Our Faith - Religion - Prayer
St Patrick's Church Walcha
For Baptism or Marriage enquiries by emailing Father Elino Comanda: walchaparish@armidale.catholic.org.au
Fr Elino would like to invite parishioners to Sunday Mass 10am.
Term 3 Mass Dates
Friday 14th August: Mass (Feast of St Maximilian Kolbe)
Friday 18th Sept: Mass
Reflection
Today, Thursday, August 6th, Christians around the world celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This special feast day commemorates a pivotal moment in the Gospels when Jesus took his close companions—Peter, James, and John—up a high mountain to pray. While there, his appearance was transformed before their eyes, shining with brilliant light alongside the ancient prophets Moses and Elijah.
This story carries a message about growth, hope, and taking time to step back from the busyness of everyday life. Just as the disciples needed to step away to gain a fresh perspective, daily life offers us many opportunities to climb our own "mountains"—whether that means facing a challenge, reflecting on our choices, or taking quiet moments for prayer and personal reflection.
The Transfiguration reminds us that beneath the surface, every individual carries a unique, God-given light. As we mark August 6th, our community is encouraged to consider how we can bring light, kindness, and understanding to those around us—whether by offering help to a colleague, showing gratitude to someone in need, or sharing a warm word with family and friends.
May this feast day inspire us all to look for the good in one another and to keep shining brightly in everything we do!
Prayer
Lord Heavenly Father,
On this Feast of the Transfiguration,
we ask that You open our eyes
to see the divine light in the world around us.
Just as You revealed Your glory on the mountain
to Peter, James, and John,
transform our hearts and
grant us fresh perspective in our daily lives.
Help us to step back from the busyness
of our days to seek Your presence.
May Your light shine through us,
guiding our actions and filling our community
with kindness, hope, and peace.
We ask this in Your holy name,
Amen.
School Mass, Friday 14th August at 12.00pm.
Our next celebration of Mass will be on Friday 14th Augustat 12:00pmat St Patrick’s Catholic Church. Everyone is warmly invited to attend and join us. We look forward to seeing you there.
Implementing the Angelus Prayer at St Patrick's
Bishop Murphy has recently instructed all schools within the diocese that he would like staff and students to pray the Angelus daily. This traditional Catholic prayer honours the Incarnation and invites us to pause for a moment of reflection during the day.
At St Patrick’s Primary, we are currently working on a structured timeframe to implement this practice meaningfully across the school. To begin, we are focusing on developing our staff members' understanding and appreciation of the prayer by using it to open all of our staff meetings this term.
Following this initial staff preparation, we look to introduce the Angelus to the wider school community. Our current plan is to begin practicing it as a whole school when we gather in the morning, with an expected rollout scheduled for mid-Term 4 or the beginning of next year.
Below is some information provided by Armidale Catholic Schools concerning the question: Do Catholics Worship Mary?
The International Eucharistic Congress 2028
This is a major event in the global Church calendar: the 54th International Eucharistic Congress, which will be celebrated in 2028.
An International Eucharistic Congress is a historic gathering that brings together clergy, religious, and laypeople from all over the world to bear witness to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. These congresses are held every few years in a different host city chosen by the Pope, featuring days of prayer, theological reflection, cultural events, and large-scale liturgies.
We look forward to sharing more updates and resources with our school families as the Church begins its official spiritual preparations for 2028.
Calling for Altar Servers
It was great to see we had five students receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time recently. Did you know that once a child can receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion they can take part in altar serving at both of our school and parish Masses?
Father Elino is looking out for any of our students who would like to become an altar server. Altar Servers must be Catholic and have a basic understanding of the mystery of Jesus present in the Eucharist and of the importance of prayerful reverence in their role as Altar servers.
Servers will be shown how to serve commencing in the near future during lunchtime.
If you have any questions regarding altar serving, don't hesitate to get in touch with Mr Hyatt.
Catherine McAuley
Catherine’s spirituality was centred on the mercy of God…prayer in action…action in prayer.