20151225 – Christmas - Ingham Region Catholic Parishes

Living Word
The
Isaiah 9:1-7
Luke 2:1-14
The people that walked in darkness has seen a great
light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light
has shone. You have made their gladness greater, you
have made their joy increase; they rejoice in your
presence as men rejoice at harvest time, as men are
happy when they are dividing the spoils.
Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the
whole world to be taken. This census - the first - took
place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and
everyone went to his own town to be registered. So
Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and
travelled up to Judaea, to the town of David called
Bethlehem, since he was of David's House and line, in
order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed,
who was with child. While they were there the time
came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a
son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling
clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no
room for them at the inn. In the countryside close by
there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it
in turns to watch their flocks during the night. The angel
of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord
shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel
said, 'Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you news of great
joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the
town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find
a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger.' And suddenly with the angel there was a great
throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing:
For the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across
his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, these you break
as on the day of Midian. For all the footgear of battle,
every cloak rolled in blood, is burnt and consumed by
fire.
For there is a child born for us, a son given to us and
dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name
they give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, EternalFather, Prince-of-Peace. Wide is his dominion in a peace
that has no end, for the throne of David and for his royal
power, which he establishes and makes secure in justice
and integrity. From this time onwards and for ever, the
jealous love of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Psalm 95:1-3. 11-13
R. Today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord.
O sing a new song to the Lord,
sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name. R.
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace to men who enjoy his favour'.
Proclaim his help day by day,
tell among the nations his glory
and his wonders among all the peoples. R.
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
let the sea and all within it thunder praise,
let the land and all it bears rejoice,
all the trees of the wood shout for joy
at the presence of the Lord for he comes,
he comes to rule the earth. R.
With justice he will rule the world,
he will judge the peoples with his truth. R.
Titus 2:11-14
God's grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation
possible for the whole human race and taught us that
what we have to do is to give up everything that does not
lead to God, and all our worldly ambitions; we must be
self-restrained and live good and religious lives here in
this present world, while we are waiting in hope for the
blessing which will come with the Appearing of the glory
of our great God and saviour Christ Jesus. He sacrificed
himself for us in order to set us free from all wickedness
and to purify a people so that it could be his very own and
would have no ambition except to do good.
Acclamation:
Alleluia, alleluia!
Good News and great joy to all the world:
today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord.
Alleluia!
Week by Week
through the Year of Mercy
In proclaiming the Jubilee Year of
Mercy, Pope Francis proclaimed his desire that this Holy
Year be “steeped in mercy,” as we disciples “go out to
every man and woman,” bringing the “balm of mercy”
to “believers and those far away, as a sign that the
Kingdom of God is already present in our
midst!” (Misericordiae Vultus, 5). In her visitation of
Elizabeth, Mary beautifully presents just such an image.
Despite the perils of her pregnancy, not to mention her
preoccupations as a young unwed mother, Mary
instantly, unselfishly, “goes out” of herself, hastening
far and over dangerous terrain, to “bring the balm of
God’s tender mercy” in assistance rendered to her older
relative. Since baptism and the Eucharist have made us,
in a way, bearers of the living Christ within as Mary was,
such selfless “going out” of ourselves to be of loving
service to others in mercy should especially mark our
Christmas season this Jubilee Year.
—Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
Papal quotes Copyright © 2015, Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Used
with permission.
“The birth of Christ is the central event in the history of the earth — the very thing the whole story has
been about.” —C.S. Lewis
T HE N ATIVITY OF THE L ORD —D ECEMBER 25 2015
The Pastor’s Pen!
I have just been re-reading the reports
that I have delivered to the diocese
about our parish during this year. It has
been another grace-filled year. These
are some of the highlights for the past
year:
 The celebration of 100 years of the
Mercy Sisters in our district—the rededication of the Old Church as
Mercy Hall; a magnificent Mass with
Herbert Valley Voices singing a
heavenly Panis Angelicus; and an
over-subscribed dinner where we
honoured the Mercy Sisters past and
present.
