March 2024
17 Lent 5B, 5pm St Patrick Youth & Family Mass
18 St Patrick
19 Joseph spouse of Mary
23 Working Bee 11am St John's Church
24 Passion/Palm Sun
28 Holy Thursday
29 Good Friday
30 Easter Vigil
31 Easter Sunday Yr B
April 2024
7 Easter 2B
8 Annunciation of the Lord
14 Easter 3B
21 Easter 4B, Instatllation of Parish Priest
25 ANZAC Day
25 St Mark
28 Easter 5B
May 2024
1 Joseph - worker
3 Philip & James
5 Easter 6B
12 Ascension of the Lord
14 Matthias
19 Pentecost
24 Our Lady of the Southern Cross / Help of Christians
26 Trinity
31 Visitation of Mary
June 2024
2 Body & Blood of Christ
7 Sacred Heart of Jesus
8 Immaculate Heart of Mary
9 Sun 10B
16 Sun 11B
23 Sun 12B
24 Nativity of John Baptist
29 Peter & Paul
30 Sun 13B
Samoan Mass 12.30 4th Sundays
Sacramental Reception
Baptism:
Second and fourth Sundays of the
month at 12 noon (email the office to book) Marriage: by
appointment
Reconciliation:
approach a priest before Mass First
Communion and Confirmation:
Preparation for this is conducted in our school at St
Joseph’s; we also offer this preparation to State School
children. Email our office at
office@olsc.org.au for
further infomation
If you would like to have a pastoral visit from the parish
priest, or a priest, or a seminarian, or a co-parishioner,
kindly leave a message at the administration office on 9481 7333
or email to collclift@hotmail.com
As Holy Week approaches we hope you and
your parishioners are feeling inspired and supported to raise
money for Caritas Australia, the aid agency of the Australian
Catholic Church working to eradicate poverty and injustice. In
his letter “Fratelli Tutti”, Pope Francis speaks against ‘a
culture of walls’ He asks us to treasure the hope found in every
heart: “Hope speaks to us of something deeply rooted in every
human heart, independently of our circumstances and historical
conditions. Hope speaks to us of a thirst, an aspiration, a
longing for a life of fulfillment, as desire to achieve great
things, things that fill our heart and lift our spirit to lofty
realities like truth, goodness and beauty, justice and love …
Hope is bold.” Caritas Australia
KEEP THIS DATE FREE….. On Sunday 1
March 2026 we will commemorate the 150th Anniversary of
the laying of the Foundation Stone of the Church which took
place on 26 February 1876. We still cannot find the foundation
stone. Is it buried somewhere? Does anyone have any clues? Let
John or Joan know.
Support lifeline.org.au
13 11 14 BeyondBlue.org.au 1300 22 46 36
Defence Family Helpline 1800 624 608
Open Arms 1800 011 046
SANE Helpline 1800 18 SANE (7263)
Domestic Violence 1800 RESPECT (737 732)
Vic Statewide Suicide helpline 1300 651 251
Mensline Australia 1300 789 978
Drug info. to your mobile phone 0439 TELL ME
CrimeStoppers 1800 333 000
Suicide Helpline Victoria 1300 651 251
parentsbeyondbreakup.com 1800 853 437
Where homeless people might go for help ...
* Ozanam House in North Melbourne
* Mary House of Welcome in Fitzroy
* Jesuit Social Services in Richmond
* Margaret Oats Van, corner of Smith and Stanley Streets (near
Safeway) in Collingwood.
For further information on where people can get free meals
contact Joan in the office on 9481 7333.
At Our Lady of the Southern Cross,
we hold the care, safety and wellbeing of children and young
people as a central and fundamental responsibility of our
parish.
We acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional land of
the Wurundjeri people and offer our respects to the elders past,
present and future. We recognise and respect the cultural
heritage of this land.
