Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Mob: 0417 279 437
Assistant Priest: Fr Paschal Okpon
Mob: 0438 562 731
paschalokpon@yahoo.com
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Mob: 0437 521 257
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
PLENARY COUNCIL PRAYER
Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Weekday Masses 20th – 23rd November
Tuesday: 9:30am
Penguin 
Weekend Masses 24th & 25th November
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye
10:30am: A Hughes, T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil:
M Heazlewood, G Lee-Archer, M Kelly,
P Shelverton
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Greeters: J Garnsey, A Landers Commentator: E Nickols
Readers: A Landers, Y Downes
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Reader: G Duff, L Post Ministers of
Communion: T
Jeffries Cleaners: C & J Howard
Readings this week - First Reading: Daniel 12:1-3
Second Reading: Hebrews 10:11-14. 18
I prepare myself to pray by allowing my mind and body to slow down. I take a deep breath and allow my breathing to settle into its own soothing rhythm. As the Church’s year draws to a close, I pause and reflect back on my spiritual life over this past liturgical year. The Church has prayed and worshipped with Mark’s Gospel, and we have journeyed with the disciples as they have been drawn into a deeper understanding of Jesus’s message. I take up the Gospel text and read it slowly, imagining Jesus teaching his beloved friends. Perhaps I imagine sitting among the disciples. I ask Jesus to teach me the deeper meaning of this message. … I listen. Jesus uses vivid imagery based on Old Testament texts. How does imagery such as this touch me today? What words of Jesus never pass away for me? What part of his message is particularly dear to me? I share this with Jesus and thank him for his living Word. I ask Jesus to show me how he wants me to be part of his unfolding message in the world today.
Readings next week –Our
Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Year B)
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Lionel Faustino, Jill DiPietro, Marg Stewart & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Sr Angela Dance LCM, Brian Hoare, Margaret Clarke, Dennis McCormack, Jillian Brooks, Audrey Glover, Fr Peter Nicholls, Ken Sutton
Let us pray for those whose anniversary
occurs about this time: 15th – 22nd November
May they Rest in Peace
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome and congratulate Rylan David George
son of Aaron & Tammy on his Baptism this weekend at Holy Cross Church Sheffield.
Weekly
Ramblings
Our retreat
this past week was a really wonderful experience – led by Fr Mark Freeman it
explored what he loves about the priesthood and he invited us to reflect on
what is so special about our vocation and what it means to be priest, pastor
and friend in our communities. What I love was easy – the rest is a work in
progress!
Next Friday
evening, 23rd Nov at 7pm, there will be a gathering in the Community
Room at Ulverstone for some feedback to your responses to the question we asked
– What is God asking of me, of us in our families, our Parish at this time? As
we share your responses it will be part of our process of our continuing reflection
on our Parish Vision and the steps we are taking to grow in our relationship
with God and each other. After our session at Ulverstone we will look at ways to
continue the listening process so that we might be able to make further
responses to the Plenary Process. All the responses we have received will be forwarded
to the Plenary Preparation Team for their assimilation into the preparation of
the discussion process which will form the next stage in their planning.
Next
weekend, the Feast of Christ the King, I am hoping that all Mass Centre’s will
be able to have a local community celebration as a celebration of our year. I
know some places have plans in place and as I visit the other centres this
weekend I will learn what else is happening.
LITURGY
PLANNING FOR ADVENT:
There is a meeting this Sunday 18th November at 2pm at the Parish House to plan for the
Advent Season. Liturgy planners from each Mass Centre are encouraged to be at
this meeting so that details can be made available during the following week.
ST MARY’S CHURCH PENGUIN:
LITURGY
PLANNING FOR ADVENT:
There will be a meeting this Sunday 18th November at 2pm at the Parish House to plan for the Advent Season.
Liturgy planners
ST VINCENT
DE PAUL:
A Mass for deceased members will be held on Thursday
29th November at Our Lady of Lourdes Church at 12noon with Fr Phil as
the celebrant.
