Catholic Outlook Magazine Ordinary Time Spring Edition 2022
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M A G A Z I N E<br />
Parramatta heads to World Youth Day 2023 I Season of Creation in the Diocese<br />
Meet Fr Vincy of The Good Shepherd Parish, Plumpton I Deep listening with Dadirri<br />
Our November traditions I Inner pilgrimages<br />
Season of Creation | <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2022</strong>
M A G A Z I N E<br />
Parramatta heads to World Youth Day 2023 I Season of Creation in the Diocese<br />
Meet Fr Vincy of The Good Shepherd Parish, Plumpton I Deep listening with Dadirri<br />
Our November traditions I Inner pilgrimages<br />
Imprimatur and Publisher:<br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv<br />
Bishop of Parramatta<br />
(02) 8838 3400<br />
PO Box 3066,<br />
North Parramatta, NSW, 1750<br />
bishop@parracatholic.org<br />
www.catholicoutlook.org<br />
Editor & Vicar for Communication:<br />
Br Mark O’Connor FMS<br />
(02) 8838 3400<br />
PO Box 3066,<br />
North Parramatta, NSW, 1750<br />
comms@parracatholic.org<br />
Communications Manager:<br />
Christina Gretton<br />
Communications Officer:<br />
Mary Brazell<br />
Nihil Obstat:<br />
Very Rev Peter G. Williams AM<br />
Accounts:<br />
Alfie Ramirez<br />
(02) 8838 3437<br />
alfie.ramirez@parracatholic.org<br />
Printing:<br />
IVE Group Australia Pty Ltd<br />
All material in this publication is copyright and<br />
may not be reproduced without permission<br />
of the publisher. 8,500 copies are printed and<br />
distributed to 47 parishes and more than 80<br />
schools, after school care centres and early<br />
learning centres in Western Sydney and the<br />
Blue Mountains.<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> <strong>Outlook</strong> is a member of the<br />
Australasian <strong>Catholic</strong> Press Association.<br />
© Diocese of Parramatta <strong>2022</strong><br />
Jenny Kuchta and Elyse Provest worked with Aboriginal students at<br />
Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary Greystanes to create this Rainbow<br />
Lorikeet artwork. Many local schools are adopting totems in the<br />
lead-up to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander <strong>Catholic</strong> Education<br />
NSW State Conference in Leura in October <strong>2022</strong>. This event will be<br />
proudly hosted by <strong>Catholic</strong> Schools NSW and <strong>Catholic</strong> Education<br />
Diocese of Parramatta.<br />
The Diocese of Parramatta reaffirms the<br />
wise axiom attributed to Saint Augustine of<br />
Hippo, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials,<br />
freedom; in all things, charity.” In this spirit,<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> <strong>Outlook</strong> publishes a variety of<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> viewpoints. They are not necessarily<br />
the official views of the Diocese of Parramatta.<br />
Season of Creation | <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
Cover Image: Sunset on the road to Santiago de Navarra,<br />
Spain. The Camino de Santiago is one of the world’s<br />
greatest pilgrimages. Image: Shutterstock.
From Bishop Vincent<br />
Dear Sisters and Brothers,<br />
Only the Kingdom therefore<br />
is absolute and it makes<br />
everything else relative.<br />
As we enter into <strong>Spring</strong> and see God’s creation<br />
bursting forth into new life, let’s remind ourselves that<br />
the Kingdom of God is shining forth all around us!<br />
We are all pilgrims of faith, on a journey to spread the<br />
Good News that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified but<br />
is now risen from the dead.<br />
Sometimes, however, we are blinded from living<br />
our joyous faith and noticing God’s Kingdom<br />
breaking through.<br />
We are like the masses in Jesus’ day, who were<br />
yearning for God to send a messiah to rescue<br />
them but were looking in all the wrong places.<br />
Yes, there are many things in our chaotic<br />
contemporary world that can blind and depress<br />
us and threaten our hope. We can be tempted to<br />
despair at so much injustice, rampant greed, the<br />
destruction of our environment and especially<br />
the horror of war and the suffering of innocents in<br />
places like Ukraine.<br />
But let’s never forget that Jesus proclaimed the<br />
Kingdom and insisted that God’s reign could begin in<br />
people’s lives any time they are ready to awaken to<br />
this presence.<br />
Jesus still speaks to us today:<br />
St. Pope Paul VI<br />
Do not look for God to<br />
appear in the desert or on a<br />
mountaintop, because the<br />
Kingdom is not about location.<br />
Instead, the Kingdom of God<br />
is within you.<br />
If, however, we can resist the temptation to despair<br />
and overcome the delusion that we can save<br />
ourselves, we can discover this divine presence.<br />
As the Anglican biblical scholar N. T. Wright puts<br />
it: “...we need to discover that when God wants to<br />
take charge of the world or the Church, he does<br />
not send in the tanks. Instead, he sends in the<br />
poor and the meek.”<br />
That is what Pope Francis has also been tirelessly<br />
saying for the last ten years. Our salvation is not<br />
achieved by ‘circling the wagons’ and seeking refuge<br />
in some supposed ‘Golden Age’ of the Church.<br />
Our recent Plenary Council was a moment of hope<br />
and new life for many of us Australian <strong>Catholic</strong>s.<br />
Why? Because it rightly discerned that we Australian<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong>s need to march on in our journey of<br />
synodality, to make the Kingdom a reality in the<br />
Australia of today.<br />
We, the People of God in the Diocese of Parramatta,<br />
are sent on mission as ‘kingdom people’ to the<br />
‘peripheries’. As a pilgrim people, the poor and meek<br />
are our salvation and our guides, the 'anawim' of<br />
God who live their witness in the world and in history.<br />
With them, we go on a journey to form a community<br />
of ‘kinship’ for God longs for us to encounter him at<br />
the margins.<br />
This season of <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2022</strong>, we are called then to<br />
open our eyes to see the Kingdom of God breaking<br />
through all around us: “for the vision still has time,<br />
presses on to fulfillment, and it will not<br />
disappoint; and if it delays, wait for it”<br />
(cf. Habakkuk 2:3).<br />
Let's continue our pilgrimage of<br />
hope. For: Only the kingdom<br />
... is absolute! <br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv<br />
Bishop of Parramatta<br />
This was not a message most people of Jesus’ time<br />
wanted to hear. I suspect it is not something we want<br />
to accept deep down either.<br />
We can be tempted to want a Kingdom even a<br />
Church where we are in ‘control’.<br />
01
CATHOLIC EDUCATION<br />
DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA<br />
Enrolling now<br />
for 2023<br />
Belong.<br />
BE WELCOMED | BE VALUED | BE CONFIDENT<br />
Visit www.parra.catholic.edu.au today to find your local <strong>Catholic</strong> school and join one of our<br />
caring, faith-filled communities.
44<br />
22<br />
14<br />
9<br />
On the Inside<br />
Season of Creation | <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2022</strong><br />
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04 <strong>Outlook</strong>Looks<br />
08 Short & Sweet<br />
09 Dadirri<br />
10 <strong>Spring</strong> awakens our care<br />
for refugees and our<br />
common home<br />
12 Sustainable gardening<br />
harvests a strong community<br />
14 Diocese of Parramatta<br />
announces pilgrimage to<br />
World Youth Day 2023<br />
16 The impact of saying ‘yes’ to<br />
God through World Youth Day<br />
18 Being a World Youth Day<br />
witness eleven years on<br />
20 A renewed era of pilgrimage<br />
21 Saints to inspire young people<br />
on their WYD pilgrimage<br />
22 Nurturing a child’s<br />
cultural heritage<br />
24 A servant leader<br />
26 Speak up, speak out<br />
and speak on<br />
28 A reflection on the<br />
Plenary Council<br />
32 Looking Deeper<br />
34 The journey within<br />
36 Journey to Emmaus<br />
38 Living in the monastery<br />
of the heart<br />
40 The Pilgrim Church<br />
42 Our traditions for those<br />
who have died<br />
44 Fr Vincy D’Costa OFM Cap,<br />
Parish Priest The Good<br />
Shepherd, Plumpton<br />
46 Parish Profile: The Good<br />
Shepherd Parish, Plumpton<br />
48 Quest to know sets<br />
a life in motion<br />
50 Let us care for those who<br />
have cared for us through<br />
their lifetime of service<br />
52 Watch, Listen, Read, Think<br />
54 Kid's Corner<br />
56 Directory of services<br />
57 Latest appointments<br />
57 Diocesan Award<br />
Recipients <strong>2022</strong>
<strong>Outlook</strong>Looks<br />
A time for journeying<br />
With the announcement of the Diocese of Parramatta’s World Youth Day 2023 pilgrimage, we’ve asked pilgrims<br />
young and old what being on pilgrimage is like. Check out the testimonials throughout this edition of <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
<strong>Outlook</strong> on how you can grow through pilgrimage, no matter your life stage. You don’t even need to leave home.<br />
Support our<br />
HSC students<br />
Our HSC students are soon<br />
to sit their final exams. Parish<br />
communities in the Diocese will be<br />
holding Masses to pray for our local<br />
students and show them support<br />
and encouragement.<br />
Find the Mass for students in your<br />
parish at bit.ly/HSCMass22<br />
Year 12 Students from Emmaus <strong>Catholic</strong> College,<br />
Kemps Creek with Bishop Vincent in June <strong>2022</strong><br />
Sustainability tips from Ambrose Early Learning<br />
The start of our <strong>Spring</strong> in September is also the Season of Creation.<br />
Throughout the month, we are encouraged to take action and care<br />
for our common home. The children of Ambrose Early Learning in the<br />
Diocese of Parramatta are learning how to reduce their impact on the<br />
environment.<br />
Here are their top tips:<br />
Children at Mary Queen of the Parish<br />
Ambrose Early Learning learn about<br />
recycling. Image: Ambrose Early Learning.<br />
• Get a worm farm and feed your worms food scraps.<br />
The ‘worm juice’ is great fertiliser.<br />
• Recycle water through the use of rain tanks.<br />
• Grow things in the garden rather than buy them,<br />
especially your own food.<br />
• Recycle plastic soft drink and milk bottle lids.<br />
The ‘Lids for Kids’ project collects plastic bottle lids<br />
to be recycled to help make mobility aids for children.<br />
Sign up as an<br />
Earthcare Family<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare has a program<br />
to help your family live more<br />
sustainably. There's a program for<br />
parishes and schools too. Find out<br />
more on page 10.<br />
Signup at<br />
catholicearthcare.org.au<br />
Earthcare<br />
Family Game<br />
Combine learning about<br />
ecological care with fun and<br />
play the <strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare<br />
Game. Image: Supplied.<br />
You can purchase the<br />
Earthcare game through<br />
earthcaregame.org<br />
04
<strong>Outlook</strong>Looks<br />
Soul Cakes<br />
Image: Cath Family website<br />
Baking for All Souls<br />
Following All Saints Day on 1 November, we<br />
commemorate All Souls Day on the 2nd, when we<br />
pray for those who have died. It is a centuries-old<br />
tradition, originally accompanied, in England and<br />
Ireland, by the baking and distribution of ‘soul cakes’<br />
for the poor. Try one of the recipes and talk with your<br />
families about the tradition of All Souls Day, and<br />
loved ones who have died.<br />
Check out this recipe on the Cath Family website<br />
at bit.ly/allsoulscake<br />
Season of Creation<br />
<strong>Spring</strong> camping<br />
Take time out from your busy lifestyle for<br />
a few days to camp in nature with friends,<br />
family and other members of the Christian<br />
community to celebrate the Season of<br />
Creation. To be held at Wooglemai <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
Bush Retreat Centre, Oakdale from<br />
30 September to 2 October.<br />
Details seasonofcreationcamping.org<br />
Speaking out against<br />
violence and abuse<br />
The Australian <strong>Catholic</strong> Church launched its social<br />
justice statement for <strong>2022</strong>/23 in August. The<br />
statement, Respect: Confronting Violence and<br />
Abuse looks at family and domestic violence and<br />
explains that using religious teachings to excuse<br />
violence or exert control over others is wrong. The<br />
Australian <strong>Catholic</strong> bishops call for all people to do<br />
their part, so all people can live in safety and peace.<br />
Social Justice Statement Image: The Office for Social Justice,<br />
Australian <strong>Catholic</strong> Bishops Conference<br />
Download the statement at bit.ly/SJS22-23<br />
Supporting our retired clergy<br />
Our clergy accompany us during some of the most important times of our lives. Having given a life of service<br />
to others, when it comes to retirement or illness, sometimes they need our help.<br />
You can contribute to the Bishop's Father's Day Appeal at catholicoutlook.info/csfFathersday<br />
05
<strong>Outlook</strong>Looks<br />
Active4Vocations<br />
Did you see our team with Bishop Vincent, priests,<br />
seminarians and parishioners who ran the City2Surf in<br />
August this year? They hope you'll join them next year<br />
to help promote vocations.<br />
You can still donate to their campaign raising<br />
funds for Holy Spirit Seminary, Harris Park at<br />
catholicoutlook.info/City2SurfA4V<br />
What’s On in the Diocese?<br />
1 SEPTEMBER TO 4 OCTOBER<br />
Season of Creation. Find resources at<br />
parracatholic.org/seasonofcreation<br />
25 SEPTEMBER<br />
World Day for Migrants and Refugees.<br />
25 SEPTEMBER<br />
Diocesan Journey... Walking with Refugees<br />
event celebrating the gifts and contributions of<br />
refugees in our community. Find out more at<br />
parracatholic.org/socialjustice<br />
8-9 OCTOBER<br />
Parish HSC Masses. Our parishes invite you to<br />
Mass to support our students. Find a Mass at<br />
bit.ly/HSCMass22<br />
6 AND 13 OCTOBER<br />
Sacraments, Blacktown. A short course on<br />
the Sacraments for your parish community.<br />
Details at MET@parracatholic.org<br />
13 TO 15 OCTOBER<br />
National Deacons’ Conference, Baulkham<br />
Hills. Details at catholicoutlook.info/<br />
deaconsconference22<br />
Seminarian Tom Green (right), Fr Pawel Barszczewski OP<br />
(centre) and Head of Clergy Wellbeing in the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta, Mark Buhagier (left) run in the Active4Vocations<br />
campaign in the City2Surf <strong>2022</strong>. Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Talking about the Church<br />
The National Deacons’ Conference<br />
is being hosted by the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta 13 to 15 October. All<br />
interested parishioners are invited<br />
to attend and hear the lineup of<br />
great speakers.<br />
Find out more at<br />
catholicoutlook.info/deaconsconference22<br />
20 OCTOBER<br />
LIFTED Live in the Forecourt. Join the largest<br />
outdoor youth festival in the Diocese at St<br />
Patrick’s Cathedral Precinct Parramatta 7-10pm.<br />
Register at parracatholic.org/liftedlive<br />
26 OCTOBER<br />
The FaithFeed for those aged in their 20s to 40s.<br />
Details at MET@parracatholic.org<br />
9 NOVEMBER<br />
Peace, Justice and Ecology Sharing Online. A<br />
sharing opportunity for those interested in Social<br />
Justice, Care for Creation or Global Peace.<br />
Email MET@parracatholic.org for a Zoom link.<br />
20 NOVEMBER<br />
World Youth Day Parramatta. Each year Pope<br />
Francis celebrates young people around<br />
the world! Join us for an outdoor mass and<br />
celebration. 6pm St John XXIII <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
College, Stanhope Gardens<br />
25 NOVEMBER<br />
Mass for Deceased Clergy in the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta. Mass will be followed by prayers at<br />
the graves of deceased clergy buried in Castle<br />
Hill Cemetery. 10.30am St Bernadette’s Parish,<br />
Castle Hill.<br />
Members of the Permanent Diaconate in the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta and their wives at their formation weekend in 2021<br />
Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
06<br />
STARTING NOVEMBER<br />
• Scripture and Socials for young adults<br />
20’s-40’s online courses.<br />
• Spirituality for beginners<br />
• Interpersonal Skilling for Ministry<br />
Details at pfparra.org.au or<br />
MET@parracatholic.org
Image: Shutterstock<br />
World Day of Migrants and Refugees<br />
On 25 September, the <strong>Catholic</strong> Church around the world celebrates the World Day of Migrants and<br />
Refugees. On this day, we express concern for vulnerable people on the move, pray for them as they face<br />
many challenges, and increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers. In <strong>2022</strong>, Pope<br />
Francis invites us all to join in “Building the Future with Migrants and Refugees”. One practical step is to hold<br />
a food drive for the local refugees in our midst.<br />
Find out more at parracatholic.org/diocesanfooddrive<br />
AFRICA IS FACING<br />
A FOOD CRISIS<br />
You can help deliver<br />
urgent humanitarian aid to<br />
