Acting Parish Priest's Desk Archive January to June 07
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| 27May 07 | 10June 07 | 17June 07 | 24June 07 |
I'm sure that everyone is aware that Fr Michael Fallon is going away for a year on study leave and that you have a temporary replacement for him. That's me, Peter Wood, msc. I am joining a team that is not only my fellow MSC's, Jim and Mark, but a whole network of involved parish personnel. For an outsider it is very impressive."
The parish has been very welcoming and I am grateful for that. I have met a considerable number of people already though you will find me a little slow to confidently learn your names. I hope to get to know many more of you on a personal basis over the coming months.
This is a thriving faith community and one of my jobs is to maintain and encourage the commitment that is here already. It also involves praying for you and serving you in various ways both sacramental and secular. I will be as available to you as is possible. An acting parish priest is in a sense just keeping the home fires burning while the boss is away. For this reason there won't be any major changes at St John the Apostle during the coming year but that doesn't mean that we can't adjust things if that is helpful to the parish. So don't hesitate to make suggestions.
I have areas of experience that may be of help to some. I am at home in the area of spiritual care of people affected by HIV (that's those with the virus and those affected by it: parents, partners, siblings and friends.) I have also done a considerable amount of work in Outsider Spirituality and support for non-mainstream people. I have worked in areas of interest to indigenous people and in prison ministry. And to round this off I am a philatelist and I subscribe to New Scientist!
With every best wish and every blessing
Peter
The past week has been busy with farewells for Father Michael; the other members of the community have tagged along on a number of occasions and enjoyed some great hospitality and camaraderie. Michael is still here as I write this but will be in Rome by the time you read it. Our best wishes go with Michael as also our warm wishes (which he will need, it still being winter in Europe).
During the week we celebrated the requiem of christopher Hemingway whose body was brought down from Brisbane so that he could be buried alongside his dear wife at Gungahlin Cemetery. Christopher participated in the choir here at St John's for three years a few years ago. He love it dearly and it was fitting that so many of the choir could be present and express some of our prayers for Christopher in song.
Last weekend I had the privilege of baptising Diego Luis Eri-Problete. There was a beautiful gathering of people from many different backgrounds. It reminded me of St Agnes, Samabula, a parish church in Suva, Fiji, where I used to say Mass occasionally when i was at the Pacific Regional Seminary. One of these time was just after the first coup in 1987 and several people told me that it was the only place they felt safe. St Agnes is noted for the fact that the congregation is made up of indigenous Fijians, Fijian Indians, Rotumans, Europeans, Chinese and people from Rabil.
To look upon that congregation was to have a small vision of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is also very Australian as the vast majority of us are immigrants or the descendants of immigrants (albeit some of them unwilling) living in peace and harmony and appreciating the differences among us while celebrating all we have in common. I hope this Australia Day weekend has been a happy and graceful time for you.
In the Lord Peter
Last Sunday, in the course of the homily, I implied that forgiveness is an essential aspect of the love which God has for us and with which we are asked to relate to each other. "Each other" is totally inclusive, that is, there are no exceptions. We are called to love everyone, friend and foe, those who like us and those who don't and even those who wish us harm.
After one of the Masses, in discussion it was obvious that some people either know others who have been so wounded by the malicious actions of others that they say they find it impossible to forgive or are in that situation themselves.
I would like to add a few comments that might make this project of forgiveness easier to understand and to act upon.
Firstly, there is no judgment on anyone for their feelings; we are all at different places on our journey and God deals with us as we are and where we are. What is asked of all of us is a willingness to be open to forgiveness. If we will not take this step then we are not allowing God in. And that is essential because this is God's work. Of ourselves we would not naturally forgive those who harm or humiliate us, we would act out of revenge, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'. This seems natural justice but Jesus asks something very different of us; to love our enemies. Love here means to desire good for the other, to truly wish them well and it means to pray for them.
But forgiving does not mean forgetting. There are things which we should not forget and there are things we should take steps to prevent happening again. If we have serious hurt in our lives we should ask that the pain of it be lessened and that we not operate out of the trauma we once experienced because then it is dominating and controlling our lives.
Two final points. For some people it may be a life project to learn to love but there is no greater project because it is learning the inner life of God. Don't give up! And lastly, when we pray for someone who has harmed us, we should just ask God to bless them. Don't tell God how to change them. Just ask God to bless them. And leave them to God.
