You will recall our parish assembly last year. The basic question was “will the prayer life of our community be improved by renewal of our churches?” The answers to that question were contained in the document the assembly produced “Concepts for Renewing our Places of Worship” which was mailed to all parishioners.
Post the assembly, the parish commissioned liturgical architects Randall Lindstrom and Jason Williams to produce design proposals for the church of St Kieran. These designs were to meet the needs and concepts expressed in “Concepts for Renewing our Places of Worship”.
The parish now has the concept design from the architects. All parishioners are invited to the unveiling of these plans. At this gathering: the design will be displayed and explained for clarity and understanding; those attending will have opportunity to question and comment and to give their evaluation as to the extent to which the designs meet the request of the parish as expressed in “Concepts for Renewing Our Places of Worship”.
When:Saturday 27th March Where: the church of St Kieran Time:3.00.pm
Meanwhile, some will remember Fr Frank Doyal osa who was the guest presenter at the 2000 National Gathering of Augustinian Friends. Fr Frank is parish priest in Zulu county, South Africa. He recently wrote to me about their new mission church:
“I wanted you to briefly know some of the details of yesterday's consecration of St. Helen's. In fact it was a "consecration" because two necessary factors were in place: the building is paid for (more or less, with final bills still due in) and we had a relic of St. Helen to place beneath the altar. The cardinal was in fine form and very, very impressed with the building and how the ceremony unfolded....all four hours of it! The previous week was extremely hot with daily temperatures at or above 95 degrees. Mercifully on Saturday evening we had a good rain storm which cooled things down enough to have a mildly warm Sunday. The church is so well ventilated that everyone remarked how comfortable they were in the church despite the warm day. The Zulu community was there for over 24 hours cooking and setting up the chairs. The chairs were borrowed from schools and businesses in the valley. The three cows were slaughtered on the church grounds by the men and cooked by them as well. I was invited to the kill but I declined! I did go Saturday evening to bless the meat as it hung in a rented refrigerated truck so that the men could proudly show me their handywork. All the food was cooked overnight so that all the people could be in attendance at Mass. We estimate that over 700 people were in attendance, some spilling over to the outdoor verandas. The choir certainly "rocked" the place for all four hours. I would say that the Mass itself took about two and half hours and then there were the traditional and culturally obligatory thank yous and gift giving. The cardinal and the chief each received a live goat and a ceremonial blanket. These two sheep were also slaughtered during the dinner that followed but I chose not to hang around that area to see what ever became of them. The Zulu beer was flowing all afternoon. The cardinal even received a Zulu headband and staff which in a very kindly spirit he put on as he sat in front of the altar once the Mass ended.
I was especially pleased with the altar which I had commissioned with the help the project engineer who took me to an Indian furniture maker and it was built especially for us. It is made of a beautiful African rosewood and it is stunning.
Fr Peter
Third Sunday of Lent
GOSPEL SYMBOLS AND IMAGES
greater sinners give me time bush blazing
The vineyard was often used in Scripture as a symbol of Isarel, Gods, people. God is imaged as the owner of the vineyard who attends it with great care - planting, cultivating, feeding and pruning the vines to make them fruitful and abundant. Isarel will be judged on what fruit it bears or fails to bear.
did you know?
àThe pool of Siloam was a reservoir which lay within the city walls of ancient Jerusalem.During the reign of King Hezekiah an extraordinary tunnel was dug through bedrock to connect it to the spring of Gihon outside the city walls so that the city would have an ample water supply in times of siege.
àWe have no evidence outside the Biblical text of the incident referred to here where Pilate ‘mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifice’ but such an act is not out ofcharacter.Pilate had a reputation for being a brutal military leader.
àAt the time of Jesus, suffering was often considered to be a punishment from God for sin committed.
making connection
The fig tree of this Gospel is nurtured by being ‘dug around’ and ‘manured’.We too must nurture our own relationship with God in order to ‘bear fruit’.Attend carefully this week to cultivating your relationship with God.Try to bring out the best in someone else as well.
prayer at home
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy. For as the heavens are above the earth so strong in his love for those who fear him.
