MESSAGE ON THE 13TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YR A)
Friday 30th June 2023
My dear people,
Again, I would like to thank all the people who came to the Memorial Mass for Fr John last Friday evening. Having such a large number of people who knew Father John well was a great testament to how much he was esteemed and loved in our community and how much he loved this community also. It was wonderful that Bishop Ashe was able to be the Principal Celebrant and we thank him for that. We also thank Fr John Salvano for his brilliant homily, which will be made available to you on our website soon. Finally, I would like to thank the Memorial Mass Committee again for their great work in preparing the evening, from the liturgy to the refreshments which followed. If you have not already done so, you may write your condolences, memories, and thoughts of Fr John on the sheets of paper provided in the gathering space, and these will be collected and be made into a booklet.
Last night, we had our first “Leadership Summit” in the parish. The Leadership Summit gathered all the Ministry Coordinators of the parish for an evening of fellowship and learning. We started with dinner and that was followed by some “ice breaker” activities and a talk on my vision for the culture of leadership in the parish. Then we heard from Ron Huntley who is an internationally renowned and sought-after speaker as well as co-author of the book Divine Renovation. Ron has extensive experience in coaching Parish Priests and Parish Leaders throughout the world and we were fortunate to have him share his passion for missionary renewal with us. I invite you to continue praying the success of missionary renewal in our parish.
We are very fortunate to have a Youth Group in our parish in Ablaze Youth Group. As I mentioned several weeks ago, our youth group sessions are now led by members of the Alliance of the Holy Family international. I am pleased to report that they have been going very well over the past couple of months since meeting weekly. In order to help with their ongoing activities, the Youth Group is organising a fund raiser on Saturday 5th August 2023. I know this is six weeks away but I invite you to put this date in your diaries now. It will be a fun night of trivia and the opportunity to bring the parish together for some fellowship.
We continue turning to our patron saint and we ask for her intercession.
St Catherine of Siena, Pray for us.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Fr Richard Rosse PP