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St Christopher’s Cathedral Parish, Canberra
29th Sunday in Ordinary
Time, Year A
18/19th October 2014
Weekend Mass Times
St Christopher’s Cathedral (SCC)
Cnr Franklin & Furneaux Streets,
Forrest (Manuka) ACT
Sunday: 8.00am, 11.00am,
5.30pm
Archdiocese of Canberra & Goulburn
Archbishop: Most Rev Christopher Prowse DD STD
Vicar General: Mgr John Woods
Acting Administrator: Fr Varghese Vavolil
St Peter Chanel’s Church: Fr Peter L’Estrange SJ
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON: To you I call; for you will surely heed me, O God; turn your ear to
me; hear my words. Guard me as the apple of your eye; in the shadow of your wings protect me.
RESP. PSALM. R: Give the Lord
glory and honour.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION: Alleluia, alleluia! Shine on the world
like bright stars; you are offering it the word of life. Alleluia!
St Peter Chanel’s Church (SPC)
Cnr Weston & Loch Streets,
Yarralumla ACT
Saturday: 6.00pm Vigil
Sunday: 9.30am
COMMUNION ANTIPHON: Behold, the eyes of the Lord are
on those who fear him, who
hope in his merciful love, to
rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
Weekday Mass Times
St Christopher’s Cathedral
Monday: 12.15pm
Tuesday to Friday: 6.45am,
12.15pm
Saturday: 12.15pm
St Peter Chanel’s Church
Tuesday: 5.30pm
Thursday: 10.00am, following
9.30am Adoration
As a parish we pray for…
Those to be baptised Charlotte Dingle
Reconciliation
Those to be married Oliver Paton & Ana Cerina
St Christopher’s Cathedral
Those who are ill Hazel Lamdin, Frances Beattie, Terry Conlan, Henry Friend, Janet Meaney, Gwen Winchester, Elizabeth Hall, Melanie Swan, Ana Marko, Timothy Batinich,
John Wilson, Rachel Capps, Fr Phil Harding
Thursday: 6.00 - 6.30pm
Saturday: 11.00am - 12noon
St Peter Chanel’s Church
Tuesday: 6.00 - 6.30pm
Saturday: 5.15 - 5.45pm
Perpetual Novena to Mary
St Christopher’s Cathedral
Wednesday: 6.00pm
Anointing Mass
First Thursday of the month at St
Peter Chanel’s Church, 10.00am
Mass for the Anointing of the
Sick.
______________________________________________________
Baptisms by appointment on
second and fourth Sundays at St
Christopher’s and on third Sundays at St Peter Chanel’s.
Weddings by appointment on
Saturday afternoons.
Anniversaries of death Dorothy Whitfield, Victor Res, William Patrick Boyle
Recently deceased Phyllis Barker, Eugenio Schirripa
Special intentions Sammy Calago (RIP), Ralph, Allan & Leo Biggs (RIP)
_________________________________________________________________________
Holy Days this week
Thu 23 Oct
Fri 24 Oct
Sat 25 Oct
Sun 26 Oct
St John of Capistrano
St Anthony Mary Claret; Day of Penance
Blessed Virgin Mary
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Optional (green)
Optional (green)
Optional (green)
(green)
Liturgy of the Hours: Psalter Week 1
Parish Office: Cathedral Presbytery, 55 Franklin Street, Forrest ACT 2603
Tel: (02) 6295 9555, Email: [email protected], Website: www.stchristophers-act.info
Office hours: Monday to Friday, 9.00am-12.15pm, 1.15-5.00pm; Parish Secretary: Jacinta Smallhorn
OUR PARISH
PARISH MINISTRIES
Director of Music
Jaki Kane
School of Religion
Muriel Joseph
PPC Chair
Keith Baker
Pastoral Care Practitioner
Elizabeth Porra
Young Adults Leaders
Jonathan Lee & Genevieve Nicoll
Accounts
Linda Casella & Karina Widjaja
Lector/EMHC Coordinators
Edwina & Mark Hyman
Maintenance Manager
Pieter van Gent
Devotional Groups
in our Parish
Serra Club
Encouraging and affirming vocations to
Priestly and Consecrated life
Cathedral Young Adults
Animating parish and Archdiocesan life
through prayer and event participation
Jesus Youth
Catholic charismatic youth reaching out
to other young people
Good Shepherd Prayer Group
Renewing spiritual life through regular
charismatic prayer and seminars
Syro-Malabar Rite
Our Catholic brothers and sisters following the East Syrian Rite liturgy
EUCHARISTIC & MARIAN PROCESSION 4pm, Sunday 19th October, St Benedict’s Church, Narrabundah to St Christopher’s Cathedral. Free bus service provided along the way. See Catholic Voice for more details.
