26th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B - Part 1)

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish

Parish Priest:  Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437; mdelaney@netspace.net.au

Assistant Priest:  Fr Alexander Obiorah 
Mob: 0447 478 297; alexchuksobi@yahoo.co.uk

Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310

Parish Office:
90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)

Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160 
Email: mlcathparish-dsl@keypoint.com.au

Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher  
Pastoral Council Chair:  Mary Davies

Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au

Parish Mass Times: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au

Weekly Homily Podcast: podomatic.com/mikedelaney    

Parish Magazine: mlcathparishnewsletter.blogspot.com.au

Weekday Masses 29th September – 3rd October, 2015

Tuesday:       9:30am – Penguin

Wednesday:  9:30am - Latrobe … St Jerome

Thursday:     12noon - Devonport …St Thèrèse of the Child Jesus

Friday:          9:30am - Ulverstone … The Holy Guardian Angels

                      9:30am - Devonport

Saturday:      9:00am - Ulverstone

                        

Next Weekend 3rd & 4th October, 2015

Saturday Vigil:  6:00pm  Penguin

                                        Devonport

Sunday Mass:   8:30am  Port Sorell                                                                           

                         9:00am  Ulverstone 

                       10:30am  Devonport

                       11:00am  Sheffield   

                         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 3rd & 4th October, 2015

Devonport:

Readers Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye 

10:30am:  E Petts, K Douglas

Ministers of Communion:

Vigil: M Doyle, M Heazlewood, S Innes, M Gerrand,

P Shelverton, M Kenney

10:30am: B Peters, F Sly, J Carter, E Petts

Cleaners 2^nd October: M.W.C.

9^th October: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley

Piety Shop 3^rd October:  R Baker 4^th October: P Piccolo Flowers: M O’Brien-Evans

Ulverstone:

Reader: E Standring Ministers of Communion: M Byrne, D Griffin, K Foster, R Locket

Cleaners:  Knights of the Southern Cross   Flowers: A Miller    Hospitality: K Foster

Penguin:

Greeters: J & T Kiely   Commentator: J Barker          Readers:  A Guest, T Clayton

Procession: A Landers    Ministers of Communion: T Clayton, E Nickols

Liturgy: Pine Road    Setting Up: A Landers    Care of Church: Y & R Downes

Latrobe:

Reader: M Chan   Ministers of Communion:  P Marlow, M Eden    Procession:  M Clarke   Music: Hermie

Port Sorell:

Readers:  G Duff, P Anderson Ministers of Communion: T Jeffries Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: K Hampton

Readings This Week: 26^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Numbers 11:25-29 Second Reading: James 3:16-4:3 Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 47-48 

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY'S GOSPEL:

John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him; no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us.” “If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out

Readings Next Week: 27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Genesis 2:18-24 Second Reading: Hebrews 2:9-11 Gospel: Mark 10:2-16

Your prayers are asked for the sick:

Geraldine Roden, Joy Carter, Jenny Morris, Christopher Ockwell, Josephine Murray,
 Reg Hinkley, Noreen Burton, Joanne Haigh, Harry Cartwright, Shirley Stafford & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently:

John Mahoney, Stanley Henderson, Aileen McHale, Anne Bailey, John Freeman, 
Sr Trish Dance, Brother Ernest Travers, Fausta Farrow, Charles Barker, Joan Jones, 

Joan Collins, Terry McKenna, Dulcie McCormack, Bill Calder, Ron Finch,

Kevin Court, Godfrey Matthews, Patrick Tunchon, Mark Gatt and Lyn Howard.

                Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 23^rd – 29^th September

                John Hall, Mike Downie, Phyliss Arrowsmith, Kaye Jackson, Harold Davis, Pauline Kennedy,               Harry Desmond, Kathleen Howard, Shiela Mathew, Joan Chettle, Lila Bramich, Adam Hugen.

May they rest in Peace

2015–2016 SOCIAL JUSTICE STATEMENT:

For those who’ve Come across the Seas:

Justice for refugees and asylum seekers.

The 2015 – 2016 Social Justice Statement is titled For Those Who’ve Come Across The Seas: justice for refuges and asylum seekers.  
In this Social Justice Statement, Australia’s Bishops ask us to re-examine our responses to refugees and asylum seekers. They remind us of the nearly 60 million people around the world who are displaced from their homes and of the war and violence that are devastating countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. When people come to us seeking refuge, can we in conscience respond to them with cruel and self-defeating policies such as offshore processing and indefinite detention? For further details about the Social Justice Statement, visit the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council website www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au or call (02) 8306 3499.

As parishioners responding to this challenge let us take steps to ensure we are well aware of all of the issues before we make comments about the needs of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

WEEKLY RAMBLINGS:
I enjoy writing these weekly ramblings because they give me an opportunity to share some of the things that are exercising my mind and challenging me to think beyond the square.

