Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury
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Saturday 16 March 2013 from 6pm………..keep this date free to come and rock your socks off! The “Ripchords” will be playing music from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s with a good sprinkling of Irish thrown in. Gather a table of 10 or come on your own and make new friends and get into the Spirit of St Patrick’s Day. Bring along food to share with those on your table.
Tickets are $20 per head. Book early to avoid disappointment. Inquiries and payments to the Parish Office.
A Prayer Service will be held on Tuesday March 19 at 7.30pm at St Anne’s Church. It is hoped that this prayer service will help those dealing with abuse in the Church, or those feeling betrayed, may be able to start their healing process. Everyone is welcome.
Congratulations and welcome to our newest member of our Altar Servers team, Jacob Warburton.
We offer our prayers and our sympathy to Catherine McColgan as her husband of 54 years, Alec, entered eternal life last week after a long illness. Alec and Catherine married in Scotland and emigrated to Australia in 1961. Here, they were blessed with seven children: Stephen, Anne, James, Margaret, Louise, Pauline and Mark. They came to our parish in 1992 and were practising and contributing parishioners. We thank the Ministers of Communion for the ministry to Alec while he was in Goonawarra Aged Care. His Funeral was held here last week.
We also extend our prayers and sympathy to Kerry Champness, her husband Denis and their children as Kerry’s mother, Eileen Champness, entered eternal life last Tuesday. Eileen and her husband John were our Sunbury parishioners with their two children Damon and Kerry from 1973 to 1989. Eileen suffered a long illness and entered eternal life peacefully at home with her husband John beside her last Tuesday. Her funeral Mass will be celebrated here on Wednesday at 11am followed by burial at Keilor cemetery.
Our accountant has examined our expenses and income for 2012. Our offerings have meant we were able to continue repaying our loans $2789 per week, pay our insurance $541 per week, our Archdiocesan levy $439 per week, candles, bread and wine for Mass $103 per week. Our debt on 1 January 2013 was $333,269. A fuller statement of accounts will be printed on your next statement for Thanksgiving Offering.
An Irish gift to our Church in Melbourne has been Fr John Daly who entered eternal life last Saturday after 60 years of priestly service to the People of God in various parishes, including Yea, Dandenong North, Balwyn, East Coburg, East Brighton and St Albans (1987-2007). In 1952, several Irish priests came to Melbourne. His brother Dan followed and supported John who suffered much illness.
The Mary MacKillop Heritage Centre at 362 Albert St, East Melbourne, will be open to the public on Saturday 16 March from 10am to 4pm. This will enable visitors to take a tour of the Mary MacKillop Museum, pray in the chapel where Mary prayed, visit the gift shop and enjoy light refreshments.
Please remember and pray for the important women in your lives today.
Happy is she who has compassion and courage, dignity and understanding, sincerity and awareness, for she is a woman.
CHA represents the largest single grouping of non-government health and aged care in Australia. On Friday CGA gave politicians a blueprint of six priotities for health reform including improving health outcomes for the disadvantaged, increased focus on preventative health, better consumer engagement and governance.
Blueprint is on www.cha.org.au.
Easter Masses will be celebrated at 8pm on Saturday 30 March. On Sunday 31 March at 8.30am and 10.30am. The Liturgy Planning Team decided last Thursday that due to the low numbers last year, the 5.30pm Mass will not be celebrated this Easter Sunday.
Information sessions for parents wishing to enrol their children in the Foundation Year (First year at school) at our Parish Schools will be held on Tuesday 13 March at 2pm and 7.30pm in the Parish Centre.
CATHOLIC STEWARDSHIP FROM SUNDAYS READINGS
All of the readings for this Fourth Sunday of Lent deal with reconciliation and forgiveness. There is a strong suggestion relating to our Sacrament of Penance (Confession, Reconciliation).
An important characteristic of stewardship is to faithfully follow our beliefs. As Catholics we are called to Confession at a minimum annually, and in reality more than that. Canon 989 states: “All the faithful who have reached the age of discretion are bound faithfully to confess their grave sins at least once a year.”