In the Lord Peter
There are many forms of prayer. We can pray through contemplating Scripture, we can practise awareness of the presence of God, we can pray through the rites and rituals of the Church and we can deepen our relationship with God in many ways. We also pray for particular intentions that may be for ourselves, for groups or individuals known to us, our family and friends and those who need our prayers, or for broad intentions like peace and justice for the nation or the world. these are all expressions of our care and concern for people in need, even ourselves. They are especially important when a person cannot, for whatever reason, pray for themselves.
You are probably aware that individual prayers for the sick, etcetera, have not been recorded in Compact for some time but have been covered by a general note. The reason for this rather than the personal acknowledgements was that the number became unwieldy and eventually unmanageable.
The Parish Liturgy Committee has approved another way of approaching this opportunity and we will trial it for the next couple of months. It is as follows:
Prayers for particular intentions may be written out and placed in the Prayer Intentions box in the foyer. This box will form part of the offertory procession at the 10:00am Sunday Eucharist each week. It will be placed at the foot of the altar and remain there during that Mass. The priest will make suitable acknowledgement of this expression of our faith.
Prayers, which may be sealed in envelopes, will be dated (on the outside) and will remain in the box for a period of three weeks. Following this they will be burnt. If an intention is ongoing then a new petition should be placed in the box after three weeks. The petitions will only be touched by an authorised and trusted person.
Prayer groups gathering at the church may take the box to their meetings but will not open it. Please do not place money in the box.
Trusting that this new arrangement will facilitate and help an important part of our parish prayer life.
In the Lord Peter
Last year I spent 3 months in Southern India as part of a sabbatical. I had some wonderful experiences there but the one I would like to share with you concerns a visit i made to a twin, at St Vincent de Paul twin, in Northern Kerala.
While I was at Monivae college, hamilton, I belonged to the local SVDP Conference at St Mary's which was twinned with St Joseph's Conference at Josegiri in kerala. it was decided that since this was the part of India where i would spend at least half my time, (the MSC Novitiate is there), I should carry a cash gift to deliver personally if at all possible. In the event, it turned out to be a long way from Kanjoor where the Novitiate was, but eventually, through the good offices of the MSC Superior, I was able to visit. He arranged to drive back to kanjoor via Josegiri.
We drove from Mysore, where a new student house was being established, through amazing countryside, part of it a wild life reserve, part very mountainous with myriad waterfalls in precipitous ravines, very lush vegetation and in places tea plantations on the sides of hills. Josegiri was high in the mountains, in face above the clouds most of the time I was there, and quite cold. There is high rainfall and much mist so the vegetation is exuberant and prolific. We arrived in the late afternoon.
That night the priest was away preparing a funeral and the sisters welcomed us and alerted the President and Secretary of the SVDP Conference, John and Devasio, who came to see us. Our meeting was by lamp light as there is no electricity this high in the mountains and was conducted via an interpreter. They were aware of their Australian twin and had been in contact before so our meeting was not our of the blue. It was great to put a face to our vincentian brothers and important to hear of some of the suffering the people of this area face and the Vincentian attempts to alleviate it. The principle problems are those faced by widows, especially when elderly, and orphans.
Next morning I concelebrated at Mass with the MSC Superior and the parish priest who had returned during the night. this was a first for me because the Catholics of this area (and much of Kerala) belong to the Syro-Malabar Rite. Most of the village was present, including all the Conference members, and they blessed us as we headed off south on an 8 hour journey to Kanjoor. it would have been much easier to post a cheque but it was much better to deliver it in person.
I know you value Vinnies as much as I do and will support the current door knock appeal.
In the Lord Peter.
In these forty days before Easter week we unite ourselves with Jesus in the desert. It is a time of penitential practice. Many of us can remember when Lent was synonymous with "giving something up". Then came a change to a more positive "doing something extra". The former was directed towards myself, my self-discipline, my self-control; the latter, also a matter of self-discipline, directed outwards to God and others.
Yet this need not be wither/or and I wonder if in fact we don't need both. It can be healthy to look both inwards and outwards and practise both kinds of discipline during Lent. Both are aimed at eventually entering more fully into the Easter experience and thereby deepening and developing my relationship with the Lord.
So here is a lenten tip! Spend a bit of time in prayer asking for guidance as to what is a realistic and helpful program for you during lent. Do not choose anything truly burdensome or anything that affects other too much. But if it involves "giving something up" as well as "doing something extra" then take it on with a joyful heart. And have a happy lent!
