Mass with Pope John Paul II. Pope Francis gave some challenging messages to the youth, including these words:

“We need saints without cassocks, without veils– we need saints with jeans and tennis shoes. We need saints that go to the movies… and hang out with their friends. We need saints that place God in first place ahead of succeeding in any career. We need saints that look for time… to pray every day and who know how to be in love with purity, chastity and all good things. We need saints– saints for the 21st century with a spirituality appropriate for our new time.”

See Final Mass for 3 million pilgrims below

Our prayers and sympathy we offer to Mary Wicks as her husband Jack entered eternal life this week after a long illness. Jack’s Funeral Service will be on Monday at 10.30am in St Anne’s Church, concluding with committal at Sunbury cemetery.
Also to Sarina Kelly as her husband Gordon entered eternal life last week aged 64 years. The Kelly family have been in our parish for four generations.

Thanks to Cath & Colin Missen for their kind donation of a book shelf for the purposes of storing the parish photographs and historical items.