From Fr Greg's Desk: 18th October

Hi everyone!


It’s Mission Week this week. In some parishes, they invite a missionary from some exotic location to speak about 'mission work'. Ryde Gladesville Parish has the blessing of not one, but five Verbum Dei missionaries, and this weekend our focus will be on mission. Between us we have over a century of mission experience and formation in a huge number and range of countries, so it is pretty natural that we talk to you about mission. It is in our Spiritual DNA.

However, we didn't stop being missionaries when we came to this parish; we simply adapted to a new mission environment. The Church is missionary by nature, and as Pope Francis tells us, each parish is meant to be a 'centre of missionary outreach'.

If you'd like to learn more, there's a good read by William Gregory in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research called "Pope Francis' Effort to Revitalise Catholic Mission" and it can be found here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2396939318795374. It's free, and gives a nice summary of what Pope Francis has been trying to do to make our Church more missionary in outlook. Just copy the link above into your web browser and check it out for yourselves. Here's one of the opening paragraphs:

Francis’s missionary reform has a clear yet sweeping focus. It ultimately seeks to change the behavior of as many baptized individuals as possible. The church is none other than its members, and for the church as a whole to undergo a missionary transformation is for more and more of the baptized to live a more missionary form of existence. Francis dreams of a church of “missionary disciples” (24, 119–21), for whom missionary activity is intrinsic to their very being and identity. “My friends,” he says. “the Lord needs you! Today too, he is calling each of you to follow him in his Church and to be missionaries. The Lord is calling you today! . . . Listen to what he is saying to you in your heart.”

Great to see you all back into school mode, as the Parish grounds seemed a bit deserted during the school holidays. First Holy Communion preparation is coming up, so please make sure you catch the dates, and remind anyone you know who has kids at this important milestone of their lives. More info about this under upcoming events. 

That’s all for this weekend.


God bless, and take care,


Fr. Greg