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MARIAN PILGRIMAGE

SEPT EDITION 2014Issue #8 Also available online at: www.holyfamily.com.au

@ HOME NEWSLETTERComo/Kensington Holy Family Parish

GINNYWILSON

I had always wanted to go on a Pilgrimage with Father Al. This June was perfect as I no longer had any children at school and it was a journey to celebrate the life of St John Paul II. In our group of 23 were – from Holy Family: myself, Sue, Bernie, Virginia, Vincent, Tony, Richard and Father Al; Edith from Albany; Maria and Mat-thew, Doris and Lawrence from Willetton; and Katrina from Mt Lawley. Outside of WA, Mary, Florence, James, Annie, Helen, Alice and Vivien were from Singapore and Roseline and Jaimie from Melbourne. We all met up in Singapore, some having arrived there a few days earlier, others like me, for only a few hours, before meeting at Terminal 3 Changi Airport. Even from the moment we all met up, some of us not knowing each other even though we are from the same Parish, it was as Father Al said later in one of his homilies, we were meant to journey together. Ours was a group of pilgrims that soon became a family travelling together, eating, praying,

sharing, laughing and enjoying those 16 days of our lives together. We journeyed from Singapore to Qatar, moving �uidly through Doha onto our connecting �ight to Budapest. In Budapest we toured the city, enjoying the sights and also visited the Basilica of St Stephen, King Matthias Church, Hero’s Square, concluding the day with a lovely Mass outdoors at the Church of Our Lady of Remete.

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On the day we left Budapest we travelled to Esztergom Cathedral where we celebrated Mass and enjoyed the beautiful views across the Danube river into Slovakia. Our bus driver was Adam, from Warsaw – he greeted us daily with a lovely smile and by the end of our trip we were able to greet him a hearty good morning in Polish – Gem Dovray! He is the most amazing, dextrous driver I have ever met. If not for him, we would not have stumbled upon the glorious John Paul II Centre in Krakow. Our �rst morning in Prague took us to Svata Hora – Holy Mountain. You could feel the peace and tranquillity of the mountain descend upon you as our young guide John, showed us around and explained the many frescoes depicting the miracles attributed to Our Lady of Svata Hora together with the history of the mountain. After we left Holy Mountain we went to Kutna Hora, where we spent some time at the Sedlec Ossu-ary or the bone church. Here, we managed to lose Jaimie – it wasn’t until we arrived at our next stop (thankfully not very far away) at St Barbara’s Church that we realised he had been left behind. Richard, our wonderful, very organised and delightful group leader (aka Obi Wan) went back and found Jaimie sipping a co�ee waiting for us to return. Like all fami-lies travelling together sometimes we got separated, soon to happen again when we were at the Salt Mines in Poland, losing Annie to a group of Korean tourists! After we left Kutna Hora, we had a very special Mass at the Church of Our lady Victorious in the pres-ence of the Holy Infant of Prague. Each day we gathered for Mass and each day we said the Rosary on the bus – bringing us all togeth-er spiritually, sharing our hopes, petitions and faith. In another of his homilies Father Al spoke of

our journeys in life and the many times where we might lose our focus and direction. He reminded us that we were not alone in our life’s journeys; that we have each other and most importantly we have God. As someone who was not born into the faith, I found the pilgrimage to be a�rming and the journey with my new family to be one of renewal and awakening. In Prague we went to the Castle, St Vitus Cathe-dral and toured the Old Town from within and without – ie. we had lunch on a boat on the Vltava river – our guide was full of information and by the time we got back to our hotel, had dinner in a restaurant under the Charles’ Bridge, we were exhausted! We left Prague on the sixth day of our Pilgrim-age for Poland, stopping for Mass at the Church of St Peter and St Paul. We then travelled to Krakow – the Polish coun-tryside is beautiful, lush and green with many road-side shrines and as it was spring, there were beautiful poppies and corn�owers along the way. In Krakow our �rst stop was the St Faustina Convent, here we met our lovely guide Sister Gaudia who had been to Australia, but sadly not Perth. The story of St Faustina is beautiful and the Divine Mercy Sanctuary is spectacular. We celebrated Mass in one of the smaller chapels within the sanctuary in the Chapel of Saints. As we left the convent, Adam our driver asked if we were interested in seeing the John Paul II Centre which of course, we all said yes to and it was absolutely breathtaking. The Centre is yet to be fully complete but even in its infancy, it is magni�cent with the octagonal shaped basement below the main church upon which each wall is a painting of events depicting signi�cant events in the ponti�cate of John Paul II.

