From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 26th December

Hi everyone, and Merry Christmas to you all, and a Very Happy New Year!!

Though the lead up to Christmas might have been fraught with uncertainties, I hope that your Christmas festivities will be filled with a lot of good cheer! 

We pray that the 'birth' of Christ into your lives once again may lift up your spirits in these somewhat gloomy times, and help you all grow in God's love throughout the coming year. I look forward to a more normal 'parish year' in 2022, although it remains to be seen exactly what the 'new normal' will be!

A Huge Thank You to All our Volunteers This Year

I am so grateful to all of you who have volunteered over this past year and at Christmas to keep our Parish 'up and running'. It has been quite a challenge! Without doubt, this has been a huge year, and we had to adapt constantly to the ever changing 'COVID-scape'. We simply could not have done it without our trusty cohort of volunteers. Rest assured our Good Lord will repay you handsomely as promised. In the meantime, may you all inspire many others to come forward and offer their 'time, talent and treasures' for the Kingdom of God that we are all building together!



Fr. Greg's Christmas Message is in This Weeks' TWT

I have deliberately left out my usual Christmas message from the bulletin this week as it is already printed on Page 10 of our local newspaper, the Ryde Weekly Times. I am very grateful to both John Booth, editor, and Greg Turner, their indefatigable main journalist for making this possible each Christmas and Easter. You can catch it online on their website at: www.weeklytimes.com.au/



I think I ought to also mention a few practical points to keep in mind over the Christmas holiday:



QR Check-ins and Face Masks are Once Again Mandatory in all Indoor Settings

Please be advised that from midnight Thursday 23rd December onwards, NSW Health has mandated that QR Code check-ins be done and face masks be worn in all indoor settings. It does seem, however, that 'places of worship' have been exempted for now from the re-introduced "one person per two square metre" rule, which applies specifically to "hospitality settings including pubs, clubs, restaurants and cafes". We will keep you informed of any further changes as they come to light.



New 'Donation QR code' and EFTPOS Devices Available

We are pleased to offer you two more means to make it easier for you to support the parish and its priests financially.



Firstly, we have developed our own 'Donation QR' code (see inset below) by which you can make your donations by simply scanning the QR code on your phone. This will then redirect you to the BPay portal, through which you can easily make a donation.



Secondly, we now have several new EFTPOS Devices to permit you to make donations of varying amounts, as the donation Point devices we currently have only allow for one amount setting. The new EFTPOS device lets you choose between three pre-set amounts ($10, $20 and $50) and a fourth option by which you can choose any other amount you wish to give. We hope this helps you to help us more, as the costs of running the Parish and maintaining our Priests are substantial. Thanks for your continued generosity this past year and into 2022!



Christmas Office Hours

Firstly, just a reminder that our Parish Office will be closed from 4 pm Christmas Eve up until Tuesday 4th January, 2022. We apologise for any inconvenience, but our staff also need their own 'rostered annual leave' with their families!



No Saturday Vigil Mass on the 25th December

Secondly, another reminder that there will be no Vigil Masses this weekend on Saturday 25th December, with just the Sunday services as usual on Sunday 26th January (8 am, 10 am and 6 pm SCB and 9 am OLQP).



No 6:30 am Weekday Masses at OLQP (Tues/Thurs) until 1 Feb 2022

By common accord, the 6:30 am Masses on Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be suspended temporarily from this week onwards until the end of January 2022 to take into account the holiday period.



And that's about it for me. Thanks for all your support during the past year, despite all the difficulties the COVID pandemic has thrown at us. I hope and pray that the new year will bring some sort of respite from the present incertitude, but it could well be a long six months ahead of us. I thank you in advance for your continued support and help.



Your brother, in Christ's service,

Fr Greg