Opening of the Parish Year

The Opening of the Parish Year was a great success with people from each of our five communities gathering at Our Holy Redeemer last Saturday evening.  A big thank you to the liturgical ministers, musicians and hospitality teams who helped to make it such a great gathering.

At the end of the Mass the Chair of our Parish Council, Phil Mann, reminded us all of our Safeguarding obligations.  We have an incredible number of volunteer ministries and activities across our parishes.  There are over two hundred people undertaking over four hundred ministries!  During February, we are asking all those involved in parish ministries to ensure that you are up to date with your Working with Children’s Check, the signing of our Code of Conduct and the Safeguarding training.  If you need to complete any of these requirements, please check our Safeguarding page where you will find links to all you need to do.

Youth Ministry

After a couple of years of COVID related lockdowns, our Youth Ministry project is being revived.  At the end of 2022 we launched Encompass Youth, which will supersede YEP (Youth Engagement Project).  I am pleased to announce that John Eric-Ighalo and Sophie Zebrowski have been appointed as Youth Ministers across our Parishes.  John will be responsible for Youth Ministry, Music and Sophie for Youth Ministry, Formation and Outreach.  John and Sophie will be part of a new Youth Ministry Team which will also include Fr Hoang Dinh, Assistant Priest at Camberwell, Balwyn Deepdene and Surrey Hills Wattle Park,  Fr Vinh Do, Assistant Priest at the affiliated Parishes of St Anne, St Bede and St Bridget (North Balwyn, East Kew and Greythorn).  The team will be supported by Fr Brendan and Mrs Tricia Norman, Senior Pastoral Associate.  Visit A Youth Community on the Parish website for further information.

Pictured from left to right: Fr Hoang Dinh, John Eric-Ighalo, Sophie Zebrowksi, Fr Vinh Do

Lent

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Lent and we are offering a number of ways for you to enter into the season of Lent.  Each year our parishes support Project Compassion, Caritas Australia’s annual fundraising campaign.  This year the Project Compassion theme is For All Future Generations, reminding us that the good we do today will have an impact into the future.  We have set up a Camberwell, Balwyn Deepdene and Surrey Hills Wattle Park (CBD SHWP) page on the Caritas website where you can donate online.  Let’s see if together we can reach our target.

Fr Frank O’Loughlin is providing a Lent at Home reflection sheet each week, Rose Marie Prosser is offering a Lenten Discussion Group and the students from Our Lady’s, Wattle Park have prepared a daily bedtime prayer for each day of Lent.  All of these offerings can be accessed through our Lenten Enrichment page.

It’s Show Time!

This year we have a new section in our newsletter brought to you by Fr Peter Malone.  Fr Peter is a Missionary of the Sacred Heart and a film critic.  In his first column for our newsletter Fr Peter reviews the movie The Son.   Thanks Fr Peter for this new column.  Read It’s Show Time!…

By Fr Brendan Reed