1956 - 2016
CONTENTS Golden Jubilee
Preca Community Celebrates 60 Years In Australia A Dream Unfolds
The Foundation Of The SDC To Sow The Seed Of God’s Word
Preca Community In Action The Love That Makes Us Poor
The Challenge Of The Missionary
The Lasting Legacy Of Eugenio Borg Celebrating The Feast Of St George Preca From Our Past Jubilee Year Of Mercy Liturgy And Art The MUSEUM biannually for friends and associates of the Society of Christian Doctrine in the Australian Region. M.U.S.E.U.M. represents the first letter of a prayer in Latin, Magister Untinam Sequatur Evangelium Universus Mundus translating Divine teacher, may the whole world follow the Gospel.
the MUSEUM
A Magazine of the Society of Christian Doctrine, founded by Saint George Preca No 19 | April 2016 Editor: Peter L Judge Contact: Society of Christian Doctrine - Preca Community Preca Centre - Forteviot 500 Sandy Bay Road Lower Sandy Bay 7005 ph 61 3 6225 1646 e-mail sdcpreca@optusnet.com.au This magazine is also available online at: www.precacommunity.org Design: Veritas Press, Żabbar, Malta
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Diamond Jubilee of the SDC in Australia 1956 - 2016
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eginning with initial activities in 1952, and formally establishing in 1956, the SDC in Australia acknowledges its diamond jubilee in 2016. On the sixtieth anniversary of the SDC in Australia, we reflect on this paragraph from a recent General Chapter:
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“The Member nurtures in his heart a true freedom of spirit which translates itself into personal availability, mobility and adaptability in order to be able to carry out the apostolate wherever the Society asks him to go.” General Chapter 2004
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We owe the foundation of the SDC in Australia to the generosity of the early Members. They were Members who felt called to row out into the deep. They were not satisfied to stay close to the shore, fishing in the shallow waters of the inner seas. They were imbued with a missionary spirit. They were very practical people but nonetheless they were idealists, i.e. they had clear aims and high ideals and did not allow practical considerations thwart or diminish their ideals; and did not let circumstances dampen their enthusiasm.
Throughout the years, many people have come into contact with us. For everything that has been, we are grateful.
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Today we look for new ways of sharing and developing our ministry but always with the same enduring message; ‘Divine Teacher, may the whole world follow your Gospel’. The Members in Australia will gather in Melbourne in July 2016 to celebrate the diamond jubilee. Fr Noel Connolly SSC will facilitate the gathering. During this time, we will look forward to the future through reflection on our present reality.
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Previous articles may be found in the October 2014 and April 2015 issues of The MUSEUM online at www.precacommunity.org
INSPIRATIONAL ENCOUNTER Fr Preca had another consolation which came from a mystical experience six weeks before the Episcopal decree was read to him and the leaders of the SDC. It was 19 March 1917, the feast of St Joseph. As he woke up at five thirty in the morning to prepare for Mass, he realised that a Dominican friar was by his bed eager to deliver him a note. The friar had a beard and a capuce (hood) over his head. Fearing deception, Fr Preca made a sign that he didn’t want the note. Then the friar disappeared. After Mass Fr Preca felt that he had to seek a quiet spot to reflect on his early morning experience. He retired to the chapel of a local orphanage on the quiet outskirts of the town of Ħamrun. While reflecting, Fr Preca became aware of the presence of the Dominican friar he had met earlier in the day. This time the friar read him the note. Its message was in Latin, “The Lord will be on your right hand, he will direct your step so that no harm befalls you for the sake of instruction.” Such a divine promise was a reassurance that must have calmed the Founder awaiting the report of the Archbishop’s Commission.