EMPTY STABLE - OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH:
Parishioners are invited to place gifts, non-perishable goods in the empty stable at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The items donated will be placed in the many Christmas Hampers St Vincent de Paul Society will be distributing in the communities. Your kindness and generosity is appreciated and will make life a little more joyful for families and isolated people.
HEALING MASS:
CHRISTMAS PARTY – ULVERSTONE:
‘Come one – come all’ to our annual Christmas Party on Tuesday 4th December starting at 1:45pm at Sacred Heart Church Community Room Ulverstone. We hope you will join us for some light entertainment, a cuppa and a chat. Once again we are asking for help with cooking RSVP 2nd December to Juliet Smith 6425:5854, Debbie Rimmelzwaan 6425:1384,
Elizabeth Cox 0400 179 297.
ADVENT 2018: I have come that you
in the whole of humanity, the whole of creation, may have life and life in all
its fullness (Gospel of John)
You are invited to two gatherings; Thursday 6th
December and 13th December, 10am – 11:30am at Parish House,
Devonport. Contact Clare Kiely-Hoye 0418 100 402
BBQ & BOOK CLUB:
PIETY SHOP OLOL CHURCH:
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.
Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers Thursday 22nd November,
Merv Tippett & Tony Ryan
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
THE JOURNEY
CATHOLIC RADIO PROGRAM:
MEN’S BREAKFAST:
The Archdiocese of Hobart will be hosting a Men’s Breakfast on Saturday 1 December to help inspire men to discover their personal call to greatness. The breakfast will include food, fellowship, talk, music, inspiration, discussion and prayer. The morning will break open the themes of the recent “Be Awake” National Men’s Conference and look at how we can incorporate those learnings into our daily lives. It will also bring together a number of men’s ministries from around the state to look at the ways we can receive support in our call to become something more for God, for others and for ourselves!
The breakfast will be held at: St Francis Xavier Parish Hall, 61 Adelaide Street, South Hobart from 8:00am-9:30am (optional mass at 7:15am). All men over the age of 16 are welcome. Please RSVP: ben.smith@aohtas.org.au or call 0410 691 371.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
This article is taken from the Daily Emails from Fr Richard Rohr OFM and the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the emails here
Forgiveness and restorative justice do not mean that we
forget wrongs. On the contrary, as I shared earlier this week, for the healing
of both the perpetrator and the victim we need to expose the truth and hold
those responsible accountable. This honesty is important for individuals as
well as organizations, churches, and countries.
I hope one day that the United States will embark on its own
Truth and Reconciliation Commission as South Africa, Canada, and other
countries have done. We have a great deal to acknowledge, repent of, offer
reparations for, and seek restoration for, including the genocide of Native
peoples, centuries of slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans, and
current injustices such as mass incarceration and police violence.
The new National Memorial for Peace and Justice in
Montgomery, Alabama, is doing just this for “racial terror lynchings.” The
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) researched and designed this public
commemoration of “more than 4,400 African American men, women, and children
[who] were hanged, burned alive, shot, drowned, and beaten to death by white
mobs between 1877 and 1950.” These lynchings were mostly ignored by state and
federal leaders. They “inflicted deep traumatic and psychological wounds on
survivors, witnesses, family members, and the entire African American
community” and caused six million black people to flee the South. Today there
are 800 six-feet-tall hanging steel monuments, one for each county where
lynching took place, with the names of the victims engraved on them.
EJI Executive Director, Bryan Stevenson, says:
The museum and memorial “are designed to promote a more
hopeful commitment to racial equality and just treatment of all people.” [1]
For your contemplative practice today, I invite you to watch
this short video with a heart open to the suffering of our brothers and
sisters.
To take your learning and experience deeper, explore the
museum and memorial online—or in person, if you have the opportunity. Click
here to learn more and meditate on the images and stories. What response does
this call forth in your heart, mind, and body?
[1] The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace
and Justice, find Musuem here
I live on both sides of a border. Not a geographical one, but one which is often a dividing line between two groups.
