DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA

DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA

Upcoming Diocesan Events: Prayer for Our Lives and Purpose - Thursday 3rd February 7pm Adoration, Inspiration, A Shared life Story with youth/young adults and others. Starts at 7pm. Speaker: Bishop Anthony Fisher OP Where: St Patrick s Cathedral, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta. For more details contact: Fr Paul, Vocations Director- 0419 219 819 From the Diocesan Youth Office: FIRM IN THE FAITH Catechesis - Sunday 13th February Speaker: Fr Chris de Souza, Episcopal Vicar and Parish Priest of Penrith Parish Photo (Hamilton Lund) Where: Patrician Brothers Hall, 100 Flushcombe Rd, Blacktown (close proximity to Blacktown bus and train station) Time: 3-6pm including Mass. Please RSVP by Wed 9th Feb to 8838 3418 or email youth@parra.catholic.org.au To download flyer, go to www.parra.catholic.org.au/youth then click on Diocesan Events. All youth and young adults are welcome! Come along and bring your friends and take part in this Catechesis! Youth Leaders Retreat - Saturday 26th February Catholic Youth Parramatta (CYP)is inviting all youth leaders and potential youth leaders to come together at the beginning of a new year in the presence of God and each other. The Retreat will include great guest speakers, group workshops, private reflection surrounded by nature as well as socialising and fun. It's a great way to start our youth ministry in 2011! For: Youth Leaders & potential youth leaders (18-35yrs) Rego: 9am for a 9.30am start Cost: $5 donation (Morning tea & lunch are provided) RSVP for catering purposes by Mon 21st Feb 2011. Place: Mount Schoenstatt Conference & Retreat Centre, The Family Room, 230 Fairlight Road, Mulgoa. For more info & to RSVP (by Wed 23rd Feb), please call Annabelle on 8838 3418, 0408 420 331 or youth@parra.catholic.org.au To download flyer, go to www.parra.catholic.org.au/youth click on EVENTS, Diocesan Events. Breakfast with the Bishop - Saturday 19th March Topic: Does Catholic Teaching on Sex make sense? OP Speaker: Bishop Anthony Fisher Where: St Patrick s Cathedral Hall, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta from 8.30-10.30am Please RSVP by Mon 14 th March to 8838 3418 or email youth@parra.catholic.org.au Flyer will be available soon on website. All Youth leaders, coordinators, movements, teachers, those involved in ministry with young people, participants in the Planted & Built Up Youth Volunteers Program and WYD pilgrims are invited to attend. **For all Diocesan Events go to www.parra.catholic.org.au/youth and click on EVENTS **

Hurry, Places are filling up fast!! Register now on www.wydtours.com/parramatta Number of places available: Holyland to Madrid (WYD Week Uni Lodgings): Few places left Madrid Direct (WYD Week Uni Lodgings): 22 places left Viva Spain & Italy (WYD Week Uni Lodgings): 26 places left Pilgrim Way (WYD Week Uni Lodgings): 19 places left WYD FORMATION (Attendance is compulsory for those pilgrims attending WYD 2011) Wednesday 16th February (Parramatta) Being on Pilgrimage NB: Same session will be repeated on Tuesday 22nd February in Penrith Topic: Find/Discover/Going deeper (Journey to Emmaus): Being on Pilgrimage Place: St Patrick s Cathedral Hall, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta Tuesday 22nd February (Penrith) on Being on Pilgrimage NB: Same formation session was held on Wednesday 16th February in Parramatta Topic: Find/Discover/Going deeper (Journey to Emmaus): Being on Pilgrimage Place: St Nicholas of Myra Parish Hall, 326 High St, Penrith (entry for parking is via Higgins St) WYD FORMATION DAY: Saturday, 12th March Place: St Nicholas of Myra Parish Hall, 326 High St, Penrith (entry for parking is via Higgins St) Time: 10am-3pm NB: The above WYD Formation Day will be repeated in 2 evening sessions in Parramatta on: Tuesday 8 th March (Part 1) and Wednesday 23 rd March (Part 2) Place: St Patrick s Cathedral Hall, 1 Marist Place, Parramatta **For the rest of the WYD Formation Dates go to www.parra.catholic.org.au/youth click on WYD 2011 MADRID tab on top, then choose Formation Sessions from the menu bar on the left**

