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
RECONCILIATION
Over the coming week a number of our Year 6 students will celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. The students have been well prepared by their families, parish and class teacher, and the 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
Claremont Parish (St Thomas Apostle)
FIRST RECONCILIATION
Celebration of Sacrament: Tuesday 20 & Wednesday 21 October - 3.30-4.30pm
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
29th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
"The Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for all…" (Mark 10:35-45)
The following reflection on this Sunday's Gospel is from Jesuit priest, Richard Leonard. Fr Richard Leonard SJ is the author of Preaching to the Converted, Paulist Press, New York, 2006. The homily is reprinted here with his kind permission.
Image: ©KWA Graphics/Emmaus Productions
One Sunday morning during Mass, the congregation was surprised to see two men enter, both covered from head to toe in black and carrying submachine guns. One of the men proclaimed, 'Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ remain where you are!'
Immediately, the choir fled, altar servers fled, and most of the congregation fled. Within a few minutes, out of the two hundred strong congregation only ten people remained where they were. The man who had spoken took off his hood, looked at the priest and said, 'OK Father, I got rid of all the fence sitters, how about we make a start'.
It's nice to see the priest in the story remained in the Church! I would like to think that faced with such an extreme moment like this I would have the courage of my convictions, but I must admit I have my doubts.
Each Sunday by gathering and celebrating the Eucharist we implicitly, and explicitly, state that we want to become like Christ. As the Gospels repeatedly tell us if we follow him in his saving love for the world then, like him, we must confront injustice, defend the rights of the poor and the oppressed to dignity, give and forgive, heal and reconcile. By saying this, we are clearly not looking for a smooth ride through life.
In concert with the whole Church what most of us have done is domesticate the hard edges of Jesus' teachings to suit our comfortable existences. And then we get a Gospel like today's! The sons of Zebedee (James and John) want the best seats in the house without knowing what the admission price is going to cost. They want the glory without the gore.
Jesus teaches them, and later all the other apostles, that for his Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, requires of us to drink a cup of suffering and be baptised in a river of sacrificial love. We can't dress this teaching up, or put a good spin on it. There is no resurrection without the cross. No gain without the pain.
For most of us this challenge means doing whatever we can politically and socially to bring the values of the Gospel to bear on our different spheres of influence. But Jesus also links this challenge to the act of service. The leadership Jesus advocates is not monarchical or tyrannical, it is being the least, and being a servant.
The Second Vatican Council taught that leaders in the Church should be outstanding in humility, charity and simplicity of lifestyle. Some leaders are just this. Others have domesticated the hard edge of the Gospel. Let's pray in our Eucharist that we recover a love for the hard teachings of Jesus, even though they demand so much of us, and that we have the courage to call our leaders to do likewise. These teachings are, after all, what makes us different from the Gentiles, and sort out who is actually sitting on the fence.
COMMUNITY MASS
Why not take advantage of these gloriously brighter and warmer mornings to get to school by 8:00am in time for the weekly celebration of the Eucharist? It is a place where our community comes together equally as sisters and brothers: students, teachers, family and friends. There are new people each week, people who attend only rarely and a group of regulars. All are welcome!
Today we honoured Pope St John XXIII. Although we have our own College 'Founders' Time', the official feast day of John XXIII is 11 October (last Sunday). The date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council. John XXIII saw the Council as a critical moment to 'open the windows' and allow the Holy Spirit to once again renew the heart of our Church.
When: Fridays in Term Time
Time: 8:00am start - 8:30am finish
Where: College Chapel
SACRAMENT PROGRAM
