ARCHBISHOP COSTELLOE RENEWS CALL TO PERTH CATHOLIC TO LIVE FULLY AND FAITHFULLY OUR VOCATION AS DISCIPLES OF JESUS
In coming together in Sydney, the Members of the Plenary Council were living out in practice the way of being the Lord’s Church in our land which Pope Francis assures us is the call of God to the whole Church at this moment in our history, Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB has highlighted this week.
In a Pastoral Letter to the Perth Catholic community released Wednesday 27 July, Archbishop Costelloe emphasised that Pope Francis sums up this call in one word: Synodality.
“In the end, of course, as members of God’s holy Church we must have only one aim: to live fully and faithfully our vocation as disciples of Jesus.
Archbishop Costelloe also highlighted that in the two formal Assemblies of the Plenary Council, and in the many years of preparation, there has been a recognition that, in spite of the many failures and limitations of individual Catholics and of Catholic communities, the Church remains a powerful force for good in our society.
“This is true in a number of ways. From an institutional point of view the Catholic Church in Australia, including here in WA, continues to be engaged in the work of the education of the young, in the provision of healthcare in our Catholic hospitals, in the care of the elderly in our many aged-care facilities, and in our outreach to those in our society who
are disadvantaged or marginalised,”
Archbishop Costelloe said.
“In a less spectacular but no less important way the gospel is being lived out in the faith-filled lives of so many people in our parishes and in other Catholic faith communities,” he said.
Archbishop Costelloe expressed that he is personally privileged to see this very clearly, for example, when adults who seek to be baptised or received into full communion with the Catholic Church gather together in the Cathedral during Lent each year to be welcomed by the community, represented by the bishop.
WA Plenary Council Members and support team members at the Second Assembly of the Fifth Plenary Council. PHOTO: FIONA BASILE.
SPIRIT OF THE ARTS FESTIVAL PARTICIPANTS
ENCOURAGED TO “PUT ON CHRIST”
The 33rd Spirit of the Arts Performing Arts Festival for Catholic schools and colleges has officially begun.
Speaking at the opening Praise and Worship Liturgy, Thursday 21 July at St Mary’s Cathedral, Vicar for Education and Faith Formation Fr Vincent Glynn encouraged those in attendance to always “put on Christ” in all their undertakings.
Comprising of the Performing Arts Festival and Angelico Art Exhibition, the term-long festival celebrates artistic creativity and talent and this year included 15,000 students from 90 Catholic schools, including 11 regional schools performing in categories of drama/music production, scripture reading, sacred choral music, big band/jazz combo and more.
Attendees included Catholic Arts staff including Chair Darryl Winsor, members of the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia, Notre Dame School of Education Dean Prof Caroline Mansfield, Catholic staff and student representatives.
In his homily at the opening liturgy, Fr Glynn reflected on the readings of the day, including the parable of the prodigal son, which speaks about the importance of love and forgiveness.
“As Christians we are called to put on Christ,” Fr Glynn said.
“Christian love is not about just being nice to people. Christian love is the love that God sends us through His Son, Jesus Christ - who gives His life on the cross, who suffered and died for us.
“And so Christian love in the Gospel tells us that we must forgive those who hurt us and there are 77 instances that mention forgiveness in the Bible. Christian love is sacrificial, it’s about sacrificing ourselves, for the beauty of others,” he added.
At the conclusion of the event, Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) Deputy Executive Director, Wayne Bull, thanked all involved in the making of the festival, including the choir from Corpus Christi who led in the Liturgical hymns.
“I would like to acknowledge the
students who will be participating in this year's festival and thank their teachers for their support and guidance, all the young people involved in the program of events to all participants. I hope that your hard work and dedication will be celebrated,” he said.
“As you participate in the festival, I hope you will have fun doing the best that you can do.”
St Mary’s Cathedral Music Director, Jacinta Jakovcevic, who was given the role of sole adjudicator for the Secondary Sacred Choral event held on 26 July at St Mary’s Cathedral, spoke about her involvement with the festival in previous years, and her love for mentoring young people, especially in the space of sacred music.
“For many years, I was blessed to accompany many of the school choirs, vocal soloists and instrumentalists who took part in the festival and was involved with their preparations, rehearsals, and coaching,” she said.
CEWA Deputy Executive Director, Wayne Bull speaks at the Opening Praise and Worship celebration for the 33rd Spirit of the Arts Festival at St Mary’s Cathedral, Thursday 21 July. PHOTO: RON TAN / ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH.