communities facing hunger<br />
www.caritas.org.au | 1800 024 413
Short & Sweet<br />
I thank God that the Plenary Council had the humility<br />
and courage to not go home with a false unity but<br />
a deep and new awareness of God’s unfolding<br />
revelation and our evolving maturity. At least<br />
that is the indication of the majority. The synodal<br />
journey can be messy, painful and uncertain. But<br />
it can lead to renewed and<br />
deepened commitment and even<br />
transformation.<br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv<br />
on the Plenary Council 17 July <strong>2022</strong><br />
I believe some people – lots of people – pray to the<br />
witness of their lives through the work they do, the<br />
friendships they have, the love<br />
they offer people and receive from<br />
people. Since when are words the<br />
only acceptable form of prayer?<br />
Dorothy Day Image: Wikimedia Commons<br />
Noel Pearson also said Australians have an epic story.<br />
It’s one of the greatest epic stories of this planet.<br />
We will recognise the scale of our story when we<br />
recognise each other.<br />
Image: Wikimedia Commons<br />
Federal Opposition Leader Peter<br />
Dutton at the opening of the<br />
Australian Pariament 26 July <strong>2022</strong><br />
The use of digital media, especially social media,<br />
has raised a number of serious ethical issues that<br />
call for wise and discerning judgment on the part<br />
of communicators, and all those concerned with<br />
authenticity and the quality of<br />
human relationships.<br />
His Holiness Pope Francis<br />
to the lay communication network<br />
SIGNIS August <strong>2022</strong> Image: Shutterstock.<br />
The teaching of Christ urges us to promote<br />
relationships marked by respect and freedom<br />
rather than coercion and control. The message of<br />
the Gospel is not a message of domination of one<br />
person over another but a message of mutual<br />
esteem and kindness.<br />
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB<br />
launching the Australian <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
Bishops’ Social Justice Statement<br />
for <strong>2022</strong>/23 Respect: Confronting<br />
Violence and Abuse Image: ACBC.<br />
The profit-driven and self-oriented model that<br />
undergirds our consumerist, economic system is<br />
no longer viable going forward. We will perish under<br />
these conditions unless we return to the roots of<br />
nature and rewire ourselves to be part of nature.<br />
For we humans belong to nature;<br />
nature does not belong to us.<br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv<br />
Tri Diocesan Social Justice evening,<br />
July <strong>2022</strong><br />
Pope’s Prayer Intentions<br />
This <strong>Spring</strong>, Pope Francis asks us to pray<br />
together as a worldwide community:<br />
SEPTEMBER | For the abolition of the death penalty<br />
We pray that the death penalty, which attacks the<br />
dignity of the human person, may be legally<br />
abolished in every country.<br />
OCTOBER | For a Church open to everyone<br />
We pray for the Church; ever faithful to, and<br />
courageous in preaching the Gospel, may the Church<br />
be a community of solidarity, fraternity and welcome,<br />
always living in an atmosphere of synodality.<br />
Pope Francis at World Youth Day 2016 in Poland<br />
Image: Shutterstock<br />
NOVEMBER | For children who suffer<br />
We pray for children who are suffering, especially<br />
those who are homeless, orphans, and victims of<br />
war; may they be guaranteed access to education<br />
and the opportunity to experience family affection.<br />
08
Image: Shutterstock<br />
Dadirri<br />
Our Aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to<br />
wait. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them<br />
follow their natural course – like the seasons. We<br />
watch the moon in each of its phases. We wait for<br />
the rain to fill our rivers and water the thirsty earth…<br />
When twilight comes, we prepare for the night.<br />
At dawn we rise with the sun.<br />
We watch the bush foods and wait for them to ripen<br />
before we gather them. We wait for our young people<br />
as they grow, stage by stage, through their initiation<br />
ceremonies. When a relation dies, we wait a long<br />
time with the sorrow. We own our grief and allow<br />
it to heal slowly.<br />
We wait for the right time for our ceremonies and<br />
our meetings. The right people must be present.<br />
Everything must be done in the proper way. Careful<br />
preparations must be made. We don’t mind waiting,<br />
because we want things to be done with care.<br />
Sometimes many hours will be spent on painting the<br />
body before an important ceremony.<br />
We don’t like to hurry. There is nothing more<br />
important than what we are attending to. There is<br />
nothing more urgent that we must hurry away for.<br />
We wait on God, too. His time is the right time. We<br />
wait for Him to make His Word clear to us. We don’t<br />
worry. We know that in time and in the spirit of dadirri<br />
(that deep listening and quiet stillness).<br />
His way will be clear.<br />
We are River people. We cannot hurry the river. We<br />
have to move with its current and understand its ways.<br />
We hope that the people of Australia will wait. Not so<br />
much waiting for us – to catch up – but waiting with<br />
us, as we find our pace in this world.<br />
There is much pain and struggle as we wait.<br />
The Holy Father understood this patient struggle<br />
when he said to us:<br />
“If you stay closely united, you are like a tree,<br />
standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping<br />
through the timber. The leaves are scorched and<br />
the tough bark is scarred and burnt; but inside the<br />
tree the sap is still flowing, and under the ground<br />
the roots are still strong. Like that tree, you have<br />
endured the flames, and you still have the power<br />
to be reborn”.<br />
An excerpt from Dadirri by Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr<br />
To read the full reflection go to<br />
miriamrosefoundation.org.au/dadirri/<br />
Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr,<br />
(left) 2021 Senior<br />
Australian of the Year,<br />
will visit the Diocese<br />
of Parramatta for the<br />
Aboriginal and Torres<br />
Strait Islander <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
Education Conference in<br />
Leura in October <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
Image: Salty Dingo<br />
09
<strong>Spring</strong> awakens<br />
our care for<br />
refugees and our<br />
common home<br />
STORY SEBASTIAN SALASKE-LENTERN<br />
AND JAMES ATANASIOUS LUKERE<br />
Image: Shutterstock<br />
September is a special time for social and<br />
environmental justice in the <strong>Catholic</strong> Church.<br />
Sebastian and James from the Mission<br />
Enhancement Team (MET) explain why.<br />
Each year, the Season of Creation and the World<br />
Day of Migrants and Refugees fall in the month of<br />
September. It’s a time when <strong>Catholic</strong>s around the<br />
world are particularly reminded to care more deeply<br />
for God’s creation and for people seeking refuge in<br />
their community.<br />
Where to start<br />
Sometimes, knowing how to start can be confusing<br />
or overwhelming. To help you, <strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare, the<br />
ecological advisory agency for the <strong>Catholic</strong> Church in<br />
Australia, has a special program for families, parishes<br />
and schools to take them through the steps, from<br />
understanding our connection to nature, to taking<br />
stock and taking action.<br />
Take action in the Season of Creation<br />
Coinciding with our Australian <strong>Spring</strong>, the Season<br />
of Creation is a worldwide ecumenical initiative from<br />
1 September to 4 October. Concluding on the Feast<br />
of St Francis of Assisi, considered the patron saint<br />
of our natural environment, it is a time when Pope<br />
Francis and the Australian Bishops encourage all<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong>s to prayer and action in caring for God’s<br />
creation, our common home.<br />
In April this year, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv,<br />
Bishop of Parramatta launched our Diocesan<br />
Laudato Si’ Action Campaign, aimed at achieving<br />
the seven Laudato Si’ Goals set by Pope Francis.<br />
All <strong>Catholic</strong> schools, parishes, families, and<br />
organisations in the Diocese of Parramatta are<br />
invited to join us on the journey.<br />
Watch the video at parracatholic.org/laudatosi<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
Parishes will learn how to audit where your parish<br />
is at regarding sustainability, and help you plan<br />
for the future, including how to build and motivate<br />
your community.<br />
Already four parishes have signed up from the Diocese<br />
of Parramatta including The Good Shepherd at<br />
Plumpton, and St Madeleine Sophie Barat at Kenthurst.<br />
Find out more about the Diocesan Laudato Si’<br />
action campaign and the Laudato Si’ Goals at<br />
parracatholic.org/laudatosi<br />
The Good Shepherd Parish responds to<br />
Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor<br />
The Good Shepherd Parish in Plumpton has<br />
envisaged and actioned their response to the<br />
Diocesan Laudato Si’ Action Campaign. In January<br />
<strong>2022</strong>, the parish’s social justice group initiated a<br />
discernment process, resulting in the decision to<br />
join <strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare’s Parishes Program and to<br />
undertake an Earthcare audit.<br />
10
Parishioners from The Good Shepherd, Plumpton raised money for refugees at a special concert. Image: Supplied<br />
They have taken stock of the ways in which the<br />
parish is responding to “the cry of the earth and the<br />
cry of the poor.” Actions include using solar energy,<br />
regular food drives for the refugee organisation the<br />
House of Welcome, and holding a concert to raise<br />
funds for refugee families.<br />
Read more about the parish’s actions on page 46.<br />
The Laudato Si’ Goals<br />
Respond to the Cry of the Earth<br />
Response to the Cry of the Poor<br />
Ecological economics<br />
Adoption of sustainable lifestyles<br />
Ecological education<br />
Ecological spirituality<br />
Community resilience and<br />
empowerment<br />
Details at laudatosiactionplatform.org<br />
Find more opportunities to get involved<br />
with social and environmental justice at<br />
parracatholic.org/socialjustice and subscribe<br />
to the Peace, Justice, Ecology Newsletter at<br />
bit.ly/pjenews<br />
World Day of Migrants and<br />
Refugees 25 September<br />
Celebrate and support refugees in the<br />
Diocese of Parramatta<br />
The <strong>Catholic</strong> Church celebrates the World Day<br />
of Migrants and Refugees in <strong>2022</strong> on Sunday 25<br />
September. It is a time to pray and raise awareness<br />
of the challenges of vulnerable people on the move.<br />
In the Diocese of Parramatta, our network of refugee<br />
organisations and parishes come together in the<br />
Diocesan Journey... Walking With Refugees to<br />
support and keep the conversation going. <br />
You're invited...<br />
Celebrate the gifts refugees bring us all,<br />
at a special event<br />
25 September<br />
Details parracatholic.org/socialjustice<br />
As a former refugee myself, I<br />
understand the sufferings, destitution,<br />
and cry for prosperity of those who<br />
are seeking a place of safety where<br />
they can rebuild their lives. I want<br />
you to be hopeful and prayerful, for<br />
the Lord will provide. No condition is<br />
permanent, and change is possible.<br />
James Atanasious Lukere<br />
Sebastian Salaske-Lentern and James Atanasious Lukere are<br />
members of the Diocese of Parramatta’s Mission Enhancement<br />
Team (MET) focusing on Peace, Justice, Ecology.<br />
11
Margaret (left) and Hanna (right) in the garden<br />
Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Sustainable gardening harvests<br />
a strong community<br />
STORY MARY BRAZELL<br />
The Season of Creation coincides with our<br />
Australian <strong>Spring</strong> weather. In Blacktown, a<br />
group of gardeners are sustainably growing their<br />
favourite vegetables and following the call to<br />
care for each other and our common home.<br />
It’s Thursday morning and Margaret Bayoa has<br />
finished her night shift.<br />
After getting home at 7am, she gets her kids ready<br />
for school and drops them off.<br />
But instead of heading home to rest after work,<br />
she is pulling weeds and cultivating her garden bed<br />
alongside other Sudanese women in the community<br />
garden at the All Saints of Africa Centre, next to St<br />
Patrick’s Church in Blacktown.<br />
I ask her why she isn’t at home taking it easy. “My<br />
heart is here,” she replies with a beaming smile,<br />
looking over the beds of traditional African crops.<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Care Western Sydney and the Blue<br />
Mountains Family Support Worker Rafa Godo<br />
explains that the All Saints of Africa Centre was<br />
established as a central hub for members of the<br />
African community to gather and to socialise.<br />
Originally established for young people, over time,<br />
local Sudanese women have become the main<br />
group of gardeners. They grow okra, black beans,<br />
white corn, sukuma and sugar cane – crops that<br />
are Sudanese staples and remind the gardeners<br />
of home.<br />
Although it is an overcast day when I visit the garden,<br />
it fails to dampen their spirits as the women chat<br />
as they pick from the existing plants and begin<br />
preparations for <strong>Spring</strong>.<br />
Each woman has her own garden bed, but if<br />
someone is not around, the other members of the<br />
community are allowed to harvest their crops.<br />
The food is also shared amongst the community<br />
members free of charge.<br />
12
“We often have a lot of people asking for the food<br />
from the garden,” one of the women explains.<br />
“My kids ask me when I am cooking whether the food<br />
is from the garden. When I say ‘yes’ they get excited.”<br />
The garden is a living example of sustainability. The<br />
women harvest their own seeds from the crops, and<br />
the only item they pay for is water. Any leftovers are<br />
frozen for use throughout the year.<br />
“It’s really encouraging that we are planting our own<br />
seeds, and it’s organic and healthy for us to eat,”<br />
Esther Kenyi says.<br />
As well as tending to the garden, the women are also<br />
nurturing their relationships with one another and<br />
with their community.<br />
“On Thursdays, we have playgroup and then<br />
afterwards, I go and do garden work,” Hanna Abadia<br />
says. “Working in the garden is exercise for me and it<br />
feels really good.”<br />
Helping out in the garden is beneficial for older<br />
members of the community too, says Hanna. “For<br />
some of them, it is the only way to get them out of<br />
the house, out exercising and keeping them busy<br />
during the day,” she says.<br />
The women feel that they are embracing Pope<br />
Francis’ call to care for creation and care for the<br />
earth through their traditional gardening practices<br />
and also by sharing the food with others.<br />
Sukuma with ugali and chicken. Image: Shutterstock<br />
A recipe for sukuma<br />
• Wash sukuma and cut finely<br />
• Chop onions and tomatoes<br />
• Cook onion in oil until it browns then<br />
add sukuma<br />
• Cook for five minutes<br />
• Add tomatoes<br />
• Flavour with salt, seasoning or finely<br />
cut onion leaves<br />
• Add a small amount of water to<br />
prevent it burning<br />
• Cook it on slow until you are happy<br />
with the taste<br />
• Serve with meat and ugali<br />
Growing their own food helps the members of the<br />
community save money. Their native vegetables are<br />
often hard to find in markets, and, as the women<br />
explain, don’t taste as good.<br />
As the garden remains a staple for the community,<br />
the gardeners hope to find a bigger plot of land<br />
around Western Sydney and expand their garden. <br />
Tips from the All Saints of Africa gardeners:<br />
• Keep older crops in for longer – it enriches the<br />
soil for new planting in the spring.<br />
• Use grass clippings, manure and homegrown<br />
compost, instead of fertiliser.<br />
Gardener Night Drania<br />
Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
• If you have leftovers after your harvest, freeze<br />
them for use throughout the year.<br />
• Sharing your harvest builds community!<br />
13
Diocese of Parramatta announces<br />
pilgrimage to World Youth Day 2023<br />
STORY MARY BRAZELL<br />
Young people across Western Sydney and the<br />
Blue Mountains are invited on a once-in-alifetime<br />
spiritual experience.<br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of<br />
Parramatta has launched the official Diocese of<br />
Parramatta pilgrimage to the 16th International World<br />
Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon, Portugal, in August 2023.<br />
The 22-day pilgrimage takes place from 21 July to<br />
11 August 2023. Across four countries. young people<br />
will walk in the footsteps of saints who changed the<br />
course of history. Starting in Paris, the young pilgrims<br />
will travel to Spain before the official WYD event<br />