As I read material about the way different Church communities are seeking to grow more fully into the challenge of forming disciples for Christ – not a term that we use in our Catholic tradition that often – I am becoming more aware that there are certain steps that we need to take, even if we are only able to take tiny steps at any one time.

In our Parish Pastoral Plan
(http://mlcathparishplan.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/merseyleven-catholic-parish-parish-plan.html) we highlighted certain areas that we would look at over the next few years including (a)  Continue to develop a stronger identify and unity as the Mersey Leven Parish; (b)  Enhance communication and leadership within all aspects of the Parish; (c) that the Liturgical life of the Parish be a primary focus; (d) that the Pastoral Council provides opportunities for parishioners to participate in all aspects of the parish; (e)  That Adult Faith Education continues to be encouraged throughout the Parish; (f) that there be ongoing efforts to enable the Youth of the Parish to be involved in Liturgy, ministry and social engagement in the Parish; and (g)  That the Parish Social Committee be comprised of people from all faith communities and age groups, and proactively work across the Parish to develop and enable an annual calendar of activities (edited to give a summary of the recommendations).

Each week as well as the printed newsletter we provide an internet version which includes material that we cannot fit into the printed version. There are regular articles by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI and Fr Richard Rohr OFM and I have recently added blogs by Fr Michael White and Thinking Faith. This week there is also the whole of the Social Justice Statement and a report of Pope Francis’ comments to the American Bishops and about their role in their Dioceses.

These can provide opportunities for reflection and are offered as one step in further faith development. I hope that people will also take the opportunity to attend one of the sessions presented by Margaret Silf to be held at MacKillop Hill or in Burnie this week – opportunities like these are few and far between.

Please take care on the roads and in your homes.

                                                                   

MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:

MARGARET SILF, one of the most acclaimed and loved spiritual writers of our time, is returning to MacKillop Hill Forth on 1^st October 10am -12 noon and 7pm-9pm; Burnie 2^nd October 7pm - 9pm. don’t miss this opportunity… Save your place… now! $25/Donation. Books available to purchase. Bookings    Phone 6428:3095    Email: rsjforth@bigpond.net.au

CANCELLATION:  COFFEE SHOPPE MONDAY 28^th SEPTEMBER HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

MERSEY LEVEN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ROSARY GROUP:

For some time there has been hope of bringing Fabienne Guerrero to Australia so we may hear her story of how she was taken in by New Age teachings and the dangers of this movement and how she came back to her Catholic faith.

At last Fabienne is coming here and will give her talk at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Devonport Thursday 1^st October at 7pm.  Fabienne has been sponsored for her trip by a private person and is accommodated in private homes on her tour. Please come along, there is no charge but there will be a collection to help to cover travel costs.

ST MARY'S CHURCH PENGUIN:

BBQ tea after Mass, Saturday 17th October.   All welcome! 

Please bring a salad or dessert to share.

NOVEMBER REMEMBRANCE BOOKS:

November is the month we remember in a special way all those who have died. Should you wish anyone to be remembered, write the names of those to be prayed for on the outside of an envelope and place the clearly marked envelope in the collection basket at Mass or deliver to the Parish Office by Thursday 22^nd October.

COLUMBAN CALENDARS:

The 2016 Columban Art Calendar is now available from the Piety Shop's at OLOL Church and Sacred Heart Church for $9.00. When you purchase the calendar, you are participating in God's Mission and assisting Columbans in meeting the needs of the poor.

SACRED HEART SCHOOL FAIR:

We are currently seeking donations of the following items for our School Fair: craft items, pots, plants, books, DVDs and items for the garage sale. All items can be dropped into the School Office. If you have something that you'd like to donate to the Garage Sale but have no way of getting it to us - let us know and we can organise for it to be picked up. Enquiries: 6425:2680 or corey.mcgrath@gmail.com

My sincere thanks to all parishioners for prayers, best wishes and kind support during my recent treatment – God Bless you all ….. Marie Knight

FOOTY MARGIN TICKETS:

Ordinary $2.00 footy margin tickets are being sold as normal during the Finals.

Semi Final – Hawthorn won by 74 points: Winners; Lyn Griffiths, Kevin Hayes, unknown.

Thursday Nights OLOL Hall D’port. Eyes down 7.30pm.

Callers 1^st October Jon Halley & Alan Luxton.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:

SOLEMNITY OF ST THERESE:

A Sung Mass WILL BE CELEBRATED IN HONOUR OF St Teresa of Jesus (Avila), the foundress of the Discalced Carmelite Order, at the Carmelite Monastery, 7 Cambridge Street Launceston Thursday 15th October at 9:30am. Archbishop Julian will be the principal celebrant and homilist. This celebration will also mark the close of the 5th Centenary Teresian Year. Morning tea will follow Mass. All welcome. A Novena of Masses and Prayers will also be offered in preparation for the feast from 6th – 14th October. Intentions may be sent to Mother Teresa-Benedicta at the Monastery.