 The complete renovation of the Old
Church—primarily by volunteers!
 A popular Lenten Programme on the
Seven Deadly Sins.
 About 200 people attending the
World Day of Prayer in March.
 Our Women’s group ran a very
successful St Patrick’s Day Morning
tea and Welcome to Spring
Afternoon Tea. The latter raised
funds for Ingham Disability Support .
 Our parish Relay for Life Team
managed to win the prize for highest
fund-raisers.
 Our parishes contributed $5500 to
Caritas through project compassion
and about $7000 to Catholic
Missions. We also ran a very
successful winter appeal for blankets
for SVDP.
 27 Debutantes and another
successful Ball. A new Deb Ball
Committee has been formed who
have everything in hand for the
future.
 I spent six weeks walking the famous
Spanish pilgrimage, the Camino. The
parish raised $15,000 for the
Missionaries of the Poor in the
Philippines by sponsoring me. Our
supporters group raised another
$5000 recently through their golf day.
 We were blessed to have Fr Michael
Igo with us for eight weeks, during
my absence, to assist with our
pastoral needs.
 Abergowrie College has been
running at full enrolment—the first
time for many years—and it is
running beautifully.
51 children
celebrated
reconciliation
and will
complete the
sacraments
next year.
 We prepared a number of candidates
for Adult Baptism or Reception into
the Church.
 Gilroy Santa Maria College
 Every week or fortnight, 105 people
successfully transitioned to an
receive communion either in their
almost completely new Admin Team.
own homes or in one of our nursing
The results for their grade twelves
homes. This number is constantly
are outstanding (see inside).
on the rise. Thanks to Sr Nina, in
 Our Lady of Lourdes hosted an
particular, for her efforts.
exceptional weekend of Centenary
Celebrations. It’s numbers are slowly  New members have joined our hardy
band of 18 hospital visitors who
on the rise.
roam the wards of Ingham Hospital
 Saint Peter’s School is constantly
twice each week bringing cheer to
referred to as “the happiest little
the patients.
school in the diocese” by our
 We celebrated Mass on the evening
diocesan education consultant.
of All Souls Day at the Cemetery with
 Mary MacKillop Childcare continues
about 150 people in attendance. It
to have to turn people away—an
was magnificent.
incredible shame. Their Kindy
 We have begun a Giving Tree
Graduation remains the highlight of
program (details inside) to assist
my events calendar.
families in need at the start of the
 We celebrated just short on one
School year. The response has well
hundred Masses with our Catholic
exceeded my expectations.
Schools (I got to 92—but, I’m sure
 We have distributed an incredible
that I’m wrong).
amount of reading material and
 We continue to provide excellent
prayer resources this year: the little
Religious Instruction in our State
books for Lent and Advent; Frankly
Schools through the dozen
Magazine; booklets about the Year of
volunteers that we have. Fr Cip took
Mercy; information on same-sex
two classes at Ingham State and I
marriage and on end-of-life
visited VPSS three times (more next
decisions; and thousands of prayer
year, I promise).
cards.
 We have seen a significant increase
 We have expanded the times for
in both funerals and baptisms. For
confessions to include Thursday
the year to 30 November, there were
evenings and Saturday mornings to
74 Baptisms compared with 51 for
assist people during this Year of
the year before and 60 funerals
Mercy.
compared to 50 for the year before.
There have been no dull moments this
 38 children celebrated Confirmation year (are there ever?). Joys and
and First Holy Communion this year. sorrows, there have been countless
moments of extraordinary grace.
Finally, a happy and holy Christmas to
you all. May the new year be as gracefilled as this one.
Welcome to all visitors and new parishioners. Please make yourself known to us.
