From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 15th June, 2025

Hi everyone!
Our Annual 'Confirmation Weekend' is Upon Us.
This weekend more than 100 of our young people will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation at the hands of Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett, Emeritus (meaning retired) Bishop of Lismore. We are very grateful that he could be with us to give these young friends such an important Sacrament in their lives, and be an instrument of anointing from the Holy Spirit. I invite you all to pray for each and every one of them as they experience this special day for themselves. The Confirmation Masses will be held at 12pm and 3 pm on both Saturday14th and Sunday 15th June. Please make Bishop Jarrett very welcome if you happen to see him.

Final Call for Bus Tickets for the 'Walk With Christ' Procession Next Sunday 22 June
We have had a really good response to the Walk With Christ Bus tickets, and it is lovely to see such a great turnout for the Parish. There are still bus tickets available, so reserve yours by contacting the office. I would love to see as many of you with your families at the Procession. It is an edifying and meaningful way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The bus will be leaving at 12.30 pm, so please be there early (as in, not late!!). If you are going into Martin Place for the Procession using your own means of transport, the Procession moves off at 2.30, but there is entertainment from 1.30 pm onwards. See you all there (we priests of your Parish are going on the Parish buses as well).

Altar Servers Also Need 'On the Job' training as well!!
Yes, it has come to my attention of late that some parents would like their children to become altar servers 'overnight', (which is understandable) but having spoken with all the priests here, we really do see the need to insist that all altar servers do a training session first and then have at least three 'on-the-job' training Masses in order to learn how to serve in practice. Since it is a bit different to serve at SCB rather than OLQP, or vice versa, a bit of situational training at a Church unfamiliar to them is also advantageous... Please keep that in mind when you are scheduling your kids on, so that a suitable experienced 'buddy' be on hand to guide them 'through the ropes'. The experience is then much more positive - both for the server and for the Priests and Parishioners attending the Mass as well.

And that's all I have for the time being. By the way, I will be absent from the Parish from Monday 23rd onwards at my annual month retreat, and a few weeks more, so if you need anything from me, please get in to see me this next week, or else you may have to wait for some time for me to meet with you.

Also, I only just received information concerning the Sydney Synod 2026. I will talk more about this in next weeks bulletin as it is an important event and I would like to see great participation from our parish community at the regional consultations.

God bless,

Fr. Greg