From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 27th October

Hi everyone!
Parish Feast Day 3rd November 2024
Okay, next Sunday is our annual Feast Day for our Church at Ryde, with the Feast of St. Charles Borromeo (set down for the 4th of November in the Church's liturgical calendar). Being a Monday, we are bringing the celebrations forward a day to the 3rd, even though the readings and prayers at all the Masses will be for "Sunday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time".

The School grounds will be open from about 11 am onwards, and the hamburgers and sausages will be served after about 11.30 am. We are asking a donation of $5 per burger and $2 per "sizzled sausage" sandwich etc, as a means of covering some costs. We also have some fantastic Gelato available for $3 as well. Or you can bring your own Picnic lunch and just enjoy the event. We have not one but two "Jumping Castles", entertainment from schools and colleges, games for the older kids, 'hair spraying' for the younger ones, and plenty of room to sit down and chat, or walk around and socialise with people from all our Masses and Ministries. I believe even Fr. Dan is going to be helping with the BBQ!! See you there.

Note: Parking Extremely Limited on Sunday 3rd Nov
Please note that Parking at SCB Church grounds and School will be extremely limited on Sunday 3rd due to the school areas being occupied for the big event. Parking will, however, be available over at Holy Cross College. Elderly people can be dropped off all the same. Apologies in advance for any inconveniences caused.

First Holy Communion Season is Upon us
Over the coming weekends 16 - 17 and 23 - 24 November, we will have a flurry of activity due to First Holy Communion celebrations. Now, in order to allow more space for the families, and so that the experience be more personalised, there will be a total of seven FHC celebrations over those two weekends, but none of them should impact the normal operations of the Masses we regularly have. We welcome many people at these occasions from outside the Parish boundaries, some of whom may not be Catholic. Please make them feel welcome, if you happen to be around.

Calling all Seniors ... Parish "10/10" Youth and Seniors Meeting coming up!
Last year our Parish hosted the Sydney Catholic Schools "10/10 Youth and Senior Night", bringing together both students from the area as well as people on the 'other end' of the age bracket! Yes, the objective of the evening is for our youth to engage with our elderly parishioners and for the elderly to share their wisdom and graces with the youth. That doesn't happen very often in the fast paced world we live in, so I hope as many of you as possible will participate ... both the youth and the elderly ... and make this yet again a wonderful gathering in an interactive setting. The evening starts of at 5.30pm with a Mass with Fr. Steve, followed by dinner (consisting of pizza, pasta and salads), then we have Bingo, Trivia and other assorted activities, and finishes off at 8.30 pm, so you can still get an early night. Sounds like a lot of fun. See more info on page 4 of this bulletin, or contact Fr. Steve.

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

Fr. Greg