News and Announcements
22nd January, 2012
Fr Marshall will be on vacation from 23rd January – 14th February. Please carefully note the modifications to the weekday Mass timetable during this time.
Beginning this week, Compline will now be sung by the Schola on Tuesday evenings at 6.30 pm. If there is sufficient interest, in the future this might be preceded by Eucharistic Adoration from 6.00 pm, and conclude with Benediction (please indicate to Fr Tattersall your interest in attending such a ‘Holy Hour’). There will no longer be a Thursday evening Mass. Upon Fr Marshall’s return from holidays, we will commence a regular Friday evening Mass. Don’t forget that Mass in the Extraordinary Form is now offered at St Patrick’s Cathedral every Wednesday at 5.30 pm.
Newman Fellowship: young adults are invited to attend the 5.30 pm Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Wednesday 1st February, and to meet afterwards (venue TBA) to discuss the year ahead, especially possible apostolic works of evangelisation and catechesis. We will conclude with supper in the vicinity. Contact Fr Tattersall with any inquiries.
Tea & Coffee after 8.00 am Mass: those who have recently offered to assist with this work of hospitality, and others who may be interested and available, are invited to gather under the verandah of Maryvale this Sunday, directly after the 8.00 am Mass, in order to work out some practicalities (including a roster).
Volunteers needed
Have you considered whether, and how, you might be able to make a practical contribution to the Newman Community this year? Please especially consider the following: hospitality (welcoming people before Mass, or providing tea & coffee afterwards), Church cleaning, catechetical support, charitable works, Altar serving, sacristy work, sewing and embroidery, and sacred music. If you think you might like to help, please speak with one of the priests, or call or email the Secretary.
We are serializing below the Holy Father’s Apostolic Letter declaring a ‘Year of Faith’, to commence on 11th October this year. Let us consider prayerfully in the weeks ahead how our community should respond to Pope Benedict’s initiative.
APOSTOLIC LETTER “MOTU PROPRIO DATA” PORTA FIDEI OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF BENEDICT XVI FOR THE INDICTION OF THE YEAR OF FAITH (ctd)
‘4. In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The starting date of 11 October 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text promulgated by my Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II,[3] with a view to illustrating for all the faithful the power and beauty of the faith. This document, an authentic fruit of the Second Vatican Council, was requested by the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 as an instrument at the service of catechesis[4] and it was produced in collaboration with all the bishops of the Catholic Church. Moreover, the theme of the General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops that I have convoked for October 2012 is “The New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. This will be a good opportunity to usher the whole Church into a time of particular reflection and rediscovery of the faith. It is not the first time that the Church has been called to celebrate a Year of Faith. My venerable Predecessor the Servant of God Paul VI announced one in 1967, to commemorate the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul on the 19th centenary of their supreme act of witness. He thought of it as a solemn moment for the whole Church to make “an authentic and sincere profession of the same faith”; moreover, he wanted this to be confirmed in a way that was “individual and collective, free and conscious, inward and outward, humble and frank”.[5] He thought that in this way the whole Church could reappropriate “exact knowledge of the faith, so as to reinvigorate it, purify it, confirm it, and confess it”.[6] The great upheavals of that year made even more evident the need for a celebration of this kind. It concluded with the Credo of the People of God,[7] intended to show how much the essential content that for centuries has formed the heritage of all believers needs to be confirmed, understood and explored ever anew, so as to bear consistent witness in historical circumstances very different from those of the past.’
Servers/singers/sacristans wanted: the work of the Sacred Liturgy, especially its Solemn celebration, cannot be successfully carried out only by the clergy. It is the work of the whole Church, and the lay Faithful have a personal responsibility to contribute their time and talents. Nowhere is this more the case than in the traditional Latin Liturgy, which can only be sustained over the long term when significant numbers of the Faithful are prepared to immerse themselves in the rich culture which supports it. We are in need of more Catholic men and youth to offer themselves for the service of the Altar and the Sacristy, and of the Faithful of both sexes to assist with Sacred Music. Anyone interested in serving, singing, or helping in the sacristy, is urged to speak to the Fathers or contact the office.