I was raised a conservative Roman Catholic, and conservative in most other things as well. Although my dad worked politically for the Liberal party, most everything about my upbringing was conservative, particularly religiously. I was a staunch Roman Catholics in every way. I grew up under the papacy of Pius XII (the fact that my youngest brother is named Pius, will tell you how loyal our family was to that Pope’s version of things). We believed that Roman Catholicism was the one true religion and that Protestants needed to convert and return to the true faith. I memorized the Roman Catholic catechism and defended its every word. Moreover, beyond being faithful church-goers, my family was given over to piety and devotions: we prayed the rosary together as a family every day; had statues and holy pictures everywhere in our house; wore blessed medals around our necks; prayed litanies to Mary, Joseph, and the Sacred Heart; and practiced a warm devotion to the saints. And it was wonderful. I will forever be grateful for that religious foundation.
I went from my family home to the seminary at the tender age of seventeen and my early seminary years solidly reinforced what my family had given me. The academics were good and we were encouraged to read great thinkers in every discipline. But this higher learning was still solidly set within a Roman Catholic ethos that valued all the things religiously and devotionally I’d been raised on. My studies were still friends with my piety. My mind was expanding, but my piety remained intact.
But home is where we start from. Gradually though through the years my world changed. Studying at different graduate schools, teaching on different graduate faculties, being in daily contact with other expressions of the faith, reading contemporary novelists and thinkers, and having academic colleagues as cherished friends has, I confess, put some strain on the piety of my youth. It’s no secret; we don’t often pray the rosary or litanies to Mary or the Sacred Heart in graduate classrooms or at faculty gatherings.
However academic classrooms and faculty gatherings bring something else, something vitally needed in church pews and in circles of piety, namely, wider theological vision and critical principles to keep unbridled piety, naïve fundamentalism, and misguided religious fervor within proper boundaries. What I’ve learned in the academic circles is also wonderful and I am forever grateful for the privilege of higher education.
But, of course, that’s a formula for tension, albeit a healthy one. Let me use someone else’s voice to articulate this. In a recent book, Silence and Beauty, a Japanese-American artist, Makoto Fujimura, shares this incident from his own life. Coming out of church one Sunday, he was asked by his pastor to add his name to a list of people who had agreed to boycott the film, The Last Temptation of Christ. He liked his pastor and wanted to please him by signing the petition, but felt hesitant to sign for reasons that, at that time, he couldn’t articulate. But his wife could. Before he could sign, she stepped in and said: “Artists may have other roles to play than to boycott this film.” He understood what she meant. He didn’t sign the petition.
But his decision left him pondering the tension between boycotting such a movie and his role as an artist and critic. Here’s how he puts it: “An artist is often pulled in two directions. Religiously conservative people tend to see culture as suspect at best, and when cultural statements are made to transgress the normative reality they hold dear, their default reaction is to oppose and boycott. People in the more liberal artistic community see these transgressive steps as necessary for their ‘freedom of expression’. An artist like me, who values both religion and art, will be exiled from both. I try to hold together both of these commitments, but it is a struggle.”
That’s also my struggle. The piety of my youth, of my parents, and of that rich branch of Catholicism is real and life-giving; but so too is the critical (sometimes unsettling) iconoclastic, theology of the academy. The two desperately need each other; yet someone who is trying to be loyal to both can, like Fujimura, end up feeling exiled from both. Theologians also have other roles to play than boycotting movies.
The people whom I take as mentors in this area are men and women who, in my eyes, can do both: Like Dorothy Day, who could be equally comfortable, leading the rosary or the peace march; like Jim Wallis, who can advocate just as passionately for radical social engagement as he can for personal intimacy with Jesus, and like Thomas Aquinas, whose intellect could intimidate intellectuals, even as he could pray with the piety of a child.
Circles of piety and the academy of theology are not enemies; they need to embrace.
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.
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)
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month.
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart of Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 7pm Community Room Ulverstone
Weekday Masses 20th – 23rd November
Tuesday: 9:30am
Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30am Karingal
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Weekend Masses 24th & 25th November
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 24th & 25th November,
2018
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye
10:30am: A Hughes, T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil:
M Heazlewood, G Lee-Archer, M Kelly,
P Shelverton
10:30am: M Sherriff, T & S Ryan, D &
M Barrientos
Cleaners: 23rd
Nov: K.S.C.
