Parish of Our Lady of the Southern Cross

Image used with permission of artist Paul Newton

Home About Us Contact Us Mass Times News Prayer Room Marriage Baptism Memorial Becoming Catholic Priest-Brother-Sister Youth St Joseph's St John's Vietnamese Italian Samoan Croatian Salesian Good Shepherd Collingwood Cottage NET Links

	See lower far right column for options
	2020 Newsletter August 8-9 August 15-16

Thanksgiving ways	... or direct debit BSB 083-347 Account 16647 1224 or credit card or envelope. 25% tax deductible
	Today's Mass Scripture Today's Morning Prayer This Week's Ordo 2020 Liturgical Calendar
	Mass Times, Events, Mass on Demand, Prayer of the Day, Archbishop, News, Events Calendar 2020
	Diocese Youth Site
	Salesian Missions Newsletter - July 31 Prayer Intention - August Cagliero 11 - August Mission Day 2020
August 2020 15 Assumption 22 Queenship of Mary 29 Passion of John Baptist 30 Sun 22A September 2020 6 Sun 23A 8 Nativity Blessed Virgin Mary 13 Sun 24A 14 Exultation of the Cross 15 Our Lady of Sorrows 20 Sun 25A 21 Matthew 23 Padre Pio 27 Sun 26A 29 Michael, Gabriel, Paphael Samoan Mass 12.30 4th Sundays
Sacramental Reception Baptism: Sundays at 12 noon (ring office to book) Marriage: by appointment Reconciliation: approach a priest before Mass to make an appointment. First Communion and Confirmation: Preparation for this is conducted in our two schools; we also offer this preparation to State School children. Ring our office on 9481 7333 for further information.
Our Parish Priest, Fr Martin Tanti, SDB PP is normally at St John’s on Thursdays, 10-3pm. He is normally at St Joseph’s on Wednesdays at 10-3pm. However, to make a time to see Fr Martin please ring Joan on 9481 7333. The Parish office is manned Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at this time, between 9am and 2pm (normally). If the phone is not answered please leave a message and someone will return your call. Or email: office@olsc.org.au

Support lifeline.org.au 13 11 14 BeyondBlue.org.au 1300 22 44 36 SANE Helpline 1800 18 SANE (7263) 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 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.
Pope Francis says ... *Faith* gives us hope. We gain victory over the world by our faith, confessing it, nourishing it, and trusting in God. *Hope* does not exist in a vacuum, Pope Francis reminds us. In fact, the three cardinal virtues of faith, hope, and love all work together. Faith reinforces hope and can keep us going when hope seems dim. Hope can increase our faith when we have trouble believing. *Love* works with both, because it is when we love that both faith and hope are renewed. All of these gifts are given to us to share - and it’s when we share them in trusting obedience to God that we can see how they are working in others’ lives too. This gives us power and strength to work for good. God of hope, strengthen my faith that I may trust in hope and better love all who cross my path.
‘Dorothy Day in Australia’ Our dear parishioners Mary Doyle & Val Noone are releasing Val's book, Dorothy Day in Australia. Dorothy Day (1897- 1980), co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, is one of the most interesting and complex figures in the history of twentieth-century Catholicism. In her youth, a labour radical, a peace activist and a Bohemian, she was jailed with the suffragists. She became a Catholic, founded the Catholic Worker newspaper, and ran a house of hospitality in New York's lower east side. A movement grew and had a small but definite effect in Australia down to the present day. In August 1970, Dorothy visited Australia. To mark the fiftieth anniversary, Dorothy Day in Australia records details of her stay and explores her long-term impact. Her inspiring story offers food for thought about how to live a good life in this time of crisis for humankind. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there will not be a book launch. Distribution of the book will depend on email, and help from readers to spread the word. If you would like to order a copy or help to distribute, please submit your inquiries to macmic@netspace.net.au or post your order to: V. Noone, PO Box 51, Fitzroy, VIC 3065. Each book is $30. “The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us?” - Dorothy Day

