Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney mob: 0417 279 437;
email: mdelaney@netspace.net.au
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
Weekly Homily Podcast: podomatic.com/mikedelaney
Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Parish Magazine: 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.
Weekday Masses 7th – 9th April, 2015
Tuesday: 9:30am
Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: No Mass Funeral Burnie
Friday: 9:30am
Ulverstone
Next Weekend 11th & 12th April, 2015
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield (LWC)
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 – Devonport Emmaus House
Thursdays commencing 7.30pm
Christian Meditation - Devonport, Emmaus House Wednesdays 7pm.
Ministry Rosters 11th & 12th April
2015
Devonport:
Readers
Vigil: M Gaffney, M
Gerrand, H Lim
10.30am:
J Phillips, P Piccolo, K Pearce
Ministers of
Communion: Vigil: B&B
Windebank, T Bird, J Kelly, T Muir, Beau Windebank
10.30am: J DiPietro, S Riley, B Schrader, F Sly, M Mahoney, M
Sheffiff
Cleaners 10th April:
M & L Tippett
& A Berryman
17th April: S Riley, A Stegmann
Piety Shop 11th April: H Thompson
12th April: Kay Hull Flowers: A O’Connor
Ulverstone:
Reader: R Locket
Ministers of Communion: E Reilly, M & K McKenzie,
M
O’Halloran
Cleaners: G&M
Seen, C Roberts
Hospitality: Filipino Community
Flowers: G Doyle
Penguin:
Greeters: J Garnsey, S Ewing Commentator: Y Downes
Readers: Y Downes, T Clayton
Procession: S Ewing, J Barker
Ministers of Communion: M Hiscutt, M Murray
Liturgy:
Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: M Murray
Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Port Sorell:
Readers: E Holloway, G Duff Ministers of Communion: V Duff
Clean/ Flowers /Prepare K Hampton
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Ministers of
Communion: Z Smith,
M Mackey
Procession: M Clarke & Co Music: Jenny & May
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Baby Jai, Terry McKenna, Millie
McCulloch, Robert Windebank,
Let us pray
for those who have died recently: Peter Bolster, Victoria Obiorah and Joseph Girdauskas.
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 1st April – 7th April:
Fr Ray Wells, Ada Davey,
Jane Dutton, Paul Lowry, Duncan Fox, Daphne Wills, Jenny Deegan, Meredith McCormack,
Lloyd Goss and Fr Joseph Howe; Also Kate Last, Hedley & Enid Stubbs, Arch
& Corrie Webb, Bert Jones, Maria & Ronald Grieve, Linda & Henry
Jones.
May they rest in peace
Readings This Week; Easter Sunday
First Reading: Acts 10:34, 37-43
Responsorial Psalm: (R.) This
is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.
Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
Gospel Acclamation:
Alleluia, alleluia! Christ has become our paschal sacrifice; let us feast with
joy in the Lord. Alleluia!
Gospel: John 20:1-9
PREGO
REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:
I begin my prayer by becoming still. I entrust any worries
or concerns I have to the Risen Lord and I ask the Holy Spirit to be with me. I
know that, whatever is going on in my life, I am in the Lord’s care.
Using my imagination I read the text contemplatively,
putting myself in the gospel scene and experiencing it as if it is happening.
Who am I? What do I feel as the story plays out?
I might be Mary. I can’t keep away from the tomb and I am
back there before dawn. As I approach the stone I see it has been set aside.
How do I feel? I seek but do not find; I call but hear nothing. What sense do I
have as I rush back to the house where Peter and the others are hiding? Do I know
this despair of Mary?
Perhaps I am Peter, or the beloved disciple. How do they
run to the tomb? What is driving them out from their hiding place? Fear, anger,
confusion…?
Peter is running more slowly. Why? Has age has caught up
with him? Perhaps he is weighed down by the shame of his denials…
John reaches the tomb first but does not enter. What is
stopping him from going in? Can I bring to mind any fears or doubts that have
held me back?
Now, I move into the tomb and let my eyes get accustomed to
the darkness. What do I see? Now, what do I really see? What do I believe? I
end by talking to Jesus about what it is to begin to emerge from the world of
Good Friday and into the world of Easter.
Readings Next Week: Second Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts 4:32-35 Second Reading: 1 John 5:1-6
Gospel: John 20:19-31
WEEKLY
RAMBLINGS:
Happy Easter to everyone – I pray that the Risen Christ
will bless you and your families at this time.