30th Nov: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley
Piety Shop: 24th Nov:
L Murfet 25th Nov: K Hull
Presbytery mowing: N Smith
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: S Lawrence Ministers of Communion: P Steyn, E Cox, C Singline, M Barry
Cleaners: M Mott Flowers: M Swain Hospitality: T Good Team
Penguin:
Greeters: J Garnsey, A Landers Commentator: E Nickols
Readers: A Landers, Y Downes
Ministers of
Communion: J Garnsey,
S Ewing Liturgy: SC J Setting Up: S Ewing
Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Latrobe:
Reader: M Eden Minister of Communion: H Lim Procession of Gifts: M Clarke
Port Sorell:
Reader: G Duff, L Post Ministers of
Communion: T
Jeffries Cleaners: C & J Howard
Readings this week - First Reading: Daniel 12:1-3
Second Reading: Hebrews 10:11-14. 18
Gospel: Mark 13:24-32
PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL:
I prepare myself to pray by allowing my mind and body to slow down. I take a deep breath and allow my breathing to settle into its own soothing rhythm. As the Church’s year draws to a close, I pause and reflect back on my spiritual life over this past liturgical year. The Church has prayed and worshipped with Mark’s Gospel, and we have journeyed with the disciples as they have been drawn into a deeper understanding of Jesus’s message. I take up the Gospel text and read it slowly, imagining Jesus teaching his beloved friends. Perhaps I imagine sitting among the disciples. I ask Jesus to teach me the deeper meaning of this message. … I listen. Jesus uses vivid imagery based on Old Testament texts. How does imagery such as this touch me today? What words of Jesus never pass away for me? What part of his message is particularly dear to me? I share this with Jesus and thank him for his living Word. I ask Jesus to show me how he wants me to be part of his unfolding message in the world today.
Readings next week –Our
Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe (Year B)
First Reading: Daniel 7:13-14
Second Reading: Apocalypse 1:5-8
Gospel: John
18:33-37
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Lionel Faustino, Jill DiPietro, Marg Stewart & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Sr Angela Dance LCM, Brian Hoare, Margaret Clarke, Dennis McCormack, Jillian Brooks, Audrey Glover, Fr Peter Nicholls, Ken Sutton
Let us pray for those whose anniversary
occurs about this time: 15th – 22nd November
Terrence Smith, Freda Morgan, Joe Stolp, Terry Matthews,
Keiran Hofer, Edith Collis, Marie Kristovskis, Maisie McLaren, David Cooper, George
(Bert) Carter, Frank Farruge, Shirley Bellchambers, Joyce Doherty, Bernadette
Ibell, James & Janet Dunlop.
May they Rest in Peace
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome and congratulate Rylan David George
son of Aaron & Tammy on his Baptism this weekend at Holy Cross Church Sheffield.
Weekly
Ramblings
Our retreat
this past week was a really wonderful experience – led by Fr Mark Freeman it
explored what he loves about the priesthood and he invited us to reflect on
what is so special about our vocation and what it means to be priest, pastor
and friend in our communities. What I love was easy – the rest is a work in
progress!
Next Friday
evening, 23rd Nov at 7pm, there will be a gathering in the Community
Room at Ulverstone for some feedback to your responses to the question we asked
– What is God asking of me, of us in our families, our Parish at this time? As
we share your responses it will be part of our process of our continuing reflection
on our Parish Vision and the steps we are taking to grow in our relationship
with God and each other. After our session at Ulverstone we will look at ways to
continue the listening process so that we might be able to make further
responses to the Plenary Process. All the responses we have received will be forwarded
to the Plenary Preparation Team for their assimilation into the preparation of
the discussion process which will form the next stage in their planning.
Please
take care on the roads and I look forward to seeing you next weekend.
