Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date.

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)

Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is sick or in need of assistance in the Parish please visit them. Then, if they are willing and give permission, could you please pass on their names to the Parish Office. We have a group of parishioners who are part of the Care and Concern Group who are willing and able to provide some backup and support to them. Unfortunately, because of privacy issues, the Parish Office is not able to give out details unless prior permission has been given.

Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.

Parish Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for gathering us together
and calling us to serve as your disciples.

You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission

  of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.

Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will

for the spiritual renewal of our parish.

Give us strength, courage, and clear vision
as we use our gifts to serve you.

We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,

and ask for her intercession and guidance
as we strive to bear witness

to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.

Amen.

Weekday Masses 14^th – 17^th November, 2017    Next Weekend 18^th & 19^th November, 2017

Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin

Devonport

             NO MASSES – Priests on Retreat Sunday Mass:   8:30am Port Sorell

9:00am Ulverstone

10:30am Devonport

11:00am Sheffield

5:00pm Latrobe



              Ministry Rosters 18th & 19th November, 2017

Devonport:

Readers: Vigil: M Kelly, B Paul, R Baker    10:30am: A Hughes, T Barrientos, P Piccolo

Ministers of Communion: Vigil: T Muir, M Davies, M Gerrand, D Peters, J Heatley

10.30am: B & N Mulcahy, L Hollister, K Hull, S Samarakkody, R Batepola

Cleaners. 17th Nov: P & T Douglas 24th Nov: F Sly, M Hansen, R McBain

Piety Shop 18^th Nov: L Murfet   19^th Nov: D French

Ulverstone:

Reader/s: M McLaren

Ministers of Communion: B Deacon, J Allen, G Douglas, K Reilly

Cleaners: K.S.C. Flowers:   C Stingel    Hospitality: K Foster

Penguin:

Greeters: Fefita Family Commentator: Y Downes

Readers: T Clayton, M Murray   Ministers of Communion: Fefita Family   Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C

Setting Up: F Aichberger   Care of Church: Y & R Downes

Latrobe:

Reader: M Eden    Ministers of Communion: M Kavic, M Mackey   Procession of Gifts: J Hyde

Port Sorell:

Readers: D Leaman, T Jeffries    Ministers of Communion: P Anderson      Cleaners/Flowers/Prepare: C Howard



Readings next week - Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

First Reading: Wisdom 6:12-16

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

PREGO REFLECTION:

This week, I ponder this parable.
It may take several days to explore the richness of Jesus’s words.
In whatever way I am drawn to pray, I allow the Holy Spirit to guide me.
I may like to picture myself as one of the bridesmaids, or perhaps as someone waiting with them. Noticing what happens as the story unfolds, allowing myself to be drawn into the events, I share my thoughts and feelings with the Lord as I am moved.
What does it mean for me to wait?
Am I patient and prepared for whatever may happen?
Or am I anxious, tending to give up or to sort everything out in my own way?
I talk with the Lord about these moments in my life.
What has the Lord to say to me?
What happens when I hear the cry, ‘The bridegroom is here!’?
I may visualise the joy, the agitation, the different reactions of the girls.
Am I ready to meet the Lord as he comes to me in my life?
Again, I speak with the Lord from my heart, and listen to what he says to me.
I end my time of prayer asking the Lord for whatever grace I need.

Readings next week - Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

First Reading: Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6

Gospel: Matthew 25:14-30

Your prayers are asked for the sick:

Joseph Kiely, Romeo Gayo, Margaret Kenney, Victoria Webb, David Welch

& …

Let us pray for those who have died recently:

Ken Lowry, Dennis Waterman, Denise O'Rourke, Kelvin Green, Rosalinda Reyes, Neville Parker, Efren Menalabag, Bruce Beard, John Novaski, Viv Crocker, Peter McCormick and Josefina Turnbull.

Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 8^th – 14^th November

Nicole Fairbrother, Damian Matthews, Jessie Hope, Shirley Winkler, Finbarr Kennedy, Ron Garnsey, James McLagan, Catherine Fraser, Olive Purton, deceased members Legion of Mary and all those named in our November Remembrance Book.