Parish of Our Lady of the Southern Cross
St John the Baptist, Clifton Hill -
St Joseph's, Collingwood
Lent 5B 2024
March 16-17
For kids
Audio Gospel Reflections -
Fr Frank Moloney SDB
Also on
Apple Podcasts
Sunday Cinema Online Viewing
for this Week's Liturgy
[Updated March 17]
Life through Death in Trust
Steeped in philosophical pursuits, the Greeks are seeking a
rational Jesus, but by defining life in terms of death, his
response clearly defies their expectations. If we are to
understand Jesus’ life and mission, we must look at the mystery
of life out of death. Such contradiction underscores the whole
narrative of John’s Gospel and the cross becomes the beacon
directing the disciples’ life-journey and combining in the same
image seeking and the hour, Jesus appeals to the natural life
cycle of the seed as the key to
understanding who he is and what it means to follow him in
faith. We become ourselves to the extent that we let go of
ourselves, until that final letting go of life in order to find
Life. ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much
fruit’ (John 12:24). Contrary to pure human logic, Jesus’
proposal for fullness of life is nothing less than a total and
radical reversal of values: the cross becomes a throne,
nakedness a royal mantle, destitution the absolute richness,
and death is the only certainty for life. As radical and
unpalatable as it may sound to the superficial Godseeker, Jesus
was neither a masochist nor a Hollywood-style hero or sadist. He
did not seek death as a payback to an angry idol-god but,
arms-outstretched embracing the whole of humanity in its
multi-faceted brokenness, Jesus died to proclaim the human
possibility of faithfulness to a God of love, compassion to the
poor, justice to the oppressed, and freedom to captives, even in
the face of injustice, violence, and evil. But to achieve that
kind of human liberation he had to become the victim of the
power of fear, oppression, and hatred, without flinching or
compromising on his absolute conviction that the love of the
Father conquered and nullified even death. In his
total abandonment to the Father’ love, the seed of Jesus’ life
is abandoned and destroyed in the cold depth of death, but
because of that disintegration of self, humanity became
empowered into a new life, with new possibilities for peace,
justice, and freedom. Jesus could easily have embraced the
status quo, kept his belief and his ideas to himself, performed
the required rituals and observed the religious laws of a
devout Israelite of his time, thus saving his life. However, in
that case the seed would have remained a single fruitless and
desiccated empty shell, and the world would still be enslaved by
a loveless humanity
dominated by fear, injustice, and unredeemable sin. As we stand
before the human tragedy of Good Friday, may we have the courage
of letting go of the husks of self-righteousness that may
inhibit our growth by trust in our God, so that the seed of love
and life buried in the ground of our human story will become an
Easter source of concrete and unconditional love, justice,
peace, and life for those we meet and for the whole world.
Fr Peter Varengo
"A must read" ...
St John’s
Church is now open 12-1pm
weekdays to offer “time for quiet and reflection” to the general
public.
Sacrament of
Reconciliation
is being offered on
Fridays during Lent from 7-8pm
in St John’s Church.
Working bee
at St John’s Church, starting at 11am on
Saturday, 23rd March.
See Quyen for more details. Put
Sunday, 21st April
in your diary. The parish has the pleasure of witnessing the
formal
installation of our Parish
Priest, Fr Cassius Correya. With
Bishop Terry Curtin presiding. We need a ‘full house’ please.
If you would like to join this liturgical ministry as one of our
readers at mass email your
availability to Joan on
office@olsc.org.au The commitment doesn’t need to be big,
ie: once every two months, or weekly … whatever works for you.
The Parish is offering
mass intentions
to those parishioners who may have a special occasion to
celebrate. Please email Joan at
office@OLSC.org.au if
you would like a mass intention said.
Helpers needed for Easter:
please fill in the missing places on the list of Easter helpers.
Everyone has a role to play. Your part is appreciated.
Lent prayer & sacraments
* On
Tuesday, 19th MarchSt John’s
will be holding
Adoration and the Sacrament of
Reconciliation from 6pm to 9pm.St Joseph’s
will be holding a short
prayer followed by Mass in
Vietnamese between 6pm and 9pm.
Come and experience God’s love and mercy this Lenten season.
World Water Day
The theme for this year's World Water Day (22 March) is 'Water
for Peace', and it focuses on the critical role water plays in
the stability and prosperity of the world. Here in Australia we
are no strangers to the devastation the lack, or inundation of
water, can cause. Throughout the world, many communities are
facing a future with extreme water scarcity. Mexico City (home
for nearly 22 million people) may be 'just months away from
running out of water'. In southern India, Bengaluru's acute
water shortage is affecting businesses, families and
communities. Aust Catholics.
St Patrick’s Day Celebration
St John’s is inviting everyone to join them to celebrate St
Patrick’s Day Sunday, 17th March at the 5pm empowering
youth and family. Let’s involve our young
people in the music and liturgy. And … we will be having pizza
and a social evening afterwards. To volunteer our youth contact
the parish office or Clotilde on 0401 502 290 or Julia on 0407
343 637.
There are several avenues in which
Mass can be viewed.There are several avenues in which
Mass can be viewed.
1. EWTN
provides Masses every day at 8am and many other quality
programs about the Catholic faith. the EWTN App can be
downloaded to your phone or iPad. It has continuous live
streaming of programs. These include news, interviews,
children's and teenager's programs and more. Access the EWTN
schedule at
https://www.ewtn.com/tv/
schedule/asia-pacific
or on the EWTN App go to "Program Schedules" then "Pacific
Rim".
2. Dailystreaming of
Masses at St
Patrick's Cathedral
The 11am Sunday Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral will continue
to be televised free to air on C31
(often listed as Channel 44
on digital TVs) 3. Mass for You at Home 6.00-6.30am Sundays or catch up
on
10 PlayFreeview [need to sign up!]
Returned to the Father
Condolences:
We pray for the families and souls of
those who have departed recently: Anniversaries:
Silvino Ferrante. We remember ...
Prayers for healing:
Ian Armstrong,
Lorena Ferri,
Tony Addamo,
Teresa Boetti,
Cecily Hollingworth,
Pat Hearity,
Mario Misurelli
Please let us know if the office can help in any way.