In the Lord Peter
Last Tuesday evening's discussion about Grief and bereavement was quite successful with a good number of (mainly) parishioners attending, about 65 in total. I spoke firstly about my experience in the area of Ministry to people affected by HIV/AIDS and then about more general areas of grief and loss. The third part of the evening was discussion in small groups about our own experiences and how well we coped, or didn't, followed by a plenary session which allowed space for comment on where the parish might go in this direction. Possible scenarios were presented by Andrew Kiley and Sarah Murdoch who were part of the group which initiated and planned the evening. A pleasant supper prepared by willing volunteers followed and the discussion carried on informally. In total about twenty people have indicated their willingness to be involved in a parish outreach.
The organizers have taken note of a number of issues raised during the evening and will attempt to incorporate as many as possible in the next stage of this proposed ministry. There are for instance a number of already existing parish structures which do, or can, cover part of the proposed outreach. It isn't necessary to reinvent the wheel but it is necessary to network between the resources available when the need arises and to fill any gaps that are apparent.
One factor that was not properly thought through was that the discussions themselves raised issues for some that perhaps hadn't been resolved and that a process for attending to this was not incorporated. Can I suggest to anyone in this situation that they contact me and i will ensure that they receive time and space to attend to their issues.
I was very impressed with the whole process of discernment as to whether the community of St John's should take on another outreach. It was an initiative by the parish for the parish. I was very willing to help and will as long as I am here. And I congratulate you on the proposal, the process and the response. I look forward to the next stage.
In the Lord Peter
I read an article once about a Rabbi who said that God would only ask only one question of us when we approach the Seat of Judgment. That question will be: "What have you done with the life I gave you?"
In a completely unrelated context but within weeks of reading that first article I read another, this time about a US Catholic academic who was obsessed with a similar question which he had heard some priest say in a homily. The one question which God will as us when we are face to face is "What have you done with my Son?"
Both questions are good but the second has more dimensions for christians and is fundamentally about relationships. How have I treated the jesus in friend and stranger, the Jesus in my family and the jesus in all those who are outsiders? How have I related to the Jesus within myself? In the Scriptures and in the Sacraments? In nature?
It is a haunting question but it is not meant to make us depressed when we realise that we are weak and imperfect Christians. Rather it invites us to take a few more steps on the pilgrimage of our lives, to ask for forgiveness and for help in continuing our journey. We are meant to be positive and joyful people even at times in the midst of failure, sadness and confusion. This kind of joyfulness though is not the jumping and skipping through the autumn leaves type. (Well, maybe sometimes). It is that kind of quiet joy that is based on the conviction in faith that in every circumstance of my life I am totally and unconditionally a beloved child of God. With my weaknesses and sins as well as my victories and virtues; with my limitations as well as my strengths and gifts, I am beloved. This knowledge is very comforting but it is not an invitation to complacency, on the contrary, it is an invitation into more life, more freedom and more humanity, It really is Good News!
In the Lord Peter
An extract from a letter from Fr. Kevin Barry-Cotter PP of Cootamundra
"Many thanks to your parish community and the Social Justice Committee in particular for your generous donation of $1300.00 for our Drought Assistance program.
The water situation is always a problem in the bush. An average family needs about 4000 litres a month, so our carrier who can carry 12,000 litres is fairly busy. The cost differs from farm to farm depending on the distance from town. Three of the other churches in town have come in on the scheme, which frees up our resources a bit for other initiatives.
We have a local movement here called "Mate helping Mate" started by a very fine man in one of our small communities. the idea is to bring the farmers together to boost their self-esteem and get them talking about their situation with people who are expert in business recovery, environment recovery and self and family recovery.
This is essentially a "small community" initiative and the farmers come in together from the surrounding small communities for a barbeque tea and a few beers. The last one at Stockinbingal was attended by 85 farmers. The experts present had experience with the land, were very practical, good-humoured and easy to talk to. I felt it was a very worth while meeting and seemed to achieve what it had set out to do.
The next one may reach out to farming families and down the line, something has to be done for the small businesses in small country towns and villages, because townies are also feeling the pinch. these gatherings were subsidised by Government and private industry and have offered to help subsidise the next one from our resources.
I had quite forgotten that Kippax was "twinned" with Coota, so when this drought is over and the Lord sends his soaking rains, we must arrange for your parish to visit us and enjoy this fair land.
Many thanks once again, and we will keep you in our prayers, as we are in yours.
Sincerely in the Lord
Fr Kevin Barry-Cotter
In the Lord Peter
When we care for others we need to be aware of the difference between care giving and care taking. There is a place for both but each is only appropriate in certain circumstances. Care taking, which involves making life-decisions for others, is for
infants and those truly incapable of making decisions for themselves.
Care giving on the other hand seeks to not only fulfil the needs of the dependent person but to empower them to take as much responsibility for themselves as they can. If they are sick it will help them recover faster and assume responsibility for themselves sooner. If they will not recover it is more respectful to help them live more fulfilling lives.
