John XXIII College Newsletter

Liturgy

Community Mass

Thank you to the wonderful group of Year 7s who prepared the Community Mass this morning, and to our presider, Father Tony Lusvardi SJ. 

 

Next week, we look forward to the Year 9 students’ preparation of the liturgy. Everyone is welcome! Just come to the Chapel at 8:00am: there are no reserved seats and no need to RSVP. After Mass, people can get a coffee to go before heading off to work and other commitments. 

 

Community Mass details:

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

Congratulations

Congratulations to students in Year 4 who have made their First Holy Communion in their parishes recently. 

 

In the Parish of Saint Aloysius, Shenton Park, 

Ronan Collins celebrated with his family and parish community.

 

In the Parish of Saint Thomas Apostle, Claremont, a number of John XXIII College students joined students from other schools in a parish celebration. 

 

Rachel Bradock

Harrison Byrne

Alma Campilan

Elizabeth Cawley

David Chan

Timothy Cooney

Joshua D’Alessandro

Addison Dziubak

Joel Fullerton

Blake Gauci

Zach Grainger

Zoe Groom

Daisy Hewer

Callum Marchant

Grace Michalka

Amelia Perera

Georgia Perera

Hamish Reside

Emily Sibenaler

Hayley Tonkin

Mitchel Wiesse

 

Congratulations to all these students and their families. We look forward to your receiving Holy Communion at our College celebrations of the Eucharist.

 

Information from parishes regarding sacraments is available on the College website. If you have further questions, don’t hesitate to ask! 

Please contact: 

 

About the facilitator - Tony Lusvardi

I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA).  Before entering the Society, I studied literature and philosophy at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana) and spent two years teaching English for the US Peace Corps in Kazakhstan.  My most important pastoral experience in formation was administering three small parishes on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota during regency.  For the past six years, I have been completing first my license and then doctorate in sacramental theology at Sant’Anselmo in Rome, and I’ve just begun teaching sacramental theology at the Gregorian.  I’m grateful to have arrived in Australia (at last!) and for the welcome I have received.

Good News for the Feast of Pentecost

 

As summer progresses in Australia, invariably great bushfires break out. Those who report the infernos speak not only of the flames, but often of a mighty roar like a great windstorm heralding the approaching fire.

 

The earth had quaked at the death of Jesus, but death had been conquered and the earth was supercharged with divine energy and vitality. Into all this the Risen Lord sent his Holy Spirit like a lightning strike. Divine energy was unleashed and St Luke portrays this particular event in our bushfire terms. The Holy Spirit, he says, was ‘like tongues of fire’ and ‘like the sound of a mighty wind’ accompanying the descent of the Holy Spirit on a gathering of a fearful group of followers of Our Lord.

 

The tangled undergrowth of fear, anxiety and timidity was cleared away. The new life of the church was germinated, took root and has been growing ever since, listening to the core message preached by St Peter: Jesus of Nazareth had conquered death and Peter and others were witnesses to the Risen Lord.

 

We could pause for a moment to pray for the successor of St Peter that he may preach the resurrection in a way which is understandable by people of every culture, every ethnicity, every language group around the world. We could pray in the words of the ancient prayer:

 

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and enkindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they will be created
and you will renew the face of the earth.

 

© Michael Tate

 

The reflection for this Sunday’s Gospel is from Father Michael Tate and is used with permission. Rev. Prof. Michael Tate was a Senator for Tasmania from 1978-93 and Ambassador to The Hague and the Holy See from 1993-96. He is currently Vicar-General in the Archdiocese of Hobart and is an Honorary Professor of Law at the University of Tasmania where he lectures in International Humanitarian Law.