Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury
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MacYAC Penola Roadtrip
There are still places on the “MacYAC Penola Roadtrip’ for young single adults (18-35).
Friday, 5pm 19th October to Sunday 7pm – 21st October.
Cost for weekend is approx $120 employed and a concession rate for students. Leave Melbourne CBD. Mini bus transport. Final RSVP date : Wed 10th Oct.
Enquiries:MacKillop Young Adult Community macyac@sosj.org.au
Phone/Fax : 9306 8903 or Sr Rita 0419 299 065 or Sr Mary 0409 023 3331
Anti Poverty Week: Human Rights matters. A conference to mark this week will be held on Wednesday October 17, 2012 at Cardinal Knox Centre, Cathedral Room, 383 Albert Street, East Melbourne. RSVP by Monday 8th October. Places are limited. rsvp@svdp.vic.org.au or o3 9895 5935.
For a full program or to book on line http://www.trybooking.com/29676
The recently screened “Go back to where you come from” on SBS is now available.
“Stories that Matter” is available at Sanity or on line.
CALLING ALL EX-STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
Seeking all past students and teachers of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College (comprising St John’s and Christ the King). We are holding a reunion in early November 2012 for the Graduating Classes of 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002.
Please send an email with your Full Name (including Maiden name), Current Address, Contact Phone Number and the Year you Graduated to the Alumni Secretary alumni@cccc.vic.edu.au to register to receive an invitation to this SPECTACULAR EVENT.
CATHOLICCARE will be holding the annual church appeal this week at all masses. This year the focus for the Appeal is the needs of families in the rapidly growing suburbs and communities around the edges of Melbourne and Geelong. These areas typically lack social services and social infrastructure and yet have families with high levels of need.
CatholicCare is seeking to provide a greater presence in these communities.
Info can be found at www.ccam.org.au or call 9287 5555.
OPEN HOUSE RUPERTSWOOD MANSION
”INTRODUCTION TO LIFE WRITING”
5 sessions over 10 weeks– alternate Tuesday afternoons in the Mansion @ Rupertswood starting 11September from 1.30-3pm. Fee $60 or $30 un- waged. Contact Bruno Lettieri on blettieri@scr.vic.edu.au or 9744
0073 or 0422 298 643.
Please see the noticeboard as there are many exciting courses available including “Italian for Travellers”, “Hosting a dinner party– Mansion style”, “Sacraments of Initiation for Secondary Students”, “Experimenting in the art of Storytelling through the exploration of Dramatic Performance techniques”.
Below is an image from a parish document outlining the decision-making structure of our parish. This document can be found on the Parish Reports page or you can go direct to the document by clicking here or anywhere on either image.
CATHOLIC STEWARDSHIP FROM SUNDAYS READINGS
Today’s gospel reading is full of some sobering statements, as Jesus emphasizes his role as the suffering servant, and also our responsibility as His disciples to follow Him in that way.
First, He explains to the disciples that He will have to suffer, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days” (gospel). Jesus then tells them that, as His disciples, they must follow His lead.
“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (gospel).
That is the life of a Christian disciple. We are called to not only to follow Christ’s example by picking up our crosses — recognizing that when we unite our sufferings to Christ’s they can be redemptive, they can be great blessings — but also to deny ourselves. We do not live for ourselves. We live for the Lord. Therefore, everything about our lives ought to be ordered to Him, giving glory to the Lord and calling others to do the same.
We follow Christ’s example. He emptied Himself “taking on the form of a slave” (Phil. 2:7) for the sake of the Father’s will. “Not as I will, but as you will,” (Mt. 26:42) He prayed in the garden. And so we empty ourselves — offering up all our pride, envy, jealousy, selfishness, greed, anger, and so on — to live a life of loving service focused completely on God and neighbor.
Indeed, following Christ’s example is not without cost. Even the Messiah — the Suffering Servant — endured persecution and ridicule. But that did not stop Him. His was a life of sacrifice — a life lived for others out of love; “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting” (first reading). And so must ours be.
If we proclaim Jesus to be the Christ as Peter did in today’s Gospel, then we must follow Him. We must give our all to bear witness to His truth, realizing that it is only in doing so that we are truly free, truly happy, truly fulfilled. Our faith in Christ Jesus must be demonstrated by the way we live our lives. Our identity as Christian stewards requires that of us.
“What good is it if someone says they have faith but does not have works?” (second reading). Our words and actions should bear witness to the gospel. Then, not only will we be fulfilled, but also others will see the beauty in Christ’s truth. They will recognize that Christ is the One through whom we gain true happiness and eternal salvation, and surely then our acts will call others to Him. But that is only possible when we stop living for ourselves, for worldly glory and so forth, and empty ourselves in order to live for the gospel.
What’s more, Jesus promises us that when we do so, we are greatly rewarded. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses His life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (gospel).
We were created to live for Him, to follow Him, to bring others to Him. Our lives are not our own. They are gifts from the Lord. Let us be sure to live them as such!
Copyright © 2012 www.TheCatholicSteward.com
Thanks to the generous people of Sunbury for your donations to the Priest Retirement Foundation. Our Parish is sending $1655.30 to support those who have dedicated their lives to our Faith.
The organ has been repaired and is safely back in St Anne’s Church.