Third Sunday of Lent: Lent is a time for us to look at the ways in which God is calling us to grow. As we reflect on the readings today, let us ask God to show us what is holding us back, what is keeping us from surrending to the One who created us. Control? Possessions? Fear? Prejudice? Self-rughteousness?....
STEWARDSHIP
“He said to the gardener, 'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none.'" - Luke 13:7
Are we like the barren fig tree? What does God find when He searches for the fruits which we have given back? (Thanks to Archdiocese of St Louis)
LENTEN REFLECTION
Take the Challenge – Do The Reflection
In preparation for Easter 2010, the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference invites you to partake in an exciting and unique journey.
Join the Bishops of Australia as they share their thoughts and reflections on the Sunday Gospels leading to Easter.
The Reflection, is a free, Inernet-based resource that will follow a lectio divina exploration of the Scriptures, and will commence 15 February 2010 - the Monday prior to Ash Wednesday.
As the Church family welcomes its new members with open arms at Easter, let’s take up the challenge and invite others to come to our table to share. Visit the website thereflection.vividas.com now to find out more about this wonderful project, and to learn about the lectio divina process. A hardcopy booklet may be ordered free to accompany your Lenten journey. For any further information please contact Annie Carrett, Diocese Broken Bay, 029847 0724 or news@dbb.org.au
This link will take you to www.hungersite.com . Since The Hunger Site began in 1999 there has been generated funding for more than 500,000,000 cups of food for hungry people worldwide. A daily click on the web Hunger Site combined with those of many others from around the world, have made enormous differences in hundreds of thousands of lives. For each click one cup of rice is donated by the advertisers!
In 2010 the parish wishes to make the parish Bulletin and the parish magazine In Touch available to people electronically. That is, it is possible for us to email both items to people. Not only would this cut down on cost, it demonstrates the parish’s commitment to conserving precious natural resources and a commitment to being good stewards of the earth.
To achieve our goal we need to collect the email address of those who will participate in this venture.Your role? Simply email your email address to the parish office at northharbourcatholic@ozemail.com.auOver the next several months we will build up the list of people to email the parish Bulletin and In Touch………. ….Fr Peter
Over the January break we upgraded our Parish database system and will soon have the ability to communicate with parishioners via email rather than post. We hope to start with the next issue of Intouch. Every change from post to email will save the parish postage and printing costs as well as make life easier for the volunteers who have to fold and post Intouch, maybe we can also save a tree or two. If you have already supplied us your email address thank you, if not and you would be happy to receive emails from us please send an email to northharbourcatholic@ozemail.com.au to enable us to update your details, just include your name and contact number.
THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT
I resolve to reduce my environmental impact by choosing organic, local and sustainable produce wherever possible; and minimise waste by buying only what I need and composting the leftovers.
Because of the land, fertilizers, water, energy, transport, storage, processing and packaging involved in food production, distribution and retailing, food has a heavy environmental footprint.
Also, when food waste is sent to landfill it breaks down without oxygen and produces methane, a greenhouse gas with more than 20 times the global warming capacity of carbon dioxide.
I can reduce my environmental impact, by:
Making a list and checking it twice, before I go food shopping.
Buying organic, free-range, local produce to reduce the amount of chemicals, water and energy involved in getting them to the kitchen table.
Cutting down on red meat. It takes about 50,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of beef.
Avoid overfished species facing endangerment or extinction. I can download a FREE pocket guide to sustainable seafood at www.marineconservation.org.au.
Keep food waste to a minimum- when I need to dispose of food, I can put it in a compost bin, bokashi bucket or worm farm instead of sending it to landfill.
He who has given us the gift of being gives us also the gift of being good. He gives to those who have turned back to him. He even sought them out before they were converted and when they were far from his ways!
