From Fr Greg's Desk

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

I write to you from Sanctuary Point where I am enjoying a few days of rest and down time after the hectic Christmas period. I hope your own Christmas celebrations with your loved ones and friends were marvellous get-togethers and that a lot of love and goodwill was shared around!



It was delightful to welcome many new people to our Christmas Masses this year and be able to impart our Christmas messages of hope to all of them. Thanks for your ‘missionary spirit’, inviting people along who haven’t come in a long while, and for all your support with the preparations and running of these big events.

We were very fortunate that the rain stayed away until two minutes after we’d finished our 6 pm Christmas Mass on the lawns outside Holy Cross College. Our thanks to the Good Lord for leaving this little ‘birthday gift’ until then. I mean, well, we have been praying for rain insistently over the last month or so, so it certainly didn’t go astray!

I was also very privileged to be invited to give the Christmas message at the ANZAC Park Carol Service on Saturday 21st along with choirs from many of our local Churches in the Ryde area, including St. Kevin’s Eastwood, Good Shepherd Church, West Ryde, West Ryde Community Church, and the Ryde City Salvation Army. It was great to see our parishioners also at the event. Thank you as well to the support of our local councillor and parishioner, Roy Maggio, who was very much a part of the event, and is always very supportive of our parish and local schools.

Fr. Daniele tells me he has safely arrived in his home town of Pavia, near Milan in Northern Italy, where he will be spending the next three weeks with his family. We wish him a very happy home visit and a safe return back here in mid-January.

I wish all of you a very Happy New Year, and I pray that we will all grow together in the Lord’s love and service, so that we may help Jesus reach out to as many people as possible in the year ahead.

God’s blessings on you all!

Fr Greg

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