PROHPECY OF ST VINCENT FERRER Fr Preca went to that the chapel in the orphanage unaware that the chapel was dedicated to St Vincent Ferrer. The image on the main altar showed the Dominican saint with a beard and a capuce like the friar of the vision and this convinced the Founder that the friar was none other than St Vincent Ferrer. He decided to read his biography. His Dominican friends directed him to a seventeenth century work by the Dominican Antonino Teoli, ‘Storia Della Vita, e Del Culto di San Vincenzo Ferrerio’ - ‘The life of St Vincent Ferrer and the Devotion to Him’- at that time considered to be the best biography on the saint. Going through this biography Fr Preca came to a chapter named ‘Di una nuova Religone profetizata da S. Vincenzo’ - ‘A New Society prophesied by St Vincent Ferrer’. The Members of this new society were to be poor and simple, meek, humble, despised and united by immeasurable charity and with their mind focused on Christ Crucified. Fr Preca then realised that this prophecy was about his “Apostles” whom he had taken pains to form in the lifestyle of the Beatitudes and according to their most precious manual ‘The Great Book’ or Christ Crucified. This new Religione was undoubtedly pointing to his Society. From that moment onwards St Vincent Ferrer became venerated as the prophet of our Society. 6
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Referring to the 1917 Episcopal decree, we saw that it hinted at the possibility of an approval of M.U.S.E.U.M. by Archbishop Mauro Caruana. But this approval was to take years. This delay was in fact a blessing in disguise. Approving the Society in 1917 signified certifying it as the Archbishop wanted it to be and not as the Spirit meant it to be. Approval in that year meant authorising a caricature of “M.U.S.E.U.M.” It was providential that it did not materialise. We can say this in hindsight. But for the Founder, the years following the Episcopal decree were ones of tension and despondency. On one hand he wanted to remain faithful to the Spirit’s inspiration and on the other he wanted to be obedient to his Archbishop because his Society was meant to assist the Church and not to be in conflict with it. His was a Society of the Church, faithful to it and for it. But not all was doom. The 1920s had their good days as well. New Institutes spread to other parishes this time with the approval of the parish priests. In no other period as the 1920s can M.U.S.E.U.M. be compared to a Caravaggio painting with its chiaro scuro, its dark patches and bright ones, with its moments of despair alternating with hopes of a fulfilling future. During these dark days, Fr Preca had, among his best friends and admirers, people who were in the inner circle of the Archbishop. Through them, God would direct his steps from sadness and darkness to the light. Through them he obtained the Episcopal approval of the Society which came in 1932. This is how it came about. The Archbishop was with Monsignor Enrico (Henry) Bonnici and their conversation drifted onto the Members of M.U.S.E.U.M. The Monsignor explained to the Archbishop how the Members toiled daily in the heat of summer and the rainy days of winter to educate the children in the faith. He also showed him how priestly and religious vocations were drawn from the Society. These truthful words were enough to dismiss any reluctance Archbishop Caruana must have had concerning M.U.S.E.U.M. He turned to the Monsignor and told him, “Go and tell Fr George to prepare a draft of the rules for my approval.” Twenty five years had passed since the first meetings at Ta’ Nuzzu Chapel. With the approval came M.U.S.E.U.M.’s official name - Societas Doctrinæ Christianæ, Society of Christian Doctrine. The 1930s saw M.U.S.E.U.M. refining the approved Rule which was eventually distributed to the Members in 1942. This occurred during a three-year siege which saw Malta’s harbours and airfields bombed relentlessly constraining the populace in their vicinity to seek refuge in less strategic parts of the island. Even the Founder and Eugenio Borg became refugees, settling with the Internal Community of the Society at Ħaż-Żebbuġ. Apart from the bombing, Malta experienced a blockade which brought hunger and diseases to her population. All these inconveniences disturbed the normal rhythm of 7