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Divine Mercy Sanctuary

(front page)Budapest (front page

bottom)

Esztergom Catherdral

(left)Holy Mountain

- Svata Hora (right)

We were guided by Robert, who took us to Wawel Castle and showed us the places where John Paul II studied, lived and prayed in Krakow. The follow-ing day he came with us to Kalwaria Zebrzydowska where we had Mass and some of us went with Robert to the �rst station of the cross up the mountain. This sanctuary houses a monastery with the oldest Calvary in Poland and the second biggest in the world. In Wadowice we went to the house where John Paul II was born and learnt more about his life, family and dreams before he became Pope.I think the saddest place in the world would have to be Auschwitz. You cannot help but feel, breathe and be immersed in the complete and utter desolation and despair, followed by horror at what the Jewish people and many Polish people su�ered. The sadness can only be described as an emptiness, and the horror, a silent scream. From Krakow we journeyed to the Wieliczka Salt Mines where we all found a new respect for rock salt. In Czestochowa we went to Jasna Gora where Mass was said at the main altar with the “Black Madon-na, Queen of Poland”. When we were in Warsaw we explored the capital city with a guide and went to the City of the Immaculata in Niepokalanow – the friary founded by St Maximillian Kolbe. We toured the city and its parks and later found ourselves at St Stanislaus Kostka’s Church, rich in history of the sad life of Father Jerzy Popielusko, who was kidnapped, tortured and mur-dered by the secret police during Poland’s communist rule in 1984. I think for Poland, John Paul II was not only the country’s �rst pope, but he surely was a sign of hope in its terrible oppression – in WW2 and then in the many years to follow under communist rule before 1989. Many times I thought to myself how lucky we are in Australia. Despite Robert lamenting that less Polish people were practising Catholics today, their faith and devotion throughout their darkest years was obvious. We celebrated the Stations of the Cross in Gietrzwald then we went to Olsztyn. Olsztyn is a beau-tiful town where we had the worst weather – up until then we were very lucky with sunshine, blue skies and lots of pollen – though poor Father Al was not good with his allergies! Despite the rain and cold, we

enjoyed touring the town and were sad to say good-bye as it meant leaving beautiful Poland and begin-ning the journey home. In Berlin we celebrated Mass at the Schoen-statt Shrine – the nuns were really sweet and hospita-ble. A tour of the city preceded our journey home the following day. In Berlin we said farewell to Tony, Vincent and Virginia, whilst the rest of us tried to leave Berlin in the midst of their �rst soccer world cup match (they are mad about soccer in Germany)!Overall, I would like to think we had a wonderful jour-ney together, embracing our faith and spirituality whilst re�ecting on who we were, who we are and who we can be. Father Al’s homilies were always re�ective and left me thinking they were all poignant to ME, I hope that the rest of us felt the same and could take from each Mass, each Rosary, each snippet of history, every shared meal, shared song, shared laugh-ter and conversation – something to grow with and in turn, be closer to God.


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Prague (top)Mass at Jasna Gora (left)Schoenstatt Shrine Berlin (right)Stations of thecross (bottom)

A MESSAGE FROM THE PARISH

PASTORAL COUNCIL


For the Holy Family Parish it has been a year of change with the departure of Fr Aloysius and the arrival of Fr Ossie.

While for many people, change can be either discomforting or a nuisance, change can also provide the opportunity for review and new perspective. The Parish Council’s �rst meeting with Fr Ossie as the parish priest was on 15 July. At this meeting Fr Ossie outlined a number of proposed changes, some of which were further developed in a meeting with acolytes, special minis-ters and readers on Tuesday 31 July. These changes are more evolutionary rather than revolutionary and I am con�dent that if we continue to examine our practices and priorities in a positive way, we can improve how we respond to

the spiritual and pastoral needs of all our parishio-ners. The next annual general meeting for our Parish Council is in November. With most members having served three or more years, the Parish Council membership also needs review and renewal.

