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OUR LADY OF
PERPETUAL SUCCOUR AND
ST. ANDREW’S
CATHOLIC CHURCH ___________________
Served by the Fathers of the Society of St. Pius X 40 Ludstone Street, Hampton, Vic, 3188
Telephone: (03) 9598 3848 *Fax: (03) 9597 0858
Email: [email protected] * Website: www.sspx.com.au
Third Sunday after Easter April 29
th – May 6
th 2012
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SCHEDULE OF
LITURGICAL FUNCTIONS
FOR THIS WEEK
SUN
29
8:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m.
Low Mass Sung Mass
third Sunday
after Easter
MON 30 7:15 a.m. Low Mass St Catherine of Siena V,Eccl.D
TUES 01 7:15 a.m. Low Mass ST JOSEPH THE WORKER, SPOUSE OF
THE B.V.M., C
WED 02 11:30 a.m. Low Mass
St Athanasius, BCD
THU
03
6:30 p.m. Requiem Mass
for Judith Mannes,
followed by the Novena Prayers
Feria Comm. of Sts. Alexander,
Eventius & Theodulus, Mm and Juvenal.
FRI First
Friday
04
6:30 p.m. Low Mass followed by Holy Hour
in Reparation to the Sacred Heart
St Monica, W
SAT
First
Saturday
05 8:00 a.m. Low Mass followed by Rosary &
Benediction
St Pius V, PC
SUN
06
8:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m.
Low Mass Sung Mass
fourth
Sunday after
Easter
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PARISH ANNOUNCEMENTS
pILGRIM STATUE
April 22nd
: Hovens family
April 29th: D’Oliveiro family
*CHURCH AND HALL CLEANING: A new roster
commencing 21stApril is on the noticeboard at the back of the church. We are in need of more volunteers. Many hands make the burden light. If more than one person can help on a weekly basis it will make the work much easier and quicker.
*HAMPTON MAY PROCESSION: The May pilgrimage
will be on Saturday, May 19th, starting with a conference at 4:30 p.m. followed by small refreshments while the Procession is being prepared. At around 6:15, the Procession will proceed around the neighbourhood and return to the church where the living Rosary will be recited before the Blessed Sacrament exposed; everything will end with Benediction. On Sunday, May 20th, the sermon will continue the Marian theme and a parish barbecue will take place following the 10:00 Mass. Those people wishing to participate in the Living Rosary please write your name on the sign-up sheet at the back of the church.
*SYRIA’S ALMS: You are to be congratulated for your generous Lenten donations for the faithful in Syria; there will be $7,330.00 sent to help them in their difficulties. In addition, there is a letter in the parish hall for any and all who might wish to sign their names. It will be sent in English along with a French translation. A copy is to be found below:
AM+DG
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April 29, 2012
Hampton
Your Excellency,
Surrexit Dominus vere!
It has been with great anxiety that we have listened and followed
the news coming out of Syria over this past year. We have often thought
of you, the other priests and the faithful who are trapped in that world of
incertitude, instability and violence. You have been in our prayers. Here
in Australia, the parish has decided that our Lenten alms this year would
be made in a collection for your assistance. It is not a large sum, but it
does come with the assurance of our charity for you and as a sign of
solidarity in your turmoil. You are not alone, and numerous faithful have
wished that I convey to you their distress at the plight of the Syrians.
These have of course been from among the faithful in Geneva, but also
from the United States, and now, with their recently acquired knowledge
of the Blessed Massabki Brothers, the faithful of Melbourne.
Charity knows no limits and recognizes no national boundaries; we
are all brothers and sisters in the same Body of Christ, the Church. We
also remember in our prayers our Chaldean brethren and what must be
their extraordinarily painful situation at this time. It is our sincere desire
that the Queen of Martyrs sustain you all during this difficult hour. Your
witness is certainly precious among the Muslims, but it is also an edifying
example to the whole Christian world.
Please accept then, Your Excellency, this small token of our
friendship, charity and solidarity. May God abundantly bless you, the
other priests and the faithful in the glorious paschal Victory of His divine
Son – reason for our hope and our perseverance!
Ever yours in Our Divine Lord,
Rev. Fr. James H. Doran, Prior
and the parishioners of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and St. Andrew’s
Hampton, Victoria
Australia
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This letter will be sent to the Archbishop to indicate our
solidarity with the faithful and the assurance of our continued prayers on their behalf. His Excellency often places photos and letters in the bulletin board cabinet at the entrance to the cathedral and I am sure that he will post this letter in the same place as an encouragement to the faithful.
The icon of the Massabkis will be retired from the sanctuary
this week.
*PRAYERS FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED: In your
charity please pray for the souls of the faithful departed, relatives, friends and benefactors of Our Lady’s especially Alicia Butler whose anniversary occurs this week.