RCIA The Cathedral parish’s RCIA (Rite for Christian Initiation of Adults) program
for 2014/15 has commenced but is still open to new participants. If you are or know
someone who is interested in exploring entrance into the Catholic Faith, please feel
free to come along or extend the invitation; sessions occur on Thursday evenings at
7.00-8.30pm at the Cathedral Presbytery (55 Franklin Street, Forrest; entrance at
main/front door, on Franklin Street side).
____________________________________________________________________
Reflection on the Gospel…
Two sides of the coin tell the story of our faith
“The Jewish people had an uneasy relationship with the Romans but, as an established religion, were allowed to continue their religious practices. In trapping Jesus, they also had to distance him from themselves - they had to be seen as accepting the rule of Rome or risk losing the religious freedom they had. By
‘discovering’ his revolutionary tendencies and handing him over to the Romans,
they would be shown to be loyal subjects and their religious rights would continue to be protected.
“This may seem wrong in relation to Jesus - but still happens in countries where
churches collude with governments to maintain religious ‘freedom’.
“Jesus is unruffled. He sees the hypocrisy of the questions and, as the Pharisees
and Herodians themselves had recognised, being an honest man, unafraid of anyone regardless of rank, tells them so. Then, he picks up the coins and points out
that this belongs to the Roman rulers. They have become part of the Roman
economy and so can reasonably be expected to contribute to it through taxation.
This is not a godly matter at all...
“Living in society places obligations on people - but they must not confuse
those obligations with their obligations to God.”
(From a reflection on this week’s Gospel by Catherine McElhinney and Kathryn Turner,
http://www.wellsprings.org.uk/weekly_wellsprings/year_a/sunday_29.htm)
Legion of Mary
Sharing the faith through charitable
works and Marian spirituality
Spanish community
Meeting for Mass in Spanish together
one Sunday every month
African community
Meeting for Mass together one Sunday
every month
St Vincent de Paul
Assisting people in need and combatting
social injustice in our community
Christian Meditation
Meeting regularly for silent contemplation in an ecumenical context
For contact details of any of these
groups, inquire of the Parish Office.
LITURGICAL MINISTRIES ROSTER
Lectors
Extraordinary Ministers of Eucharist
Mass
18/19 October
25/26 October
18/19 October
25/26 October
6.00pm
(SPC)
Marg McKinnon
Tan Roberts
Frances Bulbrook
Mike Nash
Judy Blundell
Frances Bulbrook
8.00am
(SCC)
[Assigned]
Phillip Pocock
Liza Quinn
Mineke Peerboom
9.30am
(SPC)
Gloria Osborne
Therese Jordan
Colliss Parrett
Therese Jordan
Colliss Parrett
Peter Sutherland
Keith Baker
Gwen Winchester
11.00am
(SCC)
Liz Porra
Lynn Chan
Maria Noronha
John Austen
Bronwen Grey
Christopher/Silvia
Liz Porra
Ines Marcetta
5.30pm
(SCC)
Marcelle Disanayake
Jacob Madden
Jeanette D’Souza
Emma Buckham
Elizabeth Young
Enid Martin
Rene Sutherland
Tony Croke
Frances Riordan
Tony Pelle
Mimma Memmolo
OUR ARCHDIOCESE & BEYOND
‘GUINNESS AND GOD’, Tuesday 11th November:
“How pornography is ruining your life”. Melinda Tankard Reist, the co-founder of Collective Shout, is an author
and speaker on the objectification of women and girls.
