New Melbourne Priests were ordained yesterday. Revs Michael Gallagher from Nunawading; Andrew McCarter from Reservoir; Benneth Osuagwu from Nigeria; Jerome Santamaria from Hawthorn and Kevin Williams from Frankston.
Please continue to pray for these men as they begin their parish ministry.
FREE SEMINAR
“Looking After our Mates”.
It is a drink driving information session with an effective message about responsible drinking, safe driving and looking after your friends, and geared to our young adults. The seminar is on this Thursday evening at 7.30pm at Sunbury Baptist Church, 207 Gap Road Sunbury and all are most welcome to attend. It consists of a 45 minute session delivered by a trained facilitator covering topics such as the effects of alcohol on the body and on performance, the law and Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC), drink driving as a road safety issue and strategies to avoid drinking and driving. This session has been developed by Vic Roads, Road-Safe Victoria, Victoria Police, TAC and the Australian Drug Foundation.
PAINTING OF THE PARISH CENTRE
Painting has just finished and it looks great.
THANKSGIVING OFFERING
Next Sunday, an update and gratitude for our giving since May 2011 will be given.
SALESIAN OPEN SCHOOL TOURS
School Tours will be held on the following dates during Term 3:
Monday 6th August at 9.30am
Thursday 23rd August at 4.30 pm
Monday 3rd September at 9.30am
OPEN EVENING THURSDAY 13th SEPTEMBER 5.00 – 7.00 pm.
Please note that Applications for Year 7 2014 are currently being accepted. Enquiries concerning enrolments for other Year Levels (8-12) are welcome. Contact the College Registrar, Mrs Marylou Jones, on 9744 0060 for further information.
THE CALEB FARIA FUNDRAISER
The Caleb Faria fundraiser will be held on Saturday 15th September 6.30pm to 11.00pm in the Parish Centre. BYO food and drinks.
Contact Betty 0408 398 173 or Michelle 0401 283 065 for tickets.
Donated items to be raffled and auctioned and music entertainment will be provided. It will be an evening of fun with friends to help raise funds for Caleb Faria.
Caleb suffers from Hunters Syndrome and is currently ineligible to receive a government funded enzyme treatment. Donations can be made directly to the trust account via Caleb suffers from Hunters Syndrome and is currently ineligible to receive a government funded enzyme treatment. Donations can be made directly to the trust account via www.calebfaria.com website. Receipts can be printed off as all donations are tax deductable. The Fundraiser is also supported by The Rotary Club of Sunbury. A special collection will be taken today to support Caleb’s medical treatment. The event has been sold out, but any donations for raffles will still be appreciated.
PARISH ASSEMBLY 2012
The Annual Parish Assembly was held in the morning of 1 September. The assembly was a very happy, peaceful gathering with a very positive atmosphere. The minutes of the assembly are at the Welcome Desk. Developments from last years assembly were noted, eg. re-introduction of Children’s Liturgy of the Word, further members of St Vincent de Paul Society, better audio visual at OLMC Church, an evangelising letter to 3550 Catholic households four times per year, the international day.
Several groups including our two schools gave reports on the past twelve months.
The schools highlighted religious education initiatives especially in social justice plus the developments in teaching and learning, including use of technology. The Legion of Mary gave their report of their pastoral care to those in aged care. Vinnies gave a report of their practical care to hundreds of people in Sunbury which was so inspiring.
Fourteen proposals were put before the assembly. Seven proposals were requests for more assistance, generally of more workers to existing programmes: Baptismal Preparation team, Bingo workers, Communion ministers to sick and frail, Legion of Mary, RCIA Team, Small Christian Communities and the Youth Group.
Seven new proposals were tabled: assist archiving of Parish Historical material, a bus for the Evergreens, Catholic Education Foundation for parish families; improve acknowledgement plaque; a memorial garden at St Anne’s Church; structure all parish meetings and support a health project in remote PNG.
The fourteen proposals are on the walls of the Gathering space. Please take time to view them and sign up today or next Sunday to the proposals, either as a new volunteer or to go on a sub-committee to investigate one of the seven new proposals. Please sign up on the proposals.
I thank the Parish Co-Ordinating Team for planning the Assembly and Michael McConville for his facilitating the Assembly (and for the photos).
THE YEAR OF GRACE IN TODAYS READINGS
Reflection on the Gospel-22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Veronica Lawson RSM
(Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23)
After our lengthy detour into John 6 with its focus on Jesus as the Bread of Life and the Bread of Wisdom, we return to Mark’s gospel and a legal dispute about ritual purity. The parties to the dispute are Jesus, the Pharisees, and some of the scribes or teachers of the law. [It is worth noting that Mark’s non-Jewish readers, at a later time and in another place, need to be given detailed information about certain Jewish traditions]. At issue for the scribes and Pharisees in the story is the failure of Jesus’ disciples to respect their oral tradition, in this instance to perform ritual washings before eating. From their perspective, the disciples are not ‘walking’ according to the tradition of the elders.
