Farewell Mgr John Swann
Today is a sad day, but we say farewell with a song!













SWANNY
It's almost time for you to go away
We'd rather that you did not go.
You've been our priest
For 10 years at least
With sermons that would inspire
You've taught us how to live and pray
We're really going to miss you so
But at seventy five priests still alive
Must all leave and retire.

Refrain:
Swanny
How we love you
How we'll miss you
Our dear old Swanny
Now you are going to stay
Among the folks in K-A-P-U-N-D-A
Your family's waiting for you
Praying for you there in Kapunda
We folks down South
Won't see you too much
But please do try to keep in touch.

Swanny Swanny
You're about to leave St Joseph
Swanny Swanny
All our love goes with you

Refrain

Dear God

Michael Leunig always intrigues me with his cartoons and his writing.
I would like to share this prayer with you.

Dear God,
We struggle, we grow weary, we grow tired. We are exhausted, we are distressed, we despair. We give up, we fall down, we let go. We cry. We are empty, we grow calm, we are ready. We wait quietly.

A small shy truth arrives. Arrives from without and within. Arrives and is born. Simple, steady, clear. Like a mirror, like a bell, like a flame. Like rain in summer. A precious truth arrives and is born within us. Within our emptiness.
We accept it, we observe it, we absorb it. We surrender to our bare truth. We are nourished, we are changed…we are blessed. We rise up.
For this we give thanks.

Amen.

And as we are in autumn here is another one........



Autumn

We give thanks for the harvest of the heart’s work;
Seeds of faith planted with faith;
Love nurtured by love;
Courage strengthened by courage.
We give thanks for the fruits of the struggling soul,
The bitter and the sweet;
For that which has grown in adversity
And for that which has flourished in warmth and grace;
For the radiance of the spirit in autumn
And for that which must now fade and die.
We are blessed and give thanks.

Amen.

Jesuit Lenten Series (5)

If God loves us, why does he allow us to suffer - Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ

Saying God sends disasters to punish us is not only a sub-divine understanding of God, but a sub-human one, says Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ in the final of our Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series. Speaking with Michael McVeigh, Fr Hamilton explores the question, ‘If God loves us, why does he allow us to suffer?' Click here to listen to the full interview (Duration 11:40 To save this audio file to your computer Right Click and "Save Target As...)

Sr Sue McGovern

People all over Kinglake had heard about the South Australian nun who turned up to help around their ravaged town the week after Black Saturday. They just never expected what they found when they finally met her.

Read the full article here.

Jesuit Lenten Series 4

'That could easily have been us' - Robert Martini
The Victorian bushfires have brought Australians together in prayer and solidarity. In the fourth Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series, Michael McVeigh interviews Robert Martini, a farmer from Kinglake and member of the parish council from St Mary's. One of the lucky survivors of the bushfires, Robert talks about the impact of the fires on his community and their determination to rebuild their homes and church.

More information about the church here.
Click here to listen to the full interview
(Duration 11:40 To save this audio file to your computer Right Click and "Save Target As...)

Mary MacKillop Statue Unveiled

More than 400 people including 100 Josephite nuns, the Governor Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, Church and civic leaders witnessed the unveiling of the statue next to the cathedral at Victoria Square by four of the most senior Josephite Sisters in South Australia.
This year is the centenary of the death of Mary MacKillop

The full story and photos can be read in the Southern Cross paper available in the church. LINK

Find out more about the artist Judith Rolevink

Dr Mary Glowrey

Dr Mary Glowrey (1887-1957)
- a brilliant doctor,
- a visionary leader,
- a person of great holiness,
- a source of life for countless thousands.

Her story is featured on the St Columban's website
LINK.

Jesuit Lenten Series 3

This year's Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series looks at Reversals: Finding God in times of crisis and change. This is the third podcast of the series.

One of the most difficult things any family can experience is when someone takes their own life. In the third of our Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series, Michael McVeigh interviews Louise Flynn, from the Jesuit Social Services Support After Suicide Program, about what happens in families and communities affected by suicide and how relationships and lives can be rebuilt.

