From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 23rd February, 2025

Hi everyone!
OLQP Church 100th Anniversary Celebrations
We are just two weeks away from our Centenary Mass with His Grace, Archbishop Anthony Fisher presiding, and about 10 priests and deacons concelebrating. It is going to be a big affair, with quite a few 'official guests' in addition to our usual Sunday 9 am gathering, and a chance to 'meet and greet' the Archbishop afterwards at morning tea in the school grounds (thanks to Frank Cohen and OLQP Primary School). Apologies in advance if your 'usual seat/pew’ is not available. Overflow seats will be available outside, and the external speaker system is working well to convey his Grace's words and follow the Mass.

Parking and Drop Off at OLQP Westminster Road Gate Entrance (9-3-25)
Please also be aware that parking at the Westminster Road side, on the day, will be restricted to VIP guests, as we need to reserve the very limited space we have there for those to whom it has been allotted. Apologies in advance to those who usually park there. Could we please ask you all to either get someone to drop you off to Mass that day, or park in the side-streets, so as to free up space for visitors from further afield? Rest assured we will be creating a reserved ‘drop-off zone' near the 'rolling gate' entrance on Westminster Road, to facilitate ease of access to all.

New 'Imitation Leadlight' Windows at OLQP Church
In addition to the new carpet and front steps at OLQP Church, visitors this weekend will also notice a substantial difference in the three front windows on the Westminster Road side, two windows in the side foyer, and another on the city side, between the vestry and the Church proper. This has been done to make them similar to the existing leadlight windows in the original half of the Church, which was not replicated when the extension was built due to scarcity of funds (Fr. Gell had built the Church with inherited funds, as his family was wealthy). See photos below

‘Propaganda Fidei' Visiting Priests at the 5pm Mass at OLQP this week.
Regular attendees at the 5pm Mass this week will be gifted with three extra priests this week. The three priests - Mons. Esteban Lo (from the Philippines), Fr. Peter Piyachart (from Thailand), and Fr. Asia John Khokhar (from Pakistan) are all National Directors of the Pontifical Mission Societies - PMS ('Propaganda Fidei' in latin), who are having their annual 'Asia and Oceania Region' meeting this week in North Sydney.

You may recall that we have an annual collection for Catholic Mission every October, in support of the PMS, so if you'd like to know more about where our financial help is going from that annual appeal, you can chat to them about it. They have been invited to dinner afterwards at the Presbytery in Ryde before returning back to North Sydney later on that evening. It goes without saying that I am sure you will make them all feel very welcome during their brief stay with us.

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

Fr. Greg