Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney mob: 0417 279 437;
email: mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
Assistant Priest: Fr Augustine Ezenwelu mob: 0470 576 857
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310
Office Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday 10am-3pm
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
FaceBook: Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au
Parish Newsletter: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au
Secretary: Annie Davies/Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Mary Davies
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office.
Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session on first Tuesday of February, April, June, August, October and December.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am)
Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)
Penguin - Saturday (5:15pm - 5:45pm)Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm– 5.45pm)
FIRST READING
RESPONSORIAL PSALM The Lord set me free from all my fears.
SECOND READING
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION:
Alleluia, alleluia! You are Peter, the rock on which I will build my Church; the
gates of hell will not hold out against it.
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
I may like to reflect on the way Jesus first asked the
question of his disciples and their response to it...
I then focus on how Jesus re-phrased his question causing
Peter to make his declaration of faith...
I move on through the text to Jesus’ joyful reaction to
Peter’s reply and the enormity of what happened next;
I may like to take Jesus’ words one phrase at a time to
absorb their powerful meaning for Peter, the new Church and for me today.
I move more deeply into my prayer, perhaps imagining that I
am alone with Jesus and he is asking me ‘Who do you say I am’?
I stay awhile with Jesus in the stillness and I talk to
him, as Peter did, from the heart.
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12:00noon Devonport
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Saturday: 9:00am Ulverstone
Next
Weekend 5th & 6th July, 2014
Saturday Vigil: 6.00pm
Penguin
Devonport (L.W.C)
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield (L.W.C.)
5.00pm
Latrobe
Eucharistic
Adoration:
Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon,
concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Devonport: Benediction with Adoration - first Friday of
each month.
Prayer Groups:
Charismatic Renewal - Ulverstone (Community Room) Every
second and fourth Monday of the month 7:30pm (In recess over winter)
- Devonport (Emmaus House) Thursdays - 7:30pm
Christian
Meditation - Devonport, Emmaus House - Wednesdays 7pm.
Ministry Rosters 5th & 6th July, 2014
Devonport:
Readers:
Vigil: P Douglals, T Douglas, M Knight
10.30am: H
Williams, D Williams, J Phillips
Ministers of
Communion: Vigil M Doyle, M Heazlewood,
10.30am: B Peters, P Bolster, F Sly, J Carter, E McLagan ,
B Schrader
Cleaners 4th July: M.W.C. 11th July: F Sly, M Hansen
Piety Shop 5th July: H Thompson 6th July: K Hull
Flowers: J Cox, S O'Rourke
Ulverstone:
Reader: M McLaren Ministers of Communion: M Murray, C McIver. J McIver, J Pisarskis
Cleaners: M
McKenzie, M Singh, N Pearce Flowers: M Swain Hospitality: M & K McKenzie
Penguin:
Greeters: A Landers, P Ravaillion Commentator: Y Downes
Readers: A Landers, M Kenney Procession: Cure Family
Ministers of Communion: J Garnsey, S
Ewing Music: L Keen
Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: E Nickols
Care of Church: Y & R Downes
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, G Duff Ministers of Communion: P Anderson
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Ministers of Communion: P
Marlow, Z Smith Procession: J Hyde
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Natasha Gutteridge, John Purtell, Clarrie Byrne, Terry
Charlesworth, Uleen Castles, Shirley Ransom, Kath Smith, Louise Murfet, Joan Stafford, Tom & Nico
Knaap, Maureen Harris, Shanon Breaden, Jamie Griffiths, Anne Johnson, Lionel Rosevear, Kieran
Simpson, Arlene Austria & .........
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
William Wing, Flores McKenzie, Janice Crick, Kaye
Barry and Harry Kink.
Let us pray for those whose
anniversary occurs about this time:
Rosslyn
Wilson, Donald Wilson, Eileen White, Ellen Joyce, Mary Woodcock,
Pamela
Withers, Laurance
Gibbons, Maud Powell, John Cochrane, Hedley Stubbs and also Rose & Henry
Forbes, Santos & Damian
Malciputin, Petronilo Fat, Rengel Gelacio and Ponciano & Dominga Torbiso.
May they Rest in Peace
FROM FR MIKE:
Congratulations to all those who have worked so hard to
ensure that the 125th Anniversary Celebrations for Sacred Heart
School
This past week we had the monthly Finance Committee Meeting
and next week we have the Pastoral Council Meeting. Both of these groups are
important supports to me in my role as Parish Priest and play a significant
role in the life of the Parish. Thanks for your help and support.