When someone takes their own life - Louise Flynn
Click here to listen to the full interview
(Duration 9:40 To save this audio file to your computer Right Click and "Save Target As...)

Mary MacKillop Centenary Breakfast

Click the image to see a larger version.

For more information about the work of the MacKillop Foundation click here.

Karl Rahner, S.J. (1904-84)

When Karl Rahner died on March 30, 1984, just a few weeks after his 80th birthday, he left a legacy of theological writings that is remarkable for its sheer volume as well as for the scope and variety of its contents.

The breadth and depth of his vision have led some to call him the greatest Catholic thinker of the century

Rahner's theological work was always centered on grace as the presence of God in the individual human person and in the whole created order.
For Rahner, religious experience is not to be found or sought in some separate or exotic compartment of life, but in its ordinary moments and events.
For him, salvation is available to all people of good will. The church is the sign and instrument of what a loving and compassionate God is doing on behalf of everyone, both inside and outside the Body of Christ.

[taken from: http://ncronline.org/blogs/essays-theology/saintly-figures-bowman-rahner-and-climacus]

Karl Rahner saw Christianity emerging as a “world church”. At the Second Vatican Council, the Church “appeared for the first time as a world Church in a fully official way.”
For the first time a truly world-wide episcopate was present at the Council, and this episcopate gathered not “as an advisory body for pope but rather with him and under him the final teaching and decision-making body in the Church. For the first time a worldwide episcopate came into existence and functioned independently”

In addition to a worldwide episcopate, signs of the Church's emergence as a world church can be seen in various decrees of the Council, including the Church's allowance of the vernacular in liturgy. Rahner says that “the documents on the Church, on the missions, and on the Church in the modem world proclaim a universal and effective salvific will of God which is limited only by the evil decision of human conscience and nothing else”

As a world church Christian proclamations would be different from region to regions but at the same time would be source of unity in the church in that they would “criticize and enrich one another”
Vatican II was “the active subject of the highest plenary powers in the Church” The question that must be asked, however, is a question of how this plenary authority can be able to act and exist. Rahner warns that the Church has yet to fully answer this question and that if the Church does not act on the reforms mandated by Vatican II then the Church risks falling back into a status of a European and Roman Church.
[taken from: http://www.shc.edu/theolibrary/resources/rahner.htm]
Rahner warns that the Church has yet to fully answer this question and that if the Church does not act on the reforms mandated by Vatican II then the Church risks falling back into a status of a European and Roman Church.

Rahner was a prophet! How unfortunate that his words have never been fully appreciated and now we are "falling back into a status of a European and Roman Church.

More information: http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/rahner.htm

Jesuit Lenten Series 2

This year's Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series looks at Reversals: Finding God in times of crisis and change.
This is the second podcast of the series.
Catherine Marshal speaks with Michael*, a father of two who last year lost his home and his business and has found himself without a job amid growing economic uncertainty. He talks about how he's coped in the face of these difficulties, finding his faith and family bonds growing stronger even as the rest of his life got more difficult.
*Surname withheld.
God on my side - A family faces economic uncertainty.
Click here to listen to the full interview
(Duration 10:40
To save this audio file to your computer Right Click and "Save Target As...)

World Water Day 2009

Whether we live upstream or downstream,

we are all in the same boat.

View this very interesting website by clicking the picture.

Jesuit Lenten Series

This year's Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series looks at Reversals: Finding God in times of crisis and change.
The Victorian bushfires and floods in Queensland have reminded us how vulnerable our communities are to disaster. The rebuilding of lives for those affected is only just beginning. But many others are also facing uncertainty in their lives, either through economic hardship as the result of financial crisis, or personal issues such as relationship breakdown and life-changing illness.
Facing these challenges requires faith and hope. The promise of Easter is that God is present in these difficult times, and that He shares in our pain and offers us solace. But how do we experience this presence?