While parishioner’s awareness of the Parish Council work is probably not high, the work of Council is a key element in modern parish life. If you are interested in contributing (or know of someone who you think could contribute) to the Council’s pastoral activities, please let myself or Father Ossie know.

MICHAELTAYLOR

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WWW.HOLYFAMILY.COM.AUHave you checked out the parish website lately?

Visit the page for the latest information about the parish and diocese and you can even �nd this and previous issues of the newsletter there!

The @Home Newsletter is a great way to share our stories and get involvedwith the parish community. If you would like to contribute to future editions

of the newsletter, please contact

[email protected] or [email protected]


On Saturday 21 June, the parish held a day of re�ection, sharing and prayer for women. The session was well attended by about 36 women, from young mothers in their mid-20s through to grandmothers in their mid-70s. Sister Ann Cullinane led us into re�ection, reading excerpts from a book called “The Broken Cup”. After each reading, we spent time re�ecting on our own lives, shared our experiences with others and prayed in our groups. We spoke about our journey of faith. Even though there was sharing of pain, sorrow and grief, there was also sharing of the experience of the glorious part of our lives – our children, husbands, families and the communities we live in – the gifts of love. It was a revelation how God is always pres-ent in our life events. In our brokenness, we hang on

to our faith, knowing that God is working with and for each one of us, giving us healing, and we feel blessed for it. We all felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in each other that moved us to share our experiences. We felt a oneness with each other as we shared our journeys. I felt very blessed and privi-leged to have been able to share and listen to peo-ple’s stories. Personally it felt like a revelation, how God works in each one of us. I came home spiritually ful�lled and eager to continue to grow in the faith and trust in God. I would like to acknowledge Alan Khoo for his assis-tance in the setting up and smooth running of the

day’s activities.

EMBRACING WOMANHOOD

ROSE HARTwith help from ADEANA KHOO

SING MY SOUL, MY SAVIOUR’S GLORY! KERRY

HARDWICK

John Chrysostom, often wrote of the church's responsibility regarding singing psalms and hymns’: Sing! Sing psalms [and hymns] that purify the mind and [allow] the Holy Spirit to descend swiftly upon the mind of the singer. For those who sing with under-standing invoke the grace of the Spirit. Singing great hymns is as critical for today's Christian as it was for the early church. For God still uses the hymn as a powerful tool to train the mind to focus on theological truth and to invoke the "grace of the Spirit. Of all the early church fathers (leaders), Augustine (354-430) is perhaps the most renowned. Augustine could not deny the power of music to "inspire worship." He says, "when religious texts are sung well, greater religious devotion is inspired: souls are moved...and with a warmer devotion kindled to piety than if they are not so sung." One of the very best

ways to follow Augustine's teaching regarding "true spiritual character" is to sing great hymns of the faith, hymns that are �lled with deep theology and the truth of God. As we sing hymns, our emotions and our minds are united - and our thoughts become His thoughts. In so doing, the Holy Spirit will lead us to say, do and be what God Himself wants us to say, do and be!In choosing music for our Sunday Masses parish choirs select traditional hymns and psalms as well as contemporary arrangements all aiming to lead the congregation to greater participation and re�ec-tion on the liturgy and readings of the day.

Please join in the singing at Mass!

Our 8:30 am choir would welcome new members too!

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A MESSAGE FROM FR ALOYSIUS FR ALOYSIUS

LEONG

It was a long trip from Singapore to my desti-nation in the USA as there was a delay in Hong Kong due to bad weather and after arrival in Chicago, I had to take an overnight Greyhound Bus to Evans-ville in Indiana. Even though the journey to Evansville took 12 hours, it was pretty comfortable. At Evansville my dear friend Fr. Steve was waiting for me. All up, the air and bus ride took about 36 hours. I had a great time with Fr Steve (who was my Uni classmate) and we caught up and shared our journey as priests, �lling in the gaps of the last 25 years. The other priest Fr Joel will be joining us later in the year. Last week Fr Steve drove me back to Chicago and since he is a Vincentian Missionary, we were able to stay at De Paul University for a couple of nights. They are a very hospitable community. I have known them for years and to be re-ac-quainted with some of them again was a blessing (a few of them were in Taiwan as missionaries while I was there years ago). I am now at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago with 18 participants, priests and nuns, some young and others a little more mature. We were told from the �rst day of our orientation that being on "sabbatical" means that we are here to rest, renew and enjoy. The Director reminded us that while the sabbatical can be a time of rest, it can also be a time of creativity, re�ection, integration and balance. A time to savour all the work that has been gone into the previous days/years and to nurture-our deep creativity for the future. I hope and pray that this will be a time for me to re�ect and renew my insight and energise my priestly life, whatever

