From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 5th October, 2025

Hi everyone!
Daylight Savings Begins this weekend ... put your clocks forward an hour.
Just a gentle reminder, for those of you who read this bulletin online, that you will need to put your clocks and 'offline' watches forward an hour, or run the risk of getting to Mass an hour late. Apologies that we didn't remind you of this in last week's bulletin...

Sydney Synod Meeting St. Mary’s Cathedral Hall Tuesday 14 October 6 - 9 pm
For those of you interested in the renewal of the Archdiocese's pastoral plan into the future, we have been given a unique opportunity to 'have our own say'. A regional consultation on the upcoming Sydney Synod of the Archdiocese will be taking place on Tuesday week, 14th October from 6 - 9 pm, at St. Mary's Cathedral College Hall, to allow you to contribute our own suggestions to the discussion. These Regional consultations are going on with the objective of finding, and I quote:

"... positive, practical, and faithful ideas to address the three longings of Sydney Catholics: that our liturgies be more prayerful, our communities more Christ-centred, and our Church in Sydney more mission-oriented."

More information can be found by either visiting their webpage directly at sydneycatholic.org/sydney-synod or by using the QR code in the info box on the opposite page to access it. Prior registration, however, is essential, and you can also do that via the Web page.

Catholic Weekly articles on our Parish this Week
There are two articles in this week's Catholic Weekly you might like to check out. One is a commentary on Page 5 by Daniel Ang, the Director of the Evangelisation Office of the Archdiocese, who came out last Thursday week to speak to us about the results of our NCLS survey in the context of the Archdiocese of Sydney. He sums up his own contribution on the night in the article, and I think you will be edified by what he has to say. It serves as a helpful summary for those who could not attend. There will be more on this in future bulletins, with some graphics from Dr. Sam Sterland's presentation to help disseminate the results of the survey.

The other is an article on page 2 about last Thursday's reception of the Sacraments of Initiation by 24 high school students in our area, predominantly from Holy Cross College Ryde and Marists Eastwood, with Bishop Danny presiding. Though there is some imprecision in the text, it still serves as a nice reminder of what we hope will be an annual regional event, and includes a lovely photo with all 24 students present. We envision that next year's celebration will take place at St. Kevin's Eastwood, and perhaps in other local parishes of our Northern Deanery in future years, should significant numbers of students represented.

100 Year Centenary Mass for OLQP Primary School Thursday 16 Oct 9.30 am
Final preparations are underway for this very important event, to mark the joyful anniversary of 100 years of Catholic primary school education at our own Gladesville campus. The Mass begins at 9.30 AM, on Thursday 16th October in OLQP Catholic Church, presided by Bishop Danny Meagher, our local auxiliar Bishop. The front half of the Church will naturally be used for reserved seating, and we apologise in advance if your 'usual pew' is taken on the day! A celebratory morning tea, and the unveiling of commemorative plaques to mark both the School's and the Church's Centenary celebrations will follow after that. Please come along, especially if you are an 'old boy' or 'old girl' of the school.

Turf Renewal at SCB Church Grounds
Spring is upon us, and we have begun our "turf renewal" of the lawns at SCB Church grounds. This has been in the pipeline the last couple of years, but was deferred until we could afford it with the current budget limitations of our Parish (last year we renovated OLQP Church in time for the 100 Year Celebrations). You will notice a large mound of organic soil in the car park adjacent to the cement pathway. You will also notice that the work has begun thanks to Keith Stanshall and Paul Profilio (see photo below), who look after much of our maintenance and building work at the Parish.

Could you please help us out by a) refraining from walking on the treated lawn sections and b) requesting anyone who wishes to walk over those sections of lawn where the soil has been spread, to kindly use the designated paths and roads to get to wherever they wish to go, so that the lawns can quickly recover their vitality? We will be using sprinklers to wet the area down, unless Mother Nature decides to give us a shower or three over the next month or so. Apologies for any inconveniences in the meantime!

And that's about it for now. God bless you all, and have a lovely week ahead.

Fr. Greg