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the M.U.S.E.U.M. apostolate with some of its Institutes or Oqsma as they became called, being converted into temporary residences for the refugees and with some of its Members conscripted or constrained to work unusual hours. During 1943, with the Allies’ victory in North Africa and the beginning of their invasion of Italy, the worst of the war was over for the Maltese and life became better. The war left its negative mark on the Society of Christian Doctrine as it did on the Maltese society in general. For example the devastation around the harbour with some refugees from the area settling elsewhere altered the demography and the social pattern of this region. The change was not for the better and this influenced the Oqsma in this area. However a good thing that took place during the war was the founding of the male section on the island of Gozo. The female foundaton had been present there since 1915. This founding materialised when the war effort obliged two MUSEUM Maltese Members to work in Gozo. While previous efforts at founding had failed, the one attempted during the war bore fruit. By the time the war finally ended in 1945 the Founder was 65. With the Society canonically approved for Malta, its rule promulgated and with a presence in most of the parishes in Malta and Gozo, it was time for consolidation and expansion overseas. The Post-War decades, the 1950s and the 1960s, were years of intense Maltese emigration to North America and Australia with thousands of young Maltese seeking a better future in these continents. This mobility must have offered a signal or an inspiration to Fr George to export the Society abroad. The first missionary MUSEUM Members were sent to Australia. They were chosen by the Founder himself. This foundation in Australia in 1952 and later on an official foundation in 1956 marked a new era for the Society. It was no longer insular.
OVERSEAS INITIATIVES Fr Preca died in 1962. Giannina Cutajar, the first Superior General of the women Members, had died four years before. Eugenio was the last to die, in 1967. The death of these ‘Elders’ of the Society seems to have left the Members orphaned and might have caused a lull in overseas expansion. But this resumed in the early 1980s when two Members were sent to El Obeid in Sudan. After this, Members were sent to begin communities in London, England; Ruiru and Mpeketoni, Kenya; in Korce, Albania; Lurin, Peru; in Poznan, Poland, and in Santa Clara, Cuba. This missionary expansion for the glory of God and to educate people in the faith is still continuing. Although stretched, the SDC examines every request and does its best to accommodate.
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In the early years of the Society, the first Members agreed with enthusiasm on ‘MUSEUM’ as the name for their Society. Fr Preca changed this name into the Latin acronym M.U.S.E.U.M., Magister Utinam Sequator Evangelium Universus Mundus - “Divine teacher, may the whole world follow the Gospel!” It was this short sentence that accompanied this story throughout and in it resides the anima that keeps the Society of Christian Doctrine fully alive.
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rchbishop Guilford Young 1916-1988, of Hobart whose centenary of his birth is this year, 2016, visits Malta in 1963 and speaks to Members of the SDC who have gathered at the Mdina Seminary.
During his address he said: “Always remember you have been commissioned not merely to impart knowledge, but to nourish by your teaching of the truth, the life of faith of the children you teach.
This brings the heavy responsibility of living closer to God. Invoke the Spirit of God. Study the Truth. Feed on the Bread of Life that you may feed others on the words of life.”
The Extraordinary Jubilee Year Of Mercy
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“Feeling mercy changes everything. This is the best thing we can feel: it changes the world. A little mercy makes the world less cold and more just.” Pope Francis
PRAYER FOR THE YEAR OF MERCY
ord Jesus Christ, you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father, and have told us that whoever sees you sees him. Show us your face and we will be saved. Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing, so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed, and restore sight to the blind. We ask this of you, Lord Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy; you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.
Father, look upon the face of Jesus, the anointed one, and have mercy on us. St George Preca
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"It is love that makes us true missionaries. Indeed without love we achieve very little!"
