From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 15th March, 2026

Hi everyone!
As we are just three weeks out from Easter Sunday, we are now in the early phase of preparations for this 'Biggest Week of the Catholic Year". Because of that, there are lots of things we are going to need help with.

Easter Postcard Bundling for Distribution into Local Letterboxes
The first is on next Wednesday, when we package the 'Easter Postcards' into bundles for delivery to all the mailboxes of people within our Parish Boundary (which is currently about 14,000 households). As you can imagine, that is a lot of cards to bundle up! So, if you could please spare the time, we are inviting you next Wednesday 18th March to come to the Parish Hall at SCB Ryde after the usual 9.20 am Mass to get the bundles ready for distribution this coming weekend. And, yes, will be also providing 'barista' coffee from our Little Noah's Coffee Van and a delicious morning tea as a thank you to you for helping us out. Thanks in advance for your help!

"Sistine Chapel Revelations: An Immersive Exhibition"
St. Mary's Cathedral Forecourt 16 May - 19 July 2026.
An exhibition highlighting the beauty and grandeur of the paintings of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which depicts the entirety of 'Salvation History' as we know it, will be 'brought to life' in Sydney in just over two months' time. I wanted to get this information out to you as early as possible, so that each and every one of us have the opportunity to view it.

Having lived in Rome for about eight years, I had several opportunities to visit the Sistine Chapel and marvel at the wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling artwork depicted there. I always found it both breathtaking and a little hard to take in anything more than a fraction of it all, so to have it brought to us now, using cutting edge technology and high-resolution imagery (produced professionally by the Vatican Museum), using a custom built, freestanding, temporary structure in the forecourt of our Cathedral sounds to me like an opportunity we mustn't pass up.

Tickets and more information are available from the website www.SistineChapelSydney.com.au. I have included a 'QR Code below where you can get more information. I would also be very happy to organise a group ticket for the Parish if there is enough interest to do so.

Construction Work Beside the Parish Office
You may have noticed a lot of activity going on between the Presbytery and the Parish Office at SCB Ryde. Sydney Catholic Schools have very generously offered to create an external entry via a set of steps to the Mackillop and Gell Rooms of the lower section of the Parish Centre. This will also provide access and 'emergency evacuation' pathways for the students from SCB Primary who undertake music lessons there every Monday, care of their Amadeus Programme. We are also creating some external storage space for the Parish, as we currently lack such space. Please forgive any inconveniences in the meantime!

And that's about it for now. God bless,

Fr. Greg