Weekday Masses

Monday, Funeral Mass for

John Maguire

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

School Mass

2.00 pm

No Mass

9:15 am

7.00 pm

9.15 am

12.15 pm

Sunday Masses

Saturday Sunday

6.00 pm

8.00 am

10.00 am

Reconciliation

Saturday 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 19th February 2017

SEASONS Newsletter of the Catholic Parish of St. Thomas More, Mount Eliza

313 Canadian Bay Rd Mount Eliza Vic. 3930

Phone: 9787 7777 Fax: 9787 9734 Email: MountEliza@cam.org.au

Web: www.stm-mteliza.org

Pastoral Leadership Team

Fr. Laurie (Parish Priest) Lys Crowe (Pastoral Associate)

Peter Whyte (School D Principal)

Anne-Marie Hyde (Chairperson) Ange Virgona Bill Hunt

John Bruitzman Jim Bourke Maree Taverna

PPLT Email: MountEliza.PPLT@cam.org.au

PCC=Parish Community Centre U=Undercroft

C=Church

MPR=School Multipurpose Room

SSR=School Staff Room

Diary

Monday Poetry Group, 1.30pm, PCC Information Night for

1st Reconciliation & 1st Eucharist 7.30pm, MPR

Tuesday First Reconciliation Class,

4pm, PCC

Wednesday RCIA, 7.30pm, PCC Choir Practice, 7..30pm, C

Thursday

Liturgy Team Meeting, 7.30pm, PCC

Another Way To think About Valentines Day Ananda, the beloved disciple of the Buddha, once asked his teacher about the place of friendship in the spiritual journey. “Master, is friendship half of the spiritual life?” he asked. And the teacher responded, “Nay, Ananda, friend-ship is the whole of the spiritual life.”

Love is something learned only by the long, hard labor of life. It is sometimes over before we’ve ever known we ever had it. We sometimes destroy it before we appreciate it. We often take it for granted. Every love, whatever happens to it in the long run, teaches us more about ourselves, our needs, our limitations, and our self-centeredness than anything else we can ever experience. As Ald-ous Huxley wrote: “There isn’t any formula or method. You learn by loving.”

But sometimes, if we’re lucky, we live long enough to grow into it in such a way that because of it we come to recognise the value of life. As the years go by, we come to love flowers and cats and small infants and old ladies and the one person in life who knows how hot we like our coffee. We learn enough about love to allow things to slip away and ourselves to melt into the God whose love made all of it possible. Sometimes we even find a love deep enough, gentle enough, tender enough to detach us from the foam and frills of life, all of which hold us captive to things that cannot satisfy. Sometimes we live long enough to see the face of God in another. Then, in that case, we have loved. From 40 Stories to Stir the Soul by Joan Chittister

Saturday Night Supper Club As part of the new Parish Plan to increase opportunities for more social interaction, Anne-Marie Hyde and Mary Martin invite you to join them for Dinner on Saturday 18th March at 7.00pm. For this first dinner we will be going to The Pizzeria on Nor-man, 46 Norman Avenue, Frankston South (http://the pizzeria.com.au/). The restau-rant is fully licensed. Each person will pay for their own meal, but please bring cash as the bill will not be split.

For more information or to make a reservation please contact: Mary on mary-martin@live.com.au/ 0457 473 807 or Anne-Marie on amhyde122@gmail.com/ 0409 020 120

We look forward to hearing from you for a very pleasant evening of friendly conver-sation and good food in a relaxed atmosphere.

RCIA

We continue to pray for Kahu & Marcus Hutton and their daughters, Emma and Lauren, Kim Vrapcenjak & Steve Mellech, and Craig Chapman and his daughters Brianna & Brooke as they prepare to re-ceive the Sacraments at the Easter Vigil. Each week they will be at a different Mass, and will listen to the Liturgy of the Word with us all

and then they will be “dismissed” to go and further discuss the Readings, led by a member of the RCIA Team. They will return at the end of Mass so they can then have the opportunity to meet and chat with others after Mass. Please take the oppor-tunity to introduce yourself. This weekend the candidates will be at the 6pm Mass.

PAGE 2 SEASONS SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

We pray for...

Liturgy - Seventh Sunday Ordinary Time - Year A

Financial Matters Stewardship

Received last weekend .............................. $1,781

Pledged last weekend ................................ $2,052

Average received in January ..................... $1,379

Presbytery

Amount received last week .........................$916 Thanks to all of you who give so generously to support our

parish.

First Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18

You must love your neighbour as yourself.

Responsorial Psalm

The Lord is kind and merciful.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:16-23

All things are yours, but you belong to Christ and Christ

belongs to God.

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Whoever deeps the word of Christ,

grows perfect in the love of God. Alleluia!

Gospel: Mathew 3:38-48

Love your enemies.