LITURGY
PLANNING FOR ADVENT:
There is a meeting this Sunday 18th November at 2pm at the Parish House to plan for the
Advent Season. Liturgy planners from each Mass Centre are encouraged to be at
this meeting so that details can be made available during the following week.
Will be holding a BBQ after Mass on
Saturday 24th November to celebrate the Feast of Christ the
King. Sausages etc. will be provided and parishioners are asked to please
bring a salad or sweet. Tea and coffee will be available and everyone is welcome.
LITURGY
PLANNING FOR ADVENT:
There will be a meeting this Sunday 18th November at 2pm at the Parish House to plan for the Advent Season.
Liturgy planners
ST VINCENT
DE PAUL:
A Mass for deceased members will be held on Thursday
29th November at Our Lady of Lourdes Church at 12noon with Fr Phil as
the celebrant.
We welcome your attendance. Our three conferences: Sacred
Heart Ulverstone, St Joseph’s East Devonport and Our Lady of Lourdes Devonport
are finding it challenging to continue our work, as numbers are down. If you
would like to find out about conference work, with perhaps becoming a member,
please call Veronica Riley on 0418 244 725. Thank you for your assistance
towards our monthly collection at Mass Centres. As at 31st October
this financial year we have received $780.00.
Veronica
Riley, Regional President.
Parishioners are invited to place gifts, non-perishable goods in the empty stable at Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The items donated will be placed in the many Christmas Hampers St Vincent de Paul Society will be distributing in the communities. Your kindness and generosity is appreciated and will make life a little more joyful for families and isolated people.
HEALING MASS:
Catholic Charismatic Renewal are sponsoring a HEALING MASS
at St Mary’s Catholic Church Penguin on Thursday 29th November 2018
commencing at 7pm. All denominations are welcome to come and celebrate the
liturgy in a vibrant and dynamic way using charismatic praise and worship with the
gifts of tongues, prophecy, healing and anointing with blessed oil. After Mass,
teams will be available for individual prayer. Please bring a friend and a
plate for supper and fellowship in the hall. If you wish to know more or
require transport please contact Celestine Whiteley 6424:2043, Michael Gaffney
0447 018 068 or Tom Knaap 6425:2442.
CHRISTMAS PARTY – ULVERSTONE:
‘Come one – come all’ to our annual Christmas Party on Tuesday 4th December starting at 1:45pm at Sacred Heart Church Community Room Ulverstone. We hope you will join us for some light entertainment, a cuppa and a chat. Once again we are asking for help with cooking RSVP 2nd December to Juliet Smith 6425:5854, Debbie Rimmelzwaan 6425:1384,
Elizabeth Cox 0400 179 297.
ADVENT 2018: I have come that you in the whole of humanity, the whole of creation, may have life and life in all its fullness (Gospel of John)
ADVENT 2018: I have come that you in the whole of humanity, the whole of creation, may have life and life in all its fullness (Gospel of John)
You are invited to two gatherings; Thursday 6th
December and 13th December, 10am – 11:30am at Parish House,
Devonport. Contact Clare Kiely-Hoye 0418 100 402
BBQ & BOOK CLUB:
Michael and Grainne Hendrey invite you to join them in
their home each first Friday of the month for an evening of conversation and
spirituality-ness. BBQ starts at 6:30pm, BYO meat and drinks and something to
share. Book club is from 7:30pm to 9pm (small groups). RSVP Michael 0417 540
566 or Grainne 0414 968 731
PIETY SHOP OLOL CHURCH:
A variety of Christmas Cards are now available $4 each and
2019 Columban Calendars $10.00 each
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport.
Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers Thursday 22nd November,
Merv Tippett & Tony Ryan
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
THE JOURNEY
CATHOLIC RADIO PROGRAM:
This week Fr Mike Delaney reflects on the Gospel of Mark,
Sr Hilda Scott asks the question, ‘Where did you last see God”, Sam Clear
reminds us “Do not fear the future” in his walking the walk God spot, and Fr
Dave Callaghan encourages us to “Become What we Behold”. Christian music is the
soul of the Journey Catholic Radio program, where faith hope, love and life
come together. Go to www.jcr.org.au or www.itunes.jcr.org.au
The Archdiocese of Hobart will be hosting a Men’s Breakfast on Saturday 1 December to help inspire men to discover their personal call to greatness. The breakfast will include food, fellowship, talk, music, inspiration, discussion and prayer. The morning will break open the themes of the recent “Be Awake” National Men’s Conference and look at how we can incorporate those learnings into our daily lives. It will also bring together a number of men’s ministries from around the state to look at the ways we can receive support in our call to become something more for God, for others and for ourselves!