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THE LOVE THAT MAKES US POOR THE CHALLENGE OF THE MISSIONARY
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hough I command languages both human and angelic - if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains - if I am without love, I am nothing. Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned - if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
It is love that makes us true missionaries. Indeed without love we achieve very little! This is what I sensed and observed when I was young in the Members who came from overseas to our SDC Centre and recounted their experiences. I sensed a lot of generosity and true joy in their eyes. I saw a love that freed them to go out and share the beauty of their relationship with Jesus. In time I understood that this attraction for missionary life was a personal call from God and not mere fascination of adventure and initiative attached to the missionary experience. Today I am convinced that at the heart of the missionary spirit there is love that is generous to the point of poverty of spirit. I understand that in saying ‘yes’ to the missionary vocation I am saying yes to a life of evangelical poverty that frees me. Poverty is not an easy ideal to be committed to, it is an attitude that continuously challenges me and invites me to an even greater surrender in God’s love. Charles de Foucauld (1858 - 1916) was a missionary who experienced this freedom of spirit and who delved deep into the mystery of love and service. For him it made no difference whether he is in one location or another, truly the love of Christ urged him on. This attitude is clear in the following words which he wrote when on a retreat at Nazareth in November 1897: “The poor man’s possessions are so great: he has nothing and loves nothing in this world, and so his soul is free. Nothing is especially important to him. It is of little significance to him whether he is sent to one place or another, for he has nothing anywhere, and wants nothing anywhere. He finds God everywhere, and God is the only one from whom his needs are met.” These words run deep! They are based on an apparent paradox or contradiction: How can a poor man own great possessions? But Charles was no fool, he experienced this himself, he knew through experience. Very much in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi before him, he became poor by choice and as a result enjoyed the same freedom of spirit that Jesus promised to those who follow him. ‘Deus meus et omnia’ (My God and my all), was the prayer of St Francis, and Charles knew the truth of this. The missionary vocation is a call to intimacy with Jesus. The missionary is asked to leave everything and follow him. “Jesus looked steadily at him and he was filled with love for him, and he said, ‘You need to do one thing more. Go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor, and you will 11
have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me”’ (Mark 10:21). This is risky! It brings to mind the step taken in darkness without knowing what will happen next. But on the other hand we know that life is full of risks and that we are living in this permanent state of uncertainty about our future. The loving invitation of Jesus might seem drastic, impossible, and with its risks; but at the end it is freedom itself that is at stake here. The Gospel tells us that in spite of all his securities in life, the rich young man left disappointed: “his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth”. The Carmelite Mystic, John of the Cross, writes in detail about the image of the dark night in the spiritual life. For him this is a state of uncertainty, an inability to understand what is happening and why. John says that this very night is an opportunity for purification and hence maturity in the spiritual life. This quote from his Ascent of Mount Carmel is well known: “To achieve satisfaction in everything, desire it in nothing. To possess everything, desire to have nothing. To be everything, desire to be nothing. To know everything, but desiring it less to know nothing.” When a missionary arrives in an assigned location he is, vulnerable, with no history and roots associated with the new place and facing the uphill task of starting anew. This situation: tough, dark and uncertain as it might seem, provides the missionary with an excellent opportunity to rely totally on God and trust him fully. If this is done in faith, then good things follow. The mystery no longer frightens but is now an experience of discovering the will of God day by day. Gerald G May is a psychiatrist who explored the writings of John of the Cross. In his book The Dark Night of the Soul he writes: “As our dark nights deepen, we find ourselves recovering our love of mystery. When we were children, most of us were good friends with mystery. The world was full of it and we loved it. Then as we grew older, we slowly accepted the indoctrination that mystery exists only to be solved. For many of us, mystery became an adversary, unknowing became a weakness. The contemplative spiritual life is an ongoing reversal of this adjustment. It is a slow and sometimes painful process of becoming “as little children” again, in which we first make friends with mystery and finally fall in love again with it. 12
