Liturgy

Community Mass

Thank you to students from Secondary and Primary who led this morning’s Mothers’ Day online prayer. A special thanks, also, to the parents and grandparents who ensured the students were here for the very early start – and to the Davila and Michalka families for their beautiful and thought-provoking reflections.

Families might like to make this reflection a part of their Mothers’ Day celebration on

Sunday. The video is here and it is about 25 minutes duration.

We are thrilled to once again welcome parents to our Friday Community liturgy – a joyful celebration for students, families and staff. Next Friday 13 May, the liturgy will be prepared by students in Loreto House. However, all students and families – from any house – are welcome to the liturgy. Afterwards, parents are very welcome for coffee in the Circle of Friends café.

Community Mass details:

College Chapel
Fridays in term time
Starts: 8:00am and concludes 8:30am
EXCEPTION Next Friday, 6 May there will be no mass, as we will instead have Mother's Day live-stream

SACRAMENT PROGRAM

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

Parents of students in Years 3, 4 and 6

Students will be preparing for the sacrament of Reconciliation (Year 3), Holy Communion (Year 4) and Confirmation (Year 6). This time of preparation is joyfully shared by families, parishes and schools.

Sacraments are celebrated in parishes – usually the parish you consider your ‘home’ parish. It is important to ‘enrol’ in the parish program, even for families in Catholic schools, as parishes need to plan ahead for these events.

Enrolment details for parishes of Cottesloe/Mosman Park, City Beach, Doubleview and Subiaco may be found here.

Our Lady of the Rosary Parish in Doubleview advises that Fr Vincent Glynn will be talking to candidates enrolled in that parish next Friday, 20 May, at 10:00am.

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

If you would like further information about the Sacrament Program:

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 NEWS for the 4th Sunday of Easter

The 4th Sunday in the Season of Easter is traditionally known as ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’.

The passages from the Gospels where Jesus likens us to being sheep leave me a bit cold. I think I must lose something in the translation from first century Palestine to today. Most of the sheep I have ever watched may well be cute, in a woolly sort of way, but they are anxious creatures often running in packs in every direction, are notoriously stupid and difficult to manage or direct. On second thoughts maybe the analogy is not so bad after all! We, the people of God, can certainly be an anxious lot, a bit slow on the uptake and difficult to lead. It also true, however, that sheep are incredibly useful and adaptable animals. Think about all the places they have been taken throughout the world. They thrive.

The point of the shepherd analogy in the Gospels, of course, is about the importance of intimacy. A sheep in those days is similar to the central role some domestic cats and dogs have in our homes. They are members of the family. Shepherds in Jesus’ day belonged to nomadic tribes that moved with their small flock throughout Israel. Every sheep mattered. Every sheep had a name. In an agrarian society every sheep was a vital economic unit. To lose one caused trouble not only to the individual, but also to the tribe. To lose a flock was financial ruin for a generation. As a result when Jesus invokes the image of the shepherd he draws attention to the intimate knowledge and care the shepherd has of them.

In today's Gospel Jesus tells us that we follow him, not because we are too dumb to know otherwise, or because we are anxious or fearful of our alternatives, but because we know his voice, we know him, he knows our name. We follow Jesus’ lead for no other reason than throughout our life we have come to trust him and to rely on the intimacy of our relationship with him…

No one can suggest it is always easy to follow the Gospel and hang in here with one another. Jesus was never under any illusions about what following his lead may cost, but he underlines how much we need each other to survive in this world. [Our celebrations of the Eucharist are opportunities to] experience again the intimate love of the Risen Lord who knows, claims and loves us.

The homily for this Sunday is by Jesuit priest, Fr Richard Leonard. Fr Richard Leonard SJ is the Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting, is a member of the Australian Catholic Media Council and is author of Preaching to the Converted, Paulist Press, New York, 2006.