The breakfast will be held at: St Francis Xavier Parish Hall, 61 Adelaide Street, South Hobart from 8:00am-9:30am (optional mass at 7:15am). All men over the age of 16 are welcome. Please RSVP: ben.smith@aohtas.org.au or call 0410 691 371.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
This article is taken from the Daily Emails from Fr Richard Rohr OFM and the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the emails here
Forgiveness and restorative justice do not mean that we
forget wrongs. On the contrary, as I shared earlier this week, for the healing
of both the perpetrator and the victim we need to expose the truth and hold
those responsible accountable. This honesty is important for individuals as
well as organizations, churches, and countries.
I hope one day that the United States will embark on its own
Truth and Reconciliation Commission as South Africa, Canada, and other
countries have done. We have a great deal to acknowledge, repent of, offer
reparations for, and seek restoration for, including the genocide of Native
peoples, centuries of slavery, the internment of Japanese Americans, and
current injustices such as mass incarceration and police violence.
The new National Memorial for Peace and Justice in
Montgomery, Alabama, is doing just this for “racial terror lynchings.” The
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) researched and designed this public
commemoration of “more than 4,400 African American men, women, and children
[who] were hanged, burned alive, shot, drowned, and beaten to death by white
mobs between 1877 and 1950.” These lynchings were mostly ignored by state and
federal leaders. They “inflicted deep traumatic and psychological wounds on
survivors, witnesses, family members, and the entire African American
community” and caused six million black people to flee the South. Today there
are 800 six-feet-tall hanging steel monuments, one for each county where
lynching took place, with the names of the victims engraved on them.
EJI Executive Director, Bryan Stevenson, says:
Our nation’s history of racial injustice casts a shadow
across the American landscape. This shadow cannot be lifted until we shine the
light of truth on the destructive violence that shaped our nation, traumatized
people of color, and compromised our commitment to the rule of law and to equal
justice.
The museum and memorial “are designed to promote a more
hopeful commitment to racial equality and just treatment of all people.” [1]
For your contemplative practice today, I invite you to watch
this short video with a heart open to the suffering of our brothers and
sisters.
Watch the video, "Why Build a Lynching Memorial?" - by clicking here
To take your learning and experience deeper, explore the
museum and memorial online—or in person, if you have the opportunity. Click
here to learn more and meditate on the images and stories. What response does
this call forth in your heart, mind, and body?
[1] The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace
and Justice, find Musuem here
DUAL CITIIZENSHIP
This is an article from the archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
I live on both sides of a border. Not a geographical one, but one which is often a dividing line between two groups.
I was raised a conservative Roman Catholic, and conservative in most other things as well. Although my dad worked politically for the Liberal party, most everything about my upbringing was conservative, particularly religiously. I was a staunch Roman Catholics in every way. I grew up under the papacy of Pius XII (the fact that my youngest brother is named Pius, will tell you how loyal our family was to that Pope’s version of things). We believed that Roman Catholicism was the one true religion and that Protestants needed to convert and return to the true faith. I memorized the Roman Catholic catechism and defended its every word. Moreover, beyond being faithful church-goers, my family was given over to piety and devotions: we prayed the rosary together as a family every day; had statues and holy pictures everywhere in our house; wore blessed medals around our necks; prayed litanies to Mary, Joseph, and the Sacred Heart; and practiced a warm devotion to the saints. And it was wonderful. I will forever be grateful for that religious foundation.