In that love we find an ever increasing freedom to be who we really are in an identity that is continually emerging and never defined. We are freed to join the dance of life in fullness without knowing what the steps are.” In these lines I see reflected the daily experience of the missionary who even after many years in one location knows well that he is playing an away game and that he remains a foreigner. In the initial years of the experience a lot of time and energy is spent in trying to set down roots: learning the local language, adjusting to the new diet and climate, obtaining some cultural and historical perspective of the new region and so on. This helps a great deal and usually is appreciated by the locals but if this is done with the intention of avoiding the night and its uncertainties, one ends in disappointment and frustration. The missionary is a prophet who for the love of Jesus embraces; ‘living on the fringes of society’. In the 2004 document ‘The SDC Vocation – Identity and Formation’ it says this about the Prophetic Dimension of the SDC Member: “No prophet ever felt comfortable amidst the surrounding culture. To be a prophet, of its very nature, demands from the prophet that he stays on the fringes of society in order to look at it from a critical perspective” (No 30). The missionary is where he is because Jesus says so. His presence is an act of service, an act of obedience and above all an act of love for Jesus in the people he serves. George Preca never left the Maltese Islands but lived as a Maltese among the Maltese with a deep missionary spirit. His vision included sharing the Gospel to the whole world and his relationships were based on the love of God. He was so immersed in God that looking at him people would think of God. He used to speak about the three duties each of us has towards God, towards the neighbour, and towards oneself: “Your relationship to God should cause you absolute delight in him, that with your neighbours should give you pleasure in helping them, as to yourself, joy in being unknown and in being held as nothing. In so doing, your prayers will be heard; your life becomes a kingdom of love and peace, and your death an eternal blessing” (Spiritual Directory 163). The Love that makes us poor is God himself who, in spite of our weaknesses, calls us by name and sends us to meet him in our fellow neighbour near and far. Through his mercy towards us we find ourselves and journey with hope. Mario Bezzina sdc
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The Legacy of
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h e 130th anniversary of the birth of Eugenio Borg in 2016 provides us with the opportunity to reflect upon his life.
Ewġenju Borg, the first Superior General of the Society of Christian Doctrine, owes the richness of his faith to St George Preca. Eugenio and a group of other young men providentially met Fr George Preca while whiling away the hours. From the earliest of days, Fr Preca sensed a strength in Eugenio and set him apart from the others guiding him in the sacred scriptures and the path to holiness.
Eugenio was a pattern-maker, employed in the Naval Dockyard. Here he did not only excel in the ability of his craft, but more importantly he was exemplary in the practice of a virtuous life. Those who knew him on the shop floor used to refer to him as the ‘saint’. Eugenio Borg was a man of God ‘par excellence’. Ġeġè”, as he was affectionately called by the Founder, became the Superior General of the Society of Christian Doctrine in 1926. From the Founder, Eugenio imbibed a great desire to spread the faith. He took the initiative and the perseverance to open Centres in various parts of the Malta. Encouraged by the opening of the first SDC Centre in Hamrun in March, 1907, he sought to establish a centre in Cospicua or Bormla in Maltese. Cospicua, is a harbour city in the South Eastern Region of Malta. Along with Birgu, and Senglea, it is one of the Three Cities, located within the Grand Harbour, to the east of the capital city Valletta. During lunchtime at the Dockyard, he started teaching in Bormla shops where men used to gather and have lunch. In the evenings, he also taught in youth clubs, and started becoming familiar with the people of Bormla. In February 1908, Eugenio began to teach in Saint Michael Street (Triq San Mikiel), also known as Triq il-Kanal. Then, the meeting place became Saint Mary Street, (today known as Abram Gatt Street). As Superior General, Eugenio presided with ability, prudence and with great love. In its early years the SDC was not very well looked upon. The idea of lay people imparting the Word was not encouraged. But Eugenio, with a faithful team managed to keep the SDC alive and viable. The Bormla Parish is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and has a special connection with St George Preca. He often knelt to pray in front of the painting by Pietro Paolo Caruana. Once, he was inspired to write a hymn called Vestis Honoris as he imagined singing in honour of Our Lady. Today the Members regularly sing the Vestis Honoris. George also wished that a copy of the painting be mounted in every centre of the Society.
