From Fr Greg's Desk: Sunday 9th March, 2025
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Well, it has been a very busy week! We had loads of people at our Ash Wednesday services, and our weekly weekend Mass count for the month of February averaged at about 1250 people. That's a really healthy total. It also probably means that we are going to need parking attendants at our 10 am Mass in future, but I will leave that until next week's bulletin. There are ‘big things' at OLQP happening this weekend.
OLQP 'Centenary Celebrations' Update
After years of preparations, and a lot of 'hard yakka', the renovation work at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church Gladesville is finally finished, and the arrangements have been finalised for our Centenary celebrations. What an amazing thing it is to celebrate a century of worship and service at this magnificent Church of ours!
We are very pleased to welcome His Grace, Archbishop Anthony Fisher to OLQP Church at 9 am on Sunday as Principal Celebrant of the Centenary of the Laying of the Foundation Stone at OLQP Church. We also gratefully welcome Fr. Ben Saliba as our Master of Ceremonies, and Aruna Perera as Deacon, along with two recent 'Pastors' of OLQP Church, Fr. Paul Monkerud and Fr. Roberto Castillo, who have freed themselves to be here on the day.
Apart from these, we have a line up of other 'special guests', including three of our own 'locally minted' religious vocations, born, bred and raised in OLQP Parish and Primary School (and fruit of her apostolate over the years). People like Mons. Kerry Bayada, who just celebrated his 90th birthday (Happy Birthday from all of us, Mons!); Br. Nicholas Harsas, fsp, whose Mum Margaret has faithfully spent the last 90 years of her life worshipping in this Church; and Sr. Julie Brand, whose Mum (also a Margaret) has served in the Parish in different ways all her life long.
We will also be welcoming some 'official' guests on the day: The Hon. Anthony Roberts, Member for Lane Cove; Mayor Trenton Brown, along with Councillor Roy Maggio, of the City of Ryde. Executive Principal of OLQP Primary, Frank Cohen, Assistant Principal Simone Scoullar and selected staff, past Principals Peter Watkins and Warren Hopley and Principal of Holy Cross College, Phillip Stewart, will also be present.
Religious communities who have been heavily involved in the OLQP Church Community over the past 100 years are also represented. Representing the Marist Fathers, who have been involved in pastoral work in the Gladesville area since the earliest times of the Colony, we will have Fr. Tony Corcoran, SM. Br. Aengus Kavanagh, fsp, Br. Stephen Sweetman, fsp are also coming from the Patrician Brothers. Ms Ana Pintos will be representing the Sisters of Mercy, who ministered at the Parish and Primary school for decades.
Other guests include Mr. Raymond Pak of the Archdiocesan Parish Support Office will be present, along with representatives of the Catholic Weekly (Marylin Rodrigues), the Ryde Weekly Times (Anthony Stavrinos), and our own local community radio station, 2RRR (Natalie De Silver). We thank you for honouring us with your presence.
However, OLQP Church would never have flourished over these past 100 years, were it not for the countless numbers of parishioners who have graced our pews over that time, and you - the Parishioners, past and present - are particularly welcome at our Centenary Celebrations. There will be families present, who for four generations have worshipped, ministered and supported the pastoral work extended throughout this Church's fruitful history, and who even today are keeping the Pastoral work at our Lady Queen of Peace 'alive and kicking'. There are too many names to mention here, although a few of the 'founding benefactors' have found their way into the historical booklet we've produced to mark the occasion. We, your Priests, past and present, thank you for your faithful support over the years.
There are also many people to thank for getting this day up and running. The OLQP Centenary Committee has been instrumental in planning, researching, organising and making sure the day runs smoothly (despite the inconvenience of a cyclone worming its way up north!). Our RGCP Office Staff have dedicated countless volunteer hours to get things done. The Confraternity of Our Lady of Terzito have also helped us out, as they have throughout the history of this Church. So too the Staff and 'P & F' of our Local Primary School. Mr. Keith Stanshall, our 'maintenance guy', has laboured hard over the last seven years to get the Church into its present state, and it is truly a credit to him, and his perseverance, that it is what it is today. A huge 'thank you' to all of you!
May OLQP Church continue to serve countless families and parishioners into this next Century of its life, and may we as a Parish, together with fellow parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo Church Ryde, strive to be the face of Christ in our world, and carry on His missionary outreach, in company with our Mother whom we continue to affectionately invoke as "Our Lady Queen of Peace".
So, see you all on Sunday morning. The Centenary Mass begins at 9 am sharp. As I have previously communicated to you, 'seats on pews' in OLQP Church on Sunday morning will be limited, and you will need to either be 'dropped off' or find parking outside our Church grounds that morning, as all parking inside at both of our carparks has been pre-assigned to specific guests, who have already been notified and have given us their number plate details. Apologies in advance to our Parishioners for the limited space.
And, should we happen to run out of commemorative booklets or prayer cards and bookmarks, they will be available on request afterwards, and online.
