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 2 Mass Dates
Friday 3rd July: Mass (Feast of St Thomas) at 12.00pm
Term 3 Mass Dates
Friday 31st July: Mass(Feast of St Ignatius of Loyola)
Friday 14th August: Mass (Feast of St Maximilian Kolbe)
Friday 18th Sept: Mass
Celebrating the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist
Yesterday, the Church community celebrated a significant milestone in the liturgical calendar: the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.
While the Church typically honours saints on the day of their death (marking their entry into heaven), Saint John the Baptist is one of only three figures whose earthly birth is celebrated with a dedicated feast day—alongside the Virgin Mary and Jesus Himself. This highlights just how vital his role was in our faith history.
As the precursor to Christ, John’s entire life was dedicated to "preparing the way of the Lord." He lived a humble life in the desert, preaching repentance and pointing others away from himself and toward Jesus, famously stating, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
Celebrating his birth serves as a reminder for all of us to mirror his mission in our daily lives—to be modern-day witnesses who bring Christ’s light and love into our families, our classrooms, and our wider community.
Did You Know? Because this feast day lands just after the winter solstice here in the Southern Hemisphere, it mirrors the changing seasons. As the days gradually begin to grow longer and bring more light, we are reminded of John the Baptist’s mission to herald the coming of Jesus, the Light of the World.
Prayer
Dear Lord,
We thank you for the life
and witness of Saint John the Baptist,
who courageously prepared the way for Jesus.
Just as John pointed others toward Your light,
help us to be true witnesses
of Your love in our school,
our homes, and our community today.
Grant us the humility to serve others
and the strength to speak
with kindness and truth.
May our words and actions always lead others closer to You.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Amen.
End of Term Mass: Celebrating Together
As we approach the end of another term, we invite our school and parish community to come together in prayer and thanksgiving.
We will be celebrating our final Mass for the term on Friday, 3rd July, commencing at 12:00 PM at St Patrick’s Catholic Church. The celebration will be led by Father Elino.
We extend a warm invitation to all parents, grandparents, supporters and parishioners to share in this celebration with us.
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.