I went from my family home to the seminary at the tender age of seventeen and my early seminary years solidly reinforced what my family had given me. The academics were good and we were encouraged to read great thinkers in every discipline. But this higher learning was still solidly set within a Roman Catholic ethos that valued all the things religiously and devotionally I’d been raised on. My studies were still friends with my piety. My mind was expanding, but my piety remained intact.
But home is where we start from. Gradually though through the years my world changed. Studying at different graduate schools, teaching on different graduate faculties, being in daily contact with other expressions of the faith, reading contemporary novelists and thinkers, and having academic colleagues as cherished friends has, I confess, put some strain on the piety of my youth. It’s no secret; we don’t often pray the rosary or litanies to Mary or the Sacred Heart in graduate classrooms or at faculty gatherings.
However academic classrooms and faculty gatherings bring something else, something vitally needed in church pews and in circles of piety, namely, wider theological vision and critical principles to keep unbridled piety, naïve fundamentalism, and misguided religious fervor within proper boundaries. What I’ve learned in the academic circles is also wonderful and I am forever grateful for the privilege of higher education.
But, of course, that’s a formula for tension, albeit a healthy one. Let me use someone else’s voice to articulate this. In a recent book, Silence and Beauty, a Japanese-American artist, Makoto Fujimura, shares this incident from his own life. Coming out of church one Sunday, he was asked by his pastor to add his name to a list of people who had agreed to boycott the film, The Last Temptation of Christ. He liked his pastor and wanted to please him by signing the petition, but felt hesitant to sign for reasons that, at that time, he couldn’t articulate. But his wife could. Before he could sign, she stepped in and said: “Artists may have other roles to play than to boycott this film.” He understood what she meant. He didn’t sign the petition.
But his decision left him pondering the tension between boycotting such a movie and his role as an artist and critic. Here’s how he puts it: “An artist is often pulled in two directions. Religiously conservative people tend to see culture as suspect at best, and when cultural statements are made to transgress the normative reality they hold dear, their default reaction is to oppose and boycott. People in the more liberal artistic community see these transgressive steps as necessary for their ‘freedom of expression’. An artist like me, who values both religion and art, will be exiled from both. I try to hold together both of these commitments, but it is a struggle.”
That’s also my struggle. The piety of my youth, of my parents, and of that rich branch of Catholicism is real and life-giving; but so too is the critical (sometimes unsettling) iconoclastic, theology of the academy. The two desperately need each other; yet someone who is trying to be loyal to both can, like Fujimura, end up feeling exiled from both. Theologians also have other roles to play than boycotting movies.
The people whom I take as mentors in this area are men and women who, in my eyes, can do both: Like Dorothy Day, who could be equally comfortable, leading the rosary or the peace march; like Jim Wallis, who can advocate just as passionately for radical social engagement as he can for personal intimacy with Jesus, and like Thomas Aquinas, whose intellect could intimidate intellectuals, even as he could pray with the piety of a child.
Circles of piety and the academy of theology are not enemies; they need to embrace.
STEWARDSHIP SUNDAY: 5 PRACTICES WE’VE LEARNED
This article is taken from the Weekly Blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Baltimore. You can find other blogs here
Once a year, and only once a year, we take a weekend to reflect on our financial commitment to our local parish church. The following are 5 practices we’ve found helpful in hosting a successful stewardship program, i.e., one that receives a positive response and solid commitments for giving.
ONE: Our Stewardship Sunday is a success because of the discipline we impose on ourselves throughout the rest of the year. We host no fundraisers, ever, we have no second or special collections, we never sell anything in our lobby. Of course we talk about money as often as it comes up in the Lectionary (which is often) but we only talk about giving to our parish once a year.
TWO: So that no one is surprised or blindsided, we give plenty of advanced notice that it is coming, although because its on the same weekend every year, most people are expecting it. They also know its probably not the optimum weekend to invite guests. We choose the weekend before Thanksgiving, because we think of our offering as an act of thanksgiving. We actually distribute commitment cards in the weeks prior to the stewardship weekend to encourage people to take time to think about and pray about their gift. Obviously this, in turn, yields more thoughtful, prayerful commitments.
