Religious Education News
At St Francis of Assisi, we show that we are a community that values faith by:
- welcoming others to share in our faith story
- listening and responding to the scriptures
- being Easter people - people of hope
- being prayerful people
- celebrating the liturgical life of our Church
- honouring our faith traditions and the traditions of others
Celebrating the Month of Mary
The Church has long had a devotion to Mary, Mother of God. In fact, this devotion would be considered a hallmark of our Catholic identity. Whilst we hold Mary in high esteem all year round, traditionally, the Church dedicates the months of May and October to Mary. These months, along with the many other ways we honour her during the liturgical year, remind us to look to her as a model of faith and to reflect on her role in our salvation history.As I have stated before, it is important to note that we don’t worship Mary, but we honour her. The Church honours Mary in many ways – through specific feast days, prayers, devotions, hymns, art and even recognising her as the Mother of the Church. As our spiritual mother, she is an example of faith and commitment to the will of God and therefore is an excellent example of discipleship for the rest of us. A well-known devotion in our Catholic Tradition is the biblically-inspired prayer devotion, the Rosary, which invites us to draw closer to Jesus and Mary by reflecting on key moments in their lives. You may like to reflect on the mysteries of the Rosary at home. If you don’t have time to say a whole Rosary every day, you might like to focus on one set of Mysteries per week; reflecting on one story per day and praying the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Glory Be.
If you’d like to know more about the Rosary, Busted Halo has a two minute summary that you might find useful: The Rosary
Farewell, Bishop Emeritus, Peter Ingham
At the end of the school holidays, we learnt of the passing of our previous bishop, Peter Ingham, after a long period of illness. Bishop Peter was installed as the fourth bishop of Wollongong in 2001, serving the diocese for 16 years, before retiring in November 2017. He was 83 years of age and almost 60 years a priest.
When reflecting on the impact Bishop Peter had on the Diocese of Wollongong, our current bishop, Bishop Brian Mascord said:
Bishop Peter was a spiritual father of the Illawarra, Macarthur, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands. We offer him a heartfelt ‘well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matthew 25:23), and we take comfort in the sure hope that we now have another advocate in the presence of our Lord praying for the needs and salvation of the people of God in the Diocese of Wollongong.
A man of God—a man for the people. May his noble soul rest in peace
For details regarding his Solemn Pontifical Mass of Christian Burial, please refer to the ‘Parish News’ section of the newsletter. To watch via livestream, please visit the Diocesan website: https://www.dow.org.au/ or go directly to this website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgqFiUUu6bU
Three regional hubs have also been organised to enable the faithful to gather together for a livestream of the funeral mass, with Holy Communion being distributed at these venues:
- St John the Evangelist Catholic High School Nowra
- All Saints Catholic Parish Shellharbour
- Campbelltown Catholic Club
To assist in the organisation of adequate seating, if you would like to attend one of the locations, please register your attendance for one of these 3 hubs via the Google form at this website https://dow.sh/EOI-livestream.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine upon him.
May he rest in peace. Amen.
Happy Anniversary, Fr Damien
Next Tuesday, 14 May, the whole school will be joining the parish community at the 9.00 am Mass as Fr Damien will be celebrating his 20th anniversary of priestly ordination. As always, parents are most welcome to join us.
Pentecost Sunday
On Sunday 19 May, our parish will be celebrating the Feast of Pentecost - the end of the Easter season and the birthday of the Church. At Pentecost, we recall the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem: a critical event that marked the beginning of the Church, as it was the moment when the disciples gained clarity of purpose and felt empowered by the gift of the Holy Spirit to continue the mission Jesus had left them when he ascended to heaven: to be his witnesses throughout the world. The same Holy Spirit that transformed the apostles is still with us today. Just as Jesus instructed his disciples to go out and make his love known throughout the world, so too are we sent out with the same mission. Through Baptism, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us with the task of being disciples of Jesus. The challenge after Baptism is for us to continue to nurture our faith and attune our hearts to how the Holy Spirit is calling us to live in relationship with others.
Pentecost is one of the highlights of our parish’s year due to the cultural diversity of our parishioners. Following the 10:30 am Mass at St Francis of Assisi church, the community gathers for a multicultural lunch and opportunities to win prizes. You are welcome to attend in national dress. If you are able to, please bring a plate of food to share.
This year, this will be a dual celebration as it will be at our Pentecost celebration that the parish community will celebrate Fr Damien’s 20th anniversary as well
Laudato Si’ Week
Laudato Si' Week is a weeklong event marking the anniversary of Pope Francis' publication of Laudato Si’, an encyclical on the care of creation. This year’s theme is "Seeds of Hope" and it will be celebrated from 19th - 26th May.
Laudato Si’ Week invites the global church to contemplate and nurture seeds of hope for our “suffering planet” (LD 2). The theme is inspired by the symbol for the Season of Creation 2024, “first fruits.”
Ms Marita Maloney
Religious Coordinator