FR AL S SILVER JUBILEE

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1 NEWSLETTER Issue #7 APRIL EDITION 2014 Also available online at: FR AL S SILVER JUBILEE On Saturday 29th March 2014, Holy Family Parish celebrated Father Aloysius s Silver Jubilee. We started the day off with a Thanksgiving Mass with 12 other priests and many of Fr Al s friends and family present to commemorate the occasion. Our Chairperson Michael Taylor spoke brie ly about Fr Al s in luence on our parish, highlighting some of his amazing work and initiatives he introduced in making our parish community what it is today (an excerpt of his speech can be found on pg 4). The morning was capped off with a delicious lunch in the parish courtyard, thanks to JBento catering. We had an enormous card which was illed with memories, thanks, farewells and best wishes from parishioners. At the end of the day this was presented to Fr Al. ADEANA KHOO A great day was had by all and thanks go out to all those who made it possible. >> Read more on page 4 & 5 Page 1

2 RCIA 2013/14 This has been the fourth year this series of opportunities to enquire and learn about what being a Catholic and belonging to the Catholic Church means, has been offered through the RCIA program here in our Parish. After undertaking their commitment to a period of almost eight months of weekly reading and conversations, attendance at Sunday Masses, home masses and a retreat; Bee Tan and Bruce Buddrige will be Baptised during the Vigil Mass of the Resurrection this Easter Saturday night. Also during this Mass, Clare Ong, Isabelle Petrovski, Emily and Brad Foord will join Bee and Bruce as they are Con irmed and receive their irst Holy Communion as members of our Catholic faith community. Clare, Isabelle, Emily and Brad having already been Christened in another faith, will also have had the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. On the reception of the Sacrament of Baptism, Bee and Bruce will receive the forgiveness of sins inherent in this irst of the Sacraments of Initiation, and therefore do not need to receive their irst Reconciliation at this time. The Rite of Election held at St Mary s Cathedral in March, saw more than two hundred Catechumens (non-baptised) and Candidates (those Baptised in other faiths) come together with their sponsors, catechists and family members to be received into the inal stage of their preparation for full communion with our Catholic family in the Archdiocese. In his little book, Evangelii Gaudium, our Holy Father, Pope Francis, reminds us that: The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open. One concrete sign of such openness is that our church doors should MEGAN & JIM PHILLIPS always be open, so that if someone, moved by the Spirit comes there looking for God, he or she will not ind a closed door. During the past four years, Fr Al has been instrumental in making sure our doors at Holy Family are well and truly open to all who have come looking for God. During this time we have assisted and welcomed thirty new members into our Catholic Parish family; and continuing the wonderful family atmosphere obvious here at Holy Family Parish, there have been thirteen babies born into the families of our new parishioners and our sponsors!! Please try to introduce yourselves to these latest members of our Catholic family and continue to support us all through your prayers. Our thanks go to Fr Al, Fr Laurence Murphy, Mary Mc Mahon, Joan Morcombe, Peter Hurst, Elena Gestoso and Charlotte Mah for their support of our Elect this year. Also our appreciation is extended to Tony and Breda Pires who led this year s program for the irst couple of weeks prior to our return from overseas. Page 2

3 A REFLECTION FROM ONE OF THIS YEAR S RCIA CANDIDATES: As an Anglican who loves tradition, I had been considering making my move to the Catholic faith for many years, yet just never seemed to get around to inding out how to. Then I attended a wedding and was inspired, I felt comfortable. I had come home. During a conversation with my daughters we all felt that the time was right to make our leap of faith. After much internet research we contacted Father Al who very kindly arranged time to meet with us and to explain the RCIA program. Next day we attended Mass and the following week we joined the RCIA group. I must admit I was quite nervous the irst time because I had no idea of what was expected of me. Of course there was no need to worry as soon as we arrived we were put at ease and honestly by the second meeting we were among old friends. RCIA covers so many topics and I must say we do go adrift fairly often, exchanging thoughts and beliefs, but we are in very good hands. The Rites of Initiation was a wonderful experience; over 200 of us, it was amazing. Seven months on and we are coming up to 'the big day' when we will be received into the Catholic Church. This will be extra special to us because Father Al will be presiding, just before he leaves the Como parish, and we will always be very grateful to him. Over the last months I have been touched by the kind thoughts and wishes from so many of the parishioners who have encouraged us and wished us well, a truly humbling experience. I look back now remembering my concern of being a stranger attending Mass, absolutely no worries there and this is one of the things that I have grown to love from our church, the unconditional love and acceptance of us, their newest members. W W W. H O L Y F A M I L Y. C O M. A U Have you checked out the parish website lately? Visit the page for information on the latest information about the parish and diocese and you can even ind this and previous issues of the newsletter there! Newsletter is a great way to share our stories and get involved with the parish community. If you would like to contribute to future editions of the newsletter, please contact adeana11@hotmail.com or sieber.julian@gmail.com Page 3