in Lisbon, Portugal, and conclude with a retreat in<br />
Assisi, Italy.<br />
World Youth Day is a gathering of young people<br />
from all over the world with the Pope: a celebration<br />
of youth, an expression of the universal Church<br />
and an intense moment of evangelisation for the<br />
youth world.<br />
It was created in 1986 by Pope St John Paul<br />
II and is hosted in a different international city<br />
every few years. <br />
To find out more information and to register<br />
your interest in attending World Youth Day, visit<br />
www.parrawyd.org<br />
The image (on facing page) for the Diocese of Parramatta<br />
WYD 2023 pilgrimage depicts the Blessed Virgin running,<br />
indicating her haste and honouring the WYD 2023 theme<br />
“Mary arose and went with haste” (Lk 1:39) – the third<br />
chapter in Pope Francis’ Marian-based themes for<br />
World Youth Day.<br />
The elements of creation depicted remind us of St Francis<br />
of Assisi’s love and care of the natural world and the Lisbon<br />
lettering is reminiscent of local Portuguese art styles, with a<br />
yellow tram and flamenco guitar nods to the host city.<br />
15
The impact of saying ‘yes’ to God<br />
through World Youth Day<br />
STORY MARY BRAZELL<br />
We hear the stories of four of our young adult<br />
pilgrims who attended World Youth Day in<br />
Panama in 2019.<br />
In his invitation to young people across Western<br />
Sydney and the Blue Mountains to join him in<br />
journeying to World Youth Day, Bishop Vincent says<br />
for young people, the worldwide celebration of faith<br />
has a “profound impact on their relationship with<br />
Jesus, their prayer life, their lived mission and their<br />
relationship with others”.<br />
Qwayne Guevara, Manager – <strong>Catholic</strong> Youth<br />
Parramatta, explains that “past World Youth Day<br />
pilgrims have returned to their local communities<br />
taking up leadership and service opportunities<br />
in their schools, parishes, workplaces, pursuing<br />
further theological study and some discerning<br />
their vocation.”<br />
As the youth of Western Sydney and the Blue<br />
Mountains consider journeying with Christ on World<br />
Youth Day, we asked pilgrims from previous World<br />
Youth Day pilgrimages to reflect on what called<br />
them to this amazing mountain-top experience,<br />
and how they share the love of God with their<br />
local faith communities.<br />
Chantelle Ocsan, parishioner of<br />
Holy Family Parish, Emerton<br />
While I entered World Youth Day hoping to always be<br />
surrounded and be comfortable with people I already<br />
knew, throughout the pilgrimage, WYD taught me<br />
the beauty in virtuous friendships. WYD allowed me<br />
to create friendships with the other pilgrims knowing<br />
that we were all on the same faith journey but just at<br />
different points in our lives.<br />
On pilgrimage, I learnt how much I love serving<br />
the people around me, and it is through making<br />
sure I showed a Christ-like joy every day, even<br />
when I wasn’t feeling 100%. It was the ability to<br />
recognise that in any circumstance, God is trying<br />
to call out to me.<br />
World Youth Day is a continuous pilgrimage where<br />
every day, I learn how God is trying to call me to be<br />
His servant. My faith was strengthened throughout<br />
World Youth Day to emulate this unwavering yes<br />
Mama Mary gave to God; inspiring me to do<br />
what I can to make sure I answer His call in my<br />
day-to-day life.<br />
Qwayne Guevara (back far left), Kathleen (middle right) and<br />
Chantelle (front right) at WYD 2019 with other pilgrims from<br />
the Diocese of Parramatta. Image: Supplied<br />
16
Dale Ahern<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
Dale Ahern – Head of Learning,<br />
St Clare’s <strong>Catholic</strong> High School, Hassall Grove<br />
There are people that I would not have met without<br />
this experience who are people in my life I can count<br />
on for anything. I very much cherish the friends I<br />
have made along the way, some I know will be in<br />
my life forever.<br />
I remember in Panama being near the beach with<br />
two other groups and in that moment, we decided<br />
to share how we were feeling in that moment and<br />
prayed together. After we prayed, I remember feeling<br />
this calm come over us – I felt like Christ was with<br />
us. It felt as if we were all meant to be there in that<br />
moment, sharing and appreciating the world around us.<br />
As a teacher, I have had many opportunities to share<br />
my experiences and my own faith journey after WYD.<br />
Kathleen Hernadez<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
Kathleen Hernandez, parishioner of<br />
St Aidan’s Parish, Rooty Hill<br />
During WYD week in Panama city, there was a<br />
‘Fiat Night’ which centred around the theme of<br />
WYD. There were talks and a time of Adoration of<br />
the Blessed Sacrament. When I looked at Jesus in<br />
the tiny host in the monstrance, I felt His gaze upon<br />
me. In my vulnerability, I knew deeply that God’s love<br />
was for me.<br />
In the procession of the Blessed Sacrament that<br />
followed, I heard deeply in my heart the words,<br />
“Come back to me, my love. Come back to me, my<br />
love. Come back to me, my love.” It felt as if Jesus<br />
and I were speaking the words to each other – heart<br />
to heart – and I was drawn into a deeper intimacy<br />
with Him.<br />
Abigail Diaz<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
I entered a new season of my life after World Youth<br />
Day. I gave the year to God, fell more deeply in love<br />
with Him, and felt called to step out to join a religious<br />
community. I discerned Religious Life for two blessed<br />
years and recently felt called to come back home.<br />
Abigail Diaz, parishioner of<br />
Good Shepherd Parish, Plumpton<br />
No day was the same on pilgrimage – there was<br />
time for prayer and reflection, great friendships and<br />
fellowship being developed with each experience,<br />
lots of food, excitement, music, learning, moments<br />
of laughter, vulnerability, tears of sorrow and<br />
tears of joy.<br />
During the pilgrimage, I crossed paths with some<br />
fellow parishioners whom I only ever knew as a face<br />
in the pews prior to WYD. Our encounters during the<br />
pilgrimage soon lead the way for deeper friendships.<br />
These friends are a source of hope and continue to<br />
inspire me and my faith journey. <br />
17
Claire Brown (second from left)<br />
at the WYD lunch she attended<br />
with Pope Benedict XVI in 2011<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
Being a World Youth Day witness<br />
eleven years on<br />
STORY CLAIRE BROWN<br />
A World Youth Day pilgrimage can bring<br />
experiences you never imagined, as Claire Brown<br />
found out.<br />
I experienced my first taste of what a pilgrimage<br />
would be like at World Youth Day Sydney, 2008.<br />
I, along with 350,000 pilgrims from here and<br />
around the world, attended the final Mass<br />
which Pope Benedict XVI celebrated. It was an<br />
unforgettable time.<br />
When the Pope announced that WYD 2011 would be<br />
in Madrid, Spain, I remember thinking very clearly,<br />
“I wonder if I’ll be there?” and praying about it there<br />
and then.<br />
Turns out God had some amazing things in store<br />
for me on that journey.<br />
Not only did I attend WYD in Madrid, but I also had<br />
the great privilege of being chosen, with eleven<br />
others, to have lunch with Pope Benedict!<br />
The Pope was a very kind, humble, gentle person<br />
who showed such care and concern for the youth of<br />
the church. Meeting him was incredible and certainly<br />
a highlight of my pilgrimage. Although, God’s hand in<br />
that circumstance has been even more incredible. He<br />
has used that experience for me to be able to bless<br />
and witness to many people over the years.<br />
Another highlight for me was experiencing over three<br />
million people gathering together to celebrate our<br />
faith. When my pilgrim group first arrived in Spain,<br />
we spent some time in a town called Cáceres. The<br />
parishioners there made us all feel so welcome. It felt<br />
like a home away from home. There were the older<br />
ladies preparing home-cooked meals, the parish<br />
dads being our tour guides, families inviting us into<br />
18
their homes and the local priests hanging out, playing<br />
games and praying with us.<br />
What really struck me was that even though our<br />
cultures were so different – a lot of us didn’t speak<br />
Spanish and most of them couldn’t speak English<br />
– but our faith and connection with God surpassed<br />
all of that. We are all the same in Christ. We share<br />
similar joys, struggles, heartaches, and triumphs.<br />
It was also a wonderful experience sharing the<br />
journey with my pilgrim group. It was great getting<br />
to know them, hearing their stories and sharing the<br />
same experiences together.<br />
Pilgrimages aren’t always easy. Sometimes we<br />
think that a pilgrimage will be a holy, adventurous<br />
time where nothing goes wrong and we become<br />
enlightened and grow deeper with God.<br />
Don’t get me wrong, that does happen. But there<br />
were a lot of times when it was hard and exhausting.<br />
We sometimes got on each other’s nerves, things<br />
didn’t always go to plan and there were sicknesses<br />
and injuries. We were reminded a lot that we were on<br />
pilgrimage, not a holiday, and to offer everything up<br />
as prayer.<br />
Of course, with those struggles also came many<br />
wonderful times. From the amazing moments<br />
when the Holy Spirit touched our hearts in so many<br />
different ways, to playing games, sharing meals and<br />
many discussions. We were all so blessed to share<br />
it together.<br />
Pilgrimages don’t stop affecting your life once you<br />
return home. I had many profound moments on the<br />
trip, but also so many when I got home. It took years<br />
to process and unpack the journey.<br />
Even though it’s been 11 years since Madrid, I’m still<br />
seeing the effect of it in my Faith and walk with God<br />
and my ministry with the youth and young adults of<br />
our parish and diocese.<br />
Also witnessing the effect it has had on the other<br />
pilgrims, many of whom have taken incredible steps<br />
in their various vocations.<br />
I encourage anyone who is discerning going on<br />
a pilgrimage to go for it! To be able to journey<br />
and experience God in new and deeper ways is<br />
something that you will never regret. <br />
Claire Brown is a parishioner and youth ministry leader at<br />
St Finbar’s Parish, Glenbrook.
A renewed era of pilgrimage<br />
STORY SELINA HASHAM<br />
Engraved in marble along the side of St Mary of<br />
the Cross MacKillop’s tomb at her shrine in North<br />
Sydney are her words “Remember we are but<br />
travelers here”.<br />
Sage words from a woman who made a pilgrim<br />
of herself while on earth, travelling the length and<br />
breadth of Australia to fulfil her mission of serving<br />
the poor and remote, often on horseback in the most<br />
challenging conditions.<br />
Pilgrimage has long been part of our spiritual heritage<br />
as the people of God. As the prophet Jeremiah (6:16)<br />
reminds us:<br />
Stand at the crossroads, and look,<br />
and ask for the ancient paths,<br />
where the good way lies;<br />
and walk in it,<br />
and find rest for your souls.<br />
In Australia, the profile of a typical pilgrim is<br />
dynamic, and varied. Many pilgrims are young like<br />
those who attend World Youth Days, and many<br />
are older who have the time and means to travel;<br />
some are workers, professionals, parents, and<br />
students seeking to walk a pathway that will lead to<br />
meaningful and spiritual encounters.<br />
Some are religious including priests and consecrated<br />
women and men. Others are not as engaged in<br />
the Church and come as seekers, open to all<br />
the experiences that pilgrimage provides. Many<br />
are looking for friendship and fellowship, and an<br />
enriching break from the everyday. In recent years<br />
there has been an increase in the number of pilgrims<br />
from Church agency sectors (particularly <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
Education) for the purposes of faith formation and<br />
professional development.<br />
Whatever a typical pilgrim might look like, the<br />
wonderful thing about pilgrimage is, that it is a great<br />
leveller. We are all pilgrims on the journey and walk<br />
the sacred pathways together. <br />
Embarking on a pilgrimage to a holy place, for a<br />
sacred purpose, reminds us that we are but travellers<br />
in this life, and like every Christian pilgrim before us,<br />
are wanderers without permanency, destined for an<br />
eternal home.<br />
After an extraordinary two years, with international<br />
travel interrupted on a global scale as never before,<br />
the appetite for travel, and for travel with meaning<br />
and purpose, is bouncing back.<br />
Well-worn pilgrimage paths, such as the Camino<br />
in Spain, the via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, and the<br />
entrance to St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, smooth with<br />
the footsteps of the faithful over hundreds of years,<br />
after a pandemic reprieve, are once again receiving<br />
pilgrims.<br />
Lesser-known pilgrimage paths in our own country,<br />
such as the footsteps of Mary MacKillop from<br />
Melbourne to Adelaide, or the outback trail to the<br />
Red Centre, are revealing themselves and being<br />
discovered by a new cohort of Aussie pilgrims eager<br />
to walk the pathways of the Great South Land of<br />
the Holy Spirit.<br />
Selina Hasham is the CEO of Harvest Journeys.<br />
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20
Saints to inspire<br />
young people on their<br />
WYD pilgrimage<br />
On their journey to World Youth Day 2023 in Lisbon,<br />
Portugal, young people from across the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta will be walking in the footsteps of 13 Saints<br />
that changed the course of history.<br />
We ask these holy men and women to pray for our<br />
pilgrims, group leaders, chaplains, Bishop Vincent, and<br />
young people across the Diocese and around the world.<br />
Our Lady of Lourdes<br />
Feast Day:<br />
11 February<br />
“I do not promise<br />
you a happiness<br />
in this world, but<br />
in the next.”<br />
St Bernadette<br />
Feast Day:<br />
16 April<br />
“Enjoy God's amazing opportunities bestowed<br />
on us. Have faith in Him always.”<br />
St Dominic<br />
Feast Day:<br />
3 August<br />
“I am not capable<br />
of doing big things,<br />
but I want to do<br />
everything, even<br />
the smallest things,<br />
for the greater<br />
glory of God.”<br />
St Ignatius of Loyola<br />
Feast Day:<br />
31 July<br />
“Whatever you are<br />
doing, that which<br />
makes you feel the<br />
most alive... that is<br />
where God is.”<br />
St Thérèse of Lisieux<br />
Feast Day:<br />
1 October<br />
"Holiness consists<br />
simply in doing<br />
God's will, and being<br />
just what God<br />
wants us to be."<br />
St Clare of Assisi<br />
Feast Day:<br />
11 August<br />
“We become what<br />
we love and who we<br />
love shapes what<br />
we become.”<br />
Our Lady of Fatima<br />
Feast Day:<br />
13 May<br />
“My Immaculate<br />
Heart will be your<br />
refuge and the way<br />
that will lead you<br />
to God.”<br />
St Vincent de Paul<br />
Feast Day:<br />
27 September<br />
“Love the poor.<br />
Honour them,<br />
my children, as<br />
you would honour<br />
Christ himself.”<br />
St Francis of Assisi<br />
Feast Day:<br />
4 October<br />
“Do all you can to<br />
preach the gospel<br />
and if necessary<br />
use words!”<br />
Blessed Carlo Acutis<br />
Feast Day:<br />
12 October<br />
“The only thing we<br />
have to ask God for,<br />
in prayer, is the<br />
desire to be holy.”<br />
St Teresa of Ávila<br />
Feast Day:<br />
15 October<br />
“Trust God that you<br />
are exactly where you<br />
are meant to be.”<br />
St John of the Cross<br />
Feast Day:<br />
14 December<br />
“In sorrow and suffering, go straight to God<br />
with confidence, and you will be strengthened,<br />
enlightened and instructed.”<br />
St Catherine of<br />
Labouré<br />
Feast Day:<br />
28 November<br />
“One must see God<br />
in everyone.”<br />
21
Nurturing a child’s<br />
cultural heritage<br />
Sarah with a student at<br />
Ambrose Winston Hills<br />
Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
STORY CHRISTINA GRETTON<br />
Are your children shy about their cultural heritage?<br />
Our educators in the Diocese of Parramatta have<br />
some tips to keep children connected with this<br />
part of their lives.<br />
Sarah Prego, Assistant Coordinator of Ambrose at<br />
St Paul the Apostle Primary School, Winston Hills,<br />
already sees some differences in how children today<br />
see their cultural heritage compared to when she<br />
was a child.<br />
With a South American heritage, she was reluctant to<br />
learn Spanish, her family’s language. Sadly she also<br />
experienced some teasing around this.<br />
“I just wanted to take Vegemite sandwiches to school,”<br />
she says, instead of the delicious pastas, schnitzels<br />
and other foods her mother prepared for her.<br />
Still only in her mid-twenties, she is thrilled to see the<br />
children at Ambrose embracing their cultural heritage.<br />
Ambrose Winston Hills, like most of the Diocese<br />
