Nazareth Catholic Parish

Is silence just the absence of noise, or is there something deeper that defines silence – something we’d do well to understand, contemplate, or invite into our lives? When it comes to the real power of silence, does the peace stem simply from the quiet?

so that the Catholic church can acknowledge the immense damage caused by the sexual abuse of children, including by priests, religious and lay people within Catholic contexts. It makes a commitment to practices and protocols that create and maintain safe environments for all people, especially children and other people who are at risk. It invites people to pray for those harmed by abuse directly and indirectly.

The changes from Autumn to Spring signals the arrival of the Season of Creation.  What's that, you may be asking?

The Season of Creation is a monthlong prayerful observance that calls the planet's 2.2 billion Christians to pray and care for God's creation. It's a time to reflect on our relationship with the environment — not just "distant" nature, but, crucially, the place where we live — and the ways in which our lifestyles and decisions as a society can endanger both the natural world and those inhabiting it, both humans and other creatures.

The Vatican suggests that participation in this annual initiative will help “the faithful understand and integrate care of creation as an essential part of our Christian vocation.”

The ecumenical steering committee that plans and promotes the season each year put it this way:

The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment together. During the Season of Creation, we join our sisters and brothers in the ecumenical family in prayer and action for our common home.

It's a time of prayer, contemplation and, increasingly, calls to action.  The values of Season of Creation go back to...

On June 3 this year, Joshua McElwee (Vatican Correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter)  wrote: "A new report commissioned by Australia's bishops and religious orders recommends a series of radical changes to the way the Catholic Church operates across the country, tackling issues as far-ranging as women's inclusion in decision-making roles and the Vatican's opaque process for making episcopal appointments." This was in response to a document destined for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference but leaked to the public beforehand.   Read his article here.

The same day, Richard Gaillardetz (Joseph Professor of Catholic Systematic Theology at Boston College and the current chair of the BC Theology Department) in La Croix wrote the first of two articles referring to this same leaked document. In the first: May the Global Church Discover "Light from the Southern Cross,  he "tried to focus on aspects of the document of interest to the Church beyond the Australian shores."  On June 4, he followed with the second: A promising roadmap for ecclesial reform and conversion,  in which he asks the question "How will the ACBC and CRA respond to this document? One hopes that it will find its way into the deliberations of the forthcoming plenary council." and finishes with this statement "the Australian bishops should be mindful: the global Church will be watching."

It would seem that the whole world is indeed looking at the Australian Catholic church right now!

All of these articles (and more in 'Read More' below) present a challenge for you the reader!

• Can we make time to read them over the next couple of weeks? 
• Should we be having some conversation about The Light from the Southern Cross?? 
• If you would like to be part of some conversation/discussion around promoting co-responsible governance in our church, please email us and we will set up a ZOOM session to get things going.

On this 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, the Missionary Society of St Columban reaffirms the commitment we made at the height of the Cold War when we declared at our 1982 General Assembly:

Our understanding of Christian Discipleship leads us to condemn in strongest terms defence policies that every day make life more insecure. The most blatant of these are present policies of nuclear armament which threaten all life. These policies are themselves a form of killing since they consume resources desperately needed to meet basic human needs.[1]

As Columbans, we express our deep desire and hope for healing and reconciliation among and within nations, and we urge political and civic leaders of every nation to:

• Call for abolishing nuclear weapons, their production, possession, testing and use;
• Offer public apologies for past and present war crimes on anniversaries like this; and
• Promote nonviolence as the most effective means to global security and peace.

Today, our missionary presence in many countries in the world continues to bring us into a relationship with people and their anguish who have already suffered from the use of nuclear weapons, and the anxiety of those who see their hopes frustrated by the misappropriation of the world’s resources.

As members of Pax Christi International-Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and local Pax Christi chapters throughout the world, we join millions of Catholics calling for abolition to nuclear weapons. We affirm, too, our commitment to active nonviolence as a Gospel path to conversion, as we continue the work for peace and reconciliation among the nations and peoples of the earth.

In closing, we offer this prayer,

Creator God,
Your world is precious but human folly threatens its very existence.
We pray for those whose lives have been destroyed by nuclear weapons and nuclear testing.
We pray for those denied the essentials of life when money is squandered on nuclear weapons production.
We pray for the politicians, scientists and militaries responsible for the manufacture, build-up and deployment of nuclear weapons, that they may recognize another way for peace is possible.
We pray that our Church will speak to the world with clarity and wisdom and work with world leaders to ban the development, possession and use of nuclear weapons.
With Pope Francis, we commit ourselves to work for a world without nuclear weapons.
We pray in hope for a world built on just relations and cooperation among people who wish to live in peaceful co-existence for generations to come.
Amen.

In Christ’s peace,
Rev Tim Mulroy, SSC
Superior General

[1] Acts of the Columban 1982 General Assembly, statement on Nuclear Weapons

Daughter of generous-hearted Flora and educated, passionate Alexander from the Scottish Highlands, Mary gradually grew in the faith inherited by generations of believers in the Braes of Lochaber and handed onto her by her parents.

Mary MacKillop embodied the culture of her forebears as her spirituality evolved in the soil of our ancient and thirsty land and Celtic-Australian Church.

With the influence of Fr Julian Tenison Woods Mary further developed a devotional life that involved Joseph who attracted her because of his humility and obedience; the Sacred Heart to whom she turned when in need of care and shelter and the inspiration and witness of John the Baptist. The blue monogram captured her devotional life with the Ave Maria and Jesus, Joseph and John the Baptist

Read more of Mary's story on the Religious Sisters of St Joseph website

Learn a little about The Emblem of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart

or

share in the celebrations Mary's Feastday  held in the Diocese of Wollongong.

Covid has challenged our sense of time amongst so many other things, but it is never too late to learn more and to celebrate one of our schools' patron saint.

The Trinity is one of the great mysteries of our faith. For many, making the Sign of the Cross is the first and simplest prayer we learn. However great scholars have written volumes in trying to unravel this mystery. 

Pope Francis published his encyclical Laudato Si' five years ago, issuing an urgent appeal "for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet". "We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all," the pope says (LS, 14).

 All my greatest blessings call me Mum.