Fr Alo writes ...

Updates on Our Parish Community

Dear Parishioners,

We are living through extraordinary times. Most of us have never experienced the suspension of public Masses or parish gatherings. I know that many of us might feel sad, lonely, hopeless, helpless, and even (hopefully not) a bit depressed. We need to be strong and not lose heart to face this for many weeks and months to come, not just individually but also as a family and the whole parish community, even larger society. Probably this is a great opportunity to strengthen our union with God in prayer and with one another by caring for others in our own ways. At the parish level, I would like to update you with few things that we have done, are doing and will continue to do.

• Maria Caetano, the secretary still comes to work at the office as usual, since we need to keep the parish alive. I never imagined that the amount of work that Maria is doing is never decreased. • The Liturgy committee headed by Lena Hermawan has been very committed in helping me to prepare and celebrate Masses and even live-streaming those Masses to the community. • Some of our volunteers also still offer their time to help the community in some ways. Sarina Capo and Jan Nicholas take the hard copy of the bulletin and deliver them to some elderly parishioners. John Allen and some others also keep the church and its surroundings clean and tidy from time to time. I also have some people delivering food for myself and Fr Quy. • The Building and Maintenance Committee in collaboration with Patrick Myles are trying their best to give information to the Insurance Company in relation to the repair of the church roof.

• A donor (parishioner) that wishes to remain anonymous has donated funds to buy and install a new sound system in the church. We are grateful to this person’s generosity. Installation has been completed and ready to be used. • We keep in touch with our parish community through the Parish webpage, Facebook, email and phone calls. • This is a very challenging time for each one of us, physically, socially, financially, mentally and spiritually. Many of us probably struggle financially which would affect our parish as well. The office of “Parish Support” of the Archdiocese of Sydney will do some assessment of our parish to find out whether we are eligible to receive some financial assistance from the Federal Government. It depends on changes to our regular income. • I really appreciate whatever financial support parishioners have donated and can continue to provide to help keep the parish going. I found that we are a very generous community.

Every day when I celebrate the Eucharist I gratefully pray for you and your families. I also remember those who are isolated and alone and all those affected by the Covid19 virus throughout the world.

God bless you all.

Read the full bulettin here