RSJ Associates
Meeting Wednesday 19th September at 10am in St Annes Church meeting room.
All welcome.
MacKillop Family Services is currently looking for individuals or a couple to provide care for up to three young people aged 12-16 years who can’t live with their parents, to live in the Home Based Care House in the North West Region. This is a live in volunteer whose primary role is to provide a supportive and healing environment for the young people in their care and oversee their day to day needs and the running of the house.
Further information contact Shane McLeod on 8398 6800 or shane.mcleod@mackillop.org.au.
Sunbury Action Group of the Leprosy Mission is holding an afternoon of Spring Delights on Thursday 20 September 2012 at 1.30pm at St Andrews Uniting Church, Sunbury. Admission is $7. Full details are in the brochure available at the Welcome Desk.
“The Gift of Family in Difficult Times”
The launch of the 2012-2013 Social Justice Statement for the Melbourne Archdiocese will take place on Sunday 23rd September at 10.30 AM in St Mary, Star of the Sea Church, Archdiocesan Shrine of the Holy Family, 33 Howard Street, Melbourne West. Followed by Light refreshments prepared by asylum seekers from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. For catering purposes RSVP justice@cam.org.au or 99265727 please leave a message.
The annual retreat for those considering the diocesan priesthood is on 21-22 September at Mulgrave.
Enquiries on 9926 5733 or email vocations@cam.org.au.
Further helpers are needed at the 10.30am Mass.
Please contact the Parish Office if you can help.
Reflection on the Gospel-23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Veronica Lawson RSM
(Mark 7:31-37)
Those who are profoundly deaf frequently find themselves on the edge of the human and earth communities. Without access to birdsong, to spoken discourse, to the vast range of media communication, they often struggle to understand and to be understood. Their capacity to communicate their deepest wisdom, their hopes and dreams, their anxieties and fears, is limited not only by personal disability but also by the incomprehension of others. In our contemporary technological world, sophisticated hearing devices and cochlear implants transform the lives of many who previously suffered from serious hearing loss and its social consequences. Whatever degree of deafness is experienced, relief from such an affliction offers far more than physical healing. It brings insertion into the life of family and community and workplace. It opens up new horizons and unimagined possibilities.
In first century Palestine, the chances of relief from hearing deficiency and associated speech impairment were minimal. Desperate people put their faith in folk healers who used their healing hands and drew upon their knowledge of the medicinal properties in certain herbs and other plants. It seems clear that Jesus was known as an effective healer and that he used some of the same methods as other healers of his time. Many of his contemporaries in that part of the world would have turned to Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, or his daughter Hygeia. Jesus turns, not to Asclepius or Hygeia, but to the God of Israel (‘looking up to heaven…’) as the source of healing power.
There is layer upon layer of meaning in today’s healing story. Place features significantly. Jesus travels from Tyre on the northern Mediterranean coast to the Sea of Galilee via the non-Jewish territory on the eastern side of the lake. It was a regular route, but definitely not the most direct one. The gospel writer seems to be stressing the all-embracing nature of Jesus’ healing ministry. As the gospel story has unfolded, we have found that the same healing power of God is available to Jews and Gentiles, to male and female, young and old alike. It is available to those with bodily afflictions and those who are paralysed by anxiety and fear. There is irony in the telling of the story: a Gentile deaf man can be brought from no hearing to hearing, from ‘speaking with difficulty’ to clarity of speech, but Jesus’ own disciples will shortly fail to hear and understand (‘Do you have ears and not hear?’-Mark 8:18). We open our ears to hear in the hope of understanding.
CATHOLIC STEWARDSHIP FROM SUNDAYS READINGS
Today’s scripture readings focus heavily on the Lord’s almighty power and His love for all of us. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah promises a savior who will heal the deaf, the blind, and the lame, and in the gospel, we see Jesus do just that. He heals a deaf man. But the message of today’s readings is not simply that God performs miracles (although we ought to recognize that He does). Today’s readings remind us of God’s infinite goodness. He loves and cares for each and every one of us in infant homage ways. He provides for all our needs. He gives us every good gift. He has come to save us all, offering every one of us everlasting life with Him – miracle of miracles.
We should, then, be like the people in Mark’s gospel who witnessed Christ’s healing of the blind man. They couldn’t keep their mouths shut. They were so awed by what He had done that they had to spread the good news! So should we. God has done so much for us, and He continues to. Our lives should be a witness to the world, proclaiming His praises to the ends of the earth. In the way we live our lives, in what we say and do, those we come into contact with ought to be able to see that God is good, that He loves each one of us, and that He is the source of all good gifts.
Copyright © 2012 www.TheCatholicSteward.com
Welcome to the Confirmation children and their families who are here to prepare for their upcoming Sacrament in October. Please continue to pray for the children who will receive their Confirmation Stoles this weekend.
The Brigidine Asylum Seekers Project warmly invites you to a Discussion Night TUESDAY 18 September 2012 7.30 – 9.30pm at St Joseph’s Hall, 274 Rouse Street Port Melbourne.
Meeting Monday 7 September 7pm in St Anne’s Church.
Also, Central Highlands Regional Council Festival Meeting and Mass.
Commissioning of Conference Presidents on Sunday 16 September at 10.30am Mass at St Anne’s Church.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 
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