This past Friday was the Feast Day for one of our Parish
Churches – the Feast of the Sacred Heart. So far this year I have managed to
miss most of the Parish Church Feast Days until about the day (except for St
Patrick’s Day). Next year we will be working to ensure that these days are
better celebrated with significant events on the day.
Anyone who might like to support the Vinnies CEO Sleepout
(it isn’t too late) you can visit http://www.ceosleepout.org.au/ceos/tas-ceos/
and go to page 3 where you will find Frank Pisano’s name (no photo!!) and
support his effort – every $ donated helps those most in need during this
winter time and your support is gratefully appreciated.
Please Note these DATE CLAIMERS:
- 26th
July (Sat) from 10am-4pm with Sr Christina Neunzerling rsj on A Spirituality
of Pastoral Care. Venue - the Community Room, Ulverstone – information in
the newsletter and on the Noticeboards.
- 24th
August (Sun) at the 10.30am Mass at OLOL, Devonport – Mass for Children.
Until next week, take care on the roads and in your homes,
Fr Mike
PLANNED GIVING PROGRAM:
New envelopes are being distributed
this weekend. Please collect them today. As of 1st July new envelopes are to be
used so please discard all envelopes for last financial year.
“The Joy of the
Gospel is for all people: no-one can be excluded.” #23
A reflection on the teaching of Pope Francis.
Facilitator: Clare
Kiely-Hoye Thursday 3rd July,
7.30pm- 9pm MacKillop Hill. Bookings by Monday
30th June mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au Ph 6428:3095
KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS:
Meeting this Sunday 29th June at Emmaus House,
88 Stewart Street
FAMILY MINISTRY:
The June edition of Faith Families is available at the back of the church – please take one today!
The next Children’s Mass will be at Our Lady of Lourdes at 10.30am on Sunday 24th August.
PIETY SHOP OLOL DEVONPORT:
We urgently require more assistance with the running of the
Piety Shop especially on Saturday evenings. If you are able to help could you
please contact the parish office as soon as possible.
SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES
“Greed and indifference divide the world. The chasms fixed between rich and poor were made by us and we can unmake them.
When we see these people – the marginalised, the hungry and those in flight from violence or disaster – we cannot avoid the question: Why does this poverty still exist? What are the structures that perpetuate it? Can we really say that so many are hungry or dying from preventable disease simply through bad luck?”
From the Australian Catholic Bishop’s Social Justice Statement 2013-2014: Lazarus at our Gate: A critical moment in the fight against world poverty.
FOOTY MARGIN: Round 14 Sydney
BINGO Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.
Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 3rd July are Jon
Halley & ?????
HELP REQUIRED .....WE NEED MORE CALLERS.
If you able to assist in any way
even if it's only once a
month,
please contact the Parish Office.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY OF MOUNT
CARMEL
Carmelite
Monastery 7 Cambridge St. Mass.
Rachel’s
Vineyard Retreats - Many
women and men who suffer from an abortion decision remain locked in their own
internal prison afraid of anyone knowing their deep secret. The retreats are a
beautiful opportunity for people struggling with the emotional or spiritual pain
of an abortion. The retreat is a specific process designed to help you
experience the mercy and compassion of God. Rachel’s Vineyard can help you begin
the healing process. You can start this process of healing by calling Anne on
the confidential phone line 62298739 or email rachelsvineyardtas@aapt.net.au
Our next retreat is on the 12th – 14th Sept 2014.
Evangelii Gaudium
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 always be open so that if
someone, moved by the Spirit, comes there looking for God he or she will not
find a closed door.’
-
Para
47 from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope
Francis, Nov. 24, 2013
What is the effect of ordination to the diaconate?
‘The
deacon, configured to Christ the servant of all, is ordained for service to the
Church. He carries out this service under the authority of his proper bishop by
the ministry of the Word, of divine worship, of pastoral care and of charity.’
From:
Compendium of the Catechism of the
Catholic Church: Paragraph 330 (Catholic Enquiry Centre www.catholicenquiry.com)
Feast Day of the Week – St Thomas
Thomas deserves his place in the sun for a whole host of reasons, not
the least being that he is the only person in the Gospel to address Jesus as
‘God’. This expression of deep faith also is supplemented by an earlier
statement to Jesus where he tells his Master: ‘We do not know where you are
going, so how can we know the way.’ From this statement, we hear a response
from Jesus that is, according to one liturgical source, quite profound: ‘I am
the way, the truth and the life.’