4 FR AL S SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATION Father Aloysius Leong commenced as parish priest in the Como/Kensington Parish in January 2000 and initially operated from the old parish centre in Thelma Street. With energy and zeal, Father Al commenced a building program to update and integrate the parish facilities. In September 2002, the Parish Centre was completed and the church closed for renovations. During this work, masses (very crowded ones) were celebrated in the new parish centre until January On 2nd February 2003 we celebrated the re-opening of our Holy Family Church and the blessing of the new administration centre, parish centre and presbytery. Father Al s in luence on our Parish has not just been in the area of buildings. Father has also been very strong in his pastoral work and in his MICHAEL TAYLOR spirituality of love and inclusiveness for our multicultural community. Aspects that I particularly remember are Father Al s leadership while bringing the Como and Kensington parishes together and in his promotion of the pilgrimages to the Holy Land and Turkey which enabled people to experience new dimensions in their faith journey. There have also been many other grass root achievements and changes over the last 14 years. Examples include Father Al s initiative in supporting social functions such as the Dinner/Dance in July 2012, the Thank You barbecues he puts on for parishioners on Boxing Day each year and his support for our young families and ensuring that there are activities for children and youth. Article continued on next page >>> Page 4

5 It is also amazing to see the number of people involved in parish activities and the signi icant level of pastoral care and spirituality that is practised by parishioners in this parish. Other achievements include the strong sacramental and liturgical celebrations of church life that are lived in the daily and weekend Eucharist, weddings, baptisms and funerals. Small prayer/faith communities lourish, weekend masses are blessed with several choirs and Father s wonderful Sunday homilies grounded in theology invite us to ponder, learn and grow in our Catholic faith. There are many more achievements, not forgetting his humour and spontaneity which we all remember in our own way. Whilst we don t know what Father Aloysius was like when he irst left the seminary, we can be sure that in the past 25 years he has certainly become very accomplished and greatly respected as a Parish Priest. We all need support and encouragement to continue in a dif icult vocation and we can see that Father Al has wonderful support from his family and friends. Father Al s father and many of his special friends from Singapore were here to celebrate the special occasion. We thank them for their ongoing help and support of Father Aloysius in his priestly vocation. We congratulate Father Aloysius on achieving his priestly Silber Jubilee 25 years as a priest. Holy Family community has been most fortunate and indeed blessed to have had 14 of those 25 years. Together as a parish and community, we wish you the best for wherever your vocation journey takes you next. Page 5

6 LENT GROUP Our group has met weekly on a Tuesday evening during Lent. In addition to a re lection on the next Sunday gospel reading we have been challenged by readings from EVANGELII GAUDIUM, the Joy of the Gospel written by Pope Francis. We have all agreed that this book is a frank and honest appraisal of the modern secular world and a crisis in the Church. We can all be heartened by the Pope writing; I feel tremendous gratitude to all those who are committed to working in and for the church the contribution of the church in today s world is enormous. The pain and shame we feel at the sins of some members of the church, and our own, must JULIAN SIEBER KERRY HARDWICK never make us forget how many Christians are giving their lives in love. They help so many people to be healed or to die in peace,.. they are present to those enslaved, they devote themselves to educating children, caring for the elderly and look for ways to communicate values in a hostile environment. Yet we as Christians remain steadfast in our intention to respect others, to heal wounds, to build bridges, to strengthen relationships and to bear one another s burdens. There is much in this book for our Holy Family Parish to consider how we share the Joy of the Gospel here in our community. A SERIES ON HONOUR In the three weeks following Easter, The Catholic Guy and Impact Catholic Ministry are presenting a series on the topic honour. What does it mean to honour God and be honoured by God? If you re interested in inding out more on this topic, I can highly recommend it! It ll be funny, personally engaging and taught from a purely Catholic perspective. The sessions will take place at 11am on Sundays 27 April, 4 May and 11 May at the Chisholm College Chapel on Beaufort Street, Bedford. It is free admission for the whole family and there will even be a full children s program for kids aged 2-12 years. For more information call or go to Page 6

