ST. CANICE NEWS
April 2021
The challenges of Floods and Covid in East Timor
Fr E J Gerilla, Parish Priest of our sister parish at Railaco Jesuit Mission writes to bring us more up to date with the recent flooding in Timor-Leste. He believe that the words that a religious sister in Timor posted on her Facebook best sums up the situation: “An Easter that is ever so different!” I think it captures the downtrodden spirit of the country and perhaps the local church as well. The majority of the Timorese people had to deal with great difficulties brought about by the Covid pandemic and the heavy downpour on Easter Sunday (4th of April, 2021) resulting to massive flooding in capital Dili and death toll of 27, as of the last count.
March 2021
Fr Phil Crotty SJ reflects on 70 years of Jesuit Mission
Seventy years have passed since the Australian Jesuits set about creating a mission in the Indian region of Hazaribag, and yet Fr Phil Crotty SJ still remembers those earliest days as though they were just beginning to unfurl. At home in Sydney, where he is now retired, the memories return to him with all the clarity of reflections trapped inside a raindrop – the tribulations and sorrows, the successes and joys and lamentations, the reflections and stories generated over a lifetime spent working with some of India’s most vulnerable people. “We went to, I think it was Myer’s, on Bourke Street in Melbourne, and were given six khaki shirts and six khaki pairs of pants,” he recalls of the weeks leading up to his departure from his hometown, Melbourne.
Blessings for same sex couples
In this beautiful response to the recent negative Vatican announcement on blessings for same sex couples, Jesuit priest and law professor, Fr Frank Brennan masterfully sows words of love. Thank you. His reasoned homily removes the sting from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) by embracing words of Love from the recent encyclical of Pope Francis’ ‘Fratelli tutti’.
February 2021
Thanks St Canice Community
We thank so many of our parishioners for choosing to support the Railaco Jesuit Mission in 2020. Despite the challenges of the year, $74,000 was raised by the St Canice's Community for our sister parish in East Timor, including $11,608 as part of the Christmas Appeal.
Growing in Friendship with God this Lent
William A. Barry, SJ, writes: Lent is a great time to give God a chance to convince you of his desire for your friendship. Traditionally Lent has been a time of engaging in practices of penance or prayer that will ready us to experience, more and more deeply, the almost unbelievable love and generosity of God toward us wayward human beings. This Lent, grow in your friendship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with a special series by the dotMagis bloggers. We share Fr. Barry’s meditations for the Wednesdays of Lent and a reflection inspired by each.
January 2021
Celebrating the Feast of the Epiphany
Fr Gaetan urged all of us in this New Year to follow the example of the Three Wise Men and follow a road less travelled away from the experiences of Covid, looking for ways we can be more caring for our fellow man, and aware of the need to care for our planet.
December 2020
Christmas with David’s Place Community
Today we celebrated Christmas with the David's Place community. Due to COVID the celebration was a little different to previous years however we still managed to reflect on the past year and celebrate the friendships and companionship the David's Place community provide to each other.
Gaudete Sunday ‘rejoicing’ at St Canice’s
It’s truly a day of rejoicing, joy, music, flowers, and celebration of Mass, we are all together once more! The organ plays again; strains of beautiful violin descant and melody lift the spirits, and the cantor raises our prayers to heaven with her song.
Human Rights Award for our Railaco friend, Fr Bong.
he President of the Republic of Timor Leste, Francisco Guterres, conferred the ‘Sergio Vieira de Mello’ Award for the promotion of Human Rights to Fr Bong of Our sister parish in Railaco Mission for the excellent service of promoting rights of the child to food and nutrition with the Children’s Feeding Program.
November 2020
Federal Member Dave Sharma MP inspired by Canice’s Kitchen
Our Federal Member, Dave Sharma MP, visited Canice's Kitchen this week. He was impressed by the Kitchen's sustainability and ability not only survive but to grow through COVID. Alongside a daily meal service, the Kitchen now provides additional support to its guests. In addition to regular visits from Orange Sky Laundry and Thread Together, we are providing weekly access to St Vincent’s Homeless Health, an employment and coaching service, as well as a community participation program which will offer guests the chance to work alongside qualified chefs to gain skills and confidence.
October 2020
Who is my brother?
The upcoming movie ‘Francesco’ comes at a time when Pope Francis exhorts us to read and embrace his latest encyclical, ‘Fratelli tutti’ that he signed standing at the tomb of Saint Francis of Assisi last week..
Fratelli tutti
At the core of ‘Fratelli tutti’ is Francis’s conviction that the world is fast losing its sense of the oneness of the human family. With the disappearance of the common good, dialogue, and solidarity as animating social ideas, humanity is fast sliding into the darkness of civil strife, conflict, tribalism, and nationalism.