LATEST NEWS

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CELEBRATION OF PRINCIPALSHIP

Lucy Jackanic

Last month about 140 of her colleagues in Catholic Education gathered at a function centre to congratulate Lucy Jackanic on her thirty years of principalship in our Catholic Schools. Staff of St Anne’s School organised the surprise celebration to which her mother and sister were also invited. A great night was had by all.

Father  Peter  Monaghan

Father  Peter  Monaghan  of Salesian College was recently named City of Hume’s secondary teacher of the year. Fr. Peter has taught at the College for nine years during which time he introduced the VCAL program (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) as an alternative to VCE. Students from our two parish schools have priority entry to Salesian College which has a waiting list for next year.

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THANK YOU

Thank you to a family who migrated to our parish in recent years for having donated a new vacuum cleaner for cleaning our church.

Thank you: Special Collection Apostleship of the Sea $771.00.

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THANKSGIVING CONTRIBUTIONS

Statements to 29 August are now available.
To save on postage please collect yours from the table in the Gathering Space at St Anne’s Church.
Statements are in alphabetical order.
Please note statements for school families will be delivered via the schools…..Thank you.

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POSITIONS VACANT

  1. Mission Integration Office, St Vincent de Paul Society Victoria
  2. Project Coordinator, The Bible Society Australia (Victoria)
  3. Executive Assistant to the Master, Catholic Theological College East Melbourne.

Further details at http://www.cam.org.au/jobs

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PHYSICIAN ASSISTED SUICIDE(EUTHANASIA)

THE DEBATE

In recent weeks, there has been a fresh push for the legal right for certain people (specifically doctors) to be able to kill an individual when that is what the individual wants.

There is a fine article in ‘Eureka Street’ magazine published by Jesuit Communications by John Kleinsman, Director of the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre. The whole article is available http://www.eurekastreet.com.au entitled ‘Resisting the duty to die’.

The push for assisted suicide has arisen only in the affluent western societies where there is an opinion that the world belongs to those who are independent, strong and productive. It follows that in a society in which the sick, dying, disabled and elderly are undervalued, the ‘right’ to die will all too quickly become a ‘duty’ to die. People who feel
neglected, undervalued and invisible will understandably think they are a burden and will want to do the ‘right’ thing.

With our increasing ageing population, we need to give more support to help people accept greater dependence with age. Modern medicine can deal with pain generally and specialist care through the hospice movement is available. To protect the vulnerable members of our community, let us not legalise assisted suicide, but deal with any deep seated fear of the dying process.

As Christians we are blessed to have our faith that ‘if we die with Christ, we will rise with Christ’ (St Paul).

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NEW CLASSROOMS AT O.L.M.C. SCHOOL

Next Friday, a new and larger supply of electricity will be cabled under Macedon Street to provide for the increasing needs of our school which will pay $20,000 for this work, as this cost is outside the B.E.R. Federal Grant.
Meanwhile the windows have been installed, brickwork is nearly finished and plastering will commence this week.

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SING A LONG

Friday 1 October Goonawarra Nursing Home 2.30-3.15pm.
Please come along and help entertain the elderly residents. Enquiries: Irene 9744 1060.

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OUR CANONISATION CELEBRATION

On 17 October, the day of the Canonisation of Mary MacKillop we, with our local Sisters of St Joseph, will celebrate a special Eucharirst in St Anne’s Church at 5.30pm, followed by a shared tea in the Parish Centre. From 7.00pm we will beam the Canonisation ceremony direct from Rome onto big screens in the Parish Centre and enjoy the event together. This will be a once in a lifetime event for us.

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OUR CANONISATION CELEBRATION

On 17 October, the day of the Canonisation of Mary MacKillop we, with our local Sisters of St Joseph, will celebrate a special Eucharirst in St Anne’s Church at 5.30pm, followed by a shared tea in the Parish Centre. From 7.00pm we will beam the Canonisation ceremony direct from Rome onto big screens in the Parish Centre and enjoy the event together. This will be a once in a lifetime event for us.

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ST MICHAEL’S CENTENARY EVENT

Today we gather in the Bulla neighbourhood to recall with thanksgiving the grace of God and the faith of our forebears who first celebrated the Eucharist within the present boundaries of our parish in 1852.
The earlier settlers in Bulla from Ireland gathered in two family homes—the Daniel’s and Cosgrove’s to celebrate Mass presided over by Father Patrick Dunne who came on horse from Coburg to the houses (Mrs Daniel, a widow with many children) in Oaklands Road just north of Somerton Road.
For 24 years, Catholics gathered in homes for Mass until St Michael’s Church was built in 1876. Then the priest came from Keilor—a shorter ride!
In our centenary year, we celebrate that the Bulla area was incorporated into the new parish of Sunbury a hundred years ago when the new parish of Sunbury was established in 1911.
Our pastoral plan of developing neighbourhoods within our parish is a return to the original structure of our parish when all the families in Bulla knew and supported each other.
……Fr Kevin

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ANNUAL PARISH ASSEMBLY

The Assembly will be held in the Parish Centre on Saturday 16 October from 9.30am to 2.00pm including a shared lunch. This is an occasion to plan for future initiatives in the mission of our parish to bring the Good News to all in our area.

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ST ANNE’S NEW CLASSROOMS FROM A FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GRANT

Last week our children moved into the six new classrooms, common areas, computer laboratories. Staff are using the new facilities for planning and student wellbeing. The grant given was $3,000,000. The cost of the building was $3,001,780. Hence the project came in at 99.9% on budget thanks to the close supervision of our Principal Lucy Jackanic and Deputy Principal Shane Crawford who, with myself, attended site meetings every fortnight since 8 September 2009 including school holidays plus numerous discussions with the builders, architects and computer contractors.
Further improvements will continue, but these will be funded by parents through school fees. A netball court and improved fencing around the school site are under discussion.

…………………………………………….…..Fr Kevin

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ANNUAL LAW CONFERENCE

Last week, I was one of eighty Catholics at our annual conference which was very stimulating intellectually as we listened to some of Australia’s best theologians and canonical practitioners. Also present were two priests who have worked in Rome recently in areas of church law and showed us the compassionate face of those dealing with problems in our worldwide Church. It was also good to pray together and be with friends whom I catch up with most years since 1977. We gather to support each other as we work together in the often sad ministry to those divorced who are seeking a declaration of nullity so as to marry again in the Church.……………………………………….Fr Kevin

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FR MICHAEL QUIGLEY

Fr Michael entered eternal life suddenly on 10 September at the age of 62 years. Ordained in 1973, Michael after being assistant priest for 18 years became parish priest of Jordanville in 1990 and in 1999 was given two parishes Aspendale and Mordialloc. Michael was well-loved and enthusiastic about renewing the liturgy. In recent years, he was suffering poor health and died in his sleep.