During the week we heard the news that Joseph Girdauskas (Fr John’s father) and Victoria Obiorah (Fr Alex’s mother) had died; Fr Ray Wells is seriously ill as well as several parishioners in hospital – at the time of the Resurrection we pray for all those who are in need of the healing power of God’s love.
I am not certain when Fr Alex will be travelling back to
Nigeria to be with his family as the funeral will not be held for some weeks.
To support Fr Alex I would like to suggest that we have a special leaving
collection next weekend (11th & 12th). Anyone who wishes to contribute can also place
the money in an envelope and hand into the Parish Office at any time. The St V
de P Collection for this month will occur the following weekend.
Just a little bit of housekeeping – I am having trouble
with my emails and my standby address mike.delaney@catholicpriest.org.au
no longer works; my main address mdelaney@netspace.net.au
is off-line so if anyone wants to send me an email urgently please send it to mike.delaney51@gmail.com
Another challenge for people. I have a 10 week discussion
program on ReFraming our Life & Work into a Christian Context. My hope is
that it might run over two 5 week blocks and I am seeking participants – the
program is so new that it is not yet released in Australia!!! – anyone
interested is invited to give me their name and we’ll see what happens.
Until next week, please take care on the roads and in your
homes.
DIVINE MERCY SUNDAY & NOVENA:
The Novena starts on Good Friday and continues for nine
days (it takes about 20 to 30 minutes), starting 10am at Sacred Heart Church
and in Devonport at Emmaus House (next door to the Parish Office) at 6:30pm
(Sat. may differ). A special Mass will be held on Mercy Sunday at Sacred Heart
Church at 9am followed by a short devotion and morning tea. For those who
cannot make it to the Novena there are leaflets in Mass Centres so you can say
it at home or with friends. Further information please phone Bruce Peters
6421:0607.
BAPTISMAL PREPARATION SESSION: Tuesday 7th
April, 7:30pm at Parish House, 90 Stewart Street, Devonport. This session is for families who are
thinking of baptism, have booked a baptism, wanting to know more about baptism
or for those who are expecting a child.
CWL DEVONPORT: Next
meeting Wednesday 8th April at 2.00 pm
CWL ULVERSTONE: Next meeting Friday 10th April
2pm Sacred Heart Church Community Room.
Easter Raffle Winner B Brakey. Thanks to all for your
support.
COMMISSIONING MASS:
St Vincent de Paul Society Commissioning of Mrs Toni Muir
as State President is to be held on Saturday 11th April, 2.00pm at St
Finn Barrs Church Invermay Launceston. Members of Mersey Leven Parish
are warmly invited to join in the Mass and Blessing of the extension to State
Office. Transport can be arranged – please contact Toni directly on 6424:5296
or 0438 245 296.
FLOWERS OLOL
CHURCH: Urgent – Are you able to help? We are
desperately in need of volunteers for the flower roster at OLOL Church and
especially for Easter! If you are able to assist on the flower roster please
contact the Parish Office 6424:2783 as soon as possible?
Faith Families April
edition is now available from all good Mass Centres.
SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM:
We continue to pray for the children as they prepare for
Confirmation and First Eucharist.
Some dates coming up worth noting for all parishioners are:
Presentation of the Lord’s Prayer – at all masses or liturgies on
the weekend of 2nd / 3rd May.
Presentation of the Creed – at all masses or liturgies on
the weekend of 23rd / 24th May.
Children’s Mass – The Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes,
Sunday 24th May, 10.30am. This is for
all children in the parish, not just those preparing for the Sacraments. It is
also Pentecost Sunday.
Confirmation and First Eucharist Masses (with Archbishop
Porteous) Saturday 1st August, Devonport, 6pm and Sunday 2nd August,
Ulverstone, 9am.
SET A FIRE DOWN IN MY SOUL!
For all young adults in Mersey Leven Parish, you are
invited to FIRE, a weekend retreat, held at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone.
Speakers include: Archbishop Julian Porteous, Sisters of the Immaculata and
special guest, Sam Clear. When? Friday, 17 April (6.30pm Gathering for a 7pm
start) to Sunday, 19 April. Cost?
$20 (includes Friday night, light supper; Saturday, main meals; and Sunday,
morning tea).
FOOTY POINTS MARGIN TICKETS:
AFL Footy is about to start and once again we will
be selling points margin tickets each week for $2.00 There are three $100
winners every week. The first roster game for the footy point’s margin ticket
will be Thursday 2nd April (Richmond v Carlton), then all tickets
for the rest of the season will be on Friday night’s game.
Make sure you buy a ticket (or two)
as you need to be in it to win it!!