In both cases it is essential that the carer also takes care of themselves. This means seeking and accepting help at various times; arranging life so that there are opportunities for peace and joy, true recreation and attending to their own needs. God really doesn't ask any of us to be doormats. God asks us to be people who love and care for each other, and ourselves.
Many of us are familiar with the Serenity Prayer used by AA. It is not just for recovering alcoholics. It originally came from Reinhold Neibuhr, the Evangelical Protestant theologian, and it is for all of us: “To accept the things I cannot change; to change the things I can; the wisdom to know the difference.” If you are in the situation of a carer and you need help, the parish has outreaches that can be of assistance. The Ageing and Disability Group and the Grief and Bereavement Group can network on your behalf as is appropriate.
In the Lord, Peter.
Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday. The palms waving today remind us of the wind that blows through our lives; sometimes a gently breeze and sometimes a raging storm. To find the presence of God in that wind we need to be attentive to the movements of our hearts. We who honour Jesus as Prince of Peace have to remember that sometimes peace is painful. We do not want to be like most of the crowd who acclaimed his entry into Jerusalem and then abandoned him within a few days. Their expectations were not fulfilled and so they did not hang around to find out what he was really like.
They had hoped that he would be a political leader who would ensure their freedom from their oppressors, the Roman occupiers of Israel . For a short while they threw their lot in with the possibility of that kind of freedom. But that was not what Jesus was on about; the freedom he offered was from the power of fear and sin and death.
The peace that Jesus promised is unlike what we understand by earthly peace, the absence of hostility, the promotion of political and cultural self-determination and the conditions for prosperity. These are of course good things and we should promote them whenever possible. But Jesus' peace is of another order; it is of the heart. It can co-exist with pain and suffering, with confusion and with doubt, as well as with the wonderful human experiences that form part of the pattern of each life.
The root of this peace, I believe, is the knowledge and acceptance of the fact that in every circumstance of our lives, good and bad, we are loved. Loved totally and unconditionally by the One who knows us through and through; knows our hopes and fears, our triumphs and our failures, our potentials and our limitations, everything that ‘is' us. Then, no matter what may be the external circumstances of our lives we are OK; we are at peace in the face of anything, secure because, like Paul, we know that nothing at all can come between us and the love of God made manifest in Jesus.
As we accompany Jesus this week through his Passion and to his Death may we more and more deeply understand the depth of that love and in doing so experience his peace.
In the Lord, Peter.
Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday. The palms waving today remind us of the wind that blows through our lives; sometimes a gently breeze and sometimes a raging storm. To find the presence of God in that wind we need to be attentive to the movements of our hearts. We who honour Jesus as Prince of Peace have to remember that sometimes peace is painful. We do not want to be like most of the crowd who acclaimed his entry into Jerusalem and then abandoned him within a few days. Their expectations were not fulfilled and so they did not hang around to find out what he was really like.
They had hoped that he would be a political leader who would ensure their freedom from their oppressors, the Roman occupiers of Israel . For a short while they threw their lot in with the possibility of that kind of freedom. But that was not what Jesus was on about; the freedom he offered was from the power of fear and sin and death.
The peace that Jesus promised is unlike what we understand by earthly peace, the absence of hostility, the promotion of political and cultural self-determination and the conditions for prosperity. These are of course good things and we should promote them whenever possible. But Jesus' peace is of another order; it is of the heart. It can co-exist with pain and suffering, with confusion and with doubt, as well as with the wonderful human experiences that form part of the pattern of each life.
The root of this peace, I believe, is the knowledge and acceptance of the fact that in every circumstance of our lives, good and bad, we are loved. Loved totally and unconditionally by the One who knows us through and through; knows our hopes and fears, our triumphs and our failures, our potentials and our limitations, everything that ‘is' us. Then, no matter what may be the external circumstances of our lives we are OK; we are at peace in the face of anything, secure because, like Paul, we know that nothing at all can come between us and the love of God made manifest in Jesus.
As we accompany Jesus this week through his Passion and to his Death may we more and more deeply understand the depth of that love and in doing so experience his peace.
In the Lord, Peter.
The funeral of Fr Jim Fallon took place at Kensington, Sydney, on Friday and the burial at the MSC cemetery at St Mary's Towers, Douglas Park. Numerous representatives of the parish were able to be there along with many others whose lives had been touched by this warm hearted and generous man.