She will be exploring the impact of pornography on our
daily lives and culture. Venue: King O’Malley’s Irish Pub
in Civic. Dinner and some live music from 6.30pm, talk
starting at 7.30pm. For more info email
[email protected] or call 6163 4300.
TWILIGHT SPIRITUALITY SEMINARS Presented by
Shane Dwyer (CatholicLIFE) at the Rheinberger Centre,
Yarralumla, 5.30pm-7pm on Wednesday 29th October,
$10 at the door. To register: CatholicLIFE on 6163 4300
or at [email protected].
BACKWARDS, FORWARDS OR SIDEWAYS: What
Progress for Women in the Church? The Archdiocesan
Commission for Women invites you to a presentation by
Sandie Cornish. Sandie has worked with many Catholic
organisations on social justice issues and co-edited the
ground-breaking Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
Report “Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus”. There
will be time for questions and the presentation of the
Commission’s annual report. So come along to the Rheinberger Centre, Yarralumla on Saturday 25th October,
9.30 for 10am. Men and women are invited to attend. A
$5 donation would be appreciated to cover
costs. Enquiries to Judy Netting on 6278 4163 or 0400
766 784.
MOTHERS’ NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER United in
prayer we save our children. Mothers - both spiritual and
natural mothers - are invited to come together to pray for
their children and all children. We will pray for our nation. Join us in the Parish Centre at Holy Trinity Church,
3 Strangways St, Curtin between 1.30 and 4.30pm on
Saturday 25th October. We will pray Mothers’ Prayers at
2pm followed by afternoon tea. For further details: Anne
Hartwell at [email protected] or on 6282
0874.
CHRISTIAN MEDITATION The Australian Christian
Meditation Community (ACMC) invites you to take part
in “Christian Meditation - the Heart of Creation” with
Fr Laurence Freeman OSB in December: Friday 5th
(7.30pm-9.30pm) and Saturday 6th (9.30am-3.30pm) at the
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Blackall
Street, Barton ACT. Registration in advance for 5-6th December in Canberra via the flyer available in the church
foyer; also available from Rod and Susan Page (02) 6281
2378, or by accessing the ACMC website:
www.christianmeditationaustralia.org/pdf/
NationalConference2014.pdf.
ST THOMAS MORE FORUM Thursday 30th October, 7.30pm-9pm, 30 White Crescent, Campbell. Rev
Fr Maurizio Pettena CS, Consulter to the Pontifical
Council for the Pastoral Care to Migrants and Itinerant People, will speak on “The Church and Asylum Seekers and Refugees”. Hear how Catholic teaching highlights a broad awareness of the context of forced migration, as well as the weaknesses and ambiguities of
the strategies that the international community and
national states have developed in response to the phenomenon. To register: www.stthomasmore.org.au/
Forum/upcoming-forums.html or Sharon on 6163
4300.
THE ACT RIGHT TO LIFE ASSOCIATION INC
will meet at Holy Trinity Parish Centre, Strangways
Street, Curtin on Sunday 19th October at 2pm.
Members and guests are welcome. Guest speaker will
be Mrs Lara Kirk from CatholicLIFE, who will speak
on “Life Issues for Young Children” (at approx.
3pm). Further information on 6281 2365.
ANNUAL CATECHIST MASSES with Archbishop
Christopher are coming up soon and all Catechists,
family and friends are welcome. Details: 7th November Cootamundra @ 12pm, 2nd December Gowrie @
6.30pm, 3rd December Narooma @ 11am, 10th December Crookwell @ 12pm, 11th December Cooma @
12pm.