BINGO
Thursday Nights OLOL Hall,
Devonport.
Eyes down 7.30pm! 9th
April – Callers Jon Halley & Alan Luxton.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
ST TERESA OF AVILA: PRAYER FRIENDSHIP WITH JESUS:
Two talks to be given by Fr Paul Maunder, Carmelite Friar,
to celebrate the V Centenary of the Birth of St Teresa. Held at Launceston
Parish Pastoral Centre, 44 Margaret Street, Launceston from 7pm-8pm, Wednesday
15th April and Thursday 16th April. An opportunity to share a
cuppa and chat afterwards. Please ring Sandra Walkling 6331:4991 for
bookings.
PALM SUNDAY PILGRIMAGE:
THANK YOU to the over 500 members of our wonderful
Tasmanian Catholic Church who came together from across the state last Sunday
in an energetic, faith-filled and all-round awesome celebration of Palm Sunday
Pilgrimage! You made it our best yet! There was a lot of fun, and
community and faith shared, that even when the rain joined in during our street
procession, our spirits could not be dampened! Our deep gratitude goes to
the organising committee for the immense work and passion put into such a
successful gathering, and to the many, many volunteers without whom such an
event would not be possible.
N.B. As 2016 is an
international celebration of World Youth Day, there will be no Palm Sunday
Pilgrimage next year.
JUST SPORTS:
Evangelii
Gaudium
“Politics,
though often denigrated, remains a lofty vocation and one of the highest forms
of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.”
Par 205 from Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis, Nov.
24, 2013
Saint of the Week – St
Stanislaus (April 11)
Anyone who reads the history of Eastern Europe cannot help but chance on
the name of Stanislaus, the saintly but tragic bishop of Kraków, patron of
Poland. He is remembered with Saints Thomas More (June 22) and Thomas Becket
(December 29) for vigorous opposition to the evils of an unjust government.
Born in Szczepanow
near Kraków on July 26, 1030, he was ordained a priest after being educated in
the cathedral schools of Gniezno, then capital of Poland, and at Paris. He was
appointed preacher and archdeacon to the bishop of Kraków, where his eloquence
and example brought about real conversion in many of his penitents, both clergy
and laity. He became bishop of Kraków in 1072.
During an
expedition against the Grand Duchy of Kiev, Stanislaus became involved in the
political situation of Poland. Known for his outspokenness, he aimed his
attacks at the evils of the peasantry and the king, especially the unjust wars
and immoral acts of King Boleslaus II.
The king first
excused himself, then made a show of penance, then relapsed into his old ways.
Stanislaus continued his open opposition in spite of charges of treason and
threats of death, finally excommunicating the king. The latter, enraged,
ordered soldiers to kill the bishop. When they refused, the king killed him
with his own hands.
Forced to flee to Hungary, Boleslaus supposedly
spent the rest of his life as a penitent in the Benedictine abbey in Osiak.
Words of Wisdom – St Edith Stein
“The nation doesn't simply need what we have.
It needs what we are.”
THE PASSION OF JESUS
A reflection by Fr Ron Rolheiser. The original post can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/the-passion-of-jesus/#.VRyc4vmUeNE
A reflection by Fr Ron Rolheiser. The original post can be found at http://ronrolheiser.com/the-passion-of-jesus/#.VRyc4vmUeNE
The renowned spiritual writer Henri Nouwen, shares how he once went to a hospital to visit a man dying of cancer. The man was still relatively young and had been a very hardworking and generative person. He was the father of a family and provided well for them. He was the chief executive officer in a large company and took good care of both the company and his employees. Moreover he was involved in many other organizations, including his church, and, because of his leadership abilities, was often the one in charge. But now, this once-so-active man, this person who was so used to being in control of things, was lying on a hospital bed, dying, unable to take care of even his most basic needs.
As Nouwen approached the bed, the man took his hand. It’s significant to note the particular frustration he expressed: “Father, you have to help me! I’m dying, and I am trying to make peace with that, but there is something else too: You know me, I have always been in charge – I took care of my family. I took care of the company. I took care of the church. I took care of things! Now I am lying here, on this bed and I can’t even take care of myself. I can’t even go to the bathroom! Dying is one thing, but this is another! I’m helpless! I can’t do anything anymore!”
Despite his exceptional pastoral skills, Nouwen, like any of us in a similar situation, was left rather helpless in the face of this man’s plea. The man was undergoing an agonizing passivity. He was now a patient. He had once been active, the one in charge; and now, like Jesus in the hours leading up to his death, he was reduced being a patient, one who is ministered to by others. Nouwen, for his part, tried to help the man see the connection between what he was undergoing and what Jesus endured in his passion, especially how this time of helplessness, diminishment, and passivity is meant to be a time where we can give something deeper to those around us.