of Parramatta, has a varied cultural makeup. She<br />
counts around nine different nationalities represented<br />
at the centre.<br />
While part of her own experience was due to,<br />
attitudes that had been around under previous<br />
immigration policies, Sarah credits the change in<br />
attitude to a more intentional approach to children’s<br />
cultural heritage today.<br />
“We’ve incorporated food from the countries our<br />
students come from,” she says, as an example of<br />
the strategies they use at Ambrose. “We’ve served a<br />
South American bread called alfajores, and children<br />
have told me how their grandma also makes it. We’ve<br />
also served roti bread which was very exciting for a<br />
student from Malaysia. When we served butter chicken,<br />
one of our students with an Indian heritage was very<br />
proud to tell us it is what his mum makes at home.”<br />
The centre keeps the conversation going throughout<br />
the activities. “We play lots of soccer,” says Sarah,<br />
and we tell one of our students who’s a great player,<br />
that he’s sure to represent Lebanon one day!<br />
We also read and discuss<br />
books, such as those on<br />
Aboriginal culture, which<br />
a child brought to read to<br />
the other students about her<br />
family’s heritage.<br />
Sarah cautions that children need to find their own<br />
pace, particularly around the age group of 9 to 13<br />
years old. This is when they will be finding out who<br />
they are as people, so it’s natural they might ‘push<br />
back’ at times. She reassures parents that as long as<br />
the connection to culture is there, young people will<br />
pick it up again when they are developmentally ready.<br />
This is exactly what happened to her.<br />
22
It's an experience that the school community of St<br />
Andrews College at Marayong can relate to. With<br />
over a dozen nationalities at the school at any one<br />
time, the school comes together to celebrate with<br />
a ‘Unity Day’ celebration, also attended by around<br />
1,000 family members. At the event, students can<br />
showcase their culture in music, dance, clothing,<br />
food, sport and more. Leader of Learning Music<br />
and Performance, Antonio Chiapetta, sees not only<br />
the enjoyment it brings the students, but also the<br />
confidence and school spirit it fosters.<br />
“Students realise it’s cool to embrace their story, and<br />
perhaps share their vulnerability,” he says. “It’s great<br />
to see them comfortable in their own skin.”<br />
Manager - <strong>Catholic</strong> Youth Parramatta, Qwayne<br />
Guevara sees the impact of accepting our cultural<br />
heritage in her work with young people’s faith.<br />
“When we embrace our multicultural reality, we send<br />
a message that faith is not just for a few, but for all,”<br />
she says.<br />
“This is important in our work in youth ministry. We<br />
want each young person to know that they belong<br />
- in all that they are, even in the way their culture<br />
expresses faith, builds community, and engages in<br />
service and mission.” <br />
Tips to help your<br />
children embrace their<br />
cultural heritage:<br />
• Be patient – make your culture<br />
accessible to your children.<br />
• There may be culturally-based activity<br />
groups in your community your child<br />
might enjoy – check them out.<br />
• Understand where your child is at<br />
developmentally. From ages 9 to 13,<br />
children are finding out who they are. At<br />
this age they tend to be resistant to lots<br />
of things, including pressure to conform<br />
to the family. Don’t worry, it’s a natural<br />
stage of child development.<br />
• Be proud yourself – set an example of<br />
living your cultural heritage with pride.<br />
Students at St Andrews Marayong celebrate their<br />
cultural heritage at their annual Unity Day celebration<br />
Image: St Andrews Marayong
From left: Geoffrey Kemmis (Assistant Principal),<br />
Jeanette Holland (Principal), Julia Freeman (School Captain),<br />
Abhishek Maharaj (School Captain), Gavin Hilder (Assistant Principal<br />
Image: CEDP<br />
A servant leader<br />
STORY CATHOLIC EDUCATION DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA<br />
St Agnes <strong>Catholic</strong> High School Principal Jeanette<br />
Holland loves the Rooty Hill community she<br />
serves, her staff and most importantly, students.<br />
Yet when asked about her role as a school leader,<br />
she quickly turns the conversation to those<br />
around her.<br />
“I’d prefer to talk about the school, the students<br />
and our great teachers rather than me front and<br />
centre. I want to celebrate the things that we all do,”<br />
Jeanette said.<br />
St Agnes <strong>Catholic</strong> High School is a proudly culturally<br />
diverse co-educational Years 7 to 12 school. From<br />
its humble beginnings in 1962, St Agnes <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
High School has grown from a school of just 27<br />
girls to a vibrant community of 865 students. With<br />
a strong focus on sharing their Franciscan charism<br />
through all they do, the school looks to serve the<br />
community, others in need and seeks to make a<br />
genuine difference.<br />
Leading this community requires the type of leader<br />
who not only has a deep understanding of learning<br />
and teaching but who values the importance of<br />
building relationships to bring people together for a<br />
common purpose.<br />
“It is not just about me,” Jeanette said. “My role is<br />
to serve the community, that is really important. The<br />
work we do in schools is relational, whether it is in<br />
the classroom or in the staffroom, so it starts with<br />
getting to know each other as people,” she said. “It’s<br />
all about caring about others, not being removed<br />
from them. It is about being on the ground, building<br />
relationships, working things through and being<br />
present to the students, the staff and the parents.<br />
It’s not leadership, it’s leading,” she said. “Anyone<br />
can talk themselves up, you need someone who<br />
walks the talk.”<br />
24
It’s all about caring about<br />
others, not being removed<br />
from them. It is about being<br />
on the ground, building<br />
relationships, working things<br />
through and being present to<br />
the students, the staff and the<br />
parents. It’s not leadership,<br />
it’s leading.<br />
Jeanette also comes to supporting teachers with this<br />
same view. Her colleague Lauren Walters, who just<br />
won the Australian Schools Plus Early Career Teacher<br />
Award in the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards,<br />
says Jeanette is the best boss she’s ever had.<br />
“Jeanette is a truly inspiring leader. Since coming<br />
to St Agnes, Jeanette has taken the time to get to<br />
know each and every one of her staff, learning their<br />
professional interests and strengths, and providing<br />
opportunities for us to explore those interests, Lauren<br />
reflects. “She has a real team mentality, welcoming<br />
and appreciating our input into decisions. What's in<br />
the best interest of the students underpins everything<br />
that she does.”<br />
As Jeanette herself reflected: “Leadership isn’t about<br />
being centre stage, it is about putting other people<br />
forward and giving them a voice and an opportunity<br />
to lead. It is about building capacity in others,<br />
working with and assisting them in their leadership.”<br />
“I guess you could call that being a servant leader.” <br />
Careers Advisor and teacher Nashwa Karafotias,<br />
who leads many of the school’s outstanding<br />
programs to support students from culturally diverse<br />
backgrounds, said this approach instills a positive<br />
culture of mutual respect at St Agnes. “Jeanette<br />
treats staff and students on an equal playing<br />
field bringing consistency and a new perspective<br />
to all that she does,” said Nashwa. “She is the<br />
true definition of a servant leader leading at the<br />
ground level.”<br />
Jeanette previously served as Assistant Principal<br />
and Acting Principal of Marian College Kenthurst<br />
and most recently worked within the Learning team<br />
at <strong>Catholic</strong> Education but said she was drawn to St<br />
Agnes because of the community. “I thought I could<br />
make a difference here and the students are lovely,<br />
so respectful and grateful,” Jeanette said. “For our<br />
school, we have to be very aware of cultural context<br />
and communication because of the diversity. We<br />
offer pathways leadership opportunities looking at<br />
the students wholistically, identifying where they<br />
are at, opening their worlds to where they can go,<br />
guiding them to achieve their goals.”<br />
Being an advocate for students and building their<br />
confidence to achieve is a top priority. “Self efficacy<br />
is really important and we really look at how we can<br />
help to build that up in the students so they can look<br />
at themselves as learners and know that they can<br />
do anything – work hard, overcome obstacles and<br />
achieve,” she said.<br />
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25
Speak up, speak<br />
out and speak on<br />
Sr Joan Chittister at a speaking<br />
event in Parramatta in May<br />
<strong>2022</strong>. Image: Diocese<br />
of Parramatta<br />
STORY MARGURITE O’CONNOR<br />
Prophets are the heroes<br />
of the day. They keep one<br />
eye on society's will for a<br />
few and the other eye on<br />
God’s will for everyone.<br />
The time is now to be people who are committed<br />
and have courage to speak the word of God. The<br />
roar of silence is no longer acceptable and we<br />
need to take steps to determine the future of our<br />
planet and our people.<br />
This was the message of American Benedictine<br />
nun, theologian and author Sr Joan Chittister as<br />
she addressed her audience at Monte Sant’ Angelo<br />
Mercy College North Sydney on 30 May <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
Sr Joan spoke with passion about our need to be<br />
challenged by the example of Jesus and to be people<br />
who speak out against injustice. Speaking about<br />
the prevalence of violence, she shared her fears<br />
for the modern world, where people come second<br />
to personal profit and advancement and where the<br />
planet is carelessly used and not protected.<br />
Taking action for change<br />
• Get involved in the conversations<br />
that matter through blogs, petitions<br />
and groups.<br />
• Study the issues that threaten life and<br />
justice by reading and engaging in<br />
dialogue with others.<br />
• Seek solutions that are not the trusted<br />
old way but are innovative, capable of<br />
making real change and taking us into<br />
the future.<br />
Her concern, she said, is for the choices that<br />
we make when faced with challenges. Sr Joan<br />
suggested that we are people who choose to ignore,<br />
leaving it to others to answer the problems. We are<br />
people who surrender and eventually just accept the<br />
situation, taking on the values of society rather than<br />
the Faith. Her response is to not ignore or surrender,<br />
but rather disrupt. She suggests we become prophets<br />
who speak up against all that goes against the voice<br />
and vision of God so loudly it cannot be ignored.<br />
Sr Joan acknowledged that being a prophet is<br />
not easy. She recounted the stories of the Biblical<br />
Prophets who were afraid to accept the call from<br />
God, not wanting to have their lives interrupted, and<br />
so made a list of all the reasons why they could not<br />
accept the call, including their personal limitations.<br />
God’s answer was that He needed them now,<br />
demanding that they be courageous and committed,<br />
trusting they had something great to offer.<br />
The reluctance to be a prophet in the modern world<br />
has not changed. We too feel that we are unavailable<br />
to do the will of God for all the same reasons – too<br />
busy, not skilled enough, or afraid. Just like the<br />
prophets of old, God needs us now. God wants us<br />
to disrupt rather than ignore and challenge rather<br />
than surrender.<br />
26
On a personal level, I felt inspired to learn more about<br />
the issues that threaten the equality of people and<br />
the planet so that I would no longer be a passive<br />
observer but rather someone who was able to<br />
contribute to the discussion in a meaningful way. Sr<br />
Joan’s suggestions made me think that the call to be<br />
a prophet in the modern world was possible, stating<br />
that even the smallest of acts have the potential to<br />
seed change and make life better for everyone.<br />
...we must show our<br />
students the way to a<br />
Gospel-centred culture<br />
of love and compassion,<br />
solidarity and service in<br />
the world where there is so<br />
much fear, indifference and<br />
marginalisation...<br />
Bishop Vincent Long,<br />
CEDP System Leaders’ Day, January 2018. <br />
Margurite O’Connor is a member of the Mission Team,<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Education Diocese of Parramatta.<br />
Schools leading the way<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Education Diocese of Parramatta<br />
schools work with various agencies to<br />
actively live out the message of Sr Joan to<br />
be prophets who speak up, speak out and<br />
speak on. Examples of initiatives include:<br />
• The Winter Appeal and Winter Sleepout<br />
(St Vincent de Paul)<br />
• Project Compassion Fundraising (Caritas)<br />
• Socktober (<strong>Catholic</strong> Mission)<br />
• Food Drives (Jesuit Social Services)<br />
• Interfaith Education (Together for Humanity)<br />
• <strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare Summit<br />
(<strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare)<br />
• Recycling and sustainability initiatives<br />
(<strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare)<br />
Through such initiatives, our students and<br />
staff are invited and are accepting the call<br />
to be prophets who say NO to everything<br />
that goes against God and YES to equality,<br />
justice and life.<br />
Children and their families at Our Lady of the<br />
Nativity Primary, Lawson recently slept out in<br />
the cold in solidarity with the homeless as part<br />
of the Winter Sleepout for St Vincent De Paul<br />
Image: CEDP
The Second Assembly of the<br />
Plenary Council of Australia<br />
on Wednesday 6 July <strong>2022</strong><br />
Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
A reflection on the<br />
Plenary Council<br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of<br />
Parramatta, wrote this reflection on 17 July <strong>2022</strong>,<br />
following the conclusion of the Second Assembly<br />
of the Plenary Council of the Australian <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
Church which took place 3 to 9 July <strong>2022</strong>.<br />
Dear friends in Christ,<br />
BISHOP VINCENT OFM CONV,<br />
BISHOP OF PARRAMATTA<br />
Last week, nine delegates from our Diocese,<br />
including myself, participated as members of the<br />
Plenary Council in the Final Assembly in Sydney.<br />
This was a historic event in the life of the Church in<br />
Australia. We gathered to pray, listen, discern and<br />
make decisions, mindful of the voice of the Holy<br />
Spirit through God’s Word, tradition, the magisterium<br />
and the signs of the times. We were conscious of<br />
your communion with us through personal interest,<br />
prayers and loving support. As at the first gathering<br />
on the feast of St Francis of Assisi in 2021, we were<br />
stirred by the call issued to us as once to him: “Go<br />
and rebuild my Church that is falling into ruins”. We<br />
earnestly sought to address the many challenges<br />
we face as a community of disciples and map out a<br />
better future for the Church going forward.<br />
I am pleased to say that the Plenary Council has<br />
been a moment of grace, a celebration of hope and<br />
a conviction of God’s enduring accompaniment. Like<br />
the disciples with Mary in the Upper Room, we were<br />
bonded in one common faith, one baptism and one<br />
Lord. Despite our differences, which were many and<br />
intense at times, we came together with the best<br />
interest of the Church at heart.<br />
Of the many issues discussed, debated and voted<br />
upon, the Plenary Council showed strong support for<br />
the Uluru Statement from the Heart. <strong>Catholic</strong>s have<br />
largely been ahead of the general community on First<br />
Nations concerns. We have long learned to honour<br />
Indigenous language, culture, wisdom, sovereignty<br />
28
and way of life. Calling for a First Nations Voice to<br />
Parliament to be enshrined in Australia’s constitution<br />
is indeed a momentous step.<br />
On ecology, there is a recognition of the urgency in<br />
addressing the environmental crises of our times and<br />
a commitment to join the Laudato Si’ Action Plan.<br />
This call to action obliges us not only to care for our<br />
common home as a matter of planetary sustainability<br />
but also a sense of God-given stewardship. In<br />
other words, ecological conversion in all of its<br />
manifestations is a deeply spiritual concern arising<br />
from our love of God and all of his creation. Our<br />
response to the cry of the poor and the cry of the<br />
earth is inextricably linked together.<br />
One of the most contentious issues was the motion<br />