APPLECROSS PARISH KNOWN FOR OFFERING SOMETHING FOR ALL
Applecross parishioners will this weekend come together to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the parish.
Officially declared in 1952 by then Archbishop Prendiville, the parish actually first began forming some
time before 1950, when a special bus took parishioners to Mass at Palmyra.
From 1950, Mass was celebrated in a schoolroom at Kintail Road State School, and the following year, an announcement was published in The Record that a new site for a Church and School had been acquired by Fr Albert Lynch while acting as Locum Tenens at Palmyra.
By February 1952, Mass began being celebrated at the District Hall in Applecross.
Current Parish Priest Fr Nelson Po said the community has a rich and diverse history and welcomes all past and present members to come together for this unique occasion.
NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY BRINGING FORMER NURSES BACK INTO WA HOSPITALS
Helping former nurses to rapidly update their skills and re-join WA’s hospital workforce is the aim of two key partnerships the University of Notre Dame Australia has forgedone with WA Health and the other with St John of God Health Care. Notre Dame offers WA’s only re-entry to practice course for nurses (including those who gained their qualifications overseas), which enables them to register with the
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
Under the partnerships WA Health and St John of God Health Care, each provide clinical placements and reimburse the cost of the tuition fees for students of the course who are offered jobs and become their employees at the end of their study.
National Head of School at Notre Dame’s School of Nursing and Midwifery, Professor Karen Clark-
Burg, said there was a variety of reasons why people had drifted away from the profession, including to raise a family.
The three-month intensive re-entry to practice program gives them a chance to rapidly upskill at minimal cost to themselves and in most cases, a secure job upon graduation.
“Like all sectors of the Australian economy at the moment, the health sector is also facing challenges when it comes to workforce shortage,” Professor Clark-Burg said.
“That is why these partnerships have been specifically designed to make it as easy and inexpensive as possible for those thinking about returning to nursing to do so as quickly as possible.”
St John of God Health Care Group Director Workforce Carla Bonev said that the global reliance on health care workers while navigating the pandemic had reminded people how critical these workers are to our society.
The new Applecross Church of St Benedict’s was opened in 2008. The parish community this week celebrates the 70th anniversary. PHOTO: THE RECORD / ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH
Notre Dame's National Head of Nursing and Midwifery, Karen Clark-Burg (right), joins WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson (centre) at a media conference to talk about how the University's nursing re-entry program is helping to get more skilled staff back into local hospitals. PHOTO: SUPPLIED.
FR MICHAEL GATT REMEMBERED FOR ZEAL AND
Perth Auxiliary Bishop Don Sproxton celebrated the funeral Mass of former Osborne Park Priest Fr Michael Gatt, who passed away Thursday 19 May at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital.
His funeral Mass was celebrated at St Kieran’s Church, Tuart Hill, Tuesday 31 May.
Many of us have received greeting cards from Fr Michael Gatt at Christmas or Easter that extended his thoughts and blessings for us, but which were also a potted history of his vocation and priestly ministry among us in the Archdiocese of Perth.
Fr Gatt arrived in Western Australia in 1971 as a member of the Missionary Society of St Paul and commenced his pastoral work at Swanbourne which was then a small parish between Claremont and Cottesloe. The Missionary Society of St Paul
was founded to bring the Gospel in various ways to people who were searching for the truth and to strengthen the faith of Catholics. In Australia, the society worked their mission in parishes and used the print medium to great effect. Michael would have learnt the value of sending out a message by the printed word and illustrated by pictures. It seemed so logical to Michael that he should have discerned his vocation to the priesthood in this Religious Society as he found inspiration in the life of St Paul, who following a ship wreak off the coast of Malta, was washed ashore with the rest of the ship’s crew and survived because of the care of the people of that island.
This explains the choice that Michael himself made for the first reading of the Mass. Paul was the great
missionary, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, and I expect that Michael was urged to follow Paul in the same calling.
The parish of Victoria Park was offered to the Society and Michael ministered there as Parish Priest, moving from Swanbourne, until he applied to leave the Missionaries of St Paul and sought incardination in our Archdiocese.
This meant that he would come to experience the mission in the Australian rural setting, when he was appointed to Moora.
At Moora, he became involved with the local Australian indigenous families, most of them Catholic and many of their children were enrolled in the Catholic school there.
Fr Gatt arrived in Western Australia in 1971 as a member of the Missionary Society of St Paul and commenced his pastoral work at Swanbourne which was then a small parish between Claremont and Cottesloe. PHOTO: THE RECORD.