Among other things, Nouwen read the Passion narratives of the Gospels aloud to him because what this man was enduring parallels very clearly what Jesus endured in the hours leading up to his death, a time we Christians entitle, “the Passion of Jesus”. What exactly was the Passion of Jesus?
As Christians, we believe that Jesus gave us both his life and his death. Too often, however, we do not distinguish between the two, though we should: Jesus gave his life for us in one way, through his activity; he gave his death for us in another way, through his passivity, his passion.
It is easy to misunderstand what the Gospels mean by the Passion of Jesus. When we use the word passion in relationship to Jesus’ suffering we spontaneously connect it to the idea of passion as pain, the pain of the crucifixion, of scourging, of whips, of nails in his hands, of humiliation before the crowd. The Passion of Jesus does refer to these, but the word asks for a different focus here. The English word passion takes it root in the Latin, passio, meaning passivity, and that’s its real connotation here. The word “patient” also derives from this. Hence what the Passion narratives describe is Jesus’ passivity, his becoming a “patient”. He gives his death to us through his passivity, just as he had previously given his life to us through his activity.
Indeed the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke can each be neatly divided into two distinct parts: In each Gospel we can split off everything that is narrated until Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and call this part of the Gospel: The Activity of Jesus Christ. Then we could take the section of the Gospels that we call “the Passion” and call that section: The Passivity of Jesus Christ. This would in fact help clarify an important distinction: Jesus gave his live for us through his activity whereas he gave his death for us through his passivity. Hence: Up until his arrest, the Gospels describe Jesus as active, as doing in things, as being in charge, preaching, teaching, performing miracles, consoling people. After his arrest, all the verbs become passive: he is led away, manhandled by the authorities, whipped, helped in carrying his cross, and ultimately nailed to the cross. After his arrest, like a patient in palliative care or hospice, he no longer does anything; rather others do it for him and to him. He is passive, a patient, and in that passivity he gave his death for us.
There are many lessons in this, not least the fact that life and love are given not just in what we do for others but also, and perhaps even more deeply, in what we absorb at those times when we are helplessness, when we have no choice except to be a “patient”.
Human and Divine Are One
From an email reflection by Fr Richard Rohr posted on 16th March 2015
The shape of God is the shape of reality, and the shape of
reality is the shape of God. The Trinity clarifies that God is a fountain
fullness of outflowing love. God is relationship itself, and the flow is always
in one direction, that of outpouring love. It's a theological impossibility, if
you get the doctrine of Trinity correct, for there to be any hatred, wrath, or
pettiness in God. A Trinitarian God is internally and externally the
same--infinite generosity.
But, some will say, the Bible talks about God's wrath. Yes,
it does, but I would say that it was the people who were hateful at that point,
and we wanted to create a God in our image. So we justify our wrath, our
vengeance, and our violence by saying, "God orders us to kill all the
Canaanites." There are those who say that the history of religion and the
history of violence are often the same thing. Cheap religion invariably gives
us a high level justification for torture, genocide, killing, oppressing, and enslaving
others.
Christians must start to believe in the God that Jesus
presented. And Jesus presented an image of an entirely loving and merciful God
(despite Matthew's unfortunate and punitive metaphor of Gehenna, Jerusalem's
smoldering garbage dump, to represent the possibility of negative choice). We
never need to apologize for Jesus. Yet I don't know how much effect he's really
had on the formation of Christianity. On the last day of my Church History
course in 1969, as our wonderful professor was backing out of the classroom
door he said, "After all is said and done, Christianity was much more
formed by Plato than it was by Jesus." We knew that in Platonic
philosophy, matter and spirit are utterly separate and even enemies. Plato
could not put body and spirit/soul together. This dualism is the most common
world view even today, and yet quantum physics now reveals this division to be
entirely untrue in the very structure of the universe.
In Jesus, matter and spirit were presented as totally one.
Human and Divine were put together in his ordinary body, just as in the rest of
humanity. That's Christianity's core and central message! It's the only thing
that fully differentiates the Christian religion from other world religions:
Christians believe that God chose the human, the material, the physical, the
earthly in which to reveal God's very Self. Two thousand years later this is
still a scandal for most of the world. It just doesn't seem
"spiritual" enough!
Adapted from Hell, No! (CD, MP3 download);
and In the Beginning (CD, MP3 download)
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