concerning the equality and dignity of women and<br />
men in governance structures, ministry and decisionmaking<br />
mechanisms. The discussion took place at a<br />
half-way point and proved to be a pivotal moment.<br />
Providentially, the reading for that day was part of the<br />
Pentecost story. It read “and suddenly from heaven,<br />
there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind<br />
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting”.<br />
We did not expect a kind of “violent wind” that<br />
disrupted, changed the group dynamic and led to a<br />
moment of profound revelation.<br />
When the initial motion failed to receive the majority<br />
of the deliberative votes, the bishops realised we<br />
could not continue business as usual. There were<br />
tears, deep sorrow and hurt in the room, especially<br />
among those who staged a silent protest. This<br />
caught me totally unawares at first but I eventually<br />
walked around and shared the pain. Later on, the<br />
bishops held crisis talks, agreed on the re-drafting<br />
and the assembly passed the re-worked motion.<br />
Like the disciples with Mary<br />
in the Upper Room, we were<br />
bonded in one common faith,<br />
one baptism and one Lord.<br />
For some, the protest might have been judged as<br />
a stunt and an act of intimidation. For many others,<br />
myself included, it was a respectful and powerful<br />
gesture of dissent, rooted in the prophetic tradition.<br />
29
There was a<br />
profound sense of<br />
being together and<br />
working together<br />
even if we have<br />
distinct roles in<br />
the Church.<br />
Bishop Vincent casts a vote<br />
at the Second Assembly of<br />
the Plenary Council<br />
Image: Fiona Basile/ACBC<br />
The assembly could have walked away with a<br />
superficial unity had we not addressed this iconic<br />
issue of our time. I believe that the Church cannot<br />
have a better future if it persists in the old paradigm<br />
of clericalism and male dominance. So long as<br />
we continue to exclude women from the Church’s<br />
governance structures, decision-making processes<br />
and institutional functions, we deprive ourselves of<br />
richness of our full humanity.<br />
I thank God that the Plenary Council had the<br />
humility and courage to not go home with a false<br />
unity but a deep and new awareness of God’s<br />
unfolding revelation and our evolving maturity.<br />
At least that is the indication of the majority.<br />
The Synodal journey can be messy, painful and<br />
uncertain. But it can lead to renewed and deepened<br />
commitment and even transformation. The mood<br />
of the assembly changed after the matter had been<br />
dealt with. For many, it was like a paschal moment<br />
that brought a ray of hope out of despair.<br />
The Plenary Council was an act of enormous trust,<br />
or perhaps in betting terms, a massive gamble.<br />
It was an Abrahamic journey from the start. We<br />
gambled on the invitation of Pope Francis to be<br />
the People of God, walking together, sharing the<br />
burdens of humanity, listening to the voice of the<br />
most marginalised, reforming its structures and ways<br />
of doing things. We did not set out to resolve every<br />
question of importance. For instance, on matter of<br />
sex and gender, there was very little on the agenda.<br />
The acceptance of LGBTIQ+ as the reference to nonbinary<br />
brothers and sisters was perhaps not a small<br />
consensus among the members.<br />
In the end, the significance of this synodal exercise<br />
was much more than what was decided. What was<br />
highly symbolic and paradigm-shifting was the<br />
fact that we met as equals. The emphasis on the<br />
superiority of the ordained gave way to an ecclesial<br />
communion based on common baptism. Bishops,<br />
priests, religious and lay were all addressed by our<br />
first names. No one’s voice counted more than<br />
another’s. There was a profound sense of being<br />
together and working together even if we have<br />
distinct roles in the Church.<br />
30
Dear sisters and brothers,<br />
In today’s Gospel, Martha was occupied with serving<br />
her guests, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened<br />
to his teaching. Martha wanted her sister to help<br />
with the serving, but Jesus gently informed her that<br />
Mary had chosen the better portion, which would<br />
not be taken from her. This stance was more radical<br />
than modern readers may realise. In Jewish culture,<br />
women weren’t allowed to study theology, and the<br />
student’s place at a rabbi’s feet was reserved for men<br />
only. By welcoming Mary as a pupil, Jesus flipped<br />
that cultural script on its head.<br />
There were many other stories of how he treated<br />
women with kindness and respect, affirming their<br />
value and dignity as those made in the image of<br />
God. He welcomed them, defended them, freed and<br />
empowered them to find their identity as daughters<br />
of God. He included women in his ministry team and<br />
welcomed them as disciples, to follow and learn from<br />
him – actions unheard of for a Jewish rabbi.<br />
Inspired by the example of Jesus and the guidance<br />
of the Holy Spirit on the Plenary Council, may<br />
the Church learn to embody a way of being<br />
together, sharing responsibility and proclaiming<br />
God’s Kingdom. We must continue to embody the<br />
alternative relational paradigm that Jesus taught.<br />
This counter paradigm turns the world’s system of<br />
power structures on its head because it is rooted in<br />
the biblical narrative of the new social order of radical<br />
inclusion, justice and equality.<br />
All things considered, the Plenary Council has<br />
moved decisively towards the vision of Vatican II. I am<br />
heartened to say that most of its insights have already<br />
been captured by our unique “Parramatta Way”.<br />
Women, in particular, are indispensable in our synodal<br />
structures and decision-making processes such as<br />
the Diocesan Curia. We hope to keep the momentum<br />
going and implement all the endorsed decrees.<br />
As we move into a new era, may we grow to be a<br />
more fit for purpose Church, so that we can be a more<br />
effective vehicle for the Good News. May the Holy<br />
Spirit “lead the Church in Australia into a hope-filled<br />
future, that we may live the joy of the Gospel, through<br />
Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from<br />
age to age.” Amen. <br />
Read the motions and decrees from the Plenary<br />
Council at plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au<br />
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understanding?<br />
Wondering where to next in your pastoral activities?<br />
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99 Albert Road, Strathfield NSW 2135
Looking Deeper<br />
The following articles encourage deeper reflection,<br />
prayer and personal learning.<br />
Lisbon, Portugal, the location of World Youth Day 2023<br />
Image: Shutterstock
Looking Deeper
The journey within<br />
Gospel Pointers<br />
STORY DR ROBYN REYNOLDS OLSH<br />
As persons on pilgrimage, we engage in the<br />
quest for meaning, and in the movement towards<br />
spiritual health and maturity.<br />
We strive, individually and together, for human<br />
wellbeing, and for the flourishing of all life on<br />
Earth. Whether or not we may identify ourselves as<br />
‘pilgrims’, we are all members of the global family,<br />
moving onwards in a world of continuing war and<br />
violence, of dramatic and increasing climate change,<br />
and of a continuing COVID culture.<br />
This brief reflection will consider some of the<br />
questions Jesus Himself faced in relation to His own<br />
human journey, as well as some of the questions<br />
He poses to those He invited to ‘Come, follow me’<br />
(Lk 18:22). As ones beloved by our Creator God, we<br />
yearn and strive for life within the daily pilgrimage of<br />
the unfolding of our life’s story. And as disciples of<br />
Jesus, we remember that all is grace:<br />
No one can come to me unless<br />
the Father who sent me,<br />
draws him.<br />
(Jn 6:44)<br />
In the fullness of time, the Divine Pilgrim began His<br />
journey: ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt among<br />
us’ (Jn 1:14). And as we know ‘He emptied Himself…<br />
becoming like us in all things’ (Phil 2:7). He struggled,<br />
questioned, agonised. Being the beloved Son of God<br />
did not remove Him from the doubts, temptations<br />
and challenges faced by us all.<br />
A query (perhaps something like ‘Why should I<br />
help you’?) was implied in Jesus’ response to the<br />
Canaanite woman’s plea (Mt 15:24). Similarly at Cana<br />
– before his public journey began – with the question<br />
to His mother: ‘Woman, what does this have to<br />
do with me?’ (Jn 2:4). Experiencing and reflecting<br />
integrity includes voicing the questions along the<br />
way, looking for answers, struggling with the truth:<br />
the truth of who I am, to what (and to whom) I am<br />
called. Jesus experienced these challenges.<br />
Along the way He Himself took, we may ask what<br />
were His own deep feelings and queries behind such<br />
questions as ‘Who do they say I am?’ (Mt 16:13)<br />
Along with the scholarly biblical commentaries on<br />
such passages, may we also surmise that Jesus<br />
had hopes and fears about his reputation? And what<br />
were His feelings behind the sad, quiet question?<br />
34<br />
Image: Shutterstock
Looking Deeper<br />
‘Where are the other nine?’ (Lk 17:17). He too,<br />
experienced disappointment, ingratitude, dismissal.<br />
His integrity however, did not depend on the approval<br />
or admiration of others.<br />
Jesus’ integrity was reflected in His daily living<br />
and dying. ‘I am the Way’ (Jn 14:6), He told us. We<br />
witness in His living an everyday engagement and<br />
unfolding of the paschal mystery. Yes, there was a<br />
price to be paid for proclaiming and witnessing to the<br />
Kingdom. What sustained Him all along the way? He<br />
told us: ‘My meat is to do the will of Him who sent<br />
me’ (Jn 4:34) and furthermore, as faithful pilgrim, we<br />
hear Him say: ‘I came forth from the Father and have<br />
come into the world; I am leaving the world again<br />
and am going to the Father’ (Jn 16:28).<br />
Such profound and total belonging did not cancel<br />
out that final deep cry from the heart: ‘Why have you<br />
abandoned me?’ (Mt 27:46). Jesus’ walk with the<br />
Spirit, and with His Abba, along with His faithfulness<br />
to the human condition and struggle remained to the<br />
end when, with the Resurrection, His transformation<br />
was accomplished.<br />
And what of His questions to us, as we ourselves<br />
continue on our way and strive for personal integrity,<br />
and for that freedom of spirit which it brings?<br />
‘Who do you say I am?’ He asks. So how do I name<br />
who He is for me. And His later stark question: ‘Do<br />
you love me?’ Such a direct question invites us to<br />
respond truthfully, and in so doing to recognise and<br />
name the nature of our relationship. The question<br />
may move us to face our insecurities perhaps, or our<br />
duplicity, our hypocrisy, our lack of integrity.<br />
Another challenging question Jesus poses ‘What do<br />
you want me to do for you?’ invites us to sit with the<br />
question awhile and then to respond with humility<br />
and honesty. Similarly, with the even more specific<br />
invitation: ‘Do you want me to wash your feet?’ which<br />
may encourage us to sit quietly with our own reality<br />
– and with our relationship with the One we call<br />
‘Lord and God’.<br />
To own and address these – and other questions, to<br />
address them with sincerity – this is our on-going<br />
task. It is one that requires courage, but one that<br />
can bring freedom – and ultimately, deep peace.<br />
We hold on to those encouraging words of the Divine<br />
Pilgrim: ‘I am going away and I will come to you.’<br />
(Jn 14:28). On our own pilgrim way, we trust in the<br />
loving presence and guidance of the Spirit (Jn 16:7).<br />
We walk on together. <br />
Dr Robyn Reynolds OLSH spent many years living and<br />
working in remote Aboriginal communities in northern and<br />
central Australia. She now teaches at the University of<br />
Divinity in Melbourne (Yarra Theological Union) and also at<br />
‘Heart of Life’, Centre for Spiritual & Pastoral Formation.<br />
WHAT WILL BE<br />
YOUR LEGACY OF<br />
FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY?<br />
Good deeds will live beyond your lifetime<br />
with a gift in Will to your parish and faith community.<br />
After providing for your family and loved ones,<br />
please consider sharing God’s blessings with<br />
future generations.<br />
For information on remembering your<br />
family in Christ and our compassionate<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> ministries in your Will, please scan
Journeying to Emmaus<br />
STORY BR MARK O’CONNOR FMS<br />
Many of us like to travel. But Christians are not<br />
just tourists but pilgrims on a faith journey deep<br />
into God’s loving presence.<br />
Of course, it’s great that we can literally walk ‘in the<br />
footsteps of Jesus’ when we visit the Holy Land.<br />
It’s also wonderful for us to encounter the sacred as<br />
we pray and meditate at such holy places as Rome,<br />
Assisi and Lourdes. Such pilgrimages are often<br />
the highlight of many people’s spiritual lives. And<br />
certainly, World Youth Day pilgrimages have helped<br />
energise many young people’s faith lives in our own<br />
recent times.<br />
But Jesus of Nazareth calls us to go far deeper than<br />
these external physical pilgrimages.<br />
There is a little verse from the early Irish Church<br />
that points this out:<br />
Who to Rome goes,<br />
Much labour, little profit knows.<br />
For God, on earth though<br />
long you sought him.<br />
You’ll miss in Rome<br />
unless you brought him.<br />
Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, in reality,<br />
our inner journey of faith can actually be quite<br />
confusing! We can often experience moments of<br />
despair (“we had hoped”) before recognising that the<br />
Risen Jesus has been there all along!<br />
Karl Rahner, the great Jesuit theologian, helps us<br />
pilgrims navigate that spiritual journey.<br />
Rahner once wisely observed that there are<br />
essentially two types of spirituality in the Church<br />
today. One is a ‘summertime’ spirituality where<br />
people find God easily accessible and understood.<br />
Such people are gifted with a sense of certainty and<br />
a conviction that the beauty and truth of God is very<br />
nearby. Perhaps this more external style of faith was<br />
easier to live in a culture that was thoroughly <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
like in the medieval period.<br />
The other spirituality however is a ‘wintertime’ style<br />
of faith where people, battered and bruised by the<br />
chaos and suffering of the world, need to go an inner<br />
pilgrimage to address the mystery of pain and chaos<br />
all around them.<br />
Rahner argued that this is the more typical journey<br />
of contemporary <strong>Catholic</strong>s struggling to believe. It<br />
is a difficult pilgrimage that goes on inside our own<br />
souls, as we seek to discover the hidden Christ who<br />
mysteriously dwells in our very own hearts.<br />
Not surprisingly, that’s a pilgrimage we are all too<br />
often very reluctant to undertake. For it can involve<br />
loneliness, depression and even tempt some<br />
to self-hatred.<br />
It inevitably demands navigating a ‘dark night of the<br />
soul’. For at some point in all our lives, like Jesus, we<br />
each have our own personal ‘agony in the garden’.<br />
Then the demons of our inner life come to the fore<br />
and wreak havoc. Old obsessions and wounds,<br />
perhaps even guilt and shame at past failures rush in.<br />
Martin Laird OSA, in his wonderful book Into the<br />
Silent Land, describes it poetically as “the liturgy<br />
of our wounds”. Unquestionably, it is a long and<br />
demanding task for most of us. It certainly is for me.<br />
Laird explains that there is a deeply ingrained<br />
tendency to recoil from our own brokenness, to judge<br />
it as others have judged it, to loathe it as we have<br />
been ‘taught’ over a lifetime to loathe it. In doing<br />
this we avoid what God, in Christ, draws close to<br />
and embraces.<br />
Like the companions of Jesus on the road to<br />
Emmaus, our Resurrection moments can come as<br />
quite a shock to us! Like them, as we ponder the<br />
Scriptures and break bread with our Risen Lord, we<br />
can be often surprised, even shocked, by grace.<br />
36
Looking Deeper<br />
Supper at Emmaus,<br />
detail of high altar by<br />
Sieger Koder in Church<br />
of Our Lady of Sorrows in<br />
Rosenberg, Germany<br />
For at such moments of epiphany we discover,<br />
alongside the depressed and despairing disciples<br />
of Emmaus, how God interrupts our lives. For our<br />
God meets us at that precise point where we are<br />
most in need, in our poverty and brokenness. And<br />
paradoxically, this costly acceptance of Christ's<br />
compassionate love, opens our eyes to the reality<br />
that 'all is grace'.<br />
As Gerald Manley Hopkins S.J divined:<br />
I say móre: the just man justices;<br />
Keeps grace: thát keeps all his goings graces;<br />
Acts in God's eye what in God's eye he is –<br />
Thank God we are each given many ‘resurrection’<br />