May they rest in peace

Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome and congratulate ….

Eamon Hart

son of Nick & Bernadette, on his Baptism this weekend.

The Education of future Priests Appeal enables

Tasmanians to help fund the training and education of seminarians on their journey to the priesthood. The cost of training each seminarian is approximately $45,000 per annum, with most students taking up to seven years to complete their studies. Seminarians studying to become priests for the Archdiocese of Hobart must attend theological colleges interstate or overseas for the duration of their studies and formation. The Education of Future Priests Appeal helps to meet the costs of training our seminarians: Tuition fees for theological education, seminary accommodation and living fees, health insurance costs, a modest monthly study allowance, interstate travel between Melbourne and Hobart and assistance with the costs of pastoral work experience in parishes.

Please give generously to the Education of Future Priests Appeal. Appeal envelopes are now available.

Weekly Ramblings

Composition of the Parish Pastoral Team (PPT). As mentioned over the past two weeks in my Ramblings we are beginning the process to form a new PPT. The team will consist of - Parish priest and assistant Priest; 7 HOPs (Whole of Parish members (see below for the process) and 6 SCs (Local Mass Centre Member). Because some people might fit into both categories the max would be 15 with a min of 9 members.

Process of selection of the PPT:

HOP members discerned first from across the whole parish – non geographical. Interested Parishioners will be invited to attend a discernment session with the Parish Leadership Team. The PLT would then invite members as a result of this process.

Following the appointment of the HOP members, SC members would then be chosen by each mass centre community. An SC could be, but not necessarily, someone already on the PPT as a HOP member.

Each year, as priests, we make time to attend a Retreat in order to find that needed time and space to reflect more deeply on our relationship with God. We are fortunate to be able to do this when some many of you might also like to be able to find the time and space to grow in your relationship with God. This year our Retreat is being led by Fr Greg Bourke, the National Director of Clergy Life and Ministry. Fr Smiley and I will be away from Monday until Friday – please ring the Office if there is an emergency and we will find a way to deal with your need.

There is just two weeks until our whole of Parish Mass – 11am on 26^th November – at Sacred Heart Church, Ulverstone. At present we only have two of these occasions a year (the Parish Forum in August suggested we should have more!!) so I extend a warm invitation to everyone in the Parish to join us on this special day to celebrate our Parish life and Vision. See elsewhere in the newsletter for more information.

Please take care on the roads and in your homes,

CHORISTERS AND MUSICIANS:

The first rehearsal for our Parish Christ the King Mass will be Tuesday 14^th November at 7 pm in Ulverstone. All welcome. Contact John for further details re music. john.leearcher@gmail.com or phone

0419 523 867.

ADVENT LITURGY PREPARATION:

All those interested in assisting in the preparation of our Advent liturgies are invited to meet next Sunday 19^th November 2:30pm – 4:00pm at ‘Parish House’, 90 Stewart Street, Devonport. Phone Peter 0437 921 366 for further information.



WHOLE OF PARISH MASS:

There will be a barbecue lunch after Mass at Ulverstone on Sunday 26^th November. Everyone is welcome. To assist with catering, could you please indicate on the sheet provided in the foyer of each Mass Centre whether you will be able to bring a salad or dessert? If you are able to assist with setting up, serving etc. on the day, please contact Rosemarie Baker

0408 123 586. Thank you.

MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:

Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe: Monday 27^th November, 10:30am – 12 noon. Last one for 2017!   See you there!   All welcome! Phone: 6428:3095   Email: mackillophill.forth@sosj.org.au

·   Wednesday 29^th November 2017: St Brendan-Shaw College Year 12 Graduation Mass and Dinner.

ADVENT 2017:

You are invited to participate in an Advent Program based on the Scripture Readings of the Season. There will be two sessions Thursday 7th December, 10am – 11:30am and Thursday 21st December, 10am – 11:30am at ‘Parish House’, 90 Stewart Street, Devonport. For bookings contact Clare Kiely-Hoye 6428:2760 or leave a message.



Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!

Callers for Thursday 16^th November – Rod Clark & Alan Luxton.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:

GOLDEN JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS “CHARISMATIC MASS”

Catholic Charismatic Renewal are sponsoring its Golden Jubilee Celebration at St Michaels Catholic Church Campbell Town Tasmania next Saturday 18th November 2017, commencing at 11:00am with Praise and Worship and Mass celebrated by Archbishop Julian Porteous, followed by a shared lunch. All denominations are welcome to come and celebrate the liturgy in a vibrant and dynamic way using charismatic praise and worship. If you wish to know more or require transport, please contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043, Michel Gaffney 0447 018 068, or Tom Knapp 6425:2442.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

13^th- 17^th Nov: Diocesan Retreat – Maryknoll

14^thNov: 7pm Choir and music rehearsal - Sacred Heart Ulverstone

19^th Nov:   Advent Liturgy Preparation – Parish House, Devonport, 2:30pm - 4pm

25^th Nov: 2pm Choir and music rehearsal - Sacred Heart Ulverstone

26^th Nov: 11am Whole of Parish Mass - Ulverstone.

3^rd Dec:    2-4pm Parish Forum – Ulverstone

7^th & 21^st Dec:

              Advent Program 10am - 11:30am - Parish House Devonport.

PARALYSIS, EXASPERATION, AND HELPLESSNESS AS PRAYER

This is an article from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. The original article can be found here

Several years ago I received an email that literally stopped my breath. A man who had been for many years an intellectual and faith mentor to me, a man whom I thoroughly trusted, and a man with whom I had developed a life-giving friendship, had killed both his wife and himself in a murder-suicide. The news left me gasping for air, paralyzed in terms of how to understand and accept this as well as how to pray in the face of this.

I had neither words of explanation nor words for prayer. My heart and my head were like two water pumps working a dry well, useless and frustrated. Whatever consolation I had was drawn from an assurance from persons who knew him more intimately that there had been major signs of mental deterioration in the time leading up to this horrible event and they were morally certain that this was the result of an organic dysfunction in his brain, not an indication of his person. Yet … how does one pray in a situation like this? There aren’t any words.

And we have all experienced situations like this: the tragic death of someone we love by murder, suicide, overdose, or accident. Or, the exasperation and helplessness we feel in the face of the many seemingly senseless events we see daily in our world: Terrorists killing thousands of innocent people; natural disasters leaving countless persons dead or homeless; mass killings by deranged individuals in New York, Paris, Las Vegas, Florida, San Bernardino, Sandy Hook, among other places; and millions of refugees having to flee their homelands because of war or poverty. And we all we know people who have received terminal sentences in medical clinics and had to face what seems as an unfair death: young children whose lives are just starting and who shouldn’t be asked at so tender an age to have to process mortality and young mothers dying whose children still desperately need them.

In the face of these things, we aren’t just exasperated by the senselessness of the situation we struggle too to find both heart and words with which to pray. How do we pray when we are paralyzed by senselessness and tragedy? How do we pray when we no longer have the heart for it?

St. Paul tells us that when we don’t know how to pray, the Spirit in groans too deep for words prays through us. What an extraordinary text! Paul tells us that when we can still find the words with which to pray this is not our deepest prayer. Likewise when we still have the heart to pray, this too is not our deepest prayer. Our deepest prayer is when we are rendered mute and groaning in exasperation, in frustration, in helplessness. Wordless exasperation is often our deepest prayer. We pray most deeply when we are so driven to our knees so as to be unable to do anything except surrender to helplessness. Our groaning, wordless, seemingly the antithesis of prayer, is indeed our prayer. It is the Spirit praying through us. How so?

The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is, as scripture assures us, the spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, longsuffering, fidelity, mildness, faith, and chastity. And that Spirit lives deep within us, placed there by God in our very make-up and put into us even more deeply by our baptism. When we are exasperated and driven to our knees by a tragedy which is too painful and senseless to accept and absorb our groans of helplessness are in fact the Spirit of God groaning in us, suffering all that it isn’t, yearning for goodness, beseeching God in a language beyond words.

