Liturgy

Community Liturgy

In alignment with government guidelines relating to novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), the Archbishop has temporarily suspended, until 1 April, all public celebrations of Mass. The Archbishop states:

All public Masses at all churches and chapels across the Archdiocese of Perth will be temporarily suspended from receipt of these directives on Wednesday 18 March 2020. This temporary suspension of public Masses within the Archdiocese of Perth is in place for an initial period of two weeks between Wednesday 18 March 2020 and Wednesday 1 April 2020. Subsequent revisions and advice will be given prior to Wednesday 1 April 2020 in relation to this temporary suspension.

During these two weeks the College will make available to the community a PowerPoint presentation of a short Liturgy of the Word, to take the place of our Friday Community Liturgy.

SACRAMENT PROGRAM 2020

Do you have a child currently in Year 3, 4 or 6? The students in these classes will continue to be prepared to celebrate in their parishes the sacrament of Reconciliation, First Communion and the sacrament of Confirmation, however parish celebrations of sacraments are to be postponed.

Due to current circumstances, Archbishop Timothy Costelloe has released a statement outlining temporary changes to the Preparation and Celebration of Sacraments for School Aged Children in the Archdiocese of Perth in relation to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Archbishop advises:

Celebrations of the Sacraments of Confirmation, Eucharist and Penance for the first time are by their very nature events which bring the faith community together in their local parish…

I commit the Archdiocese of Perth to the support of, and compliance with … government directives and the associated and instructive public health advice.

Given the risks associated with the spread of COVID-19, it is necessary to put in place measures that will protect the health and safety of the community.

I therefore direct that all celebrations of the Sacraments that were planned for 2020 be temporarily suspended. This temporary suspension will also apply to gatherings associated with these celebrations such as parent evenings and workshops.

At the end of the Sacrament Program units of work in Years 3, 4 and 6, students will receive from the College a certificate of completion. Parishes will require the certificate in order for the students to participate in parish celebrations of sacraments, once they have resumed.

Further information is available from the website of the Perth Archdiocese: http://www.perthcatholic.org.au/Home.htm. Alternatively, contact Mary-Anne Lumley via email: mary-anne.lumley@cew.edu.au

GOOD NEWS for 4th Sunday in Lent

“The blind man went off and washed himself
and came away with his sight restored.” John 9:1-41

The reflection for this Sunday’s Gospel is part of a longer homily by Jesuit priest, Fr Richard Leonard. Fr Richard Leonard SJ is the Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting, is a member of the Australian Catholic Media Council and is author of Preaching to the Converted, Paulist Press, New York, 2006.

The Gospel of the man born blind is a joyful one. Imagine this man’s elation at having his sight restored. As the story develops the all-seeing Pharisees move to spiritual blindness by putting on the blinkers of the law. They cannot recognise Jesus or his works of mercy because of their tunnel vision. Jesus doesn’t fit their worldview. Meanwhile the blind beggar, who has sight restored, goes on to gain insight about who Jesus is and the way that God works in the world; he begins to see how shallow and pathetic the Pharisees really are.

This Gospel also contains a critical theological lesson: disability and illness do not come from personal sinfulness. It’s surprising that we need to keep saying this, but too readily we hear otherwise intelligent and good Christians, for example, telling us that some illnesses have been ‘sent’ by God as punishment for sins or they wonder what their families have ‘done’ to deserve disabled children. It’s true that God permits us to live in an imperfect world where we are prone to illness and disability. But that same world gives us the freedom to be creative in the face of adversity, to be compassionate with those who are sick or disabled and free to believe that there is a purpose for each human life. God, the source of all love, does not actively send bad things to us, instead, he is our constant companion in dealing with them; giving us the courage and strength to cope with, and sometimes overcome, them.

The task of this joyful season is to bring our good humour and compassion to bear on the blind spots in our own lives and be on our guard for the times when we are too confident about who God is, how he works or what he can or cannot do. May it never be said of us that we were so consumed by our own religious vision that we missed God’s woods for the trees.