moments on our Emmaus like journey of faith.<br />
They console us on our pilgrimage home to the<br />
Father of all mercies.<br />
For as the early Irish mystics would say:<br />
Let your feet follow your<br />
heart until you find your<br />
place of resurrection.<br />
<br />
Chríst – for Christ plays in ten thousand places,<br />
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his<br />
To the Father through the features of men's faces.<br />
Br Mark O’Connor FMS is the Vicar for Communications<br />
in the Diocese of Parramatta.<br />
37
Living in the monastery<br />
of the heart<br />
STORY SR PATTY ANDREW OSU<br />
Image: Shutterstock<br />
Historians note that when the period of Christian<br />
martyrdom ceased around the beginning of the<br />
4th Century A.D, the phenomenon that we know<br />
as Christian monasticism began to sprout and<br />
flourish. It was as Tertullian, an early Christian<br />
writer said, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed<br />
of the Church.” Martyrdom transformed the<br />
person into the perfected, complete, full and<br />
whole image of the divine.<br />
Such a process of transformation is the hope and<br />
goal of our Christian life. St Paul expresses this<br />
central reality of our faith journey in the third chapter<br />
of his second letter to the Christian community in<br />
Corinth. Using the beautiful image of the mirror, he<br />
describes our transformation into Christ in terms of<br />
light. Paul portrays our life journey in faith, as one<br />
in which we reflect like mirrors the brightness of the<br />
Lord. In doing this faithfully, we all grow brighter and<br />
brighter until eventually we are transformed into the<br />
image of the one that we reflect (2 Cor:18).<br />
The spiritual movement of the Desert Fathers and<br />
Mothers which formed the foundations of Christian<br />
monasticism, was grounded in this Pauline belief of<br />
the divinization of the human person. St Athanasius,<br />
Bishop of Alexandria from 328, said “that God<br />
became man in order that man might become God.”<br />
In a short biography of Anthony of Egypt one of the<br />
earliest of the desert fathers, Athanasius shows how<br />
only God incarnate can transform human nature into<br />
divine likeness. To participate in this transformation,<br />
certain spiritual practices were adopted by those in<br />
the monastic desert communities. One of these was<br />
a simple focussed mantra called “The Jesus Prayer.”<br />
This prayer is founded on the biblical view that God’s<br />
name is conceived as the place of God’s presence.<br />
The Vatican II Council (1962-1965) called us all<br />
to renewal in the light of the foundational story of<br />
Christianity. In current times, many books are being<br />
written and programmes created which reflect the<br />
grounded spirituality of the early centuries of our<br />
Christian tradition. One of these is a book titled,<br />
Joy in God - Rekindling an Inner Fire by Joachim<br />
Hartman SJ and Annette Clara Unkelhäußer.<br />
They propose a method which is titled the “Gries<br />
Path.” It is based on a contemplative approach to<br />
prayer characterised by simplicity, silence and an<br />
attentiveness which enables God in the present<br />
moment, to be revealed.<br />
The authors have developed a consistent approach<br />
structured in conversational style, to assist those<br />
who wish to deepen this way of enabling God to<br />
illuminate and transform their lives.<br />
It is framed within what they term, as a spiritual<br />
conversation concentrated around two central<br />
questions. These echo the experience of the<br />
Emmaus Disciples (Luke: 24:13-35)<br />
Why was my heart burning?<br />
Where were my eyes opened?<br />
38
Looking Deeper<br />
In all the reflections there is an accent on awakening<br />
the senses. They are seen as significant doorways<br />
leading us to become more aware of the presence of<br />
God in us, in our lives and in all that is. The chapters<br />
are focussed on the following foundational themes<br />
relating to the life of the human spirit;<br />
Gratitude and Joy<br />
Emptiness and Fullness<br />
Healing and Wholeness<br />
Suffering and Consolation<br />
Forgiveness and Reconciliation<br />
Vocation and Mission<br />
The pairing of these themes with what appears to<br />
be oppositional movements, enables a perception of<br />
spiritual wholeness wherein as Richard Rohr (2003)<br />
says “everything belongs.” Our journey to wholeness<br />
or as the Vatican II Document, Lumen Gentium<br />
(1964) says “holiness,” is about integrating these<br />
apparent opposites.<br />
In recent years, Lawrence Freeman osb, Director of<br />
the World Community for Christian Meditation, spoke<br />
of this contemplative way of prayer as being for all.<br />
He described those who are engaged in the prayer<br />
of the heart as the new monks of the modern world.<br />
Noting that “some live in traditional monasteries<br />
but the majority do not. Many are integrating what<br />
previously seemed impossible to reconcile – deep<br />
spiritual practice, and conjugal love, solitude and<br />
social responsibility.”<br />
Through our Baptism, we are<br />
all called into this “way of the<br />
pilgrim” wherever life finds us.<br />
Just as the pilgrim travels lightly,<br />
this small accessible book gives<br />
us the essentials to find and<br />
remain dwelling in the heart of<br />
God, thus enabling our inner<br />
divine spring, to continue to well<br />
up within us to the fullness of life.<br />
The book can be used in a<br />
supportive way both personally or<br />
with small faith sharing groups. <br />
Sr Patty Andrew osu is an Ursuline<br />
Sister in the Diocese of Parramatta.<br />
Images: Messenger Publications and<br />
Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Let us care for those who have cared<br />
for us through their lifetime of service<br />
Please give generously to the Bishop’s Father’s Day<br />
Appeal supporting our retired and sick clergy<br />
parracatholic.org/fathersdayappeal
The Pilgrim Church<br />
STORY DR ANTONIA PIZZEY<br />
After almost three years without travelling<br />
anywhere, I embarked on my first international<br />
journey. I was struck by the vulnerability of being<br />
a traveller.<br />
The language, customs and food were foreign, and I<br />
felt uncomfortable and out of place. Even with those<br />
who spoke English, my accent immediately betrayed<br />
my foreignness. Even the night refused to come, as<br />
the Scandinavian midnight sun stayed up 23 out of<br />
24 hours. I was no longer “at home”, a jarring feeling<br />
after endlessly “being at home”. I could not take<br />
anything for granted. Even simple conversations<br />
required effort to bridge the language and cultural<br />
gaps. I was confronted with how much easier it is to<br />
be at home – and how challenging to be a foreigner.<br />
This sense of strangeness, of “not-being-at-home”<br />
evokes something of what St Augustine meant when<br />
he called the Church peregrinatio. Notoriously hard to<br />
translate, peregrinatio means “foreigner”, “stranger”,<br />
“exile”, “migrant” – and “pilgrim”.<br />
What does it mean to call the Church “pilgrim”?<br />
To be a pilgrim Church is to be a journeying people,<br />
continually on the move. More than this, it is to be a<br />
“home-less” people. This understanding resonates in<br />
Vatican II’s Lumen Gentium, article 6: “The Church,<br />
while on earth it journeys in a foreign land away from<br />
the Lord, is like in exile.” The pilgrim travels far from<br />
home, facing many dangers, moving without rest.<br />
Dr Antonia Pizzey<br />
Image: ACU
Looking Deeper<br />
This sense of Church as pilgrim is also central to<br />
Pope Francis. In Evangelii Gaudium, he insists that<br />
the Church is “first and foremost a people advancing<br />
on its pilgrim way towards God.” In a 2021 address,<br />
he says, “When the Church stops, she is no longer<br />
Church, but a beautiful pious association which<br />
imprisons the Holy Spirit.” Journeying is part of our<br />
nature as Christians – Church is not a “what,” it is<br />
who we are. We are pilgrim. Being pilgrim means to<br />
be not at home; to be vulnerable, but also enriched<br />
by the journey.<br />
Pilgrim Church is not meant to be an individualistic<br />
image; pilgrims travel together. In Christian thinking,<br />
we travel with the entire communion of saints. This<br />
sense of “journeying together” is being evoked by<br />
Pope Francis’ concept of synodality. The Preparatory<br />
Document for the 2023 Synod states: “Our<br />
‘journeying together’ is, in fact, what most effectively<br />
enacts and manifests the nature of the Church as the<br />
pilgrim and missionary People of God.” To be pilgrim<br />
is to be synodal.<br />
Aside from this, the Church as pilgrim highlights two<br />
key dimensions of being Church. Firstly, it refers to<br />
the living Church in history, the Church here and now.<br />
The Church is not a great ark sailing untouched and<br />
impervious over the choppy and dangerous waters of<br />
history. Instead, the Church is a pilgrim people, living<br />
in and with the world. This understanding is reflected<br />
by the opening lines of Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes:<br />
Understanding the Church as pilgrim reminds us of a<br />
certain “now-but-not-yet” that is part of being Church.<br />
As Gaudium et Spes states, in article 48, “The<br />
Church…will attain its full perfection only in the glory<br />
of heaven.” As such, the Church is called always to<br />
conversion and repentance. Repentance is a key part<br />
of being pilgrim, along with the humility to recognise<br />
that we are not yet what the Spirit calls us to be.<br />
Of course, we do not know what the Kingdom will<br />
be like. But Scripture gives us an idea: “See, the<br />
home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with<br />
them; they will be His peoples, and God Himself will<br />
be with them and be their God; He will wipe every<br />
tear from their eyes.” (Rev 21:3-4). For now, we are<br />
a wandering people; but we are walking homeward.<br />
Under the circumstances, what else can we be but a<br />
pilgrim Church? <br />
Dr Antonia Pizzey is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Australian<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> University’s Research Centre for Studies of the<br />
Second Vatican Council. Dr Pizzey has a PhD in Theology<br />
from ACU and is a lecturer at the university’s School of<br />
Theology. Her research focuses on Receptive Ecumenism<br />
and the Church as “pilgrim”.<br />
“The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties<br />
of the people of this age, especially those who<br />
are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the<br />
joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the<br />
followers of Christ.”<br />
As pilgrim, the Church journeys within history, not<br />
outside of it. This Pilgrim Church must be humble,<br />
open to recognising the Spirit at work in other<br />
cultures and languages, not just reinforcing the status<br />
quo. Walking a pilgrim path is one of hardship and<br />
struggle – but also of rebirth through conversion. So,<br />
the image of “pilgrim” reflects the historical nature of<br />
the Church.<br />
Secondly, the Church as pilgrim highlights the<br />
connection between Church and Kingdom. The<br />
Church is not moving purposelessly, like a mouse<br />
running on a wheel, going nowhere. The Church is<br />
journeying always towards the Kingdom of God.<br />
This is what brings hope to the sometimes dark<br />
and suffering journey of the pilgrim people. There<br />
is a destination, a home where we belong, and that<br />
destination is with God.<br />
41
Our traditions<br />
for those who<br />
have died<br />
On 2 November, we commemorate All Souls Day,<br />
a day we pray for people who have died. This<br />
year, the Diocese of Parramatta also invites you<br />
to its first official Mass for our deceased clergy to<br />
be held 25 November at St Bernadette’s Parish at<br />
Castle Hill, followed by prayers at the gravesides<br />
of clergy buried in Castle Hill Cemetery.<br />
We look at some of the <strong>Catholic</strong> traditions around<br />
death and new life.<br />
Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical (letter) on hope,<br />
Spe Salvi writes about our encounters with Christ<br />
on our deaths and how it is a chance to shed the<br />
trappings of our earthly existence and heal.<br />
“Before His (Christ’s) gaze, all falsehood melts away.<br />
This encounter with Him, as it burns us, transforms<br />
and frees us allowing us to become truly ourselves.<br />
All that we build during our lives can prove to be<br />
mere straw, pure bluster and it collapses. Yet in the<br />
pain of this encounter, when the impurity of sickness<br />
of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation.<br />
His gaze, the touch of His heart heals us through an<br />
undeniably painful transformation.”<br />
Pope Benedict continues, “The belief that love can<br />
reach into the afterlife, that reciprocal giving and<br />
receiving is possible in which our affection for one<br />
another continues beyond the limits of death – this<br />
has been a fundamental conviction of Christianity<br />
throughout the ages and it remains a source of<br />
comfort today. Who would not feel the need to<br />
convey to their departed loved ones a sign of<br />
kindness, a gesture of gratitude or even a request<br />
for pardon?”<br />
How then, do we show our love to those who have<br />
left us?<br />
Spe Salvi November 2007<br />
A funeral Mass commends the soul of those who<br />
have passed to God as well as consoling family and<br />
friends. Masses can also be offered for the repose of<br />
their souls, whether on the anniversary of their death<br />
or at other special times of the year. This is a gentle<br />
way to pray with our parish communities for our<br />
loved ones.<br />
We can light an offertory candle at our parish church<br />
and ask the intercession of Jesus, Mary, and the<br />
Saints. Visiting our loved one's grave and offering<br />
special prayers is beautiful, and we can keep<br />
photographs of them in our homes or place of work<br />
to prompt us to say a prayer for them.<br />
Praying the Rosary is particularly powerful. Each<br />
Hail Mary concludes with a petition for grace in<br />
death: “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of<br />
our death.”<br />
All Souls Mass in November 2020 at St Patrick's<br />
Cathedral, Parramatta. Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Our God is an incredibly merciful and loving God.<br />
He longs to be with each of us. He welcomes our<br />
prayers for the living and the dead, and He will<br />
certainly reward them. <br />
42
Looking Deeper<br />
You are invited<br />
The Mass and prayers for the<br />
deceased clergy in the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta commence at<br />
10.30am<br />
25 November <strong>2022</strong><br />
St Bernadette’s Parish,<br />
Castle Hill.<br />
You are invited to attend and give<br />
your gift of prayer to those whose<br />
lives were dedicated to bringing<br />
us all closer to Christ. <br />
Bishop Vincent celebrates All Souls Mass in November<br />
2020 at the St Francis Chapel in St Patrick’s Cemetery,<br />
Parramatta. Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
SUPPORT<br />
Religious Sisters<br />
Photo © ACN International<br />
Sister Rita Kurochkina was born<br />
in Kazakhstan and joined the order<br />
of the Sisters of the Immaculate<br />
Conception of the Blessed Virgin<br />
Mary, which was founded in Poland in<br />
the 1850s to support both the spiritual<br />
and the intellectual formation of<br />
women and girls.<br />
To this day, the congregation is<br />
primarily active in Poland, but<br />
can also be found in a number of<br />
Eastern European countries, such<br />
as Kazakhstan. The religious sisters<br />
run schools, kindergartens, and<br />
children’s homes, teach catechesis<br />
in parishes and give religious<br />
instruction at public schools, take<br />
care of poor children and support<br />
impoverished families. They provide<br />
pastoral care to prisoners and also<br />
organise retreats.<br />
Three sisters, all of them born in<br />
Kazakhstan, work in the house<br />
of St. Clara. They currently take<br />
care of 18 children with difficult<br />
family situations. Sister Rita says,<br />
“Spiritually, the communist system<br />
devastated the people in this<br />
country. Many stopped believing in<br />
God, which led to addiction problems<br />
and dysfunctional families. And the<br />
children suffer the consequences.<br />
The children who come to us have<br />
experienced trauma and tragedy.”<br />
ACN helps one in every 34 of the<br />
630,099 religious Sisters in the<br />
world today! Can you help provide<br />
subsistence aid to religious sisters in<br />
countries throughout the world so they<br />
can continue to live their vocation<br />
and help keep the faith alive through<br />
their physical and spiritual aid?<br />
To watch a video on Sr Rita and the<br />
Sisters and to make<br />
a donation visit<br />
www.aidtochuch.<br />
org/helpsisters or<br />
scan the QR Code.<br />
Founded in 1947, ACN is the only international<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Charity dedicated to the pastoral<br />
support of suffering and persecuted Christians.