Sometimes we can find the heart and the words with which to pray, but there are other times when, in the words of the Book of Lamentation, all we can do is put our mouths to the dust and wait. The poet, Rainer Marie Rilke, once gave this advice to a person who had written him, lamenting that in the face of a devastating loss he was so paralyzed that he did not know what he could possibly do with the pain he was experiencing. Rilke’s advice: Give that heaviness back to the earth itself, the earth is heavy, mountains are heavy, the seas are heavy. In effect: Let your groaning be your prayer!

When we don’t know how to pray, the Spirit in groans too deep for words prays through us. So every time we are face-to-face with a tragic situation that leaves us stuttering, mute, and so without heart that all we can do is say, I can’t explain this! I can’t accept this! I can’t deal with this! This is senseless! I am paralyzed in my emotions! I am paralyzed in my faith! I no longer have the heart to pray, it can be consoling to know that this paralyzing exasperation is our prayer – and perhaps the deepest and most sincere prayer we have ever offered.

YOU CAN’T “EVENT” YOUR WAY TO CHURCH HEALTH OR GROWTH
Taken from the weekly blog of Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timonium, Maryland. You can find the original blog here

All you have to do is drive around the community and take a look at what many churches are advertising on their front lawns. Even easier, check out their web sites. This time of year you’ll find pumpkin patches, crop mazes, haunted houses, “trunk or treat” events, and hay rides. And soon we’ll be treated to Christmas Craft Fairs, Living Nativities, Christmas Concerts, and, inevitably, Christmas Tree Sales.

Churches go through a lot of effort to host these events in the hope of raising money and connecting with their community, which, theoretically, will bring new members. In fact, with rare exceptions, most of these events are not particularly successful fundraisers, and the connection they’re making to their communities is a completely consumer-driven, entirely superficial exchange.

How do I know? We tried to “event” our way to church health and growth and it got us nowhere, except fed-up and frustrated.

To move on to more mature (and successful) efforts we had to honestly ask ourselves the following questions:

If we weren’t already doing these events, would we now initiate them?

Are we only doing these events because every other church is doing them?

Are we only doing this because we’ve always done it, and there are parishioners who are 100% invested in it and would be offended if we took it away from them?

Even if hundreds show up, will this event really connect more people to the Christ and his Church, or might there be a better investment of time and resources?

What are we not doing that perhaps we should be doing, because we’re doing these events?

Maybe your Trunk or Treat event is radically different and hugely impactful for the Kingdom, and if so, you should write a “How To” Guide.

But if your experience is anything like ours, you’re trying to “event” your church to health and growth.

Why do churches take this approach?

Simple, its easier and less painful than making the necessary changes to their worship & music, discipleship & outreach strategies, and church environments that would lead to health and growth.

All that involves hard work and change. People don’t like change, they like doing church like they’ve always done church. Introduce change into your culture, like dropping an event, and people will get upset and criticize and complain, and call you names and then leave (and take their money with them).

So, since churches don’t want to face that, they distract themselves with events. After the Christmas decorations come down they’re on to planning for the Super Bowl Party, Valentine’s Day Dance, St. Patrick’s Day Dinner, the Easter Egg Hunt, the Spring Fashion Show, the Summer Vacation Bible School, the Men’s Golf Tournament, and Fireworks on the Fourth.

They knock themselves out, they stay super busy. And they label all their efforts “outreach” or “evangelization.” The heavy lifting and hard work of actually developing an evangelization strategy, the incredible discipline of actually sticking with it, the resolve and, frankly, the courage to demand your church culture change to serve your strategy is entirely avoided.

Flipping pancakes with Santa is just so much easier.

Surrender to the Present Moment

This article is taken from the daily email series from Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe to the series by clicking here.

James Finley, one of Center for Action and Contemplation's core faculty members, is one of the wisest and most authentic teachers of meditation I know. For simple instructions on how to meditate, see his reflection from earlier this year. Here Jim offers a broad definition for contemplation, inviting us to see ordinary, day-to-day tasks as opportunities for presence and surrender. Contemplation opens us to experiencing the path of descent as a way of life.