*OUR PRESENT SITUATION: Certainly, you have been
aware of the whirlwind of rumour and talk surrounding the Society of St. Pius X over these last weeks. Pray and be watchful! Menzingen, the general headquarters of this religious congregation, has sent out a communique to all the priests and religious, and one to the faithful (this latter you have already seen) asking that Masses, Communions, prayers be offered, and that sacrifices be made during these weeks of incertitude. We wait an outcome.
At this point in time, we have no idea what might be presented to us, but the Society’s response over the last months has not been positive to the Vatican’s proposals set forth to resolve our difficulties. What has been proposed has been more or less the same over the years on the part of the Vatican. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that the Pope and Cardinal Levada might wave aside even this latest disagreement and propose something as an “agreement” between them and the Society.
Roughly, there are well over 500 priests in the Society, over
200 seminarians, around 100 brothers, 160 religious sisters, dozens
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of oblate sisters, numerous priestly collaborators, and a great number of lay tertiaries who are members of the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, also known as the Apostles of Jesus and Mary. Rome knows these numbers and, at least presently, seems disposed to use its numbers for an apostolic end. However, it must always be kept in mind that the legal problems involved in the Society’s canonical mission and apostolate are the direct effect of deeper and more problematic doctrinal difficulties with Vatican II and the present catechetical situation of the Church. We all suffer in one way or another from the upheavals of recent decades, and, in some way, only God Almighty will be able to straighten out the chaos now afflicting the Familia Dei, the Household of God, the Church. We absolutely must keep clear in our minds what is first in importance.
Part of the turmoil is that we do not know what might be
proposed in the next weeks. There are two extreme possibilities: one, is that Rome will approve, as she is, the Society of St. Pius X; the other end of the spectrum is that an excommunication will be imposed on all the members of the Society and upon all the faithful who attend her chapels and benefit from her apostolate in any regular manner. There is of course the possibility of anything else between these two extremes. What stands before us is possibly the greatest upset within the Society that she has suffered in over twenty years.
We must be under no illusions. Should even the Society be
approved as is, there will be the enormous and unimaginable work to be done with the bishops, many (most?) who are hostile to us and our work. The only way that this could work would be if the Vatican supported the Society, canonically and by decree, and overrode the opposition to her work. This is unlikely as the Vatican is not convinced of the benefit, let alone the necessity, of the Society’s apostolate.
At one time, Rome did support the Jesuits in this way: they
were allowed to extend their apostolic work with or without the permission of the local ordinaries. This was a rare authorisation, if not unique, and support given to an apostolate that once was seen as necessary. Rome certainly does not see us in the same light at
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this time, and we would most likely be left to the mercy of the local bishops in order to pursue our work. This is not a pleasant or hopeful scenario.
Of course, at the other extreme of possibilities, there may be
a declaration of schism – that the Society has joined the ranks of all other schismatic movements, ultimately to founder in heresy like the others before it. We could all be declared reprobates and excommunicate. This is, in fact, the fear that Menzingen had at the beginning of the “talks” with Rome that commenced two years ago – that these would be used as an excuse for declaring Archbishop Lefebvre’s work “non-Catholic”. In fact, this has been desired by many in the episcopate throughout the world for quite some time.
It is difficult to see, in the present chaotic and mired
confusion within the Church, that there would be strength enough to make such a decisive judgement that would be required for either of these extremes.
As you can easily see – with all the possibilities ranged
between these two extremes – we are on the verge of another great period of upset in our apostolic work. As in previous “chapters,” we can hope finally for a good outcome, as these have occurred in previous episodes, but in the meantime there is a great deal of confusion waiting to engulf many, a veritable ecclesiastical tsunami.
Our only security in times like these is prayer and humility.
The path of the Sacred Heart is our only salvation: prayer, reparation, humility and charity. It is in this spirit that we must approach frequent assistance at Mass and fidelity to our daily prayers, especially the Rosary. Do not forget the Rosary Crusade ends only at Pentecost. The Mother of God has forewarned us of the punishment awaiting the infidelity of mankind – both our own personal sins and those of all others.
We must be cautious, however, and beware of simply
accusing others. The sin we bear is ours, and we must remember that only we can rectify our own sinful behaviour.
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Through grace, the conversion of the world begins firstly
with our own heart.
*SICK OF THE PARISH: Please pray for the sick, especially
for those of the parish, Josephine Hovens, John Freriks, Chris Sefertzis, Loretta Payton, Nia Talia, Geraldine D’Oliveiro, Emily Hendricks, Judy Hendricks, Bosco Emmanuel, Violet Imberg, Jeanene Wilson, Luke Paksa, Judy Bosco, Barbara Wood, Pauline Killeen, Mary Killeen, Antoinette Howard, Lucas Gabriel, Ray Jacobs, Wanda Slucki, Inca Calnan, Walentyna Luzan and Brett Wood.