Parish Contacts
Parish Priest: Fr Damian McGrath
Associate Pastor: Fr Cipriano Mallari
Parish Secretary: Pauline Pennisi
RE Co-ordinator: Marcella Cantatore
Pastoral Care: Sr Nina Barra
Mail: PO Box 375, Ingham Q 4850
Phone: 4776 2600 Fax: 4776 5199
Web: www.inghamcatholic.com
Email: parishoffice@inghamcatholic.com
Office Hours: 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday,
1pm to 3pm Monday to Thursday
Sunday Masses
26/27 December
Sat
8.00am St
Ingham
Sat 6.00pm
Sun 8.30am
Sun 7.00pm
Halifax
Sun 7.00am
Confessions
Canossa
Sun 10.00am
Saturday 5.00pm
or by appointment
Abergowrie Sun 10.00am
Some upcoming Mass & Other Changes
For the post-Christmas period:
There will be no Saturday morning Masses from
Saturday 2 January until Saturday 23 January.
There will be no Thursday evening
Reconciliation until 4 February.
Canossa Mass attendees—there will be no Mass on
Sunday 3 January at Canossa Chapel.
Abergowrie Parishioners—there will be no Mass at
Abergowrie on Sunday 10 January.
Office Hours: The office will be closed until 4 January.
The office will be opened on reduced hours, only 9am
to Noon, from 4 January to 15 January.
Gilroy Santa Maria
is proud to announce…
Our local Catholic Secondary
College, Gilroy Santa Maria
College received very impressive
OP results last weekend. The
College had 26 students out of
their 49 Year 12 Seniors who were
OP-eligible. They had two students who were
successful in gaining OP 1. Another five students
gained an OP from 2-5 and a further thirteen students
The Cross
is the word
through which God has responded
to evil in the world.
Sometimes it may seem as though
God does not react to evil,
as if he is silent.
And yet, God has spoken,
he has replied,
and his answer is the Cross of Christ:
a word which is love,
mercy, forgiveness.
Weekdays
26 December
received an OP from 6-10.
The great thing is that these impressive results mean
that nearly all students will be successful in receiving
their chosen university offers.
The results are a credit to the hard work of the students
and the excellent job the staff at Gilroy do to teach and
prepare our students.
Our Giving Tree
Ingham Catholic Parishes together with
Hinchinbrook Community Support
Centre and Bendigo Bank are collecting
items for the HCSC Back to School
Program to help local families in
need at the start of the school year
through the provision of essential
school supplies. Boxes are placed under the trees in each
of our churches. Items can also be left at Bendigo Bank.
Previously asked for items:
HB pencils, colour pencils, Textas, felt pens,
highlighters, ink Pens (blue, red, black), Glue Sticks,
USB sticks, Rulers, erasers, pencil sharpeners, pencil
cases
26/27 December: Lunchbox, water bottles, ice bricks
2/3 January: Ream/s of photocopy paper, box tissues
If we look forward to receiving
God's mercy, we can never fail
to do good so long as we have
the strength. For if we share
with the poor, out of love for
God, whatever he has given to
us, we shall receive according to
his promise a hundredfold in
eternal happiness.
Saint John Bosco
Mary, Mother of God
Mother of Mercy. May the
sweetness of her countenance watch
over us in this Holy Year, so that all
of us may rediscover the joy of God’s
tenderness. No one has penetrated
the profound mystery of the
incarnation like Mary. Her entire
life was patterned after the presence
of mercy made flesh. The Mother of
the Crucified and Risen One has
entered the sanctuary of divine
mercy because she participated
intimately in the mystery of His
love.
