Liturgy
SACRAMENT PROGRAM
'Family focused, parish-based, Catholic school-supported'
"Your unique and indispensable role in your child's Catholic Christian formation is one that both school and parish endorse and support. It is your privilege and responsibility, which follows from your commitment when your child was baptised, to present your child for the sacraments."
John XXIII College prepares children for the various sacraments during the course of this year's religious education programs: Year 3 - Reconciliation, Year 4 - Eucharist, Year 6 - Confirmation.
Your family celebrates that sacrament in your home parish, the parish community in which you regularly participate.
Image © Tony Kiely,
Emmaus Productions
Confirmation
Tonight a number of our Year 6 students will be confirmed in the parish of St Thomas the Apostle in Claremont. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. The students have been well prepared by their families, parish and class teacher, and tonight's celebration is a significant moment in their lives. We will list their names in next week's newsletter.
Some of our local parishes have supplied the following information. Further details on the College website.
Nedlands Parish (Holy Rosary)
FIRST RECONCILIATION
Celebration of Sacrament: Saturday 17 October - 10:000am
CONFIRMATION
Celebration of Sacrament: Saturday 19 September - 6:00pm & Sunday 20 September - 8:45am
Parents' Adult Education Evening: Wednesday 2 September - 7:30-8:30pm (Parish Centre)
Claremont Parish (St Thomas Apostle)
FIRST RECONCILIATION
Celebration of Sacrament: Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 21 October - 3.30-4.30pm
CONFIRMATION
Celebration of Sacrament: Friday 4 September - 6.00pm
Don't see your parish here?
Like further information? Contact: Mary-Anne Lumley, Parish Liaison lumley.mary-anne@johnxxiii.edu.au
Alternatively go to the archdiocesan website:
http://www.perthcatholic.org.au/parishes-priests/index.cfm?loadref=16
'GOOD NEWS' for
23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
"…makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak..." (Mark 7:31-37)
The reflection for this Sunday's Gospel is by Jesuit, Fr Richard Leonard, and is printed here, with kind permission. Fr Richard Leonard SJ is the author of Preaching to the Converted, Paulist Press, New York, 2006.
There is a true story about a baby girl who was seriously ill in a Neonatal ICU. The paediatric specialist said there was very little hope. The baby's five-year-old brother, Michael, kept begging his parents to let him see his sister. 'I want to sing to her', he kept saying. Children were not allowed in the ICU, but Michael's mother eventually insisted that he be able to see his sister.
When he got to the humidicrib he sang: 'You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey'. The nurse reported that as Michael sang, the baby's pulse rate began to calm down and become steady. 'Keep on singing, Michael', encouraged his mother with tears in her eyes. 'You never know, dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.' The baby recovered and left the hospital three weeks later.
I am not pretending for a moment that Michael's song healed his sister, but we should never underestimate the power of human support and love. It helps us to be healed.
The Gospel story of the healing of the deaf mute is striking because it is one of the few stories where the crowd makes the request of healing from Jesus. This is understandable given that the man cannot speak for himself, but the scene, as Mark writes it, is very touching. Mark tells us that the crowd brought the man to Jesus. 'They' beg Jesus to heal him, 'they' are ordered not to tell anyone about the miracle, but 'they' go straight out and tell everyone about it.
What happens there is what happens here every Sunday. Coming to Mass is not a private affair. It is not my Mass, my prayer, my Church. The pronouns we use reveal a lot about our attitudes. It's our Eucharist, our prayer and our Church. Within the Mass there are opportunities for private prayer, but Eucharist is, essentially, an action of the assembled community. In our own way we bring the deaf and the mute to Jesus each time we gather. This is what the Prayers of the Faithful are all about. This is why they are so important.
When we visit another parish we can tell a lot about it by the care with which the intercessions are composed and compiled. If they only attend to the needs of the parish and never with the wider Church or the world, if they focus on the needs of the Catholic world and never with the plight of those in crisis, who may not share our faith or may hold to another or no faith, it says so much.
The Church has always believed in the power of intercessory prayer. Not that God needs to be reminded what our world needs. God knows that better than we know it. But intercessory prayer sorts our priorities and establishes who has a claim on our affections and concerns. It also enables others to know that we stand in solidarity with them.
And miracles still happen when we are one with those for whom we hope and pray. Sometimes the first miracle that occurs is that we notice the needs of some group beyond our immediate circle. Their suffering moves us and we choose to help them.
Let's pray that Christ removes our blindness, opens our ears and loosens our tongues so that we speak up for those who are most in need of a healing word that brings them justice and peace.
© Richard Leonard SJ.
COMMUNITY MASS
Next Friday, 11 September, the College community will remember the life of Benedict Gerald Pownall, who passed away in New York last Friday, 28 August. Benedict was College Head Boy of the Class of 1986. For further details please contact Mary-Anne Lumley Lumley.mary-anne@johnxxiii.edu.au or Anna Gingell gingell.anna@johnxxiii.edu.au
Everyone is always welcome to our community celebration of the Eucharist.
When: Fridays in Term Time
Time: 8:00am start - 8:30am finish
Where: College Chapel
SACRAMENT PROGRAM