"Homosexuality, Gay Marriage & Rights of the Child" talk by Mr Chris Meney - 4th February St Aidan's Eucharistic Youth Group is honoured to present to you: Mr Chris Meney. (Masters in Bioethics, JPII Institute of Marriage & Family, Bio-ethics Lecturer, Campion College Australia & Director of Life, Marriage & Family Centre, Sydney) When: 4th February 2011 (first Friday), 7:30pm for 7:45 pm start (after 7 pm Friday Mass) Where: Mary MacKillop s Hall, St Aidan s Parish Church, 9 Adelaide Road, Rooty Hill Duration: One hour talk, 20 minutes Q&A Recommended to: Students, Youth & Mature Adults Charismatic Healing Mass - 6th February Followed by Prayer for Healing & Individual Ministry Time: 2.30pm Where: St Nicholas of Myra Church, High St, Penrith (Entry via Higgins St) Celebrant: Fr Ron Nissen SM All welcome! discover yourself - 11th February - 13th February A weekend retreat for Young Women aged 18-35 Who am I? My dignity as a Woman? My personal Ideal? My Personal Mission? My Vocation? Where: Mount Schoenstatt, 230 Fairlight Rd, Mulgoa Investment: Student Employed Rego by 31/1: $150 $180 Rego after 31/1: $170 $200 Includes accommodation, food & linen. Sponsorships available to those who need it. REGISTRATION ESSENTIAL. Contact Sr.M.Julie Brcar: E: juliebrcar@gmail.com M: 0408 738 334 LENT FOR REAL: JOIN THE JOURNEY, Young Adults Weekend - 4 March - 6 March Do you know there are 57,600 minutes in Lent? Prepare to make each minute count thanks to dynamic inputs, discussions & community life, sacraments (reconciliation & Holy Mass) & prayer (adoration, meditation, rosary, stations of the cross, worship) Where: Mt Schoenstatt, 230 Fairlight Rd, Mulgoa Investment: Save $: Be an earlybird! Student Employed Rego by 25/2: $140 $160 Full Price: $160 $180 This includes all meals, accommodation & materials. Limited spots. Registration is essential! Further info and bookings: Sr.M.Julie Brcar E: juliebrcar@gmail.com M: 0408 738 334

Saint Jerome Emilani (1481-1537) Feast day: February 8 - Patron of Abandoned Children and Orphans Jerome Emiliani lay chained in the dark dirty dungeon. Only a short time before he had been a military commander for Venice in charge of a fortress. He didn't care much about God because he didn't need him -- he had his own strength and the strength of his soldiers and weapons. When Venice's enemies, the League of Cambrai, captured the fortress, he was dragged off and imprisoned. There in the dungeon, Jerome decided to get rid of the chains that bound him. He let go of his worldly attachments and embraced God. When he finally was able to escape, he hung his metal chains in the nearby church of Treviso -- in gratitude not only for being freed from physical prison but from his spiritual dungeon as well. After a short time as mayor of Treviso he returned to his home in Venice where he studied for the priesthood. The war may have been over but it was followed by the famine and plague that war's devastation often brought. Jerome devoted himself to service again -- this time, not to the military but the poor and suffering around him. He felt a special call to help the orphans who had no one to care for them. All the loved ones who would have protected them and comforted them had been taken by sickness or starvation. He would become their parent, their family. Using his own money, he rented a house for the orphans, fed them, clothed them, and educated them. Part of his education was to give them the first known catechetical teaching by question and answer. But his constant devotion to the suffering put him in danger too and he fell ill from the plague himself. When he recovered, he had the ideal excuse to back away, but instead his illness seemed to take the last links of the chain from his soul. He founded orphanages in other cities, a hospital, and a shelter for prostitutes. He committed his whole life and all he owned to helping others. This grew into a congregation of priests and brothers that was named after the place where they had a house: the Clerks Regular of Somascha. Although they spent time educating other young people, their primary work was always Jerome's first love -- helping orphans. His final chains fell away when he again fell ill while taking care of the sick. Article provided by Catholic.org Reprinted with permission of Catholic Online www.catholic.org http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=61 Saint Scholastica (Died: 543) Feast day: February 10 St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict, consecrated her life to God from her earliest youth. After her brother went to Monte Cassino, where he established his famous monastery, she took up her abode in the neighborhood at Plombariola, where she founded and governed a monastery of nuns, about five miles from that of St. Benedict, who, it appears, also directed his sister and her nuns. She visited her brother once a year, and as she was not allowed to enter his monastery, he went in company with some of his brethren to meet her at a house some distance away. These visits were spent in discussing together on spiritual matters. On one occasion they had passed the time as usual in prayer and pious conversation and in the evening they sat down to take their reflection. St. Scholastica begged her brother to remain until the next day. St. Benedict refused to spend the night outside his monastery. She had recourse to prayer and a furious thunderstorm burst so that neither St. Benedict nor any of his companions could return home. They spent the night in spiritual discussion. The next morning they parted to meet no more on earth. Three days later St. Scholastica died, and her holy brother beheld her soul in a vision as it ascended into heaven. He sent his brethren to bring her body to his monastery and laid it in the tomb he had prepared for himself. She died about the year 543, and St. Benedict followed her soon after. Her feast day is February 10th. Article provided by Catholic.org Reprinted with permission of Catholic Online www.catholic.org http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=240