Our Faith - Religion - Prayer
row St Patrick's Church Walcha
For Baptism or Marriage enquiries phone Monsignor Ted Wilkes 67784070.
Monsignor Ted Wilkes would like to invite parishioners to Sunday Mass 10am.
Term 4 Mass Dates
Friday 15th November: Mass at 11.30am
Friday 13th December: End of Year and Year 6 Graduation Mass at 11.30am
First Reconciliation
Congratulations to Archer, Archie, Ella, Fergus, and McKenzie on their first reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation last Friday. We extend our gratitude to all the parents and grandparents who joined us for the Mass and remained for the Reconciliation ceremony; your presence is greatly appreciated by Mons and myself.
Reflection
Yesterday we remembered Mary Ward who was a woman of spirit. She was born in England in 1585 when it was dangerous to be a Catholic. She pioneered a new way of life for women combining active service (especially the education of girls) and prayer. But she was met with unjust opposition from church authorities. In 1909 she was finally recognised as the founder of the Loreto Sisters and of the Congregation of Jesus. Mary was a woman of great courage, creativity, prayer and holiness, and an inspirational leader.
Prayer
God of grace and wisdom,
you continually raise up good people
who show with their lives
that they follow the gospel of your Son, Jesus.
Fill us with your grace,
so that our lives and our words
will be as true as our faith.
May we grow more and more
in your son's likeness.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Mass -Friday 15th November at 11.30am
On Friday 15th November, all of the staff and students will be celebrating Mass at St Patrick's Catholic Church at 11.30 am. Everyone is welcome to join us.
Catherine McAuley's Anniversary this upcoming Monday: November 11 marks 183 years since Catherine McAuley’s death.
PRAYER
May the God of strength be with us, holding us in strong-fingered hands; and may we be the sacrament of God’s strength to those whose hands we hold.
May the God of peace be with us, stilling our hearts when they hammer with fear or doubt or confusion; and may the warm mantle of God’s peace cover those who are troubled or anxious.
May the God of dreams be with us. With all the dreamers - like Catherine - who have gone before, may we come to trust in God’s dream for us.
May we open ourselves to become what God envisioned at our birth and may we have the courage to live into the reflection of God that we are.
Knowing Catherine Adapted from Constitutions of the Sisters of Mercy of Ireland, p5
Catherine McAuley, a woman of prayer and compassion, opened the house on Baggot Street in 1827.
She died there, in an upstairs room, around 7.30pm on November 11, 1841.
This upcoming Monday, we gather as a global Mercy community, as people of prayer and compassion, in remembrance of her life, in gratitude for her legacy, and in prayerful hope as we look towards the future of Mercy.
At the end of her life, looking to the future, Catherine said, "If the Order is my work, the sooner it falls to the ground the better; if it is God’s work it needs no one."
In the ten years of her religious life, Mother Catherine founded ten convents in Ireland and two in England.
Since then the Sisters of Mercy have spread to many corners of the world: to North America (New Foundland) in 1842 to Australia (Perth) in 1846 to South America (Buenos Aires) in 1856 to Africa (Bechuanaland) in 1896, and to Asia (India) in 1953.
Catherine’s spirituality was centred on the mercy of God…prayer in action…action in prayer.