2nd and 4th Sundays of each month (At least four weeks notice required)
Baptism Preparation Evening:
7.00pm Parish Administration Centre
on 2nd Tuesday of each month.
Next Evening - Tuesday 14 May
Easter Sunday Happy Easter from all at Caritas Australia! Thank you for supporting us this year as we showcase the many ways we work around the world with our local partners to offer hope to people most vulnerable to extreme poverty and injustice. Caritas is working with communities providing hope for a just and fair world for all generations, backgrounds, cultures and communities, who are part of one human family. You are empowering communities to break free from the cycle of poverty whilst ensuring they are the architects of their own development. Lives change when we all give 100%. Thank you for supporting Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion 2019 Lenten appeal.
Christian Meditation Group Thursdays 1.45pm-2.45pm South M’bah Meeting Room
All Welcome. (Will resume Thursday 2 May)
ANZAC Day Mass There will be an ANZAC Day Mass
offered for our fallen ‘who gave
themselves in service and sacrifice for
our country’.
This Mass will be offered at 9.00am
Thursday 25 April in Sacred Heart
Church, giving plenty of time for those
attending the ANZAC march.
Catholic Women’s News… The April meeting for a ‘Cuppa’ will be on 26th April due to the Easter ceremonies. We will meet at the Parish Administration Centre at 10am. All ladies welcome. Phone Marion 6672 2501 or Barbara 6672 3377 for further details.
PARISH OFFICE THIS WEEK The Parish Office will be CLOSED -
INVEST WITH PEACE OF MIND www.dif.org.au Phone 1800 802 516 Paying 2.15%
Agents: ALG/Egan Simpson Solicitors: 15 Prince Street, Murwillumbah.
SUNDAY of the RESURRECTION - Year C RESPONSORIAL PSALM: (117) R: This is the day the Lord has made,
let us rejoice and be glad.
Sequence: (ALL READ) Christians, to the Paschal victim offer sacrifice and praise. The sheep are ransomed by the Lamb; and Christ, the undefiled, hath sinners to his Father reconciled. Death with life contended: combat strangely ended! Life’s own Champion, slain, yet lives to reign. Tell us, Mary: say what thou didst see upon the way. The tomb the Living did enclose; I saw Christ’s glory as he rose! The angels there attesting; shroud with grave-clothes resting. Christ, my hope, has risen: he goes before you into Galilee. That Christ is truly risen from the dead we know. Victorious king, thy mercy show!
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION: (to be sung by Choir)
Alleluia, Alleluia! Christ has become our paschal sacrifice; let us feast with joy in the Lord. Alleluia!
He is risen! ‘We are Easter people –
and Alleluia is our song!’ - Originally St Augustine,
and joyfully repeated by Pope St. John Paul II.
Happy and Holy Easter to all parishioners
from Fr Anthony and the Parish staff. May it be a time of special grace
for you and your families.
From the Pastor…
May God bless you all and happy Easter; may I particularly
welcome visitors and members of other faith communities who
are here to share Easter with us. You are most welcome
because deep within your heart and lives you trust and love
God and that gift is immeasurable. Thank you for joining us in
this most holy season.
Our beloved Church is going through a very dark period at the
moment as a result of the abuse scandals; there is no defence
of the indefensible! For the families and children involved it is
a monumental tragedy, for the Church it means a deep re-
calibration of how we operate in the world. As Archbishop
Coleridge has stated it can never be business as usual again.
The pain that we feel as a community of worshippers is real,
the betrayal we feel is real, the despair at the loss of something
we have held dear all our lives is real. For some it is too much
and they have left the worshipping community and in many
cases the entire Church, the hurt is just too deep. Our challenge
is to meet hurt and despair with love and compassion.
I was incredibly fortunate to listen to an amazing spiritual
input by our Bishop, Greg Homeming. Bishop Greg asked us
how we were feeling and then proposed some ways forward.
He challenged us priests to walk in partnership with you, the
people of God; and rebuild the Church in the image of Jesus
that we find in the Scriptures. Our response in the face of
criticism and ridicule would simply be silence; there is no
defence or explanation that we can offer for what has taken
place. Bishop Greg proposed that we simply and deeply live
our lives as faithful followers of Jesus Christ, no other action is
required, our friends and family will see our relationship with
God is real and they will be attracted to that. Of course in this
Easter Season our prayer, reception of the Sacraments
especially the Eucharist and our love and service of our fellow
humans will mark us as followers of the risen Jesus Christ.
Pope Paul VI said in 1969 that people will be attracted to our
faith by seeing that we are living examples of our faith. You
and I have to work very hard that our lives indeed will be
witness to the living Jesus of the Eucharist, being Catholic
Christians will require far more from us than just religious
observance; we will need to be genuine friends of God. The
pain and disgust that many of us are feeling will fade but let us
use this opportunity to let it fan the embers of our faith in to
the Holy Spirit of God alive and real in our world.
The road ahead for the faithful catholic will not be easy. Jesus’
own life gives us a simple but deeply profound way to live our
lives. He impels us to love God and love our neighbour and
then in Matthew 28 he commissions us to go out and make
disciples of all the nations.
This Easter I ask you to walk in the light of the Risen Jesus; it
is the only way ahead for us. In John 14:1-6 we hear Jesus tell
his disciples that “there are many rooms in my Father’s house;
if there were not I should have told you”. After questioning
from Thomas, Jesus spoke these amazing words that resonate
down to us today, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”.
This Easter, may God lift your hearts and minds, and may you
