THE PARISH OF BAULKHAM HILLS
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Click here to go to St Michael's church site. Email St Michael's at admin@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au Phone: +61 2 9639 0598 |
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Click here to go to Our Lady Of Lourdes church site. Email Our Lady of Lourdes at olol@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au
Phone: +61 2 9639 8385
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COVID UPDATE – FRIDAY OCTOBER
23: A COVID SAFE PARISH
Dear Parishioners,
Effective from this Friday (23 October) places of worship are now
able to have up to 300 people, guided by the 4 sq metre rule.
For
St Michael’s this means that we are able to have 150 attendees at any
Mass or religious service. So please give some thought to coming back…..
For
the time being we will continue the schedule of Masses until we have an
opportunity to review attendances, especially as we have noted an increase since
daylight saving started.
There
is no change to the schedule at Our Lady of Lourdes as 100 is the maximum for
that Church under the 4 sq metre rule.
We’ll
keep you informed.
Incidentally, yesterday (22 October) marked the 2nd
anniversary of the National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional
Child Sexual abuse. Bishop Vincent has released a statement which can be found
after these notices.
1. MASS LINK
This week’s live stream Mass link for the Thirtieth Sunday of
Ordinary Time from Our Lady of Lourdes on Saturday, October 24 at 6pm is
2. SACRAMENTAL PROGRAMMES
·
This weekend
another 48 children will be receiving their first Holy Communion at St
Michael’s, at both parish and special Masses. Please note that the current COVID
restrictions have been taken into account when organising these Masses.
·
Also about 65
children are now preparing to receive first communion at Our Lady of Lourdes
later next month.
Please pray for these children and their families.
3 MASS DETAILS
- It is safe to come back if you wish……..
As mentioned above, for the time being, Mass times at St Michael’s
remain as
·
Sat evening
5.00pm and 6.00pm
·
Sun morning
8.00am, 9.00am, 10.00am and 11.00am
·
Sun evening
6.00pm
.
·
If you do come
without having registered we may ask you to wait till a few moments before Mass
begins, by which time we will know if the cap has been reached. If it has, we
will ask you to wait for the next mass.
·
It might be
easier to thus register for the other Mass times – Sat 6pm, Sun 9am and Sun
11am, 6pm.
Sunday Masses at Our Lady of Lourdes and weekday masses at both places are not
affected and there is no change in mass times at this stage.
Remember:
·
The dispensation from attending Sunday Mass still holds, i.e. you do not have to
attend Mass on Sundays.
·
While we like you to come back to Mass, we’d ask that you do not come to Church
if you are feeling unwell.
·
Always use hand sanitiser
·
Always register
If you are wanting to attend
Mass you are still asked to register for the Mass you are
attending, especially if you have not been attending Mass in the last few weeks.
St Michael’s
9639 0598 email admin@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au
Our Lady of Lourdes
9639 8385 email olol@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au
If there is no answer please leave your name, phone
number, email, date and time of Mass you are requesting.
If there is a problem, we will get back to you.
4. SACRAMENT OF PENANCE – St Michael’s
only
For the time being, the Sacrament
of Penance will be celebrated at St Michael’s only on Saturday Morning from
9.30am to 10.30am
5. ON THE PARISH FACEBOOK
PAGE
If you have Facebook please like Parish of Baulkham Hills, there are a few
opportunities to catch up with various groups either via Facebook or ZOOM (no
charge).8
6. HOME VISITS
We continue to provide an opportunity for home visits with either the clergy or
Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, with a Liturgy of the Word with Holy
communion (or even Confession). Please don’t hesitate to ask us – we’re really
looking forward to this.
If you would like a visit, then please email via
admin@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au, ring the parish offices during office hours,
or send a message via the Parish Facebook page
7. MAILING LIST
A reminder that if you would like to be part of a parish email list for updates
plus copies of the bulletin, and are not currently receiving any emails from the
parish, please send an email to
wimh@parishofbaulkhamhills.org.au – please also indicate if you are
regularly a worshipper at Our Lady of Lourdes or St Michael’s.
YOUR PRAYERS
In your mercy please pray for those who have died recently – Monsignor
Theophilus Okere,
Fr. Emmanuel Gatt ofm conv, Angela Fallmann, Keith Gray,
John Salloum, Teresa Gething and those whose anniversary occurs around this time
– Francine Muzigirwa, Aileen Sinclair and Gregoria Arellano.
In these difficult times, if you need pastoral support or hear of anyone in need
of assistance from a priest, the Parish Office or Vinnies, please do not
hesitate to contact us.
Fr
Wim Hoekstra
SUPPORT DONATIONS
Thank you to those who continue to make contributions to our parish and priests
at this time, especially those who are still staying at home. I again
include these details for your information.
For EFT to the First Collection -
supporting the priests
BSB
067 950
Account No
000004265
Account Name
Diocesan Clergy
Reference
6001 donation
For EFT to the second (envelope and loose) Collection – for support of the
Parish,
BSB
067 950
Account No
000000214
Account Name
St Michael’s Baulkham Hills
Reference
Your Name (if you wish)
If you wish to pay by credit card, please use this link
https://www.bpoint.com.au/pay/stmichaelsparishbaulkhamhills
On 22 October 2018, the Prime Minister, the Hon Scott Morrison MP, delivered the
National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.
Bishop Vincent released the following statement.
A message from Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta
On this second anniversary of the National
Apology to the Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse we
reflect on the significance of that event, and of the suffering of those who
were harmed by people who were supposed to protect them.
The National Apology was made by the Prime
Minister on behalf of the Australian Government and the Australian people. It
followed the release of the final report and 409 recommendations from the Royal
Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The Diocese of Parramatta continues to learn
from the Royal Commission and from listening to survivors and victims. Over
17 000 of them came forward and nearly 8000 addressed the Royal Commission about
the abuse that was done to them. We recognise the courage this must have taken
after so many were not listened to for so many years. For many, it was the first
time they had ever spoken about the horrific crimes they endured.
We continue to offer our unreserved and
deepest apologies to those who were abused when in the care of the Diocese of
Parramatta. We recognise many of them may still be traumatised by these
experiences.
The Diocese is committed to being a community
of safeguarding. This means we have zero tolerance of abuse in any form.
We promise to do everything we can so no child or other person in our care is
harmed again.
We are implementing the National Catholic
Standards for Safeguarding. The Standards are our Diocese’s guide to ensure that
as we continue to build our Church we will do it safely and carefully. As part
of this, our job is to make sure everyone who works or acts for the Church
understands and recognises the Standards as an integral part of their
understanding of what it means to be engaged in the life of the Church.
We are providing specialised help for those
who continue to suffer trauma through our Guarire House support services. Our
aim is to listen and help survivors find what assistance they need – it may be
counselling, helping with a crisis, providing information around reporting their
abuse to the authorities, or assisting to work through the redress process. We
invite any survivors of abuse by the Church in the Diocese of Parramatta to
contact us through Guarire House in the hope that we can help you in some way.
We acknowledge the scars of the trauma of
sexual abuse and power imbalance and the impact that has had on survivors and
the Church.
We remember to look back in reflection while
looking forward and taking concrete action to create a safe place for children
and all people.
To find out more about
Safeguarding in the Diocese of Parramatta go to https://safeguarding.org.au/
To find out more about Guarire
House go to https://safeguarding.org.au/guarire-house/