Reconciliation/Confession is one of the least understood of the Sacraments of our Catholic Church. In reconciling us to God, it is a great source of grace, and we are encouraged to take advantage of it often. The Church strongly recommends that, in preparation for fulfilling our Easter Duty to receive Communion, we go to Confession.
The Gospel from Luke, the parable of the Prodigal Son, is filled with forgiveness and reconciliation. The son’s actions and his desire to be reconciled follow the requirements each of us must follow for our own reconciliation/confession to be valid.
We are called to be a forgiving people. Just as the father in the parable, who, of course, represents our own Heavenly Father, completely forgives his son and welcomes him and celebrates his return, we must reach out to those around us — perhaps family or friends with whom we have some dispute, and forgive and seek reconciliation. Lent is a perfect time to do that.
Copyright © 2013 www.TheCatholicSteward.com
There has been an increase in parent participation this year with more parents taking part in our School Advisory Committees which met last Wednesday evening in the Parish Centre.
“I know that in your parish communities you come together in small groups to reflect upon the Word of God; part of this also involves the verbal sharing of your daily experiences. This allows you to discover the community dimension of the Good News. Place this experience at the service of your brothers and sisters. make yourselves builders of communities in which, after the example of the first community, the Word lives and acts.’
Excerpt from an address by Pope John Paul II in Rome, May 1986.
This is happening in our own town for our own youth! The festival will be held from Thursday 5 December to Saturday 7 December. It will be held at the ACU, St Patrick’s Campus in East Melbourne. The festival invites students from Year
9 to adults aged 25. The festival aims to celebrate the communion between God and humanity that the Catholic Church signifies and makes present in Australia and will be a rich experience for our youth. Two information session are being held on Thursday 7 March at 3pm-4.30pm and 7.30pm-9pm at Cardinal Knox Centre, 383 Albert St, East Melbourne. For any enquiries, contact Annaliese on 9412 3326.
If you are interested in being part of our youth choir, please contact Catherine at olmcyouthchoir@yahoo.com.
Practise is usually only twice per month and sing at Mass once per month.
We have a great bunch of kids practising at the moment to help make Mass an uplifting experience and would love to hear from children who would like to be part of this.
Today young people who formed the core of this choir in 2012 are being recognised by a badge this Sunday. We congratulate Allanah Bieshaar, Ella Blackamore, Laura Carville, Philippa Carville, Sian D’Monte, Letitia Fernandes, Ashleigh Howard, Jessica Jacob and Sinead Tighe.
Are you having a clean out?
We are in urgent need of your good donations, such as furniture, clothing, bric-a-brac & books.
If you run a business and have stock or equipment
you do not want then please consider donating to Vinnies. Donations can be delivered to our Sunbury Centre at 156 O’Shanassy St, during opening hours 9-5 Monday to Friday or 9-1 on Saturday. For a donation pick up, phone 1800 621 329. Do you have some spare time? we are looking for volunteers to assist us in our retail centre. We are very flexible with any hours you can spare. There are lots of different jobs to suit all applicants.
If you can help, please call the manager on 9744 1447.
Thank you for your support.
Are you passionate about what Jesus taught us? Would you like to share what Jesus taught us with the children of our parish? If you answered yes to both of these questions and can spare about an hour every 4-6 weeks, we would love you to be part of our Children’s Liturgy Team. We are in desperate need of more leaders to take the pressure off our current leaders. The more leaders we have, the less frequently members are rostered! Contact the Parish Office on 9744 1060 if you can help.
If you are a regular 5.30pm Mass goer, please consider going on the Ministers of Communion roster. Further volunteers are needed.
Training will be provided for those who can assist. Please contact the Parish office on 9744 1060 if you are willing to help.
A 4 day pilgrimage to Hamilton, Portland and Penola will be conducted from 17th – 20th May 2013 with pickup points at Southern Cross Station, Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat. Cost will be $575 (based on 25 pilgrims) twin share (all included except 2 lunches) with $120 extra for a single room. All sites connected with St Mary MacKillop and her family will be visited with Mass on Sunday at Penola.
Contact: Sr Mary Fermio rsj PO Box 37, Bacchus Marsh 3340 or Ph 5367 2078 or email: mary.fermio@sosj.org.au before 15th March for application forms and further details.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 
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