Those who died recently

Vincent Keeran, John Maguire

those whose anniversaries fall

at this time…

Michael Hauser, Helene Seymour, Catherine Kost,

Alex Hamilton

and the Sick...

Peter Wilson, Penelope Allen, David McDougall, Gor-

don Foulis, Les Malseed, Len Crowe, Jose Gomes, Des

Leyden, Pat Crowther, Margaret Beale, Angela Butler,

Sue Kelly, Maria Kelly, Jan Deakin, Will Murray, Sr.

Tarcissius, Frank Nolan, Jo King, Paula Stuart, Kathryn

Hart, Fr. Michael Walsh, Shane Dobson, Ken & Mary

Allen, Ray Grant, Rob Nicholls, Adrian Gobel, Rachael

Sanderson (nee Davies), and all of the sick at the

George Vowell Centre & Ranelagh Gardens Nursing

Home.

and the parishioners of St Thomas More Parish,

Tequinomata, East Timor.

Next Week’s Roster

Mass Time Lector Commentator

6 pm Judi Hannan Lys Crowe

8 am Andrew Moloney Chris Anwyl

10 am Jacinta Griffin Craig Judkins

Mass Time Ministers of the Eucharist

6 pm

Helen Steyn (Book)

Barbara Hunt (Gifts)

Michael Robertson (Gifts)

8 am Helen Grech (Book)

Marj Hansen (Gifts)

Pat McConvill (Gifts)

10 am Lois Bracken (Book)

Adrian Coughlan (Gifts)

Lys Crowe (Gifts)

10 am Children’s Liturgy

Joanne McEvoy

Margo O’Callaghan

Counters Alan Ryan

David & Zana Hunt

Dennis Cleary

Morning Tea

Your hosts this week Kelly Griffiths

and Tyler or Dylan Griffiths. You are

all warmly invited after 10am Mass to

linger for a cuppa and an opportunity to get to know

some other members of your parish community bet-

ter.

Your hosts next week will be Irene Owsianka and

Kate (or Family) Hyland.

First Reconciliation and

First Eucharist 2017 The Parent Information Night

for all those who have children

wishing to receive the Sacraments

of Reconciliation and Eucharist for the first time this

year, will be on Monday 20th February at 7.30pm

in the School Multi-purpose area. Classes for those

children who are not at St Thomas More School will

begin soon after. Please contact Lys Crowe at the

Parish Office for more information.

PAGE 3 SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A SEASONS

What’s Happening Here... Silent Prayer in the Church Every Wednesday 8:30am - 9:15am

This is an opportunity to pray for our

Parish Intentions. The readings of the day are at the

Lectern or BYO spiritual reading, read or sit in silent

prayer. “Where two or more gather in God’s name,

God is among them”. A simple but suitable exercise as

we continue to live out our Pastoral Plan and plan for

our future.

World Mission Day Appeal Thank You Catholic Mission thanks you for your response to the

World Mission Day Appeal in October last year. Your

generosity empowers us to witness Christ’s love in

160 countries of the world. In contributing $2,783.00

you have joined fellow Catholics throughout the

world, even in the poorest areas, in supporting

Christ’s mission to all people.

Sponsors Needed Urgently

For Poor East Timorese Students Our Parishioners are making a BIG difference in East

Timor. Currently members of our parish and other

parishes on the Mornington Peninsula Deanery assist

with the education of about 10,000 children in the

Laga district of East Timor. Since 2000 we have built

or refurbished 6 Primary & 2 Secondary schools, main-

ly with a bequest from Patrick Browne AND parish-

ioner donations. We also feed about 3000 children at

school daily with the rice brought to Mass as part of

the ‘sacrificial offering’. Thank you for your generous

support. Find out more at lesharper.org

The students are progressing well through primary

and / or secondary school and some are now even

entering university. Within a few more years they will

be able at make a good contribution to their country.

It is through your generosity these children have their

secondary school fees sponsored at Don Bosco Sec-

ondary, Laga or Patrick Browne College, Samalari.

Both these Secondary Schools have gained a reputa-

tion for turning out some of the best students in the

country. Several graduates are currently being spon-

sored by parishioners through the University of Dili.

Commencing 2017, Fr Manuel has asked us to sponsor

9 MORE secondary and 3 MORE university students.

The cost of sponsorship is $US300 currently convert-

ing to about $AU392 for each year of education (6yrs

secondary & 3yrs Uni).

If you would like to find out more or become involved

in the sponsorship of these children contact Les Har-

per lesharper@optusnet.com.au Mob: 0408 123 562

Invitation To All 2017 Prep Children All 2017 Prep children in our Parish and their families

are especially invited to 10am Mass on Sunday 26th

February. This will be a special Mass to acknowledge

these young members of our Parish as they begin their

schooling, and will be followed by morning tea.

All other families without a Prep child are invited

to please bring along a plate of food to share.