Regretfully Fr Michael was not able to be present but, aware of Jim's precarious health, he had said goodbye to him before he left and was in touch with him before Jim went to Sydney for the procedure which led to the stroke. He was constantly in contact with those close to Jim and responsible for his final care. Our thoughts are with Michael in a special way at this time.
Personally I first met Jim in 1970 at Hagita High School in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. I was an AVA (Australian Volunteer Abroad) in those years and Jim was the Education Secretary of the Diocese. It was before I had any idea that I would become a priest but it was there that I first came in contact with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Many of these priests and brothers had a quality of inner strength allied with gentleness that I found powerfully attractive. I was something of a lost soul in those days and the experience of working with and relating to those men gave me a sense of possible direction in life. Jim Fallon was one of those men. They were, or seemed to me, to be strong without being hard and gentle without being weak. I wanted to be like them. I am not sure that I have succeeded, at least not yet, but I am sure that Jim and others like him were my inspiration. The last few months in community with Jim have been a peaceful and blessed time in my life. I am grateful to God for him.
I know that many of you have similar stories of how your lives have been touched by Jim. They console us as we share them but far more important is the faith we share in Jesus and the conviction that he has been born to life eternal in unimaginable love. He is praying for us now.
In the Lord, Peter.
When somebody dies we often spend time remembering the things that tied us to their lives and endeared them to us. (Or not, of course!). But recently I recalled a conversation I took part in at the time when I first met Jim Fallon. Hagita High School is built on an old Plantation next to Gili Gili, more famous because of its association with the war in the Pacific and the Japanese invasion of Milne Bay . The high school had moved from Sideia Island and been rebuilt on Hagita, the builders being MSC brothers and volunteers who used a lot of war material that was scavenged from the airstrip (Marsden matting, all sizes of pipes) and from wartime wreckage in the jungle or the plantation. The MSC priests and brothers lived in the old plantation manager's house and sometimes we volunteers were invited there for a drink on a Friday evening.
On this particular occasion, Jim, who was Education Secretary for the Diocese, was visiting and the conversation was about laws and rules in the Church. I have a clear memory of Jim giving it as his opinion that; “Holy Communion is not a reward for being good. It's offered to us as a gift to give us grace, strength and courage when we need it most. It is when someone makes a mess of their lives that they should especially be going to Communion, not staying away from it.” This was not the first time I had heard something that wasn't usual but this idea set off a train of thought in me that led me to a much gentler God than I had known. It played its part in leading me to the compassionate Sacred Heart and all that followed.
I believe that when our image of God changes to conform more closely to what Jesus reveals of his Father then our, necessarily feeble, love of God becomes more real, more true. Linked to this is the fact that when someone rejects an idea of God that is not in conformity with the Father of Jesus they are obeying, perhaps unwittingly, the first commandment and rejecting a false god. We should pray for those who have apparently lost faith that they do not stop seeking the one true God who is the God of Love.
In the Lord, Peter.
Being at times at a bit of a loss as to a subject, I asked Marian recently about the topics that Michael used to cover in his “From the Desk of…” . She told me that Michael would sometimes use this column to thank people for different jobs that had been done around the church and presbytery. That's a good idea, I thought, and I started a list but soon realized I had left it a bit late as the number of people who need to be thanked has grown very long. It extends from Bert who made the projector cabinet and installed the new lighting for the car park, to the fellows who repainted Mark's office, to Pauline who works each Thursday on the Compact, to the families who left the magnificent wedding flower arrangements in place for Jim's memorial mass. And it covers many who give their time and their energy to the life of the parish and ensure the smooth running of our community, buildings and people, worship and outreach. I am aware that it is inadequate but I hope all will consider this a public acknowledgement of sincere thanks. When I was a seminarian we were told that the depth of our faith could be gauged by the depth of our gratitude, that they are proportional. Well, that could be argued further but it does remind us that faith is a relationship and is personal, it is faith in God who loves us even when we cannot comprehend or feel the love. And it is eventually possible to say thank you for everything, all the pain and all the confusion as well as all the wonder and all the joy, because it is ‘everything', sin as well as virtue, that has brought us to this point of being aware, and responding to, God's love. If something was left out we just simply don't know where we would be. The path that each of us has followed has led us to this present moment when we can say: Yes, thank you, Amen….for my life in all its grubbiness and pain and grandeur. And if we can't say it yet we can hope to say it soon. I do not want to be glib about this. I realize that some people have suffered horribly and the cause of the suffering should never have happened. But it did and we have to accept that and trust that God will bring good out of evil. That is our faith too, that sin cannot triumph, it has already been defeated because He is Risen. And we are truly grateful for that.
In the Lord, Peter.