With all of our Lord's blessings, on the occasion of this Centenary Feast at OLQP Gladesville, your brother in Christ:
Fr. Greg
OLQP 'Centenary Celebrations' Update
After years of preparations, and a lot of 'hard yakka', the renovation work at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church Gladesville is finally finished, and the arrangements have been finalised for our Centenary celebrations. What an amazing thing it is to celebrate a century of worship and service at this magnificent Church of ours!
We are very pleased to welcome His Grace, Archbishop Anthony Fisher to OLQP Church at 9 am on Sunday as Principal Celebrant of the Centenary of the Laying of the Foundation Stone at OLQP Church. We also gratefully welcome Fr. Ben Saliba as our Master of Ceremonies, and Aruna Perera as Deacon, along with two recent 'Pastors' of OLQP Church, Fr. Paul Monkerud and Fr. Roberto Castillo, who have freed themselves to be here on the day.
Apart from these, we have a line up of other 'special guests', including three of our own 'locally minted' religious vocations, born, bred and raised in OLQP Parish and Primary School (and fruit of her apostolate over the years). People like Mons. Kerry Bayada, who just celebrated his 90th birthday (Happy Birthday from all of us, Mons!); Br. Nicholas Harsas, fsp, whose Mum Margaret has faithfully spent the last 90 years of her life worshipping in this Church; and Sr. Julie Brand, whose Mum (also a Margaret) has served in the Parish in different ways all her life long.
We will also be welcoming some 'official' guests on the day: The Hon. Anthony Roberts, Member for Lane Cove; Mayor Trenton Brown, along with Councillor Roy Maggio, of the City of Ryde. Executive Principal of OLQP Primary, Frank Cohen, Assistant Principal Simone Scoullar and selected staff, past Principals Peter Watkins and Warren Hopley and Principal of Holy Cross College, Phillip Stewart, will also be present.
Religious communities who have been heavily involved in the OLQP Church Community over the past 100 years are also represented. Representing the Marist Fathers, who have been involved in pastoral work in the Gladesville area since the earliest times of the Colony, we will have Fr. Tony Corcoran, SM. Br. Aengus Kavanagh, fsp, Br. Stephen Sweetman, fsp are also coming from the Patrician Brothers. Ms Ana Pintos will be representing the Sisters of Mercy, who ministered at the Parish and Primary school for decades.
Other guests include Mr. Raymond Pak of the Archdiocesan Parish Support Office will be present, along with representatives of the Catholic Weekly (Marylin Rodrigues), the Ryde Weekly Times (Anthony Stavrinos), and our own local community radio station, 2RRR (Natalie De Silver). We thank you for honouring us with your presence.
However, OLQP Church would never have flourished over these past 100 years, were it not for the countless numbers of parishioners who have graced our pews over that time, and you - the Parishioners, past and present - are particularly welcome at our Centenary Celebrations. There will be families present, who for four generations have worshipped, ministered and supported the pastoral work extended throughout this Church's fruitful history, and who even today are keeping the Pastoral work at our Lady Queen of Peace 'alive and kicking'. There are too many names to mention here, although a few of the 'founding benefactors' have found their way into the historical booklet we've produced to mark the occasion. We, your Priests, past and present, thank you for your faithful support over the years.
There are also many people to thank for getting this day up and running. The OLQP Centenary Committee has been instrumental in planning, researching, organising and making sure the day runs smoothly (despite the inconvenience of a cyclone worming its way up north!). Our RGCP Office Staff have dedicated countless volunteer hours to get things done. The Confraternity of Our Lady of Terzito have also helped us out, as they have throughout the history of this Church. So too the Staff and 'P & F' of our Local Primary School. Mr. Keith Stanshall, our 'maintenance guy', has laboured hard over the last seven years to get the Church into its present state, and it is truly a credit to him, and his perseverance, that it is what it is today. A huge 'thank you' to all of you!
May OLQP Church continue to serve countless families and parishioners into this next Century of its life, and may we as a Parish, together with fellow parishioners at St. Charles Borromeo Church Ryde, strive to be the face of Christ in our world, and carry on His missionary outreach, in company with our Mother whom we continue to affectionately invoke as "Our Lady Queen of Peace".
So, see you all on Sunday morning. The Centenary Mass begins at 9 am sharp. As I have previously communicated to you, 'seats on pews' in OLQP Church on Sunday morning will be limited, and you will need to either be 'dropped off' or find parking outside our Church grounds that morning, as all parking inside at both of our carparks has been pre-assigned to specific guests, who have already been notified and have given us their number plate details. Apologies in advance to our Parishioners for the limited space.
And, should we happen to run out of commemorative booklets or prayer cards and bookmarks, they will be available on request afterwards, and online.
With all of our Lord's blessings, on the occasion of this Centenary Feast at OLQP Gladesville, your brother in Christ:
Fr. Greg
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