Nametags: The Parish Pastoral Leadership Team

invites you to wear a nametag to Mass! This is just

one way of us getting to know each other better. You

can BYO, or we will have some stick-on ones availa-

ble each week.

The Welfare Officers for February are Christine

Stewart 5975 6687 and Nancy Collinson 5975 7872.

Exciting news for the Poetry Group! We will be

changing our gatherings from the 1st Monday of each

month to the 3rd Monday at 1:30pm (same time).

This month’s gathering will be hosted by Gui Hone on

20th February. Please call Catharina if you have any

questions.

Our next Pizza Night will be on Sunday 26th Febru-

ary from 5pm (no need to book).

The Social Club AGM will be held on Tuesday 7th

March after 10am Mass in the Undercroft.

Our St Patrick’s Day lunch will take place on Friday

17th March at Canadian Bay Hotel. Bookings taken at

the next Social Club meeting.

New members are always most welcome!

Film Group

There is no film this week. Films coming up include

Jackie and Hidden Figures.

STM Social Club Fun & Friendship For All

Baptism Welcome

At 10am Mass this weekend we

have the Rite of Welcome for Angus

Chalk (Parents - Adam & Monique)

and Benjamin Bugeja (Parents – Alexander & Kristen).

Choir Practice The next Choir practice will be held at

7:30pm in the Church on Wednesday

22nd February.

PAGE 4 SEASONS SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

Padua Social Justice Group

Timor Leste Film Night

Padua College Social Justice Group and

The Friends of Los Palos invite you to

their screening of the compelling docu-

mentary "Time to Draw the Line". This

newly-released program contextualises Timor Leste's

ongoing endeavour to establish a just maritime border

with Australia, and provides an overview the history

of relations between the two countries.

The evening will be held on Thursday the 23rd of

February at Padua College (Oakbank Road, Morning-

ton), and will commence at 7pm.

Executive Producer Janelle Saffin will be in attendance

to host an exclusive Q&A session. In addition, there

will be an opportunity to browse and purchase

Timorese merchandise and enjoy the complimentary

tea and coffee.

It will be an insightful and highly informative event, and

a great opportunity to connect with local groups shar-

ing a passion for social justice. The night is expected

to finish at 9pm, with all money raised directed to-

ward further projects in support of Timor Leste.

To book, or find out more, please contact: https://

www.eventbrite.com.au/e/time-to-draw-the-line-

tickets-31577626531

Tickets also available at the door.

$10 for adults, $5 for student/concession and $20 per

family

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require

clarification. Thank you in anticipation,

Bernadette Young, Social Justice Coordinator

Padua College

St James The Less Family Fun Day Fete Please join us at St James The Less’s FREE Community

Event next Saturday.

When: 25th February, 9.30am - 1.30pm

Where: 105 Koetong Parade, Mt Eliza

Lots of yummy Homemade Treats, Trash & Treasure

Stall, BBQ and Café, Plants, Jewelry and Gifts and Po-

ny rides.

St Pat’s Race Club Cup Meeting Join us for a country picnic & racing in the hills of Yea

on Sunday 26th Feb @ Yea Racecourse from 12noon.

For General Enquiries call Marilyn 0418 842 926

Bookings country.racing.com/yea-st-pats or

Find us on facebook

Would you like to advertise

your business in this space in Seasons?

In colour

Business card size

$50 for one week

We print 200 copies per week, and distribute to all

STM School families by email. It is also available on

the Parish website for six months. Please contact

the Parish Office on 9787 7777 for further details.

From now until the beginning of May, the Parish is selling tickets in the annual Combined Catholic Parishes Raffle.

Please note that ALL of the net proceeds from the sale of these tickets will be returned to the Parish of St. Thomas More. By pooling our resources with other Catholic Parishes, we’ve been able to offer much better prizes than we could possibly fund on our own.

1st Prize: Hyundai GD4 i30 1.8P auto hatch, valued at $25,234 2nd & 3rd Prizes: Hyundai RB4 Accent Hatch 1.4P auto hatch, valued at $18,507 (x2) 4th & 5th Prizes: Coles/Myer Gift cards, each to the value of $1,000 (x 2) 6th-14th Prizes: Coles/Myer Gift cards, each to the value of $500 (x 9)

Tickets sell for $2 each. We’d like to sell tickets and distribute books of tickets outside the Church after Mass from now until the end of April, but we still need more volunteers to take this on. No hard sell in-volved - the tickets should sell themselves. If you can help, (after one Mass, either for a couple of weeks or the entire time) please call 9787 7777 and leave a message for Irene.

We encourage parishioners including school families to take a book to sell. To request a ticket - or better still - a book of tickets, call 9787 7777, or drop into the Parish office or School office. All raffle books (including unsold tickets) must be returned to the Parish office with payment by Tuesday May 2nd.

Permit number 10949/16 150,000 tickets issued.

Catholic Parish of St. Thomas More, Mount Eliza