A Saint for the Week:
St Anthony Claret, Bishop (24th October)
(1807-1870) ‘From his earliest
years in the priesthood, Anthony
had a zealous missionary spirit
that took him to Rome, the Canary Islands, and eventually to
Cuba. Not only did he serve as
rector of the seminary at the Escorial in Madrid, but he promoted Catholic publications
and founded an academy of St Michael for artists and
literary persons. In Cuba he worked for the general
uplifting of the population but did not succeed in
founding a school of agriculture, as he had wished. He
did, however, establish the Apostolic Institute of Mary
Immaculate.’
(http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/claret.htm)
Readings of the Day - Twenty-ninth Sunday, Year A
First Reading: Isaiah 45:1,4-6 I have taken the hand of Cyrus to subdue nations before his countenance.
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whom he has taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him and strip
the loins of kings, to force gateways before him that their gates be closed no more:
It is for the sake of my servant Jacob, of Israel my chosen one, that I have called you by your name,
conferring a title though you do not know me. I am the Lord, unrivalled; there is no other God besides me. Though you do not know me, I arm you that men may know from the rising to the setting
of the sun that, apart from me, all is nothing.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 We are mindful of your faith, hope, and love.
From Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the Church in Thessalonika which is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;
wishing you grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We always mention you in our prayers and thank God for you all, and constantly remember before God our Father how
you have shown your faith in action, worked for love and persevered through hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We know, brothers, that God loves you and that you have been chosen, because when we brought the Good News to you,
it came to you not only as words, but as power and as the Holy Spirit and as utter conviction.
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-21 Give to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that are God’s.
The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him,
together with the Herodians, to say, ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest
way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us your opinion then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this
trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius, and he replied, ‘Whose head is this?
Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s,’ they replied. He then said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar - and to
God what belongs to God.’
Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); and The
Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981 & 1997, ICEL. All rights reserved. Printed with permission under LabOra licence # AUS02 50523T 3339G7.
Pastoral Visit of Archbishop to St Christopher’s
My dear Parishioners,
I am glad to announce that our Archbishop, Christopher Prowse, will be making his first official Pastoral Visit to St Christopher’s Cathedral Parish on the 12th, 13th and 14th of December 2014.
Since his arrival in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, Archbishop Christopher has been visiting parishes in the
city and country area. He has celebrated Mass and other Sacraments in our Cathedral Parish several times, being its Parish
Priest. This visit in December will be a special one. Canon Law states, “The Bishop is bound to visit his diocese in whole or
in part each year, so that at least every five years he will have visited the whole diocese...” (Canon 396 #1). Our Parish Pastoral Council have met to plan for a fruitful three days’ visit to the Cathedral Parish.
Objectives:
 Strengthen personal contact with the parish
 Meet parishioners
 Thank, encourage and reassure the leaders and volunteers in the parish
 Listen to the experiences and challenges of parish life
 Rejuvenate the energies of evangelisation in the parish
 Offer some pastoral advice from a diocesan perspective
The Archbishop will be visiting our primary and high schools of St Bede’s and St Clare’s, our nursing homes, and other
denominational churches in the Parish area. He will celebrate weekday and weekend Masses and sign our Sacramental Registers. The Parish Pastoral Council is organising a Gospel Meditation (Lectio Divina) at St Peter Chanel’s Church, Yarralumla,
to be followed by a light dinner. I will let you know the details in due course, but please note the dates in your diary.
The Extraordinary Synod on the Family is closing today (19th October) in Rome. The Preface of the Synod’s instrumentum
laboris (lit. ‘working instrument’; a preparatory Vatican document) begins with the following words: “The proclamation of
the Gospel of the Family is an integral part of the mission of the Church, since the revelation of God sheds light on the relationship between a man and a woman, their love for each other and the fruitfulness of their relationship.”
Let us reflect on the ‘Gospel of Family’ as the integral mission of the Church along with Pope Francis, Archbishop Christopher and our fellow parishioners in the days and months to come. Please continue to pray for families.
God bless you all,
Fr Varghese
St Christopher’s Cathedral Parish encompasses the areas of Barton, Causeway, Deakin, Forrest, Fyshwick, Griffith, Kingston, Manuka,
Parkes, Red Hill, Yarralumla