The first of the Jesuit Lenten Podcast Series
Understanding trauma and the path to healing - Fr Peter Hosking SJ
Catherine Marshall talks to Fr Peter Hosking SJ, a psychologist and counselor with experience working in refugee and other communities that have experienced disaster and upheaval. He talks about what families affected by bushfires will be going through, and how communities respond in these situations.

Click here to listen to the full interview
(Duration 10:38
To save this audio file to your computer Right Click and "Save Target As...)

Holy Week at Tranmere Parish

Planning ahead for Holy Week at Tranmere Parish.

Project Compassion

"We are most truly Australian, most truly Christian, and most truly Catholic when we reach out across borders of nation states and churches, giving of ourselves," Jesuit Fr Frank Brennan told the 2009 Project Compassion appeal launch.

Read Frank Brennan’s appeal launch address .....LINK

Project Compassion is Caritas Australia’s major annual fundraising and education campaign. It starts the week of Feb 23 and runs during the six weeks of Lent.
It is a time to reflect upon and engage with significant issues of peace, justice and development.

News from the Mary MacKillop Centre

The first edition of 2009 of the Gazette is available here.
It includes many dates for diaries!

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

At this time of fires and flood and other tragic events the question is often asked.
Somebody has to be blamed.
Fr Chris Middleton SJ, principal of St Aloysius' College, Milsons Point, has written a reflection.
Read it here.

Bushfire Appeal

You will have the opportunity to donate to the St Vincent De Paul Bushfire Appeal this weekend at the parish church.
Please be generous.
To make a donation online follow this LINK

Instruments of Peace

Christ expects us to be “instruments of peace”

Do You Know Where You Are Going?

Here is a prayer to accompany you on the journey.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton

LINK

Fr Noel Connelly of the Columbans wrote this:

Recently I was struck by the statement in Acts 15:28 “We and the Holy Spirit have agreed …”
I admired the audacity and the confidence of the statement. It came at the conclusion of the first Council of the Church, the Council of Jerusalem. The Apostles and elders were trying to decide how Jewish the new Greek Christians had to become. It was a very difficult question. Their whole understanding of God and what he wanted was at stake.

Another example was the conversion of Cornelius [Acts 10].
This story is misnamed because it is really Peter who is being converted. Cornelius was a just man and faith in Jesus came naturally to him. It was Peter who had to argue with his conscience and his God as to how this could be. Going to Cornelius’ house was against everything Peter had been taught was precious to God. But he also knew that the Holy Spirit was telling him that this was what God wanted. Eventually he baptised Cornelius, but when he returned to Jerusalem he was given a terrible time by the Jewish Christians. The Council of Jerusalem was largely provoked by incidents like this and by Paul’s outreach to the Gentiles.

We often claim that we are living at a point of history where old approved solutions do not seem to work anymore. It is true. We are living at a time when the old certainties have been eroded and the new solutions are not yet convincing enough. Many find they cannot rely on past certainties and have to struggle to find out what God is asking of them today.

I find consolation in the Acts of the Apostles. It is a book of searching. The early Christians could not rely on the past and they didn’t have clear instructions from Jesus. They didn’t even have the Gospels which were yet to be written. They had to read the signs of the times and trust in the Spirit. We too have to trust in the Spirit, stay with the questions, pray, and use our imaginations and intellects to find the way. Maybe then we will also be able to say with peace and confidence, "We and the Holy Spirit have agreed…. "

Fr Noel Connolly

LINK

Australia Day

We celebrate Australia Day on January 26, because it was on that day that Governor Phillip raised the British flag at Sydney Cove in 1788; the day that the colony of New South Wales was proclaimed.
Understandably, many Aboriginal people don’t see 26 January as a cause for celebration. In fact it is referred to as ‘Invasion Day.’
The various colonies were united into one nation, Australia, on Federation Day – January 1, 1901
What date could we have instead to celebrate our Australian identity, our nationhood
Perhaps we should wait a bit longer and shift Australia Day to the day when Australia becomes a republic.
What do you think?

