Liturgy

Community Mass

Thank you to Year 9 students for their dedication to preparing the liturgy this morning. Students attended rehearsals at recess and lunch times in order to prepare the readings. With aplomb, they proclaimed texts with place names that would flummox even the most competent of readers! It is wonderful seeing families across the College return to celebrate Mass with students and staff.

The College is grateful to the Redemptorist community in North Perth for being available to celebrate the sacraments with us and support the faith life of our community. We look forward to building connections with Fr Mark, Fr Tim, Fr Edmond and other Redemptorists.

Next Friday, Community Mass will be prepared by students in Year 12 and we look forward to students and their families gathering for a joyful and ‘user-friendly’ celebration. After Mass families are welcome to stay for coffee in the Circle of Friends café. 

Community Mass details:

• College Chapel
• Fridays in term time
• Starts: 8:00am and concludes 8:30am 

SACRAMENT PROGRAM

‘Family-focused, parish-based, Catholic school supported’

Congratulations to Year 6 students…

…who will be confirmed in their parish this Sunday, the feast of Pentecost! The sacrament of Confirmation is your own ‘personal Pentecost’, and you will be in our thought and prayer over the weekend as you take this significant step in your life. Congratulations also to your families who are celebrating with you this weekend.

Several other Year 6 students will be confirmed later in the year – depending on their parish. 

Parents of students in Years 3, 4 and 6

A reminder that students need to be enrolled in the parish sacrament program for the respective sacrament. Parishes need to plan for these events, so enrolment is essential.

In preparing for the celebration of sacraments, there is likely to be some variations from parish to parish. In general, parents need to complete the enrolment form in advance, and will need to show the child’s Baptism certificate. There is likely to be a parish commitment Mass, possibly a session for parents and, in some cases, a mini-retreat for students. Parishes will usually organise a rehearsal ahead of the celebration of the sacrament. 

To make arrangements for your child to celebrate the sacraments this year, contact the Parish Priest or Sacrament Coordinator in your own home parish at the earliest.

Enrolment details for parishes of City Beach, Doubleview, Subiaco and Cottesloe/Mosman Park, may be found here.  Cottesloe/Mosman Park parishadvises that enrolments for the Sacrament of Confirmation will close on 1 August. 

If you would like further information contact:

• If your nearest parish is not listed, search the Archdiocesan website;
• Contact Mary-Anne Lumley mary-anne.lumley@cewa.edu.au  08 9383 0513.

GOOD NEWSfor the Feast of Pentecost

The refection for this Sunday’s Gospel is part of a longer homily by Fr Anthony Doran.

… Pentecost inaugurates a new era in the history of God’s covenant with people. Jesus, who was risen from the dead, is with us no more, ascended to his Father in heaven. The presence of Christ in the world is now through his Church. The Church on earth is now the sacrament or visible sign of Christ in the world. The Church is the Body of Christ. And the Holy Spirit is given to the Apostles so that they can be the Body of Christ.

Every year on this great Solemnity of Pentecost, we read this account from the Acts of the Apostles about the manifestation of the Holy Spirit fifty days after the death and resurrection of Jesus. But why?

Our celebration of Pentecost is not just a commemoration of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the Church. It is also a celebration of that same Spirit which empowers the community of believers today. The Holy Spirit which is given as the gift and grace of God to the Church, to us, to be the Body of Christ in our world today.

And we, as members of that same Body of Christ, are called to that same mission. Baptised in the waters of new life, and confirmed with the Spirit in Confirmation, each and every one of us is sent, like the Apostles, to proclaim the marvellous acts of God to the world. This task is not one that is the special preserve of bishops and priests and deacons. All of us who are baptised are called to be the community of the Church. All of us who are baptised share in the task of proclaiming the saving acts of God to the world anew.

Our prayer this Pentecost is that the Holy Spirit might come upon us anew with the fire of God’s love and ignite us to renew the face of the earth. Not that the Spirit is absent. Jesus’ promise remains true: ‘I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.’ The Spirit is with us, but sometimes, our hearts and our minds are closed. This Pentecost, as we are called to be the presence of Christ in our world today, we pray:

Come Holy Spirit. Fill the hearts of your faithful. 

And kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And you will renew the face of the earth. 

Doran, Anthony. "Pentecost Sunday - 5 June 2022." Pastoral Liturgy 52, no. 2 (2021): 1-7. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/pastoral-liturgy/vol52/iss2/27

Previously a secondary school teacher, teaching in country and suburban schools in Victoria, Father Anthony Doran is priest of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. With expertise and qualifications in the area of liturgy, Fr Anthony contributes to a number of national and international liturgy journals.