From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 24th March, 2024

Hi everyone, and welcome to Holy Week!
This is our busiest week of the year at the Parish, so please be patient with us if any of your queries are not attended to as quickly as we normally would.

Holy Thursday - Visitation of the 7 Churches Pilgrimage".
One of the Archdiocesan wide practices being introduced this year is of a 'mini pilgrimage' made on Holy Thursday night to seven Churches after the Mass of the Last Supper, once you have visited what is known as the "Altar of Repose" which is created for Holy Thursday evening in each of the Parish Halls at SCB and OLQP.

You are invited to 'spend an hour praying with the Lord ' as he asked his disciples to do in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was arrested and incarcerated.
The devotion of visiting seven Churches is a centuries old tradition in keeping with this liturgical practice. Families are invited to tailor their pilgrimage with a resource that will list Churches that will be open across the Archdiocese and provide reflections to meditate. The 'Altars of Repose' will be available to midnight at all the Parishes in our Deanery. For example, you could attend Mass of the Last Supper here and then move onto St Michael's at Meadowbank and then to Holy Spirit at North Ryde etc. Or go to the other side of the City, or wherever you might wish to visit.

Vinnies Van Christmas Donations
Our 2023 Vinnies Christmas Appeal in our Parish raised a whopping $13, 834 to date, which has been sent in to cover the running costs of our new Ryde Vinnies Van Service. including servicing of the van, fuel, and supplies like Tea, Coffee, Milk, Biscuits, and the like. That, by the way, is over and above the donations in kind that we have received iof sandwiches and 'snack packs', which would be a considerable sum in addition to the $13k raised. I am very grateful to you all for your support of this very needed service. Please note that all cash donations to the Vinnies Van are tax deductible. Vinnies Van donation envelopes are available in the Parish Office.

And that’s about it for now!! I look forward to seeing you at the Holy Week services!

Fr. Greg