A cuppa with the priest<br />
Fr Vincy D’Costa OFM Cap, Parish Priest<br />
The Good Shepherd, Plumpton<br />
STORY CHRISTINA GRETTON<br />
When Fr Vincy D’Costa OFM Cap, Parish Priest of<br />
The Good Shepherd, Plumpton, was growing up<br />
in Goa, India, all he knew about Australia was its<br />
national cricket team. Meanwhile, he had plenty<br />
of time to observe the local Capuchin Franciscan<br />
Friars who were based close to his home, and<br />
was drawn into their simple, welcoming and<br />
dignified approach to life and faith.<br />
It was not until a few weeks before his ordination to<br />
the Capuchins that he would make any connection<br />
between the two. Having been told he would be sent<br />
to Australia from his homeland where he loved the<br />
natural beauty including mountains and beaches, he<br />
slept little that evening.<br />
“I had nightmares,” he said. “I didn’t know anything<br />
about Australia. They had a cricket team that was<br />
going through its ‘golden era’,” he says, but that was<br />
about it.<br />
On arriving in Australia, one of the first events<br />
he was taken to was ‘Theology on Tap’, a talk on<br />
faith held in a pub in Parramatta, a completely<br />
new experience, he admits.<br />
Since then, he’s discovered a lot he likes about<br />
Australia. Starting as Assistant Priest under Fr Gerard<br />
O’Dempsey OFM Cap at The Good Shepherd, he<br />
became Parish Priest only four years later when Fr<br />
Gerard was elected Provincial of the Capuchins.<br />
“I never expected it,” he says of his appointment<br />
which, at 34, made him the youngest Parish Priest in<br />
the Diocese. “I expected my hair would turn grey,” he<br />
laughs, “but five years later, I’m still ok.”<br />
There are a few secrets to his success in ministering<br />
a parish of around 13,000 that sees some Masses<br />
attended by around 600 people, he says.<br />
The parish community<br />
has supported me from the<br />
very beginning,” he says.<br />
“They respect how I run the<br />
parish, allowing them (lay<br />
parishioners) to lead and I<br />
support and guide them.<br />
When asked what this means to parishioners, he<br />
reflects. “They feel it is their parish, they belong. They<br />
are doing things for themselves.”<br />
He is delighted how this plays out in practice as<br />
he tries to follow the example of St Francis of<br />
Assisi. St Francis set the example of ‘poverty of<br />
spirit’ meaning, he explains, letting go of pride and<br />
allowing guidance by the Holy Spirit. While following<br />
this example himself, he also sees it in the Good<br />
Shepherd parishioners. “They come to me with<br />
humility,” he says. “If I see something, I can approach<br />
them and talk to them about it,” he says. “I feel this is<br />
how Christ would have wanted the Church to be,” he<br />
says. “Christ asked us to serve.”<br />
44
Looking Deeper<br />
Fr Vincy D’Costa OFM Cap, Parish Priest of The Good Shepherd, Plumpton<br />
Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
This gentle approach saw the parish stay together<br />
during the pandemic, when there were limitations<br />
on how many people could attend Mass. Along with<br />
livestreaming, they prayed the Rosary of an evening,<br />
allowing everyone to participate and feel like they<br />
belonged, he says.<br />
Fr Vincy’s lifelong love of nature sees him<br />
bushwalking whenever he can in the Blue Mountains.<br />
And it has seen him enthusiastically support the<br />
parishioners who were keen to turn around the<br />
Good Shepherd’s ecological footprint. They have<br />
purchased solar panels and LED lights and are<br />
already seeing big savings. “It’s Pope Francis’<br />
ecological economics in action,” says Fr Vincy. He<br />
recalls that even in his homeland of Goa, the words<br />
of Pope Francis “the cry of the earth” resonated with<br />
him. “I could sense Mother Earth weeping,” he says.<br />
He is thrilled the parish is surrounded by nature, and<br />
that children love to come and discover insects and<br />
wildlife in the parish grounds. At the same time, they<br />
heed “Cry of the Poor” and he is overwhelmed by the<br />
generosity of his parishioners in their support of the<br />
House of Welcome and St Vincent de Paul.<br />
Fr Vincy wants to keep growing the parish and<br />
extending that sense of welcome the Capuchins<br />
extended to him. <br />
Regardless of where they come<br />
from,” he says “All people are<br />
welcome. We always want to<br />
be a welcoming parish.<br />
<br />
45
The Good Shepherd Church, Plumpton<br />
Image: Mary Brazell/Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Parish Profile<br />
The Good Shepherd Parish, Plumpton<br />
STORY MARY BRAZELL<br />
The Good Shepherd is a parish hearing the<br />
cry of the earth and cry of the poor and whose<br />
parishioners are taking action in response.<br />
Patricia (Trish) Pacleb has been a parishioner of The<br />
Good Shepherd Parish, for most of her life. However,<br />
it wasn’t until her experience at the 2019 World Youth<br />
Day in Panama that she felt called to become more<br />
active in the parish community.<br />
“I wanted to keep the WYD spirit strong, and<br />
promised to say ‘yes’ to wherever God wanted to<br />
take me,” she says.<br />
In strengthening her faith and connection to her<br />
parish community, Trish is part of the parish’s Antioch<br />
youth group, and is a former member of the Good<br />
Shepherd Youth Choir.<br />
These are just two of the dozens of active, dedicated<br />
and passionate groups in what is one of the largest<br />
parishes in the Diocese.<br />
In speaking with Trish and a few of her fellow<br />
parishioners, I ask why they think so many other<br />
parishioners have put their hands up to get actively<br />
involved in the parish.<br />
“Being a part of a community that takes care of you give<br />
you a sense of hope, it strengthens you and makes<br />
your relationship with Christ stronger,” Trish says.<br />
“Everyone in the parish is always so welcoming<br />
and encouraging. As long as you have an open<br />
heart and willingness to serve, you will always<br />
find a part in the community.”<br />
Sacramental coordinator Priscilla Corpuz adds,<br />
“Serving our church community is a gift and we need<br />
to share that gift.<br />
“The parish is my spiritual home and the<br />
parishioners, who have become friends, are my<br />
extended family.<br />
“The Good Shepherd is always alive and active<br />
through the dedication and involvement of<br />
each parishioner.”<br />
Another passionate ministry of the parish is the social<br />
justice group, which started three years ago following<br />
the parish’s involvement in the ‘Diocesan Walking<br />
with Refugees’ initiative.<br />
46
Looking Deeper<br />
Sr Colleen Foley osu has been connected to the<br />
parish since 1991 and has been a social justice<br />
advocate for a similar length of time. She is the selfdescribed<br />
“grandmother” of the social justice group.<br />
“We’re a small group, but whatever we discuss as a<br />
group, we take to [Parish Priest] Fr Vincy [D’Costa]<br />
and the rest of the parish.<br />
“Fr Vincy is very easy to work with. He is open and<br />
willing to engage with the initiatives of the social<br />
justice group. He is very busy with such a large<br />
parish, but makes time to listen.<br />
The social justice group’s latest project is<br />
channelling their Franciscan roots and enacting<br />
Pope Francis’ call to listen to the “cry of the earth”<br />
and the “cry of the poor” .<br />
A few months ago, the parish signed up to the<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare Parishes Program, which<br />
provides assistance for parishes on their journey to<br />
enacting the Laudato Si’ Action Platform’s 7 Goals<br />
for 7 sectors over 7 years and to become a living<br />
Laudato Si’ community.<br />
The parish has started small by opting for<br />
environmentally friendly products including wooden<br />
and paper cutlery in their kitchen, eliminating the<br />
use of single-use plastics as much as possible<br />
and encouraging the children of the parish to<br />
create messages of hope to be displayed during<br />
Season of Creation.<br />
In the future, the parish hopes to begin planting local<br />
species and more trees on church grounds, switching<br />
to a renewable energy provider and committing to<br />
using locally-sourced produce and suppliers.<br />
Anthony Matthews, a parishioner of four years, and<br />
Religious Education Coordinator at St John XXIII<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> College Stanhope Gardens, is one of the<br />
driving factors of the <strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare process.<br />
“When my family moved to Plumpton, through my<br />
social justice involvement in schools, I was able<br />
to connect with an action the parish held through<br />
which I was already connected on a school level,”<br />
he explains.<br />
“From here, I was able to continue to work with and<br />
accompany the social justice team to serve those<br />
most vulnerable.”<br />
Sr Colleen says that the parish has been very<br />
receptive of the changes they are implementing<br />
with the <strong>Catholic</strong> Earthcare plan, saying that even<br />
15-year-olds are coming to the social justice group<br />
full of energy and passion and hoping to make the<br />
world better.<br />
“The young people and children of the parish are<br />
the ones who love this stuff. They’re really aware of<br />
sustainability, which gives me a lot of hope,” she says.<br />
Trish adds, “It is our duty to preserve God’s creation<br />
because it is a gift, worthy of our care and protection.<br />
How we take care of our environment shows how we<br />
value God’s gift.”<br />
When asked what other parishes across the<br />
Diocese can do to be proactive in social justice, the<br />
parishioners recommended by starting small.<br />
“Having the opportunity to listen to stories of the<br />
most vulnerable and asking them what they need<br />
most – this drives your discernment process, and<br />
then action,” Anthony says.<br />
“Mary MacKillop said, ‘never see a need without<br />
doing something about it.’ Let us practise her words<br />
and put it into action,” Priscilla says.<br />
Trish adds, “it only takes one person to say yes to<br />
an opportunity for others to be empowered and be<br />
inspired to take action too. Be that one person to<br />
start the chain reaction.” <br />
(L-R) Parishioners of The Good Shepherd Parish, Plumpton, Priscilla Corpuz, Patricia (Trish) Pacleb, Anthony Matthews,<br />
Parish Priest Fr Vincy D’Costa and Sr Colleen Foley osu. Image: Mary Brazell/Diocese of Parramatta<br />
47
Quest to know sets<br />
a life in motion<br />
STORY CHRISTINA GRETTON<br />
If planning her life was up to Dr Anne Benjamin,<br />
an Honorary Professor of Australian <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
University, who has written several books,<br />
travelled the world and worked at senior levels<br />
of education, she thinks it would have turned<br />
out quite uninteresting.<br />
“I find my plans for myself are fairly unimaginative,<br />
and if I had the total say, life would have been quite<br />
dull,” she says.<br />
Dr Anne Benjamin<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
Anne has recently published a book After All<br />
This <strong>Time</strong>: Reflections on Jesus sharing her inner<br />
pilgrimage, an idea that sprang from being on<br />
pilgrimage on the Camino in Spain. In the book<br />
she calls on Gospel readings, deep insights gained<br />
through her many life experiences, and neat<br />
engrossing ‘tankas’ - short poems of precisely chosen<br />
words which set an otherworldly mood. The aim of<br />
the book, she says, is to help people look at Jesus<br />
in a new way and perhaps make connections with<br />
scripture they would not have otherwise have made.<br />
She was a young person when the Second Vatican<br />
Council took place and its message of a church that<br />
is engaged with the world resonated with her. It led<br />
her to travel to the USA to study religious education<br />
– the start of her life’s quest to seek experiences that<br />
enhance her sense of meaning.<br />
Working with her husband in India for a number of<br />
years enriched her with the experience of being “an<br />
unknown” and an “outsider”. “When we returned to<br />
Australia,” she added, “I had a small taste of being a<br />
migrant, which is the experience of many people in<br />
our society.”<br />
For Anne, pilgrimage is “seeking home and coming<br />
together in wholeness”. It helps her understand<br />
and feel closer to the scriptures she has studied to<br />
answer the question: “Who was Jesus?”<br />
48
Anne’s top tips for pilgrims<br />
A trip to the Holy Land brought her in touch with land<br />
that Jesus would have walked on. “To be in the land<br />
and to be on the soil, to be on the lake and to try and<br />
absorb the feeling of being on the hillside and to be<br />
alone in the desert. That was powerful,” she says.<br />
“You get an immediacy.”<br />
“You think what it would have been like for Christ to<br />
be praying in the desert.“ Later in the discussion, she<br />
returns to the power of the desert, “To me the desert is<br />
an image of searching for God – a place of healing and<br />
redemption. It is a place where you can discover God.”<br />
“Being there awakened in me the need to understand<br />
Jesus better, the need to answer the question “Who<br />
is this Jesus and how did He work out His mission?”<br />
On the Camino, pilgrims walk at their own pace.<br />
You may therefore have several different walking<br />
companions along the way, and need to adjust your<br />
speed. “I thought that was one of the biggest lessons<br />
for me, to walk through life at my own pace,” she says.<br />
“As I walked, I would encounter different people for a<br />
couple of hours. They were wonderful encounters.”<br />
For Anne, Vatican II was life changing, and<br />
encouraged her to seek further formation. She is now<br />
hearted by Pope Francis’ insistence on synodality as<br />
THE way of being church. “Today we are walking a<br />
synodal path – what’s that if not pilgrims searching,<br />
going forward together?” <br />
• Be open to possibilities – there is mystery and<br />
uncertainty in every journey. Without space for<br />
mystery, the search is cut short.<br />
• Come with a mindset that the searching is<br />
more important than the answer.<br />
• Be brave enough to walk alone.<br />
• There is immense freedom in carrying only<br />
what you need on your back.<br />
• Pilgrimages can be done with others –<br />
it doesn’t need to be a lonely journey. Those<br />
with you can help you find gems along the way.<br />
• Keep a journal – you don’t have to write<br />
everything, just whatever you can.<br />
• Read the daily Mass readings – sit with the<br />
readings each day and note the thoughts that<br />
come into your head.<br />
• Invite others to reflect and pray with you –<br />
reflection together creates special bonds.<br />
• Can’t go overseas? Walk where you can –<br />
and be present to your walk.<br />
Dr Anne Benjamin is a parishioner of St Anthony of Padua<br />
Parish Toongabbie. She is a former Executive Director of<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Education Diocese of Parramatta, and was one<br />
of the co-creators of the recently launched Biographical<br />
Dictionary of Australian <strong>Catholic</strong> Educators, a website for<br />
researchers and those wanting to learn about <strong>Catholic</strong><br />
education. Her book After All This <strong>Time</strong>: Reflections on<br />
Jesus is available from Coventry Press.<br />
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contact Christina Gretton at comms@parracatholic.org<br />
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NALL DONATION ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLEN<br />
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TLC’s 15 th Annual Dinner<br />
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Campaign Launch<br />
Saturday 26 November <strong>2022</strong><br />
Blacktown Leisure Centre, Stanhope Gardens<br />
Ticket $100 includes dinner & entertainment –<br />
more details see www.tlc.asn.au<br />
WHAT’S ON<br />
AT MAMRE HOUSE<br />
Mondays:<br />
Tuesdays:<br />
Shared reading group<br />
English classes and Crafty Kritters<br />
Wednesdays: English classes and Seniors day activities<br />
Thursdays:<br />
Seniors tech classes<br />
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TOO!<br />
181 Mamre Rd, Orchard Hills<br />
Contact Lisa on (02) 8843 2514 or email lisa.malcher@ccss.org.au
Let us care for those who<br />
have cared for us through<br />
their lifetime of service<br />
STORY CLERGY SUPPORT FOUNDATION<br />
As we prepare to celebrate the father figures<br />
in our lives this Father’s Day, the Diocese of<br />
Parramatta’s family of faith is also being urged<br />
to care for our spiritual fathers, priests now<br />
living in retirement after a lifetime of caring<br />
for parish communities.<br />
The Clergy Support Foundation supports the<br />
Diocese of Parramatta’s ageing priests and those<br />
in ill-health, providing the necessary care and<br />
guidance for them to transition to a well-deserved,<br />
spiritually fulfilling retirement.<br />
Diocese of Parramatta’s Head of Clergy Health<br />
and Wellbeing, Dr Mark Buhagiar, is supported<br />
by Clergy Healthcare Coordinators, Elizabeth<br />
Hanrahan and Ellen Small in caring for retired and<br />
ill priests across Western Sydney and the Blue<br />
Mountains.<br />
“As well as supporting our priests’ healthcare and<br />
wellbeing, Mark and his team keep an eye on their<br />
mental health and attend to their practical needs,”<br />
said Fr Wim Hoekstra from the Clergy Support<br />
Foundation.<br />
“This includes important daily tasks like organising<br />
meals, taking them to appointments and making<br />
sure they are taking their medicines. They also put<br />
a lot of care into ensuring that our priests’ social<br />
networks are maintained.”<br />
Other ongoing assistance includes organising<br />
independent retirement living and aged care or<br />
nursing home accommodation.<br />
Mark said the work of the Clergy Support Foundation<br />
recognises the fatherly spiritual and pastoral care<br />
that the Diocese’s priests have given to people for<br />
many decades.<br />
“Our priests have looked after us in parishes for their<br />
whole life, including the important moments such as<br />
Baptism, First Holy Communion, Confirmation, and<br />
Marriage,” he said.<br />
“So, this is our opportunity, as <strong>Catholic</strong>s and as<br />
parishioners, to show our gratitude and care for<br />
those who have cared for us, when they need us.<br />
This speaks very strongly to me and it’s why I love<br />
what I do.”<br />
Retired priests, Monsignor John Boyle and Fr Chris<br />
Dixon now live in accommodation set up by Diocese<br />
of Parramatta’s Clergy Support Foundation.<br />
Mons John said he is deeply grateful for the care<br />
being bestowed on him in his retirement, thanks to<br />
the support of the Diocesan community.<br />
“It brings out a huge sense of gratitude in me, that<br />
we’re able to live in this comfortable place, and have<br />
people who come to make sure we’re safe and well,”<br />
he said.<br />
Fr Chris agreed, saying he recognises the support of<br />
so many for the Clergy Support Foundation:<br />
It’s a joy to be able to<br />
retire and to live as we do.<br />
It’s quite a privilege.<br />
50
Fr Chris Dixon (left) with Clergy Healthcare Coordinator Ellen Small and Monsignor John Boyle. Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
I’m deeply thankful for the<br />
generosity of the people<br />
in our Diocese.<br />