Second Vatican Council announced 50 years ago

Pope John XXIII announced the Second Vatican Council on Sunday 25 January 1959.
Silence greeted his announcement: a frozen silence some thought, an ‘impressive and devout silence’ others later wrote.
Archbishop Giovanni Montini was shocked. ‘This holy old boy doesn’t seem to realise what a hornet’s nest he’s stirring up," he told a friend.

The Vatican II Council eventually opened in 1962 and ended in 1965. Pope John XXIII died in 1963 when the Council had barely begun. Archbishop Montini became Pope Paul VI and accepted the responsibility to complete the Council’s program and implement its resolutions.

We welcome your thoughts and memories about the Council. Here are some focussing questions.
1. What do you remember about the Vatican II Council and its conclusions?
2. Do you think that the Council’s decisions helped you in your faith journey?
3. How well has the Church adopted and developed the recommendations of the Council?

Gaza Again

Two articles about the Israel v Palestine question caught my attention today.
Both are published by Eureka Street Online magazine. Eureka Street is an Australian Jesuit publication.

“Thoughts from a Gaza voyeur”
Quote:
“The whole Islamic world is in uproar, and the focus there is much less on the immediate issue of the Hamas missiles, and the grossly disproportionate Israeli response, than on the longer term strangulation of any economic, cultural and social life in Gaza by the land and sea siege.”
Read the article here.

“Gaza conversations”

Quote:
“In recent days events in the Gaza Strip have demonstrated that power finds it easier to use force than to begin or maintain conversation. Hamas' mission is to engineer situations which will bolster its support in the Gaza Strip and perhaps also on the West Bank. And Israel's assault confirms the conviction amongst Palestinians (many of whom have already suffered from the blockade of Gaza) that Israel is their bane.”
Read the article here.

The Big Issue

The Big Issue is an independent national magazine that publishes quality articles and images on a range of subjects including arts and entertainment, current affairs, street culture and lifestyle.
Our aim is to help people help themselves. The Big Issue provides a way for people who have experienced homelessness and long-term unemployment to participate in society as independently as possible.
As a not-for-profit organisation we’re working towards becoming self-sufficient by increasing sales and advertising revenue.

I really enjoy reading this magazine. There are street vendors in the city. There is a website as well.

'ADELAIDE VOICES'

‘ADELAIDE VOICES’ is an independent, social justice newspaper published every two months.
Subscription:- $ 10.00 per year
Contact Editor: Adelaide Voices Inc, PO Box 6042, Halifax Street SA 5000, AUSTRALIA.

The ‘ADELAIDE VOICES’ presents opinions on community issues that are frequently ignored by the mainstream media.

The current edition contains two articles that especially have drawn my attention.
The first is an edited copy of a speech made by Prof. Fiona Stanley AC at the Adelaide Town Hall on 6/11/2008 about the need to acknowledge Aboriginal people as equal partners in addressing their problems and future.

The second is a speech by Julian Burnside QC at the University of SA on 13/11/2008 about the question of an Australian Federal Bill of Rights. In light of the events that have occurred in Australia during the last decade or so this issue is being looked at with a new perspective.

Both of these issues are about responsible Australian citizenship and very much worth reading and discussing.

The Gaza War

There are more and more reports coming from the Middle East that criticise the Israeli campaign. The Red Cross and the United Nations agency that runs schools in Gaza are two recent examples.
A British journalist with significant knowledge of Middle East politics etc. is Robert Fisk.
Here are links to two recent articles by him.
Link 1
Link 2

World Day of Prayer for Peace

Every year, January 1 is designated as the World Day of Peace, and the Pope issues a special statement. The title of Pope Benedict’s message for January 1, 2009 is Fighting Povery to Build Peace.

The Pope asks for:

• an “ethical approach to economics on the part of those active in the international market,


• an ethical approach to politics on the part of those in public office, and


• an ethical approach to participation capable of harnessing the contributions of civil society at local and international levels.”