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TO SOW THE SEED OF GOD'S WORD
Jubilarians Joseph Micallef, Raymond De Bono, Joseph Farrugia, Mario Farrugia
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Anniversary cake for Jubilarians at AGM 2016
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Members and Associates gather at Corpus Christi College, Melbourne for Annual General Meeting, 2016
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Arthur Kilpatrick and Mario Bezzina, Kenya
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Lina Attard, visiting Member from Gozo, Malta
Associate, Joseph Martini and his wife, Maria at Carmelite Monastery, Kew during AGM 2016
Members enjoying a day excursion prior to the AGM 2016
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LITURGY and ART
Seven Sacraments series by Nicolas Poussin
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icolas Poussin, French artist, painted one of the greatest sets of paintings in the history of Western art. Painted in Rome, the series represents the seven sacraments of the Church. Poussin’s aim was to convey the solemnity and religious importance of each sacrament. He situated the scenes in early Christian history, paying close attention to archeological detail. While planning his compositions, he is reported to have arranged wax figures on a model stage.
He painted the first series for the Italian scholar and collector Cassiano dal Pozzo. (see The MUSEUM, October 2015). Poussin also created a second sacrament series for Paul Freart de Chantelou, French art collector and patron of the arts.
Baptism (1646) Poussin shows St John baptising Christ on the banks of the Jordan River. The inclusion of ruins in the landscape was intended to evoke the antique world and give the scene an authentic setting. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945)
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Confirmation (1645) The Confirmation ceremony takes place in Roman Catacombs and the figures wear contemporary dress. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945)
Eucharist (1647) This picture shows the Last Supper Christ shared with his twelve disciples. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945)
Penance (1647) Poussin depicted the biblical episode where Mary Magdalene repents for her sins and asks for forgiveness by washing Christ’s feet. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945)
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Extreme Unction (1644) Poussin represented this Sacrament of final blessing with the scene of a dying Christian Roman soldier anointed with holy oil by a priest. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945)
Ordination (1647)
Christ holds up the symbolic keys of heaven before presenting them to Peter his chief disciple and ‘the rock’ on which he will build the Church. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945)
Marriage (1647-48) Poussin illustrated the Sacrament of Marriage by showing the fictional betrothal of the Virgin Mary to Joseph. Credit Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland (Bridgewater Loan, 1945) Credit and Creative Commons All of the above images are on show at the National Gallery of Scotland, courtesy of the Bridgewater Loan (1945). All of the images above are a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason: This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or less.
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www.precacommunity.org
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he Society of Christian Doctrine in Australia has recently launched a new website. The website which may be found at www.precacommunity.org was launched on 7 March 2015.
Features of the website include PRAYER REQUESTS and NEWS & EVENTS. ‘The Watch’ a prayer manual of hourly prayers compiled by St George Preca may be found on the website.
The term ‘Preca Community’ in referring to Members of the Society of Christian Doctrine is a term ad experimentum. It is not a rebadging of who we are but another way of expressing ourselves. While we experiment with our name, our mission remains the same and that is to ‘sow the seed of the Word of God’.
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Celebrating the Feast of St George Preca 2016
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Adelaide Saturday 14 May 2016 Vigil Mass
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Hobart
6.00 pm, Our Lady of the Manger Church 176 Crittenden Road Findon 5023
Melbourne
Saturday 7 May 2016 St George Preca Mass
Saturday 30 April 2016 Vigil Mass
Saturday 14 May 2016 Eucharistic Adoration
10.00 am, Preca Centre Forteviot, Hobart
6.00 pm, Queen of Peace Church 62 Everingham Road Altona Meadows 3028
10.00 am - 4.00 pm Preca Centre 82 Westmoreland Road North Sunshine 3020
Prayer Of Intercession God our Father, you called St George Preca as a committed priest and preacher of the Gospel; dedicated to the formation of the laity. Following his example, enable us to work generously in making you known and loved. Through the intercession of St George Preca, we make this particular request . . . We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
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