THREE: Our message on Stewardship Sunday is carefully crafted to focus on giving as a worship offering. We talk about giving in your place of worship as an act of worship. Listen to a great testimony from one of our parish families regarding their journey for giving at Nativity HERE
FOUR: We rely on 4 basic principles for giving, that we repeat religiously each year. We want parishioners to give in a way that is planned and a priority in their budget. We also challenge people to give a percentage of their income, whatever the percentage but always keeping in mind the biblical standard of the tithe. And we further challenge everyone to commit to progress in their percentage each year, moving closer to the tithe.
FIVE: While many pastors and parishioners alike dread this exercise we try and turn it into a celebration. We always include humor in the homily, to get people smiling and we usually add some fun element, like a video. We like to have some snack or treat to give away after Mass to encourage fellowship. On Stewardship Sunday we always host our annual parish business meeting. It is open to everyone and run by our parish financial officers and Financial Council. They present the previous year’s budget and answer questions about income and expenses. That this meeting is usually not very well attended which is received as a positive sign that people are generally satisfied with how we’re handling their money. But it is important that everyone know we offer this meeting for purposes of transparency and accountability.
Please join us for Stewardship Weekend at Nativity as we celebrate 50 years of stewardship. This is a weekend you do NOT want to miss. You can be also be part of our on-line Community by going to live.churchnativity.com on Monday mornings (AEDT) at any of the following times:
1:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
2:30 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
4:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
6:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
8:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
9:30 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
11:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
1:00 pm Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
This article is taken from the Weekly Blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Baltimore. You can find other blogs here
Once a year, and only once a year, we take a weekend to reflect on our financial commitment to our local parish church. The following are 5 practices we’ve found helpful in hosting a successful stewardship program, i.e., one that receives a positive response and solid commitments for giving.
ONE: Our Stewardship Sunday is a success because of the discipline we impose on ourselves throughout the rest of the year. We host no fundraisers, ever, we have no second or special collections, we never sell anything in our lobby. Of course we talk about money as often as it comes up in the Lectionary (which is often) but we only talk about giving to our parish once a year.
TWO: So that no one is surprised or blindsided, we give plenty of advanced notice that it is coming, although because its on the same weekend every year, most people are expecting it. They also know its probably not the optimum weekend to invite guests. We choose the weekend before Thanksgiving, because we think of our offering as an act of thanksgiving. We actually distribute commitment cards in the weeks prior to the stewardship weekend to encourage people to take time to think about and pray about their gift. Obviously this, in turn, yields more thoughtful, prayerful commitments.
THREE: Our message on Stewardship Sunday is carefully crafted to focus on giving as a worship offering. We talk about giving in your place of worship as an act of worship. Listen to a great testimony from one of our parish families regarding their journey for giving at Nativity HERE
FOUR: We rely on 4 basic principles for giving, that we repeat religiously each year. We want parishioners to give in a way that is planned and a priority in their budget. We also challenge people to give a percentage of their income, whatever the percentage but always keeping in mind the biblical standard of the tithe. And we further challenge everyone to commit to progress in their percentage each year, moving closer to the tithe.
FIVE: While many pastors and parishioners alike dread this exercise we try and turn it into a celebration. We always include humor in the homily, to get people smiling and we usually add some fun element, like a video. We like to have some snack or treat to give away after Mass to encourage fellowship. On Stewardship Sunday we always host our annual parish business meeting. It is open to everyone and run by our parish financial officers and Financial Council. They present the previous year’s budget and answer questions about income and expenses. That this meeting is usually not very well attended which is received as a positive sign that people are generally satisfied with how we’re handling their money. But it is important that everyone know we offer this meeting for purposes of transparency and accountability.
Please join us for Stewardship Weekend at Nativity as we celebrate 50 years of stewardship. This is a weekend you do NOT want to miss. You can be also be part of our on-line Community by going to live.churchnativity.com on Monday mornings (AEDT) at any of the following times:
1:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
2:30 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
4:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
6:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
8:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
9:30 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Live)
11:00 am Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
1:00 pm Confessions of a Control Freak (Rebroadcast)
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