Parish of Our Lady of the Southern Cross St John the Baptist, Clifton Hill - St Joseph's, Collingwood
Gospel Reflection 2020 Sunday 20 Yr A Inclusiveness in Today’s Readings In the First Reading, Isa 56:1, 6-7. the great prophet of the Exile (Isaiah 40-66) presents a bold vision where God will actually bring to the 'holy mountain' (the Temple mount) foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord, making of the Temple a house of prayer for all the peoples (cf. Mark 11:17). The privilege of worshipping God is so central to Israel’s identity that it is hard to think of a stronger expression of inclusivity than this. In the Second Reading, Rom 11:13-15, 29-32, inclusiveness works the other way round, so to speak. The bulk of Israel has said 'No' to the Gospel of the Crucified. Does this mean they have forfeited the chance of salvation? No, says Paul: the God who in great fidelity has worked to include the nations of the world will not fail to act inclusively in favour of the original People of choice, for God’s 'gifts and calling are irrevocable'. The Gospel, Matt 15:21-28, telling of Jesus’ encounter in the region of Tyre and Sidon with a Canaanite woman whose daughter was tormented by a devil, presents us with one of the most striking episodes of inclusiveness in the Gospel tradition…. Recent feminist interpretation has rightly identified this Canaanite woman as one of the great heroes of the Gospel tradition. Jesus allows her to 'educate' him out of the narrow understanding of his mission that his early responses betray. He is not only Messiah for the Jews but also the One in whose 'name the Gentiles will place their hope'. - Brendan Byrne SJ – Australian Catholics ---- “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase”. - Martin Luther King, Jr. ooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it is often mothers in need who are driven to be inventive for the sake of their children. Such was the story of Sephali Begum, a 26-yearold single mother from Bangladesh who, in concern for the future of her daughter, took the desperate step of offering to sell one of her own eyes. She intended to use the proceeds to buy land that would provide for her daughter after her own death. She was willing to sacrifice her very self to protect her daughter from a horrible future beset by the demons of shame, poverty, and abuse. Her courage in desperate straits attracted the world’s attention, and individuals and groups responded to her and her daughter’s plight, providing for the daughter’s future with generosity. The Canaanite woman in today’s gospel was likewise in desperate straits because her daughter was beset by a demon. She took the inventive step of approaching someone, a man no less, of another ethnic group because she believed he could help her. And she showed fierce mother love when Jesus was about to dismiss her as unworthy of receiving the message he came to proclaim. The ferocity of her faith made Jesus reconsider not only his response to her, but also his entire role. She taught him that a mother’s love knows no bounds - and neither should God’s. - Weekly Parables [> loyolapress.com ]	Audio Gospel Reflections - Fr Frank Moloney SDB
f View / Replay live-streamed Mass 11.00 Sun Aug 16 Woman you have great faith [Aug 15-16]	Sunday Cinema Online Viewing for this Week's Liturgy
’A sense of His calm amidst the storms’ - Aug 13 'There are things in the midst of all of this deep, deep struggle and difficulty that nonetheless give moments of light and joy and goodness.' In his latest message to the faithful, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli asks us to reflect on the small moments of light during this time of deep restrictions. Standing above the Cathedral crypt, Archbishop Comensoli acknowledges the leadership of his predecessors in building up the Archdiocese to what it is today, while offering his prayers for all those affected by the coronavirus.	Archbishop Peter's message to the faithful
[Updated August 15] A message from Fr Martin ... ‘Trust!’ ‘How much do we trust God?’ Trust is an essential part of living. The word trust means to rely on someone and believe that person is reliable. We place our trust in people every day of our lives. We begin to trust from the day we are born. Unbeknown to us, as a baby we put our trust in the medical staff who help bring us into this world. Then we put an enormous amount of trust in our parents to nurture us, love us and educate us. However, that is not where it ends. We journey through life gaining trust in our family, our friends, work colleagues, neighbours, parishioners and many more. To trust people does not always come easily. It sometimes takes a while to know whom we can trust. Another relationship we encounter on the journey of life is our relationship with God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We are taught to place our trust in God from a young age. Someone we can turn to for help in prayer or giving thanks for the blessings in our life. God wants us to put our trust in His love, protection and guidance. Isaiah (26:4) reminds us "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock." Psalm 20:7 encourages us to trust in the lord when the writer states "It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man." There are many experiences of trusting in God in the Bible. As I mentioned above, sometimes it is not easy to trust in people or God, even for the best of us. In the book of Genesis, we have Abraham who had to place his trust in God when God tested him. God told Abraham in Genesis 15:5 that “his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky,” and yet here he was eighty-six years old with a wife, Sarah, who was seventy-six years old. However, Abraham and Sarah did not fully trust God and took matters in their own hands. In the Book of numbers, God proved his power and glory to the Israelites by freeing them from Egypt. However, to gain entrance into the promised land they had to defeat the Canaanites. Some were afraid and did not think they could defeat them. Those who did not trust God missed out on going into the promised land. So how can we put our trust in God? What lessons can we take from the above examples of trust in the bible. Firstly, we need to build a relationship with God like the ones we have in our life right now. The people we know we can rely on and are trustworthy. God had a personal relationship with Abraham and God promised him many descendants. The Israelites had already encountered God’s power and knew God as someone who heard their cry and in whom they could trust. However, trusting in God doesn’t always come easily. Abraham and the Israelites lost trust in God, but God never abandoned them. In our life we have moments when we need God’s help but we are not sure if God is listening. Jesus encourages us to have faith and trust. In the gospel this weekend we hear of the Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus for help. Even though she is not of the House of Israel, she still puts her faith and trust in Jesus. As we journey through the current situation with Covid-19 and any other challenges we may be experiencing, let us all put our faith and trust in God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Have a good week. Fr Martin ZOOM Seminar Zoom event that could be of interest to our parishoners: Book through Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/kindness-love-in-a-time-ofseparation-tickets-110085629080 “We are More Resilient Together” Explore how the Focolare spirituality nurtures us and creates a supportive community in this time of isolation and uncertainty Sunday 16 August 4.00 - 5:30 pm From the Focolare Movement. ZOOM ID 9657381612. Tutor Available Need help with tutoring or supervising home schooling? Retired female teacher available with VIT Registration and Working with Children Check. Phone 0447-139-681. Oz Harvest St John’s has partnered with Oz Harvest to deliver food parcels to families and households who need a helping hand over the past six weeks. Food essential boxes containing fresh fruit, vegetables and groceries have been delivered once a week and donations received are going straight out in the week they are given. St John’s would like to make a special thank you to Jen Payne who has always fought for the ‘underdog’. She has worked tirelessly for the past several weeks, organising delivery of some 50 boxes of food to our parishioners, and friends. Thank you so much Jen for all the work you do for us. Also a big thank you is in order for her drivers. Thanksgiving - the easy way If you wish to assist in “keeping the parish afloat” we offer different ways of giving … direct debit, credit card or sacrificial envelopes. Ring the office on 9481 7333. Remember … 25% of your commitment is returned in the form of a tax deductible receipt at the end of the year. Our Parish bank account details are: BSB 083-347 account: 16647 1224.	Current edition - Aug 13 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. Bishop Robert Barron Masses: http://www.wordonfire.org/daily-mass 3. Daily streaming of Masses at St Patrick's Cathedral http://melbournecatholic.org.au/Mass Monday to Friday, 1pm Saturday, 8am Sunday, 11am and catch-up 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) until the end of June. Mass is also live streamed on our Archdiocesan YouTube channel and website. Mass for You at Home 6.00-6.30am Sundays or catch up on 10 Play Freeview [need to sign up!]