MESSAGE ON THE 1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (YR B)
Friday 1st December 2023
My dear people,
We welcome back Fr Tien to the parish this weekend after his ordination on Saturday 25th November 2023. We look forward to having the opportunity to catch up with him at the gathering to celebrate his ordination after the 12pm Mass on Sunday at the Mary MacKillop Building of CRC. You are all invited of course and kindly bring a plate to share.
I am very grateful to all of you who have made comments and also to those who have made suggestions about the plans for the proposed refurbishments to the church building in order to increase its capacity both in terms of seats and for other uses. The architects have proposed changes to the initial plans to reflect the comments we have received. These are now on our website and on the notice board in the gathering space. There will be a further consultation with them on 19th December 2023 at 7:45pm in the church meeting room. Please come and share your observations and concerns about our church’s refurbishments.
At the Leadership Team meeting last night, we discussed how to obtain your views on the matter of the change of Mass times. Next week, I will announce how we are going to go about doing this. I am putting the question of changing the Mass times on Sunday morning to you because of the traffic issues with only half an hour between Masses. Kindly try and imagine all the Masses during the year when there is a large number of people at Mass such as First Communions, Commitment Masses, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, guest presenters and other events occurring at the Performing Arts Centre of CRC etc.
Our parish’s Carols by Candlelight will be held this year on Sunday 10th December in the evening at the CRC Hall. You are invited to arrive at 5pm for the sausage sizzle as well as some activities for the children. We will start the carols from 6.30pm. I hope to see many of you there. The Christmas Raffle will also be drawn on the day and tickets for the raffle are on sale every weekend after all the Masses.
There will be a Memorial Mass to pray for the repose of the soul of Jim Sheedy and also to honour his life on Friday 8th December 2023 at 7pm here in our church. Members of the community of St George Preca Catholic Primary School, where Jim was the Principal from 2018 to 2022, will look after the different ministries at Mass and our 10:30am choir will look after the music at the Mass. There will be a small gathering after Mass where we will be able to share our stories and memories of Jim.
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