From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 31st October

Hi everyone!

Great to see you all back again!
Firstly, I just wanted to convey how happy we are to see you back with us at the weekday and weekend masses. It was so nice to have real people in the pews again!!

Ongoing Works around SCB Church. By the time you read this, the concreting work on driveways and paths leading up to SCB Church will have been finished, awaiting the arrival next week of sandstone pavers similar to the ones currently gracing the forecourt and stairs of SCB Church. We are hoping to have everything in order within the next three weeks, before the first of our deferred 'post COVID lockdown' weddings occur! Again, we apologise for any inconveniences caused in the meantime. To quote one particular holy Cross Teacher: it's a case of "Short term pain, long term gain'.Date for Diaries: Christmas Organisational Meeting 17th November 2021
Please 'save the date' of the 17th November for an initial meeting of all our volunteers for the upcoming Christmas liturgies. This years' festivities will be a little more complicated, since Christmas happens to fall on a Saturday, with Sunday being the Feast of the Holy Family, so we are going to need a LOT of help this year. Please make a note of this in your diaries!!

Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) Meeting Wed 27th October 2021
Last Wednesday night we had our first PPC meeting since the beginning of the COVID lockdown last year. Fr. Dan has been appointed as the Chair for the meetings, which are scheduled for eight times per calendar year spread out throughout to fit in with major events such as Christmas, Easter, beginning and end of the school year, and so forth. The members of the PPC will serve one-year renewable terms, and have been chosen to represent a wide swath of the pastoral life of the Parish. We plan to introduce you to them in future bulletins, so that you can engage with them, as they engage with your good selves.

Mass for All Saints' Day at SCB Monday 1 November 2021 at 5:00 PM
We have an extra weekday Mass this week! As the Solemnity of All Saints falls on a Monday, we have scheduled an extra Mass on Monday 1st November at 5 pm at SCB Church. We look forward to seeing you there! Please note that there will be no Mass at Field of Mars cemetery this year due to the COVID restrictions in force.

Euthanasia Bill.
Archbishop Fisher is urgently calling on ALL of us to voice our concerns to our local MPs about the Euthanasia Bill being rushed through NSW Parliament in the next two weeks.There are many serious issues surrounding this Bill being tabled that you need to know about. I have included his letter to you on the opposite page in full for you to read, and how you can make your voice heard.

First Holy Communion 'COVID Contingency Plan'
Last Monday, as many of you know, a positive case of COVID surfaced among our Year 3 kids at SCB Primary School, which sparked two weeks of isolation for the class involved and their teacher. Knowing how enthusiastic you all were to get the kids back to school this week, I can imagine how frustrating this has been, and commiserate with you... We look forward to seeing you all back again at Mass and at School very soon.

As regards the First Holy Communion retreat next Friday and the Mass of the 6th November at which seven of these kids were scheduled to participate, I can confirm that we had already planned a 'seventh' date and time at 11 am on the 27th November precisely for unexpected things such as this. The students concerned will be booked in for that day instead. The whole class concerned will be at a separate retreat on Friday 12th November once they are back at school.

Rest assured we will do everything within our means to make sure all our young friends receive their 'First Holy Communion' before the end of this year, no matter how many 'spanners in the works' crop up between now and the date reserved for them. Looks like it is going to be an interesting two months up ahead as we 'open up' and deal with the surges of positive COVID cases that are likely to occur.

Please Respect Our Need for Silence in our Churches
Now that we are back, it is natural that you all want to 'catch up' with friends and priests when you come to Mass, but please do this outside the Church. Yes, I am fully aware that there are sometimes situations in which someone needs to say something to another in the Church. Please refrain from any unnecessary conversations inside our Churches, to let others who wish to pray in silence have their 'quiet time' of prayer.

This also applies for those wishing to speak to our priests in the Sacristy of both Churches. If you need to say something, if at all possible, please kindly pass a note to them or ask to speak to them after Mass outside the Church. Our priests also need their quiet time before Mass, so please help us to respect that.

Thanks to our Buddies for their service during the Lockdown!
A big "Thank You!" to all those who served as 'buddies' during the lockdown, delivering Parish Bulletins to over 70 parishioners' homes during that time. We would love for you to perhaps transition to another ministry in the Parish now that the Lockdown is over, as most of the 'Buddied' parishioners are now coming back to Mass. We caught this photo of Carolina and daughter Ana, our "Buddies on

Bikes" as they were leaving.


And that's about it for now! Have a lovely week!

Fr Greg