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A few words of introduction from Fr Kose. MS

My name is Fr. Kuriakose Chennelil Joseph. I belong to the Our Lady of La Salatte congregation. I am coming from India. My family consists of my Mother, Father and three elder brothers. Unfortunately, my Father went back to his heavenly abode last year.  I am the youngest child of my parents. 

I was ordained as a priest on 2^nd Jan 2018. 6 eventful years passed after myself being a priest. I served in different capacities during these six years as a priest such as Assistant Parish Priest, Vocation Director of the Indian Matha  Province of my congregation, Assistant Director of a school and a college and the Rector of the Minor Seminary. Since, you have difficulty in pronouncing my name as Kuriakose, you can call me Fr.Kose. I look forward to serving you all in the best possible way.   I also ask your prayers and blessings for carrying out my duties and responsibilities in a vibrant and spiritual way.  Fr. Kose. MS

13 July | Upcoming Marriage Preparation courses for engaged couples
Upcoming Marriage Preparation courses for engaged couples: Evenings for the Engaged, Sat 13 & 20 July. FOCCUS - Tues 13^th August 5-9pm plus a private follow up session at Marymead CatholicCare.  Engaged Encounter- Sydney, Sat 17 & Sun 18 August.

SmartLoving – online, 9 lessons, learn at your own pace when suits you. For information/register www.marriagefamily.org.au Enquiries:Text Helena Zobec on 0405 440 463  

3 August | MARY MACKILLOP PILGRIMAGE |

Please join Archbishop Christopher Prowse and the Parish of St Peter’s Pambula, in commemorating Australia’s first saint, Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

11.00am (optional) Pilgrim’s walk from Eden AFL grounds to Our Lady Star of the Sea Church.  Refreshments will be available at Church. 

12.00 noon Concelebrated Mass with Archbishop Christopher Prowse and visiting priests

1.00 pm Lunch will be provided by the Parish of Pambula.  An occasion to share fellowship with other pilgrims. If there are any special dietary requirements, please make these known to us, by emailing our parish office at pambula@cg.org.au 

Please book in via following link

Archbishop's Mary MacKillop Pilgrimage

Pastoral Letter from Archbishop Prowse regarding the Moral and Ethical dimension of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament Referendum.

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv1PIk9d5p8

PASTORAL LETTER

ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE

CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN

INDIGENOUS VOICE TO PARLIAMENT REFERENDUM

– SOME MORAL/ETHICAL REFLECTIONS -

Regarding the Voice to Parliament Referendum, the Bishops of Australia have encouraged us to consider the moral/ethical dimensions and not simply political arguments.

To assist us in forming our individual and collective consciences, may I offer the following very brief and initial reflections.

We are to ask: “How ought I/we vote? … What ought I/we DO?” This is a good place to start. However, if we leave the question simply at this we may well end up with an answer based on political arguments alone.

The deeper moral/ethical question probes our conscience further. It asks: “What ought I/we BE as Australians given this issue now before us?”

To answer this deeper moral question requires considerations on two levels simultaneously: social structures and human attitudes.

On the level of social structures, there is a strong argument for change. At present, simply being born an aboriginal person places an Australian seemingly in a highly marginalised position.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017) expresses this succinctly. “Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are alienated from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.”

The entrenched nature of this crisis seems to indicate an intergenerational social structure that is diseased.

Good ethics would insist that a deeper diagnosis of this situation would involve the interplay of structures with human attitudes. This dual consideration assists us in discovering foundations for the common good – the doorway to true justice.

This requires dialogue and listening with our First Australians. It is in this area of attitudes that Aboriginal activist, Noel Pearson (27 October 2022, Boyer Lectures), identifies a major weakness in finding healing solutions. He says in a most disturbing refection: “We are a much unloved people. We are perhaps the ethnic group Australians feel least connected to. We are not popular and we are not personally known to many Australians. Few have met us and a small minority count us as friends. And despite never having met any of us …… Australians hold and express strong views about us, the great proportion of which is negative and unfriendly.”

 Regardless of the result of the 14 October 2023 Referendum and the social structural changes proposed, this area of conversion of attitudes would remain.

We all surely have a communal responsibility to ponder deeply on the type of Australia we want to become because of the Referendum. Let us educate our individual and collective consciences on the issues involved and vote according to these deep reflections.

As Pope St John Paul II so famously stated in the much quoted speech he gave to Aboriginal Australians in Alice Springs (29^th November 1986),

You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you. And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.”

 Archbishop Christopher Prowse

Catholic Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn

3^rd October 2023