Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
There is a certain rhythm to the life of a parish across the year. From February to May, the parish was a hive of activity with Lent and Easter, the launch of our under-18 youth group, Alpha, RCIA and adult faith formation opportunities. The winter months have been gentler, enabling me to take my annual leave. Even so, during the last three months, we have travelled to the city for the Corpus Christi Procession, launched our young adults group, and celebrated Confirmations and First Communions at St Anthony’s. As we move into spring, the pace will pick up again. In September, we will hold the Combined Catholic Parishes Raffle and celebrate Confirmations at St Francis Xavier. In October, Alpha commences, as well as RCIA, and our next adult faith formation course. Also in October, we will hold our Parish Trivia Night. I encourage you to get involved in some of these wonderful activities over the next months.
Happy Fathers’ Day! We wish all our fathers a very happy Fathers’ Day. We give thanks to God for their generosity and love for their families. It’s important also to remember that today can be hard for some people due to loss or difficult relationships. We pray for the eternal repose of our deceased fathers and for peace in families.
Parish thank you to Gudrun. Gudrun completed her final day as Evangelisation Coordinator on Friday. Cards will be available in the church foyers this weekend for you to write a message of gratitude to Gudrun for her time in this role. These cards will be presented to Gudrun during the Parish BBQ after the 11am Mass on Sunday 8th September.
Mission Team. Last Thursday, the re-formed Mission Team met in the presbytery. The Team now consists of myself, Deacon Royden, Bernie Hyland, Dee Arends, Austin Mesoga, Ken McCarthy, Chris Kenworthy, Joe Brdar, Marty Rowan and Nina Tancio. Lorraine Kulic is taking time to weigh up other commitments before deciding whether to continue on the Team. We had an excellent meeting and are looking forward to steering the parish’s life and mission in the months ahead.
Annual Parish Financial Statement 2024 now available. As mentioned over previous weeks, I am very pleased to be able to present an Annual Parish Financial Statement for 2023 and the first half of 2024. It is my intention that these Statements would continue to be published each year. I extend my gratitude to those whose hard work has brought this Statement together, especially Jasna Brdar, our Finance Committee, and the team at Davidsons Accountants. Most importantly, I wish to thank all parishioners for your ongoing support of the parish. Please take time to read the Statement over the days ahead.