Chosen to be the Mother of the Son
of God, Mary, from the outset, was
prepared by the love of God to be
the Ark of the Covenant between
At the foot of the Cross, Mary,
together with John, the disciple of
love, witnessed the words of
forgiveness spoken by Jesus. This
supreme expression of mercy
towards those who crucified him
show us the point to which the
God and man. She treasured divine mercy of God can reach. Mary
mercy in her heart in perfect
attests that the mercy of the Son of
harmony with her Son Jesus. Her
God knows no bounds and extends
hymn of praise, sung at the
to everyone, without exception. Let
threshold of the home of Elizabeth, us address her in the words of the
was dedicated to the mercy of God
Hail Holy Queen, a prayer ever
which extends from “generation to ancient and ever new, so that she
generation” (Lk 1:50). We too were may never tire of turning her
included in those prophetic words
merciful eyes upon us, and make us
of the Virgin Mary. This will be a
worthy to contemplate the face of
source of comfort and strength to us mercy, her Son Jesus.
as we cross the threshold of the
Holy Year to experience the fruits of Pope Francis, Bull of Indiction for
the Jubilee Year of Mercy
divine mercy.
Requiescant in pace
Please Pray For: Natalie Di Bartolo, Joe La Rosa,
Gejtano Bondin, Angelina Tonon, Rosa Accornero,
Dante Accornero, Angelo Girgenti, Aldo Pallanza, Peter
Gherardi, (annivs at this time), Domenico Catalano,
Concetto & Egidia Lamari, Gina Lamari, Sam Grasso,
Rosario & Concetta Grasso, Carlo & Cesira Valese, Ernie
& Peggy Borello, Tino Mombelli, Sarina, Alfio & Rusi
Fichera, Augustine & Mary Cauchi, Joseph Michael
Mizzi, Giovanni & Ines Pallanza, John, Joe, Amelia &
Antonio Biasi, Giovanni, Teresa & Angelina Volpi, John
& Kerry Britton, Fr Mark Nugent, Arnold Garutti,
Enrico, Francesca & Lorenz Motti, Antonio & Francesca
Palmas, Guido Imariso, Sam & Maria Buonaccorso,
Salvatore & Nunziatina Musumeci, Anthony Garutti, Joe
Di Prima, Santo & Giuseppina Contarino, Philip & Maria
Gambino, Sebastiano Sorbello, Johnny, Pina & Edna
Accornero, Lodovico & Rosina Accornero, Dec’d
members of Guazzo family, Cesarina Truffa, Italio
Grappio, Primo, Louie & Peter Castellaro, Beba
Zemaitis, Emilia Garutti, Mary Morton, Angelo
Guerrera, Ross & Louisa Russo, John Lowth, Joseph
Furber, Sheila & James McCool, John Blanco, Maria &
Alfio Cristaldi, Sarah Jorgensen, Peter Guazzo, Teresa &
Luigi Bonelli, Sam Bonanno, Rosario Bonanno,
Salvatore & Giuseppina Marino, Frank Barbagallo, Reg
Jillett, David Mackee, Kevin Conaghan, Giovanni
Battista & Carmelina Peri, Carmela Bondin, Felix &
Emmanuella Scerri, Dec’d members Sullivan, Cantoni,
Giacobone, Della Mattea & McCarthy families, Colin
Grant, Giovanni & Rosa Casella, Johnny & Juven
Accornero, Turiddu Melara, Dec’d members Ferrero,
Olivero, Canet & Roati families, Mary Torrisi, Peter
Silvini, Peter Venturato, Lino Zampatti, Maria Barra
Ganza, Rosario Russo, Francesco & Angela Russo,
Vennera Girgenti, Ottorino Brescacin, Guido Cervellin,
Luigi & Rina Capra, Rosina Patane, Lisha & Pat Kayrooz,
Joe Valastro, Dec’d members of Pallanza, Battistel &
Maloney families, Salvatore & Graziella
Spampinato, Dec’d members Bassignana &
Pallanza families, Lino Dametto, Angelo &
Maria Dametto, Antonio & Angela Fabris,
Bruna & Giovanni Orsetto, Alf Russo, Dec’d
members Russo & Venturato families.
From
Fr Damian,
Fr Cipriano
and all the staff
at the Parish Centre