How can we quieten ourselves down in order to listen to the gentle voice that is so easily drowned by all the loud voices shouting for our attention? How can we reach our own private room, that secret place hidden in our hearts where we may be alone with God? Here is an imaginative way that might help you reach that place of encounter. It is not new, it was taught to me years ago, it may not suit everyone but it may help someone.
Choose a quiet time and a quiet place where you are unlikely to be interrupted. Make yourself comfortable in whatever way that suits you but not so comfortable that you will fall asleep!
Make a brief prayer that you will be available to God for the next 15 or 30 minutes or whatever you can afford. Do not tell God what to do! Just tell God that you want to be present in trust for whatever or however God wants to show love to you.
Relax your body and concentrate on your breathing for a while. Be aware of the air entering and leaving your body. If distracting thoughts enter your mind just gently brush them away. Do not get annoyed, much less angry with yourself. God smiles on you anyway.
Imagine that you are on a path through a deep but friendly forest. It is a pleasant place and you are unafraid. Along the track you come across a huge tree that has fallen beside the path. There is an entrance among the roots to a tunnel leading downwards. It is dim but you have enough light to see. You come to a door at the end of the tunnel. It is familiar to you. You open it and realise that you are completely at home. This is your room, it is furnished as you like it with a few favourite things in the room. There is your most comfortable chair. You sit down and slowly become aware that you are not alone. Jesus is there with you. Maybe you can see him, maybe he is just out of your sight. You can speak to him or you can just enjoy being with him. Or you can listen to him tell you what you need to hear.
This is all in your God-given imagination. Your common sense will tell you if your imagination runs riot. If that happens then just smile at yourself. Be gentle with yourself in your judgment just as God is gentle with you.
Stay as long as you like and return slowly to everyday life. You can return to that place as often as you like. It is your place of encounter with God and that is just another definition of prayer.
In the Lord, Peter.
This weekend I want to let you know of the arrangements for the Feast of the Sacred Heart this year and to ask you to consider helping, if you can.
We are going to celebrate on the actual Feast Day, June 15, a Friday, and will have the celebration in two parts. The first will be a Mass at midday followed by lunch, the second will be a Mass in the evening followed by a light supper.
The Midday Mass will be especially for the infirm and those who need various kinds of help. The invitation will include their carers where they have one and will be followed by lunch in the Parish Centre.
Firstly, we need a list of all those within the parish who would value an invitation, including your good self if appropriate. Could you supply names and addresses to the office by the end of this month so that we can send out the invitations? Don't worry if there are repetitions, the office will sort that out.
Secondly, we need a group of people who can transport those who are infirm to and from the Church. If you can help in this regard then also let the office know.
Thirdly, we need cooks who can prepare the meal and waiters who can serve it. Mark and I will be in the latter category!
Again, names to the office please. We will ask a couple of people to co-ordinate the various tasks when the names are in.
The Evening Mass is for those who are working and/or cannot attend during the day. We simply ask you to bring a plate if you are coming in the evening.
I would also like to let you know that we will begin a fundraiser soon to establish a memorial to Fr Jim Fallon. It will take the form of help to the MSC/OLSH Hagita High School in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. Jim had a great deal to do with the establishment of the High School on the mainland and was the headmaster at one stage.
More information later.
In the Lord, Peter.
During this week I heard a story of truly unpleasant prejudice experienced by a parishioner who is ‘different'. I don't want to identify who it is so I won't add any details but for a moment I felt ashamed to be an Australian.
I tell myself I'm not like that of course but the truth is that I do have my own prejudices that affect the way I relate to people, making assumptions about them before I know them or understand them, putting them into categories that are easily labelled, etc. When I reflect, I know that it is wrong but the problem is that I do not always reflect. There are times when genalizations are true and useful but there are always exceptions and we can hurt people deeply by presuming that they ‘like that' whatever ‘that' may be. To judge that our way is always better is simply wrong.
I have come to understand now that one of the effects of the Holy Spirit is to relieve us of prejudice, to help us to experience inclusiveness and to reject exclusiveness, to know that there is no ‘them' and ‘us', there is only ‘us'. Jesus lived by this and there are many examples of how he related to people whom conventional society of his time thought inferior or irrelevant to unclean, not our type at all. He reached out, treated them with respect and kindness, touched them and offered them a share of his life. And healed them.
We can do the same when we break down barriers, build bridges and include those who are different in our lives. When it is done with love, that heals too.
In the Lord, Peter.
We are familiar with the Scriptural use of metaphor and aware that ‘to visit those in prison' means to go out of our way to give time to those who do not have freedom and are trapped in situations over which they have no control. It does not matter whether it is through their own fault or not. We are not asked to make that judgment.