For the Markan Jesus, ‘the command of God’ is paramount, not some distorted interpretation of it. He offers a hard-hitting counter-critique of their attitude to law. He calls them ‘hypocrites’ and informs them that the condemnation of the prophet Isaiah was intended for them. They have so distorted God’s law, substituting their own observances for the ‘commandment of God’ that their prayer amounts to nothing more than lip-service, their hearts are far from God, and their worship is worthless! For Jesus, there are criteria other than such observances for determining who is clean or unclean. He has already declared the leper clean (Mk 1:41-45). For Jesus, the ‘heart’ rather than the body is the locus of purity and impurity. For him as for all his people, the heart was the seat of the intellect and of morality as well as the emotions. In the kin-dom of God, therefore, one’s thoughts, desires, and intentions render one clean or unclean, not one’s attention to hygiene. The latter is desirable of course, but is peripheral in the grand scheme of things. It is worth applying the criteria provided at the end of the passage to discover whether or not our ‘hearts’ are near or distant from our God.
A word of caution! The real-life Pharisees of the first century were the respected teachers of God’s law. It is imperative that stories such as we find in today’s gospel are not used to pit Christianity over against Judaism. We have to keep reminding ourselves that time and again we are dealing with in-house debates between Jews.
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION
STEWARDSHIP……A WAY OF LIFE
CATHOLIC STEWARDSHIP FROM SUNDAYS READINGS
In today’s scripture readings, we reflect on how living as Christian disciples is not about just giving of ourselves – our time, our talents, and our treasure – so that we meet some obligation, or so that others see what we do and are pleased.
If that is our intention, then we are like the scribes and the Pharisees in today’s Gospel, whom Jesus calls hypocrites. We are called to give ourselves solely out of love – love of God and love of neighbor, recognizing that God is the great gift giver, and we are grateful to Him.
Life as a Christian steward must be lived with an attitude of gratitude. Everything we do must be done because we love the Lord.
Copyright © 2012 www.TheCatholicSteward.com
ST ANNE’S INDOOR NIGHT MARKET
FRIDAY 7TH SEPT
6.00PM TILL 9.00PM
Over 30 stalls of fantastic shopping. Located in the new school wing.
Gold Coin Entry per Adult.
Come and support your local community.
CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME
Congratulations to the newest members of our Altar Servers team; Cassandra, Madeline, Erinn, Lauren, Hannah, Leah and Josh.
ANNUAL FATHERS DAY APPEAL FOR OUR RETIRED PRIESTS
During the last twelve months, thirteen retired priests entered eternal life and now there are 95 retired priests who need care, including two who served us here in Sunbury: Fathers Jim Feehan and Alan Mithen. To meet the cost of caring, active priests give voluntarily $1.2 million a year to support their retired and frail brothers in the priesthood. Today, the laity in all parishes are being asked to give $0.5 million to support their retired pastors.
This year, the following have retired from parish ministry: Fathers Barry Caldwell, Brian McMahon, Kevin Mogg, George O’Connor, Des Panton and Peter Rankin.
ANNUAL ORDINATION CEREMONY
The Annual Ordination Ceremony is on next Saturday at 10am in St Patricks Cathedral where eight priests will be ordained, including three married men.
Four have studied at Corpus Christi College, Carlton and four have studied at Anglican Colleges.
All welcome .
PASTORAL LETTER
The Bishops of Victoria together with the Leaders of Catholic Religious Australia and Catholic Religious Victoria have issued a Pastoral letter about the Parliamentary Inquiry into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations. In the letter the Church Leaders state that they respect the parliamentary process and will co-operate fully with the Inquiry. The letter includes a Prayer for Healing which can be used for individual or group prayer. Copies of the Pastoral Letter are available for you to take home.
LEAH DARROW
Born in the US and raised as a Catholic, this vibrant young woman, who now spends her life speaking about God’s love and mercy, has not always lived this way.
Leah Darrow describes her modelling career, which began on America’s Next Top Model, and all that went with it as “her past life”. Having been swept up in popular culture, the fashion world, its glitz and glamour, and all its empty promises, she gradually let her faith fall away…until a life changing moment saw her realise all that she had left behind.
She will tour Australia in September with just one day in Melbourne on Sunday 9 September. This is an event not to be missed – it will be particularly a[ppealing for women and young people. For more information see the brochure at the back of the church.
More at these links here and here.
OLMC YOUTH GROUP
The OLMC Youth Group will be hosting 2 stalls at the St Anne’s Night Market on 7 September. One will be for games and the other will be selling handmade cards for ‘Grandparents’. National Grandparents Day is 9 September.
SING A LONG
Friday 7th September Goonawarra Aged Care 2.30-3.15pm.
Please come along and help entertain the elderly residents.
PAINTING OF THE PARISH CENTRE
Painting of the Parish Centre will commence on Tuesday 21 August and three weeks are being allowed for the project. The Centre will be out of use while being painted. This is the first time the Centre has been painted since it was built.
THANK YOU from OLMC YOUTH GROUP
Thanks from the OLMC Youth Group for the generous support shown by the Parish community for making last weekend’s International Lunch a great success. Especially to the youth who helped organise the event and to all who got involved to make it a memorable day.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 
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