the assignment that awaits me in the archdiocese of Perth. A bit about the participants: We come from all over the world; Asia - India, Philippines, Singapore/Perth, Korea; Africa - Ghana, Zimbabwe; Europe - Poland, Netherlands, Ireland; and also di�erent parts of the USA. They all come to have their time with the Lord and to look within and share our lives in the next four months. What are we learning? Other than the normal theological studies, spirituality, scriptures and liturgy; we have also been given lessons on how to look after ourselves physically and mentally. This includes a �tness expert who helps us with a routine to keep physically �t. All very inter-esting. That sums up the �rst couple of weeks. Chi-cago is a very large city with lots of architecture, arts,museums, etc... it's really fantastic. I am just beginning to absorb all these wonderful things. So for the next few months, my time for God and myself has just begun. I pray that each day be "a day of wonder and awe" from the Lord. Thanks to all the parishioners and parish council members, past and present, for the wonderful support that I enjoyed while in the great parish of Holy Family. May God bless all of you and keep me in your prayers.

Always united in prayers and the love of God, Al.

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RCIA 2014


Our news in the last Bulletin was about the approaching reception into the Church of our 2013 -14 Candidates and Catechumens. Bee Tan and Bruce Buddrige were Baptised during the Vigil Mass of the Resurrection on Easter Saturday night; where Clare Ong, Isabelle Petrovski, Emily and Brad Foord joined Bee and Bruce and were Con�rmed and received their �rst Holy Com-munion as members of our Catholic faith communi-ty. There will be no RCIAProgram o�ered forthe 2014/15 year as we all draw breathand assist Fr Ossieto settle into our Parish.

MEGANPHILLIPS

Brad and Emily Foordbring up the gifts (left)

Our New parishoners (Above): Bruce Buddrige, Brad and Emily Foord, Clare Ong, Bee Tan, Isabelle, Imogen and Celeste Petrovski

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION &CONFRIMATION 2014 MARK

FERROA

Congratulations to all the children who received the sacraments of First Holy Communion and Con�rmation in 2014 (pictured on Page 8). On Sunday 22 June 2014, 21 children from Holy Family Parish made their First Holy Commu-nion during the10am mass. The Presiding Celebrant was Fr Aloysius. 15 children from our parish received the Sacrament of Con�rmation during the evening mass on Saturday 9 August 2014. The Presiding Celebrant was Fr Oswald (Ossie) Lewis. The children who were con�rmed were (pictured right): Thomas Casey, Victoria Diaz, Tyran Gibson, Luke Herrmann, Helena Kang, Kallian Levitt, Julianne Liew, Te’a Michael-Samy, Matthew Paulino,

Kate Pearson, Shevon Perera, Rholan Ranieri, Carin-na Schabort, Holly Smith and Verity Wilson.

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A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS


ADEANA KHOO & JULIAN SIEBER

Where has the year gone? It feels like only yesterday that the new year had just started! But

now it’s September already and we’re up to the last edition of the @Home Newsletter before the big

Christmas edition (and yes, I have already seen Christmas decorations being put up in some

supermarkets)!

Once again we need to thank everyone who contributed to this edition of the newsletter -

whether that was through writing articles, supply-ing photos or both - we couldn’t have made this without your help. If you have anything you can

contribute for the next edition, Feel free to contact us by email:

[email protected] or [email protected]

We hope that you all have a great Father’s Day!

The First Holy Communion children were (above): Skye Celedin, Bella Edmiston, Georgia Fiel, Amy Frangs, Lucas Gardiner, Tristan Gibson, Josie Hegarty, Rita Johnson, Georgia Le Febvre, Harriet McCready, Jamie Meyn, Pascal Min Oo, Siena Monck, Ella Schabort, Jessica Semenow, Kian Sykes, Ella Tiley, Olivia Wedge, Luis Uribe, Ella Zappia and Jessika Zuiderduyn

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