It also means literally what it says, to visit those in prison, in custody, on remand or whatever. Of course not everyone can do that. The system doesn't allow it and rightly so, it would be unmanageable and chaotic if everyone tried to do it. So we are especially grateful for those who do it on our behalf.
I have been part of a Prison Ministry Team in Western Victoria but have recently discovered a form of the ministry that is new to me and that operates here in Canberra as well as other centres. It is ecumenical, is called Kairos and grew out of the Cursillo Movement and the parallel Emmaus Walk.
It involves a team who regularly visit Goulburn Gaol and form relationships with prisoners. Each year they conduct a weekend programme inside the jail. This team is closed for this year as it takes quite a long time to get the Police clearance necessary to enter inside. But there are other ways of assisting the project. The first is by writing, under guidance, letters of support to individual prisoners. The second is by baking cookies for the weekend. They are a gift to the prisoners and the recipe is controlled!
If you are interested in helping or thinking about being a visitor next year (when there will be a new Correctional Facility in Canberra ) then you could contact Brian Hanvin on 6259 6352 or Barry Panneman 6258 3397.
Related is a special Ministry called Kairos Outside which is support for women whose lives have been affected by having now or in the past, someone close to them in prison. They have a free live-in weekend in September. If you would like to know more you can contact Jan 0434 107 782.
As you would have heard last weekend, the Fr Jim Memorial Fund is being dedicated to a scholarship, or scholarships, at Sacred Heart High School , Hagita, Milne Bay Province , Papua New Guinea . Many thanks to Joe Barr and Marian England for the appeals made at the Masses. Next week we will give a progress total but in advance the PPC expresses its gratitude for the response so far. Envelopes for the appeal are still available at the Information Table in the foyer.
In the Lord, Peter.
As Eastertide finishes and we return to ordinary time we are passing from the highpoint of the Liturgical Year to the basic and average period that comprises most of our lives. But we are changed, life is not ‘ordinary' any more. We have God's Spirit in and with us and ‘ordinary' life is transformed.
We have experienced Pentecost.
We follow this pattern every year. We will eventually enter into Advent, then Christmastide, then Lent, then Eastertide again. There is a rhythm to it that accords with our lives. In the northern hemisphere it generally accords with the climatic seasons of the year though it seems to me that we are blessed here too: the joy of Christmas is a time of warmth, the joy of Easter is in a cooler period but with bright clear and crisp days, at least here in the ACT. In Europe it is Spring, that time of renewal and regeneration. For us it is Autumn when leaves fall, days become shorter and life withdraws into the depths and consolidates. It is for us an interior time of quiet happiness, undemonstrative in a way that perhaps suits our Australian temperament. Or at least some of us.
The Seasons of the Church's Year are aids to our fulfilling the command to Remember. It is such a basic human characteristic that we can overlook just how important it is. It keeps alive our relationship with God in Jesus as we follow the story of our redemption through the Father's manifestation of love for us in His Son. Our lives become caught up in the story and the story lives in us. It is no longer ‘out there' but it is ‘in here', in our hearts and minds. We are continually renewed as we must be.
I occasionally feel sad that some of the people I love most in this world don't have a strong historical sense. They apparently don't feel strong connections to the past, to their ancestors in either the family sense (they don't want to know about their convict great-grandparents!) or the faith sense. And then I remember that God is dealing with them according to their interests, not mine. And that there are lots of celebrations throughout Ordinary Time too that may capture their attention to remind them of how much they are loved summer and winter, all the days of their lives.
In the Lord, Peter.
I am very happy to let you know that the appeal held for a memorial for
Fr Jim Fallon raised well in excess of $8000, at the time of writing $8679.85. This is sufficient to provide, for example, three full four-year boarding scholarships, plus incidentals, at Sacred Heart High School , Hagita, Milne Bay Province , Papua New Guinea . I extend our gratitude to all who contributed, in large and small amounts, to make this such a success. I do this on behalf of Michael, Mark and myself and all MSC's and also on behalf of the presbytery community: Marian, Maureen, Pauline and Sharon. And I know that Joe Barr and the Parish Pastoral Council are grateful too. The final form of the scholarships will depend on the advice of Fr Paul Jennings, MSC, the headmaster of Hagita. It may in fact be best to provide two two-year boarding scholarships (for years 11 and 12) for twelve years. There are numerous possibilities and we will let you know when the final decision is reached. Whatever the ultimate decision, some students will have a chance at an educated life that they wouldn't have had without the generosity of St John the Apostle Parish, Kippax.