Laudato Si': On the Care of Our Common Home Pope Francis' Encyclical Laudato Si':

On the Care for Our Common Home is a call for global action as well as an appeal for deep inner conversion. He points to numerous ways world organisations, nations and communities must move forward and the way individuals -- believers and people of good will -- should see, think, feel and act. Each week, we offer one of the Pope's suggestions, with the paragraph numbers to indicate its place in the Encyclical. “Put an end to ‘mental pollution.’ Think deeply, live wisely, love generously.” (Par 47)

Saint of the Week – Sts Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels (Sep 29)

Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only St Michael, St Gabriel and St Raphael are named. St Michael appears in Daniel's vision as "the great prince" who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God's armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to St Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honouring St Michael and the angels in the fifth century. St Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing St Michael's role in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah. St Raphael's activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the family fortune. The memorials of St Gabriel (March 24) and St Raphael (October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to St Michael's. Each of these Aarchangels performs a different mission in Scripture: St Michael protects; St Gabriel announces; St Raphael guides. 

Words of Wisdom - A focus on leadership This week, we continue our series of quotes on leadership. It is such an important aspect of Church life – we hope this will inspire some of the people in your community to  fulfil their potential as servant leaders. Mark 10:43-45

Meme of the week

Considering our Saints of the Week are the Archangels Gabriel, Michael and Raphael, we thought it was apt to share this. 

                                         

                                                              

THINGS BEYOND OUR IMAGINATION

An article by Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here

Recently, at an academic dinner, I was sitting across the table from a nuclear scientist. At one point, I asked him this question: Do you believe that there’s human life on other planets? His answer surprised me: “As a scientist, no, I don’t believe there’s human life on another planet. Scientifically, the odds are strongly against it. But, as a Christian, I believe there’s human life on other planets. Why? My logic is this: Why would God chose to have only one child?”

Why would God choose to have only one child? Good logic. Why indeed would an infinite God, capable of creating and loving beyond all imagination, want to do this only once? Why would an infinite God, at a certain point, say: “That’s enough. That’s my limit. These are all the people I can handle and love! Anything beyond this is too much for me! Now is the time to stop creating and enjoy what I’ve done.”

Put this way, my scientist friend’s hunch makes a lot of sense. Given that God is infinite, why would God ever stop doing what God is doing? Why would God favor just us, who have been already been given life, and not give that same gift endlessly to others?  By what logic, other than the limits of our own mind, might we posit an end to creation?

We struggle with this because what God has already created, both in terms of the immensity of the universe and the number of people who have been born in history, is already too much for our imagination to grasp. There are billions and billions of planets, with trillions of processes happening on each of these every second. Just on our planet, earth, there are now more than seven billion people living, millions more have lived before us, and many more are being born every second. And inside of each of these persons there is a unique heart and mind caught-up in an infinite and complex array of joys, heartaches, and moral choices. Moreover, all of these trillions of human and cosmic processes have been going on for millions and billions of years. How can we imagine a heart and a mind somewhere that knows and loves and cares intimately about every individual person, every individual joy, every individual heartache, every individual moral choice, and every individual planet, star, and grain of sand, as if it were an only child?

The answer is clear: It cannot be imagined! To try to imagine this is to end up either in atheism or nursing a false concept of God. Any God worth believing in has to be able to know and love beyond human imagination, otherwise the immensity of our universe and the uniqueness of our lives are not being held inside the loving care of anyone’s hand and heart.

But how can God know, love, and care for all of this immensity and complexity? Moreover, how will all these billions and billions of people go to heaven, so that all of us end up in one body of love within which we will be in intimate community with each other?  That’s beyond all imagination, at least in terms of human capacity, but my hunch is that heaven cannot be imagined not because it is too complex but because it is too simple, namely, simple in the way Scholastic philosophy affirms that God is simple:  God so embodies and encompasses all complexity so as to constitute a reality too simple to be imagined.

It seems too that the origins of our universe are also too simple to be imagined: Our universe, in so far as we know it, had a beginning and scientists believe (The Big Bang Theory) that everything originated from a single cell of energy too tiny to measure or imagine. This single cell exploded with a force and an energy that is still going on today, still expanding outward and creating billions and billions of planets in its wake. And scientists believe that all of this will come back together again, involute, sometime in a future which will take billions of more years to unfold.

So here’s my hunch: Maybe the billions and billions of people, living and dead and still to be born, in both their origins and in their eventual destiny, parallel what has happened and is happening in the origin, expansion, and eventual involution of our universe, that is, just as God is creating billions and billions of planets, God is creating billions and billions of people. And, just as our physical universe will one day come back together again into a single unity, so too will all people come together again in a single community within which God’s intimate love for each of us will bring us together and hold us together in a unity too simple to be imagined, except that now that union with God and each other will not be unconscious but will be known and felt in a very heightened, self-conscious gratitude and ecstasy.

                                                               

Go to the Blog Archive at the top of the page for Part 2 of this weekend's Newsletter