From Fr Greg's Desk : Sunday 11th August, 2024

Hi everyone!

Thank you to Frs. Dan and Daniele for 'Holding the Fort' in my Absence
It seems a bit strange writing this column again after four weeks of absence. I am, however, indebted to Frs Dan and Daniele for having filled in for both myself, Fr. Steve and Br. Antonio while we were on our annual 'month long retreat' in the Philippines. The weather was somewhat overcast almost everyday, as it is 'monsoon season' over there and we had the tail-end of a typhoon pass by, so there was a lot of rain for the duration of the retreat. But that might have actually enhanced the experience rather than lessened it!

I am very glad to be back among you now and it has been a very busy week thus far. If any of you have put off meeting with me for any matter due to my absence, please make the most of the next two weeks to do so, as I will have to be away for another five weeks from the 25th of August until early October. We have the six yearly "Congress" of our Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity in Spain to elect our new "Superior General" for the next six years and I have been chosen to represent our 'neck of the woods'. In any case, I will be able to answer emails throughout the time away, it is really only for the 'in person' meetings that I would be unable to attend during that time.

Little Noah's Cafe Continues to Sail “Steady as She Goes”.
I am really glad to see that our fledgling "Little Noah's Cafe" service has taken off nicely this school term. Though still very much a 'work-in-progress", we now have a minimum of helpers to cover Wednesday to Friday (during school weeks) and on Sunday mornings. We would eventually like to run the service every day during the week (Mon - Fri) on school days, so that kids, parents, parishioners and neighbours can grab a 'cuppa' or hot chocolate in the mornings and stop for a chat. In summer we'd like to increase our selection to offer 'juice poppers' and cold water, along with some other items, but for now we are starting off cautiously. I'd love to hear from you if you could help us out, especially if in your Uni days, you happened to brew a nice cup of coffee at the local cafe!!

New Sandstone Paving at SCB Church
You will have noticed over the last few months that our building and maintenance programs are still very much active at the Parish. This is where part of your donations to the 'second collection' go, and we value your financial support to help keep our Parish healthy and growing strong. The new sandstone paving on the 'Charles St. side' of the Church will now permit a second wheelchair access into the Church, and more direct access especially for our friends at Ryde Rehab. The fencing will still stay up for the time being, except for weddings so as to help the grass to grow. (So please help us to keep 'little feet' out of the loose dirt in the meantime as best as you can!!).

Ongoing Painting Work inside OLQP Church
The painting work continues down at OLQP Church. We will soon be 'attacking' the main section of the Church (mail ceiling, upper walls and front section) so we apologise for the inconvenience as the work progresses. This is all part of our 'Centenary Celebration' preparations for March 2025. We also deliberately timed this last part of the painting to start once the 'Our Lady of Terzito' celebrations were over for the year.

Bishop Danny Meagher DD (Auxiliary Bishop for Sydney Coming to Visit)
Bishop Danny will be coming to SCB Church on Thursday 22nd August at 6 pm for the celebration of an extraordinary Mass for our students at Holy Cross College Ryde (HCC). We have a total of 18 students who want to receive their "Sacraments of Initiation" to varying degrees into the Catholic Church, and we are blessed to have Bishop Danny preside over the celebration.

Of these 18 HCC students, 8 will be receiving Confirmation (as they are already Baptised), two of these will also be receiving First Holy Communion, and one (who is Christian but not Catholic) will be also received into the Catholic Church. There are another ten students who are receiving all three "Sacraments of Initiation": Baptism, Confirmation and First Holy Communion). It is wonderful to see this happening at Holy Cross College.

We thank the teachers at HCC and Mr. Phil Stewart (Principal) for all their support and encouragement for these students on their own personal journeys in faith, and for their dedicated service and heartfelt support for our Parish pastoral initiatives, and to Fr. Steve, Br. Antonio, and Christina Breda (REC at HCC) for helping to prepare them over the last few months.

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

Fr. Greg