A contemplative practice is any act, habitually entered into with your whole heart, as a way of awakening, deepening, and sustaining a contemplative experience of the inherent holiness of the present moment. Your practice might be some form of meditation, such as sitting motionless in silence, attentive and awake to the abyss-like nature of each breath. Your practice might be simple, heartfelt prayer, slowly reading the scriptures, gardening, baking bread, writing or reading poetry, drawing or painting, or perhaps running or taking long, slow walks to no place in particular. Your practice may be to be alone, really alone, without any addictive props and diversions. Or your practice may be that of being with that person in whose presence you are called to a deeper place. The critical factor is not so much what the practice is in its externals as the extent to which the practice incarnates an utterly sincere stance of awakening and surrendering to the Godly nature of the present moment.

The following exercise is intended to demonstrate how meditation and the performance of daily tasks might gradually flow together in a habitual state of present moment attentiveness. The exercise consists of first choosing some household chore that needs to be done. I will use, as an example, washing a sink full of dirty dishes.

Begin by first sitting in meditation for about twenty to thirty minutes. Then slowly stand, and walk in a slow mindful manner to the kitchen sink full of dirty dishes. Stand at the sink, mindfully gazing for a moment at the dishes. Slowly and mindfully put soap in the sink. Fill the sink with hot water, attentive to the simple givenness of the sound of running water. Wash, rinse, and place each item in the drainer with mindfulness.

When the dishes are finished, pull the plug, listen to and watch the water going down the drain. Rinse out the sink with mindfulness. Dry each item and put it in its proper place with natural and deliberate mindfulness. Wipe off the counter tops with mindfulness. Then slowly walk back to your place of sitting meditation and sit for another twenty to twenty-five minutes.

Then open a journal and begin writing spontaneously and sincerely about what it would be like to live in this way. What would it be like to open and close doors, take some boxes out of the garage, file papers, answer the phone, not as rude interruptions into a carefully sequestered-off contemplative life, but, to the contrary, as living embodiments of the hands-on divinity of daily living?

Reference:

Adapted from James Finley, The Contemplative Heart (Sorin Books: 2000), 46, 125-126.

Dangerous Remembrance

On 11 November each year, we observe Remembrance Day and honour the members of the armed forces who have lost their lives at war. Can faith help us to make sense of the reality and horror of war? Roger Dawson SJ looks to the theology of Johann Baptist Metz, who had his own ‘dangerous memories’ of war, to ask how we can speak about God in a world of conflict. Roger Dawson SJ is Editor of Thinking Faith.

Towards the end of the Second World War, a 16-year-old boy was conscripted into the German Army and was sent to the front near the Rhine in an infantry company of youths of a similar age. One evening, he was sent with a message to Battalion headquarters; he returned the next morning to find that his company of over a hundred had been overrun in the night by an Allied bomber attack and an armoured assault. He said, ‘I could see now only dead and empty faces, where the day before I had shared childhood fears and youthful laughter. I remember nothing but a wordless cry’. This man was Johann Baptist Metz, who later became a priest and one of the great 20th century theologians. He remained haunted by the memory and by this question: ‘What would happen if one took this not to the psychologist, but into the Church … and if one would not allow oneself to be talked out of such memories even by theology?’ What if we wanted to keep faith with such memories – ‘dangerous memories’, he calls them – and with them speak about God?

On Remembrance Day we remember the war dead of two world wars and many other conflicts, including those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. If we are to do justice to these ‘dangerous memories’, as Christians we cannot gloss over this with tales of heroism and noble sacrifice, though there is much of that. The fact is that war and violence can never be willed by God; war has no place in the Kingdom of God and is not the way to the Kingdom of God. Even Just War theory gives the criteria to discern when war is the least bad option, rather than a good in itself.

To read the whole of this article please click here to go to the Thinking Faith website.

Weekly Newsletter

Friday 10 November 2017

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Dangerous Remembrance

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