While thinking about these matters I was reminded of some of the things that are close to the heart of God. The first of these is compassion and its companion, forgiveness. The second is gratitude for the life we have and its affirmation for ourselves and for others, all others. And the third is generosity. They are all of course different expressions of love and they don't at all exhaust the dimensions of love. But they are quite often hidden virtues that few if anyone will ever know about. But God will know. And in the end our relationship with God is judged by our relationship with others. Have a look at Matt 25: 31-46.
And if you've got the inclination to check out some texts here, for all sorts of reasons, is my all time favourite from the Old Testament. Tob 6: the first sentence of the chapter. (The numbering is a bit difficult here). I hope you like it as much as I do. But if not then just ask me about it next time we meet.
The last thread to tie off this week is to give you the reference for Andrei Rublev, the great, perhaps greatest, iconographer whose masterpiece is The Trinity. Google will take you there very quickly and the most accessible discussion is by Henri Nouwen. If you don't have access to the internet then call at the office and we'll provide a copy for you.
In the Lord, Peter.
This week the parish has celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart and it has been a truly enjoyable time. Mark and I are very grateful for the kindnesses shown to us and for the work that went into making the feast a whole parish affair, even to including some of those who cannot normally come to church. MSC stands for Missionari Sacritissimi Corde, Missionaries of the Most Sacred Heart, though in English we just say ‘Sacred Heart”. The word ‘sacred' refers to the holiness of God and we use it in this context because the heart of Jesus embodies the heart of the Father, the heart of love.
It is a wounded heart, pierced by a soldier's lance but also wounded by the humiliation and mockery, the injustice and the abandonment of the Passion. A heart like yours and mine, at times, but a heart that does not stop loving in the midst of all the pain. That is the love of the Sacred Heart that we admire so much. But we also experience it for ourselves when in our frailty we allow ourselves to be loved by the one who understands us completely, in our strengths and weaknesses, forgives us totally when we are sorry and shares his life with us when we accept his gift of himself.
There is apparently an increasing number of people who find such ideas sentimental nonsense, even pernicious; pie-in-the-sky gibberish that diverts people away from facing up to cold hard reality and getting on with it. It is difficult for a believer to explain the truth of their experience to an unbeliever. This is true for the person who loves music explaining it to the tone deaf or the one who loves literature explaining poetry to someone who cannot comprehend it. But the Christian believes not in an idea, not in music, not in the power of words but in a person known through the power of the heart and in the power of imagination formed by the living word and nurtured by experience.
The experience is as individual as each person. It is not necessarily an experience of church, for some people that has been negative, but an experience of Jesus sometimes mediated by the church and sometimes not. In whatever circumstances it is always good; an experience of love and/or forgiveness, of barriers broken and alienation overcome, of inclusion and affirmation, of healing of mind or body or spirit. And it is also an experience of hope.
In these days following the Feast of the Sacred Heart may you in the circumstances of your life experience the love we celebrate.
In the Lord, Peter.
Last Monday evening there was a gathering in the Parish Centre to celebrate World Refugee Week. We were addressed by three young refugees who spoke of their different experiences of war and of the journey and camps en route to their new
country. It was very moving and I would like to share with you some of the reasons I found it so moving.
The first factor which struck me was that the gathering in itself was a reflection of the Kingdom of God amongst us; people from a great variety of ethnic backgrounds meeting in peace to attend to the stories of some who have suffered. They were listened to with deep attention and sympathy; their experiences were acknowledged and valued. It was an ecumenical group hosted by the parish Refugee Resettlement Group, those present were of differing religions or none but that was irrelevant. Some were present because of a desire to help those who have escaped persecution and arrived to start a new life in Australia , others were there because they had been given refuge here. There was a palpable sense of peace.
All the speakers mentioned their gratitude to Australia for taking them in and giving them an opportunity for education and a decent life. These are things we take for granted and presume that they are our rights. In fact they are the right of every human person but we should not presume that they are automatic because there are many people in the world who should but don't have them. We should be grateful for the peace and prosperity that exists here; it is the fulfilment of the blessing Shalom! But we must not be complacent. We are in some respects a highly imperfect society.
Some say the quality of a society can be judged by the way it treats the most vulnerable in that society. There is a further dimension to this when a society is willing to reach out to help and nurture the vulnerable of other societies, in this case refugees. It is a good and holy thing that is done when we open our borders and our hearts to those in desperate need. There are thousands, millions, more who are waiting and we cannot rest on our laurels when we realise the scope of the problem. But let us acknowledge the good that has been done and is being done amongst us.
In the Lord, Peter.