From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 3rd December, 2023

Hi everyone!
Advent is with us once again
We begin Advent this weekend, with the lighting of the Advent candles placed at the front of our Churches and the colour purple is now 'in vogue'. With Christmas less than four weeks off, I can only imagine how busy you all must be. I hope that this Advent season, nevertheless, will be an opportunity to stop and prepare well for Christs' birth!

Advent Retreat next Weekend with Fr. Steve and Fr. Dan
And if you are looking for a way to do so, check out the Advent Retreat on p.g 7 of this bulletin, and which is on next weekend at Mt. Carmel Retreat Centre, Varroville. If you want more details, ask them about it after Mass this weekend; one of us Verbum Dei priests should be hanging around after all the Masses. (It is heavily subsidized by the way!)
Bishop Umbers Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass (in Spanish) on 12th December 5.30 pm
We are once again delighted to be hosting our annual Mass of our Lady of Guadalupe (in Spanish) at SCB Church this Tuesday 12th December. at 5.30 pm. You are cordially invited to come along, with dinner afterwards and Mariachis (Victor Valedes) on hand to sing at the Mass and celebrate afterwards (info on page 7) See you there!

Ryde Area Vinnies Van Service begins this week
As previously advised, our local Ryde Vinnies Van service will begin next week with two nights a week (Monday/Wednesday) to begin with. In coordination with our friends at both Gladesville and Hunters Hill Vinnies Conferences, five sites have been identified stretching from Hunters Hill through to the Greater Ryde area, and after a long process of visitation of Vinnies Van Services' people, agreement has been reached with the civil authorities concerned.

As we will be servicing different areas on both nights, the outreach will be much wider than previously envisaged. I am so grateful to everyone who has worked to make this dream a reality, and I invite anyone who still has not received any notification, or would like to participate in this wonderful outreach to poor and needy people in our local area, to contact Vini (yes, it is 'Vini of Vinnies') at Viniana.Tamanitoakula@vinnies.org.au to volunteer, and she will take it from there.

In any case, keep those 'snack packs' coming, as we are going to need a lot of them on a regular basis from now on. Maybe you could do something like this as an activity for the kids at your Christmas parties this year? Get the parents to buy one or more of the following items (juice poppers, small tins of tuna, cuppa soups or noodles are essential items... additional items may include: Le Snak/Cheese Dippits, small packets of chips, packets of sultanas, fruit cups, mini packs of biscuits (like single serve tiny Teddies), and chewy, nut free muesli bars such as Uncle Toby's Choc Chip Bars) and then place five of these in a zip lock bag, and Presto!!

Please leave the snack packs with us at the Parish Office during the week, if at all possible.

Vinnies Christmas Appeal this Weekend at all Masses
Our Parish will be once again making an Appeal on behalf of Vinnies this weekend, and so you will find envelopes on your pews at all Masses. Please be generous so that Christmas will be a happy occasion for those who won't be getting many things from Santa this year.

Thanks in advance on behalf of our friends at Vinnies for your continued generosity.

Christmas at the Cathedral - Free Bus Tickets Available
As you can see on the adjacent page, you are all invited to come along for the opening night of the Christmas at the Cathedral Festival. The Archbishop would love to see you there, and he is sending a bus to collect you from SCB Church at 5.30 pm (see page 3). Come along with me for the evening. Book your spot on the bus by copying this link on your browser (limited seats available): https://trybooking.com/CN0XI.

All the best for the week ahead,

Fr. Greg