Liturgy

Community Liturgy

Next week, we look forward to our Community Liturgy being prepared by students in Year 9. Mass commences at 8:00am, and finishes at 8:30am, in time for Homeroom.

Community Liturgy is open to everyone – it is a joyful and ‘user-friendly’ celebration of students, families, staff and friends. Some families attend the Friday liturgy as part of their Lenten commitment to prayer.

Early start in Week 9

In week 9, the College community will celebrate together on Thursday 2 April (instead of Friday). 7:30 am is the early start time for the liturgy which will begin in the Library Courtyard. We will proclaim the Palm Sunday gospel, process with palms to the Chapel, then continue with the solemn narration of The Lord’s Passion.

Week 10

On the last day of term, Thursday 9 April (which is also Holy Thursday) the Community liturgy will take the form of a short TAIZE-style reflection, appropriate to the mood of Holy Week.

Community Liturgy summary

Where: College Chapel
Time: 8:00am – 8:30 am
When: every Friday in term time

Exceptions: Thursday 2 April and Thursday 9 April. (No Community Liturgy on Friday 3 or 10 April).

SACRAMENT PROGRAM 2020

Do you have a child currently in Year 3, 4 or 6? Children need to be enrolled in the Sacrament Program in your parish. If you have not already done this and would like some assistance, please check the enrolment dates and procedures for some of our local parishes on the College website.

Alternatively, contact Mary-Anne Lumley: mary-anne.lumley@cew.edu.au

Updates from local parishes

Holy Spirit, City Beach

CONFIRMATION: Parent/child workshop – Wednesday April 1 @6:30pm, Holy Spirit Hall. This is a mandatory requirement for Confirmation.

Further information: delattrecn@yahoo.fr or phone Parish Priest, Fr Emmanual-tv Dimobi, 9341 3131.

Saint Thomas Apostle, Claremont

COMMITMENT MASSES: next weekend – 21 and 22 March.

RECONCILIAION & CONFIRMATION: For enrolment in these programs, please contact Silvia Kinder.

(Enrolments for First Communion have closed).

Further information: silvia.kinder@cewa.edu.au

Star of the Sea, Cottesloe

Enrolments for program being finalised.

Further information: cottesloe@perthcatholic.org.au

Saint Cecilia, Floreat

Further information: Rita Morgan, floreat@perthcatholic.org.au

Our Lady of Grace, North Beach

EUCHARIST: Faith formation evening for parents – Tuesday 5 May @ 6:30pm, Parish Centre.

Further information: Deacon Paul Stacy, 9448 4888 or olg.prep@gmail.com

St Joseph, Subiaco

Applications open soon.

Further information: sacraments@stjosephssubiaco.org.au

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Scarborough

RECONCILIATION: Celebration of First Reconciliation – Thursday 2 April.

Further information: Fr Grant Goddard

08 9341 1124 OR scarborough@perthcatholic.org.au

GOOD NEWS for 3rd Sunday in Lent

“The water that I shall give will turn into a spring of eternal life.” John 4: 5-42

The reflection for this Sunday’s Gospel is part of a longer homily 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.

Father Jim was invited by Caritas, the Catholic Development Agency, to travel to the Philippines and see the excellent work they were doing with the monies collected in their Lenten appeal.

When he arrived in Manila he was asked if he would like to have some exposure to the real lives of the people Caritas was helping. It was decided that for two days he would live with a family on Smoky Mountain. Smoky Mountain no longer exists, but for over thirty years it was home to nearly ten thousand people. Smoky Mountain was the refuse tip for metro-Manila. It got its name from the smouldering pile of rubbish dumped there every day. People lived on three sides of this mountain of waste and made their homes and livelihood from the city’s refuse.

Jim had heard of Smoky Mountain, but nothing prepared him for the reality. He smelt it before he saw it and when he saw it he couldn’t believe it. The crest of the hill was indeed billowing smoke, and canals of water surrounded it. Running water was only available at public pumps. Over the canals were semi-public cubicles where people showered and went to the open toilets. As the bulldozers shovelled the day’s deposit into the mountainside, the residents picked through the collection to see what could be salvaged. Homes were made of every weather-resistant material imaginable.

Jim met the Jesuits who looked after the Smoky Mountain parish. They were campaigning to have it shut down. The parish priest took him to meet the family with whom he would be staying. On a hot, humid afternoon he started the climb to Bing’s home. There were children everywhere. Dirty, energetic, scavenging children. His heart was close to breaking, his stomach was dry-retching.

When he arrived at Bing’s neatly kept home he was given a warm welcome. Bing saw that Jim was hot and bothered by his new surrounds and offered him a drink of water. Nothing prepared him for this dilemma: how far was he prepared to share in the life of the poor? All Jim could think of were the diseases he could catch from drinking water from the pump. As thirsty as he was he declined the offer, knowing that later he would privately gulp down one of the bottles of water in his backpack. Jim watched as the glasses of water were served on a tray. As he chatted to the family about Smoky Mountain he felt a fraud. Bing’s daughter emerged with a sealed bottle of water and proceeded to fill up all the glasses. On seeing the bottle Jim had a change of mind and accepted the water. Bing then produced a plastic glass in a sealed package for Jim’s use. Flushed with embarrassment, all he could think of was Jesus and the Woman at the Well.

At that famous well Jesus enters the world of a poor Samaritan woman who has been dumped five times by the men who married her. By asking for a drink, by engaging her in conversation, by understanding her situation and offering her a way out of the cycle of emotional abuse in which she was caught, Jesus gives her the greatest gift of all: personal dignity. This changes her life and turns her into one of the earliest missionaries in John’s Gospel.

Although separated by time and space, a drink of water helped a Samaritan woman and Fr Jim face up to the embarrassment of their worlds, their quick and inaccurate judgements and reassess the choices that could lead them to life. Both of them recognised that no matter how good the gift of water was that day, the unknown and unexpected Giver of the gift was so much greater.

May our celebrations of the Eucharist help us do the same.