As one of the 12 Apostles, Thomas has become much maligned for his
doubts following the resurrection of Jesus and His appearance to the disciples
in the Upper Room. However, apart from the Gospel narrative, there are other legends
about Thomas that have no doubt served to redeem him. For instance, there is
one that he was the only witness to the Assumption of Mary and that as she rose
heavenwards she dropped her girdle. There also is the long-held tradition in Edessa , Mesopotamia , that
Thomas was the Apostle of India.
Words of Wisdom – Pope Francis, from Evangelii Gaudium
‘The Eucharist, although
it is the fullness of sacramental life is not a prize for the perfect but a
powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’
This meme is for all of
us who have ever turned to St Anthony, as we strive to locate missing car keys,
a wallet or a precious piece of paper. The irony is sweet.
ON
BEING PERPETUALLY DISTRACTED -
an article by fr ron rolheiser
There’s a story in the Hindu tradition that runs
something like this: God and a man are walking down a road. The man asks God:
“What is the world like?” God answers: “I’d like to tell you, but my throat is
parched. I need a cup of cold water. If you can go and get me a cup of cold
water, I’ll tell you what the world is like.” The man heads off to the nearest
house to ask for a cup of cold water. He knocks on the door and it is opened by
a beautiful young woman. He asks for a cup of cold water. She answers: “I will
gladly get it for you, but it’s just time for the noon meal, why don’t you come
in first and eat.” He does.
Thirty years later, they’ve had
five children, he’s a respected merchant, she’s a respected member of the
community, they’re in their house one evening when a hurricane comes and
uproots their house. The man cries out: “Help me, God!” And a voice comes from
the center of the hurricane says: “Where’s my cup of cold water?”
This story is not so much a
spiritual criticism as it is a fundamental lesson in anthropology and
spirituality: To be a human being is to be perpetually distracted. We aren’t
persons who live in habitual spiritual awareness who occasionally get
distracted. We’re persons who live in habitual distraction who occasionally
become spiritually aware. We tend be so preoccupied with the ordinary business
of living that it takes a hurricane of some sort for God to break through.
C.S. Lewis, commenting on why we
tend to turn to God only during a hurricane, once put it this way: God is
always speaking to us, but normally we aren’t aware, aren’t listening.
Accordingly pain is God’s microphone to a deaf world.
However none of us want that
kind of pain; none of us want some disaster, some health breakdown, or some
hurricane to shake us up. We prefer a powerful positive event, a miracle or
mini-miracle, to happen to us to awaken God’s presence in us because we nurse
the false daydream that, if God broke into our lives in some miraculous way, we
would then move beyond our distracted spiritual state and get more serious
about our spiritual lives. But that’s the exact delusion inside the biblical
character in the parable of Lazarus and Dives, where the rich man asks Abraham
to send him back from the dead to warn his brothers that they must change their
way of living or risk the fiery flames. His plea expresses exactly that false
assumption: “If someone comes back from the dead, they will listen to him!” Abraham
doesn’t buy the logic. He answers: “They have Moses and the Prophets. If they
don’t listen to them, they won’t be convinced either, even if someone came back
from the dead.” What lies unspoken but critically important in that reply,
something easily missed by us, the reader, is that Jesus has already come back
from the dead and we aren’t listening to him. Why should we suppose that we
would listen to anyone else who comes back from the dead? Our preoccupation
with the ordinary business of our lives is so strong that we are not attentive
to the one who has already come back from the dead.
Given this truth, the Hindu tale
just recounted is, in a way, more consoling than chiding. To be human is to be
habitually distracted from spiritual things. Such is human nature. Such is our
nature. But knowing that our endless proclivity for distraction is normal
doesn’t give us permission to be comfortable with that fact. Great spiritual
mentors, not least Jesus, strongly urge us to wake up, to move beyond our
over-preoccupation with the affairs of everyday life. Jesus challenges us to
not be anxious about how we are to provide for ourselves. He also challenges us
to read the signs of the times, namely, to see the finger of God, the spiritual
dimension of things, in the everyday events of our lives. All great spiritual
literature does the same. Today there is a rich literature in most spiritual
traditions challenging us to mindfulness, to not be mindlessly absorbed in the
everyday affairs of our lives.
But great spiritual literature
also assures us that God understands us, that grace respects nature, that God
didn’t make a mistake in designing human nature, and that God didn’t make us in
such a way that we find ourselves congenitally distracted and then facing God’s
anger because we are following our nature. Human nature naturally finds itself
absorbed in the affairs of everyday life, and God designed human nature in just
this way.
And so, I think, God must be
akin to a loving parent or grandparent, looking at his or her children at the
family gathering, happy that they have interesting lives that so absorb them,
content not to be always the center of their conscious attention.