7 MY ROME ADVENTURE MARY HAYDOCK Eighteen years ago I was invited to join the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, an ancient order of Christian Chivalry, tracing its origins back to the Holy Land when some soldiers after ighting in the 11th Century Crusade wars in Jerusalem remained to protect the Christians and the Holy places. For several hundred years the order was not very active, but then in 1847 Pope Pius IX revived it and placed it on a proper constitutional basis to look after the Holy places and support the Latin Patriarch in his work in Jerusalem. Pope Leo XIIIallowed women to become members in 1888 and in 1948 Pope Pius XII appointed a Cardinal as head of the order and at the same time moving the headquarters from Jerusalem to Rome. It is a worldwide, strictly religious and charitable organisation of some 28,000 members who inancially support the upkeep of the Holy places in Jerusalem by pledging to make an annual contribution which is administered by the Latin Patriarch. Some of this inancial support goes to the seminary for educating new priests, building aged care facilities, housing apartments, and construction of schools. All these places are non-sectarian. I have been especially involved in the construction of a school building and equipping at Ramallah, and I must sincerely thank all the parishioners who have been so supportive with fundraising activities in which I have been engaged. Pope Benedict called for this Year of Faith ( ) and Edward Cardinal O Brien who now heads the order thought it would be a good time to have a world conference of members in Rome from 9th 16th September which 3,200 delegates attended. A highlight of course was an audience with Pope Francis held in the Paul VI audience hall and many people were presented to him. One of the rewarding things in attending this conference was to meet people from all over the world and discuss with them the various means by which they were working, such as their fundraising, in this important work for the people in the Holy land not just Christians all people who need assistance in everyday living such as housing and especially the schools where the young are growing up and being educated with mixed cultures. PABLO MANALAC HOLY WEEK IN THE PHILIPPINES Holy Week in the Philippines is a signi icant religious observance for majority of Filipinos who belong to the Roman Catholic and other Christian faiths. There are processions and marches; special masses and novenas; stations of the cross; and other activities that re-enact the life and death of Jesus Christ to redeem mankind from sin. Some local TV and radio stations limit their broadcasting services from Holy Thursday until Easter Saturday. Broadcasts provide religious content. Films on TV usually feature biblical events eg The Ten Commandments or places that attract pilgrims eg Lourdes, Fatima, the Vatican and towns where Catholic saints and martyrs were born or interred. One local practice is the chanting of the life and Passion of Christ from the start of the holy week, or Pabasa. It is held at venues where the homeowner has a santo or religious image used during the holy week. It has a speci ic tone that re lects sadness and agony, mostly led by senior citizens. The Pabasa usually ends on Good Friday. Page 7

8 A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS ADEANA KHOO & JULIAN SIEBER At the time of writing the previous issue I (Julian) was preparing to move to Sydney to begin work as a Television Producer for The Catholic Guy. I m very pleased to say that I have arrived in Sydney after an enjoyable drive across the Nullaboor and have begun work meeting many great parishoners in several parishes in Sydney and Melbourne. Thank you all for your best wishes and prayers - I m sure you ll hear from me again soon! As always, Adeana and I wouldn t be able to continue to produce this newsletter if it weren t for the contributions and support of our parishoners, so please keep it up and submit photos and/or articles at any time for our upcoming issues! Feel free to us at: adeana11@hotmail.com or sieber.julian@gmail.com Have a fantasic Easter is proudly designed by: THE CATHOLIC GUY Page 8