Another big aspect of the Clergy Support<br />
Foundation’s work is making sure the Diocese’s<br />
retired priests stay involved in parish life.<br />
Both Mons John and Fr Chris are still very active in<br />
the Diocesan community, celebrating Mass most<br />
weekends and stepping in when priests go on leave.<br />
“I’m regularly invited out to dinner by my former<br />
parishioners,” said Mons John.<br />
“They’re keen to look after me. I feel like I’m still<br />
in their community even though I’m no longer<br />
there 24/7.”<br />
For Fr Chris, it’s providing ongoing spiritual guidance<br />
and sharing the faith, that he finds to be life-giving.<br />
“The privilege of being able to tell people your own<br />
experience of getting to know Jesus, that, to me, is<br />
sharing something sacred and wonderful.”<br />
The Clergy Support Foundation’s Father’s Day<br />
Appeal is an opportunity to care for the priests who<br />
have cared for us all through a lifetime of service to<br />
our faith community. <br />
To donate, please call<br />
(02) 8838 3482 or visit<br />
parracatholic.org/<br />
fathersdayappealcsf<br />
51
Play it<br />
Check out our latest spirit-filled recommendations to<br />
add to your daily mix!<br />
Watch, Listen<br />
Read, Think<br />
Books, movies, music<br />
and more for <strong>Spring</strong><br />
Há Pressa No Ar<br />
the official World Youth Day 2023 theme song<br />
Receive the Power<br />
(Sydney WYD 2008 theme song)<br />
by Guy Sebastian and Gary Pinto<br />
Every Little Thing<br />
Hillsong Young & Free<br />
Garden<br />
Matt Maher<br />
Soul on Fire<br />
Third Day<br />
Welcome Here<br />
by Fr Rob Galea featuring Michela<br />
Watch it<br />
St Francis of Assisi: Sign of Contradiction<br />
With his feast day on 4 October, here’s a movie that<br />
explores more than just St Francis of Assisi’s faith<br />
and appreciation of creation. This film is about a<br />
sinner and a saint who was on a lifelong journey<br />
animated by grace. St Francis of Assisi was a real<br />
person with real struggles, temptations, and doubts.<br />
He was a disciple, perhaps, the greatest disciple.<br />
Francis is known as a lover of peace and of<br />
nature, and this is true. But he also went against<br />
all social norms. All that the world said would lead<br />
to happiness, he abandoned for something else,<br />
something more. It wasn’t until he encountered<br />
Christ that darkness and confusion were replaced<br />
with light and peace.<br />
His life was marked by an unwavering openness to<br />
the Holy Spirit and a deep call to live penance.<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
Watch it on Amazon Prime or the subscription<br />
service 4pmmedia.com<br />
52
Read it<br />
A Wide and Open Land – Walking the Last of<br />
Western Sydney’s Woodlands<br />
By Peter Ridgeway<br />
This Season of Creation, find out about the hidden beauty<br />
and fragility of the lands on which our Diocese sits. In<br />
the Winter of 2019, Peter Ridgeway set out to walk 179<br />
kilometres across the Cumberland Plain, the region<br />
of rural land west of Sydney, and home to the Darug,<br />
Gundungurra and Dharawal people. Carrying his food and<br />
water and camping under the stars, he crossed one of the<br />
least-known landscapes in Australia, all within view of its<br />
largest city. This book recounts a unique journey across a<br />
landscape few Australians will ever see.<br />
Peter shares many wonderful places across Western<br />
Sydney including Wivenhoe at Camden, conserved by the<br />
wisdom of the wonderful Good Samaritan congregation.<br />
This book provides an immersion in the history, wildlife,<br />
and culture of one of Australia's most rapidly vanishing<br />
landscapes, and reveals how the destruction of 'the West'<br />
is erasing not only itself, but something central to the<br />
identity of all Australians.<br />
Image: Supplied<br />
A Wide and Open Land – Walking the Last of<br />
Western Sydney’s Woodlands<br />
By Peter Ridgeway<br />
Published by Peter Ridgeway April <strong>2022</strong><br />
ISBN : 9780645308914<br />
Listen in<br />
Little Green Pod with Fiona Poole ABC Listen App<br />
Little Green Pod is a podcast for busy people who know<br />
they could do more to help protect the world and save the<br />
environment. Join mother-of-two Fi Poole on her quest to<br />
find quick and easy ways to live a little greener in these<br />
bite-sized episodes.<br />
https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/little-green-pod<br />
The Average Shepherd<br />
A weekly homily podcast dedicated to opening, exploring,<br />
and living the Word of God, produced by young priest<br />
Fr Sam French from the Diocese of Broken Bay.<br />
Apple/Spotify/Google Podcasts<br />
Images: From podcasts<br />
53
KIDS’ CORNER<br />
Design a border around this prayer<br />
using nature as inspiration.<br />
Cut it out, stick on recycled<br />
cardboard and hang it up.<br />
Dear God,<br />
you are in the<br />
whole universe and<br />
in every tiny creature.<br />
Help us protect your world,<br />
which gives us life.<br />
Thank you God for being<br />
with us each day.<br />
Amen.<br />
These activities are from our catechists in the<br />
Diocese of Parramatta. Melissa McDonald,<br />
Regional Catechist Coordinator for the Blue<br />
Mountains, says that looking after God's creation<br />
often comes naturally to children and they love<br />
talking about the topic.<br />
To find out more about becoming a<br />
catechist in the public schools in the<br />
Diocese of Parramatta contact Maree at<br />
maree.collis@parracatholic.org<br />
Prayer adapted from Pope Francis'<br />
Prayer for the Earth.<br />
Images: Shutterstock
WHY DOES POPE FRANCIS' LETTER<br />
LAUDATO SI' EFFECT EVERYONE?<br />
Using the clues below, complete the words going across.<br />
The answer will be revealed in the blue boxes running down the page.<br />
1. First words of the the Bible : In _ _ _ beginning when God created the<br />
heavens and the earth<br />
2. The third person of the Trinity who is present in all Creation. H_ _ _ S_ _ _ _ _<br />
3. The name of our planet _ _ _ _ _<br />
4. I became man to show God's endless love for all his creatures _ _ _ _ _<br />
5. The Latin name of the Pope's letter to everyone on Earth aboutcaring for our<br />
common home. L_ _ _ _ _ _ S_<br />
6. Instead of throwing paper products away we should _ _ _ _ _ _ _ them.<br />
7. Too often we W_ _ _ _ resources instead of using less, reusing and recycling.<br />
14<br />
7<br />
8<br />
17<br />
22<br />
23<br />
4<br />
5<br />
10<br />
11<br />
15<br />
18<br />
20<br />
21<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
6<br />
9<br />
12<br />
13<br />
16<br />
19<br />
8. In theLord's prayer we call God<br />
'Our F_ _ _ _ _ '<br />
9. In the Bible Creation story we<br />
see that people are made in<br />
God's _ m _ g _<br />
10. From the Lord's prayer: "Thy<br />
kingdom come, thy will be done<br />
on Earth as it _ _ in heaven.<br />
11. When we burn fossil fuels it<br />
causes air p_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ which<br />
contributes toclimate change.<br />
12. It is up to all of _ _ to work<br />
together to look after the Earth.<br />
13. At Easter we celebrate that Jesus<br />
has r_ _ _ _ from the dead.<br />
14. Pope _ _ _ _ _ _ _ took the name<br />
of this saint, the patron saint of<br />
animals and the environment.<br />
15. In the Bible story, after creating<br />
all things, God looks at it and<br />
sees that it is all very G_ _ _ _<br />
16. This lights up our night sky and in<br />
his poem 'Canticle of Creation' Saint<br />
Francis called it our sister _ _ _ _<br />
17. C_ _ _ _ _ _ C_ _ _ _ _: Pope<br />
Franciscalls this "one of the<br />
principle challenges facing<br />
humanity in our day" (LS25)<br />
18. The Pope calls for an Ecological<br />
C_nv_rs_ _n. This means<br />
changing our ways and taking<br />
better care of the Earth.<br />
19. One important way to feel<br />
God's presence is to spend<br />
time outdoors in n_ _ _ _ _.<br />
20. Jesus says "I am the Good<br />
S_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _" who loves<br />
and cares for his sheep.<br />
21. "Climate change affects us all but<br />
it is the P_ _ _ _ _communities<br />
that will suffer the most."<br />
22. We are called to live s_ _ _ply<br />
and not take more than we need<br />
of the Earth's resources.<br />
23. Caring for the Earth, wasting less<br />
and consuming less is being a<br />
good st_ _ _ _ _ _ of the Earth.<br />
55
Directory of services<br />
(02) 8843 2500 or visit catholiccarewsbm.org.au<br />
Chancery Office<br />
www.parracatholic.org<br />
(02) 8838 3400<br />
diocese@parracatholic.org<br />
Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv<br />
(02) 8838 3400<br />
bishop@parracatholic.org<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Education<br />
Diocese of Parramatta<br />
parra.catholic.edu.au<br />
(02) 9840 5600<br />
communityliaison@parra.catholic.edu.au<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Services Limited<br />
(02) 9407 7044<br />
enquiries@cdpsl.org.au<br />
www.cdpsl.org.au<br />
Ambrose Early Years Education<br />
and School Age Care<br />
(02) 9407 7044<br />
enquiries@ambrose.org.au<br />
www.ambrose.org.au<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Care Western Sydney<br />
and the Blue Mountains<br />
(02) 8843 2500<br />
catholiccarewsbm.org.au<br />
Mission Enhancement Team<br />
(MET Parramatta)<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Youth Parramatta<br />
Marriage, Family and Natural Fertility<br />
Pastoral Formation<br />
Peace, Justice and Ecology<br />
Worship<br />
met@parracatholic.org<br />
parracatholic.org/met<br />
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine<br />
(02) 8838 3486<br />
ccd@parracatholic.org<br />
Tribunal Office<br />
(02) 8838 3480<br />
tribunal@parracatholic.org<br />
Vocations<br />
(02) 8838 3460<br />
vocations@parracatholic.org<br />
Parramatta <strong>Catholic</strong> Foundation<br />
(02) 8838 3482<br />
yourfoundation@parracatholic.org<br />
Diocesan Development Fund<br />
(02) 8839 4500<br />
enquiries@parraddf.org.au<br />
Holy Spirit Seminary<br />
(02) 9296 6300<br />
Office for Safeguarding<br />
(02) 8838 3419<br />
safeguarding@parracatholic.org<br />
Ageing Well<br />
Whatever your age, you will never be invisible to the people at <strong>Catholic</strong> Care. Our range of<br />
supports aim to keep you living independently in your own home for as long as possible,<br />
while staying connected with your friends and community.<br />
Our Commonwealth Home Support Program support elderly people to stay living<br />
independently at home, while our Community Visitor’s Scheme aims to reduce loneliness<br />
and enrich people’s lives through fortnightly visits to residents at aged-care facilities.<br />
Bringing a baby into the world<br />
There are few things more important than caring for a newborn child. Our programs have helped<br />
many young women who are feeling lost or have been excluded from their community and are<br />
at risk of homelessness, to get the support they need. Our parenting support program supports<br />
new parents finding the challenges of a newborn overwhelming.<br />
Chaplaincy<br />
Our chaplains provide spiritual and emotional support for patients and inmates, their<br />
families and staff in the seven hospitals and three correctional centres throughout the<br />
Diocese of Parramatta. An inclusive ministry available to all faiths, our 15 chaplains work<br />
alongside others involved in the care of patients and inmates.<br />
Children<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Care offers a range of support services to ensure children are taken care of in any<br />
situation. It starts with early years learning and childcare — our home-based early learning and<br />
parenting program for families with young children helps them and their parents develop skills,<br />
and our family day care helps kids get a good start with their education. Our creche is a thriving<br />
early learning centre, providing care for children of Sudanese refugee women enrolled in English<br />
classes offered on the grounds of <strong>Catholic</strong> Care.<br />
Connecting with my Community<br />
Our drop-in centres provide a safe place for people to belong and connect with others.<br />
They are a place to be, a place to get information, join a group, and be accepted.<br />
In Emerton, Aboriginal <strong>Catholic</strong> Services is a drop-in centre led by Aboriginal people for<br />
Aboriginal people. In Blacktown, culturally and linguistically diverse families are accessing<br />
support to settle into life in Australia by the team at All Saints of Africa. And at our <strong>Spring</strong>wood<br />
Drop-in Centre, established to support the community after the 2014 bushfires, clients stop by<br />
for a chat, join a reading group or seek support with their mental health.<br />
Living well with Disability<br />
We all need a support network to live our lives to the fullest. Our disability support team, can<br />
help you with living, learning and overcoming obstacles on your journey, whatever they may<br />
look like. We can help you set goals, and achieve them, and help you build a brighter future.<br />
As a registered National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) provider, we support clients<br />
at home and in the community, whether you want to learn how to cook, need support with<br />
personal care, or want to play sport.<br />
Support for my Family<br />
When life gets tough for our families, the people we care about most can suffer. Our range<br />
of family support services can support you to better relate to your spouse and understand<br />
their behaviour, to deal with dependence or gambling problems, single parenting, or just<br />
connecting with your kids.<br />
We support families who are going through the most difficult of times to cope through<br />
separation, and with grief and loss. We help parents deal with all the stresses that can<br />
impact your family, from anxiety and depression to money worries, gambling—we have the<br />
people, the resources and the support to help you make it through.<br />
56
Latest appointments<br />
Most Rev Vincent Long OFM<br />
Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, has<br />
confirmed these appointments in<br />
the Diocese of Parramatta:<br />
Deacon Jack Elkazzi<br />
Deacon Assisting<br />
St Bernadette’s Parish<br />
Castle Hill, from 25 July <strong>2022</strong><br />
Fr Paul Gurr OCarm<br />
Part-time Assistant Priest<br />
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish<br />
Wentworthville, from 27 July <strong>2022</strong><br />
Bishop Vincent (centre) with recipients of the Diocesan Awards, presented on 8 August <strong>2022</strong>. Image: Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Diocesan Award Recipients <strong>2022</strong><br />
On the feast of St Mary MacKillop, 8 August <strong>2022</strong>, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, presented the<br />
following members of our faith community with Diocesan Awards at St Patrick’s Cathedral Parramatta.<br />
Diocesan Medal of Honour<br />
Sylvia Belsey, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Kellyville<br />
Juan Caceres, St Nicholas of Myra Parish, Penrith<br />
Vincent Connelly, St Bernadette’s Parish, Castle Hill<br />
Joseph Doyle, St Andrew the Apostle Parish, Marayong<br />
Enrico Enriquez, St Andrew the Apostle Parish, Marayong<br />
James Eves, Mary Immaculate Parish, Quakers Hill-Schofields<br />
Maureen Fearnside, St Bernadette’s Parish, Castle Hill<br />
Annette Hartman, St Patrick’s Cathedral Parish, Parramatta<br />
Norman Heffernan, St Nicholas of Myra Parish, Penrith<br />
Roderick Hilliker, St Patrick’s Cathedral Parish, Parramatta<br />
Dudley Littlewood, Holy Spirit Parish, St Clair-Erskine Park<br />
Deirdre Said, Diocese Development Fund, Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Helen Steyns, Diocese Development Fund, Diocese of Parramatta<br />
Annette Tan, Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, Kellyville<br />
Citation of Merit for Youth<br />
Mindy Mercado, St Patrick’s Cathedral Parish, Parramatta<br />
Patrice Moriarty, Holy Spirit Parish, St Clair-Erskine Park<br />
We congratulate all our recipients and thank them for<br />
their dedicated service to our faith community.<br />
You can read more about them at<br />
catholicoutlook.info/Awards22
THE DDF: AN INVESTMENT IN GOOD<br />
FAITH AND A SOUND FUTURE<br />
The parish of St Aidan’s Rooty Hill is undergoing a church extension and renovation project. The building works include an extension to<br />
the church foyer, installation of external sunshades, recarpeting the church and refurbishment of the sanctuary including the installation<br />
of a baldacchino. The foyer extension is to accommodate the increasing number of parishioners attending St Aidan’s - the flow-on<br />
effect of the rapid development of the suburb of Rooty Hill. However, projects aren’t always smooth sailing; building works were halted,<br />
parishioner numbers fell, and costs rose rapidly due to the impact of the pandemic. “Hopefully, the Parish will be able to complete the<br />
project in the near future,” said Fr Alan Layt, Parish Priest of St Aidan’s.<br />
The DDF provided finance for the project which was flexible enough to support the changing needs of the parish as the project<br />
unfolded and moved to completion.<br />
The Diocesan Development Fund (DDF) provides financial services that helps to promote the continued growth and development of a<br />
vibrant and evangelising <strong>Catholic</strong> Church in the Diocese of Parramatta.<br />
The DDF’s services include:<br />
• Providing loans to assist <strong>Catholic</strong> agencies to further their Mission. Loans are available for any worthwhile purpose including<br />
construction, renovation, land purchase, furnishings, and equipment.<br />
• Facilitating transactional services to <strong>Catholic</strong> agencies such as parishes and schools.<br />
• Operating efficiently to generate income for the Diocese to support the Mission of the Church, pastoral priorities, and ministry<br />
programmes.<br />
• The development of deep long-term relationships with all <strong>Catholic</strong> entities within the Diocese.<br />
To contact the DDF please phone (02) 8839 4500 or email enquiries@parraddf.org.au<br />
Visit the DDF website at www.parracatholic.org.au/ddf<br />
Disclosure Statement The Diocesan Development Fund <strong>Catholic</strong> Diocese of Parramatta (DDF) (the Fund) is required by law to make the following disclosure.<br />
The Fund is not prudentially supervised by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority nor has it been examined or approved by the Australian Securities<br />
and Investments Commission. An investor in the Fund will not receive the benefit of the financial claims scheme or thedepositor protection provisions in the<br />
Banking Act 1959 (Cth). Investments in the Fund are intended to be a means for investors to support the charitable, religious and educational works of the<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong> Diocese of Parramatta and for whom the consideration of profit are not of primary relevance in the investment decision. The investments that the<br />
Fund offers are not subject to the usual protections for investors under the Corporations Act (Cth) or regulation by Australian Securities and Investments<br />
Commission. Investors may be unable to get some or all of their money back when the investor expects or at all and an of the Fund are not comparable to<br />
investments with banks, finance companies or fund managers. The Fund’s identification statement may be viewed at https://parracatholic.org or by contacting<br />
the Fund. The Fund does not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence.