YEAR B THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD Page 4 Welcome to

St Joan of Arc Parish Haberfield

Ministers Clergy Parish Secretary Parish School Principal

Every baptised Fr Frank Furfaro Office Phone: 9798 6657 Mr Bernard Carey

and confirmed Tuesday, Wednesday Office Phone: 9798 9780

member of the 9.30am - 2.30pm St Joan of Arc Villa

Parish Community Phyllis Hoole

Phone: 9799 8753

GO FORTH….

• Telling the Good News

• Sharing in the breaking of

Bread

• Enriching the community

through our talents, treasure and

time

NEW PARISHIONERS are invited to register in person at the Presbytery after Sunday Masses.

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME YOU.

1909 - 2009

Catholic Presbytery

97 Dalhousie Street

Haberfield NSW 2045

Phone: 9798 6657

Fax: 9799 4275

Email:

admin@stjoanofarc.org.au

Web:

stjoanofarc.org.au

We invite you to share in the Sacraments of:

EUCHARIST:

Saturday Vigil: …………………………………………………………..5.00pm

Sunday Mass: ..……………………………………………..9.00am & 6.00pm

Tuesday (Preferred day and time for 1 month & 1 year of

anniversary of death Masses - must be booked)……………… 7.00pm

Wednesday, Thursday …………………………………………………….9.00am

Friday ………………………………………………………………...9.15am

RECONCILIATION

Saturday 4:30pm

BAPTISM

Celebrated on the SECOND Saturday and the FOURTH Sunday of the month at

11.00am MARRIAGE Arrangements for a wedding must be made at least four months in advance. Attendance at

a Pre-Marriage Course is encouraged. ANOINTING OF THE SICK We are pleased to administer the Sacrament of the Sick to those in need. The Eucharist

will also be brought to those who are ill or housebound upon request. Please notify the

Presbytery if members of your family or other parishioners are in need of the Eucharist.

YEAR B THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD Page 2 YEAR B THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD Page 3

NEW PARISHIONERS

We extend a warm welcome to new Parishioners at St Joan of

Arc. If you would like to be listed on the Parish Roll, or be a

part of the Planned Giving Program, please complete the

following:

PARISH ROLL AND PLANNED GIVING Please complete this form and place it in the collection basket.

Please indicate:

I wish to contribute to the Parish on a regular basis

I wish to be listed on the Parish Roll

Please circle your choice:

Automatic Payment (credit card/ direct debit)

Weekly Envelopes Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms_____________________________________

Address: ___________________________________________

_____________________________ PCode: _____________

Phone: ____________________ Mob: ___________________

Fax: ______________________________________________

Email: _____________________________________________

ALL PLANNED GIVING IS NOW 100% TAX DEDUCTIBLE

MINISTERS ALWAYS NEEDED

Readers, Ministers of Eucharist, Acolytes, Altar Servers and

Church Wardens are always needed for Sunday Mass. Training

and information will be provided and you will be rostered at a

mutually agreed time. If you would like to be part of our

Ministry here at St Joan of Arc, Haberfield call into the Sacristy

after Mass and ask for a Ministry sheet.

THE MASS

At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, Jesus

instituted the Eucharist, or the Mass, to perpetuate the sacrifice

of the Cross throughout the ages until he should come again.

The Mass is an act of thanksgiving to God for his saving work;

it is a sacred meal which nourishes us spiritually and anticipates

the heavenly banquet, and it is a holy sacrifice, making present

the one true sacrifice of Christ our Saviour. Catholics believe

that Jesus Christ is truly present at the Mass; in the assembly

gathered as the Body of Christ, through his Word made present

in the scripture, but supremely under the appearance of bread

and wine.

In the Eucharist the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus

Christ is wholly and entirely present. Strengthened by this

sacred food, we go forth to build up the Body of Christ in this

world, and to bring his healing and salvation to all peoples.

Please give generously to

EACH COLLECTION AT SUNDAY MASS

Many people are giving today the same amount

as they gave five or ten years ago.

* In 1979 a loaf of sliced white bread costs 55 cents

* In 1989 the same loaf cost $1.35

* Today the amount is $3.50

Has my offering to each Collection

kept pace with the rate of inflation?

In keeping with the Privacy Act names cannot be published in our Parish Bulletin

without the permission of the persons themselves or their next of kin. Please

specify on your Mass Envelope your intention to include the person’s name in this

Bulletin or contact the Parish Office on 9798 6657

CELEBRATION OF THE SACRAMENTS 2012

The Sacraments of First Reconciliation, First Holy Communion and

Confirmation for St Joan of Arc Parish young people:

Children attending St Joan of Arc School

First Reconciliation: Wednesday, 17th October , 2012 at 7pm

First Communion: Sunday, 29th July & 5th August, 2012 at 10.30am.

Confirmation: Saturday 16th June, 2012 at 5pm

Children attending Schools other than St Joan of Arc School

First Reconciliation: Wednesday, 12th September, 2012 at 7pm

First Communion: Sunday, 25th November, 2012 at 10.30am.

Confirmation: Saturday 16th June, 2012 at 5pm

BAPTISMS - May, 2012

We welcome these children into God’s family

and our parish community

Adrienne Novellini, Emily Musumeci

WEDDINGS - May, 2012 And the two shall become one

Anthony D’Aquino & Martina Bugeja

Matthew Barakat & Danielle Scaltrito

Reflection

“Proclaim the Good News to all creation.”

St Irenaeus was one of the greatest saints of the early Church. He was

consecrated Bishop of Lyons in France in AD 178, after his

predecessor had been martyred. It was a dangerous time to be a

Christian. But Irenaeus thought there was something even more

dangerous than persecution for the church, and that was heresy.

Heresy teaches beliefs that distort the true meaning of the faith and so

turn us away from the truth.

The heresy that Irenaeus spent the next twenty years of his life

refuting was called Gnosticism, after the Greek word gnosis, which

means knowledge. The Gnostics taught that we are saved when our

souls have been freed from the prison of our bodies. They believed

that only the spirit is good, while material things are evil. They saw

Christ as the one who could give them the knowledge that would

bring about their individual liberation from this world. They were

more interested in the individual than in communities like the Church.

The ideal was to escape from this fallen world and leave its

wickedness behind.

You can see how this feast of the Ascension of the Lord could be

interpreted, or rather misinterpreted, against that background. Today

we are told in the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel that after a

period of forty days, during which Jesus was instructing the apostles,

he finally left them and ascended to the right hand of God. In

medieval pictures of Jesus’ ascension, which can border on the comic,

Jesus may be seen disappearing into a cloud, with only his feet

showing as the apostles look up in astonishment. Jesus leaves the

sadness and suffering of this world and enters with a certain relief into

a region of peace and joy. Surely the apostles would feel abandoned,

left behind in this vale of tears by the one who had called them?

But then in Luke’s Gospel it says that after the ascension they

returned to Jerusalem with joy. The message of the ascension is not

that Jesus has disappeared to a distant star but that now he is even

closer to us than before. Listen to what St Leo the Great said about the

ascension: “It was a great and indescribable joy when in the presence

of the holy multitudes the nature of our human kind ascended above

the dignity of all the heavenly creatures.” St Leo helps us to get

behind the strange picture language of heavenly ascent to find the

basic truth of Jesus’ ascension: that now a human being is in heaven.

This is the interpretation we find in the Preface of the Ascension in

the Missal, where it says Jesus “ascended, not to distance himself

from our lowly state but that we, his members, might be confident of

following where he, our Head and Founder, has gone before”.

We are members of the body of Christ and through baptism we

already share in his divine life. The bodily material world is taken up

and transformed in the glorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

Now the Son, human and divine, is in the presence of the Father and

sends the Holy Spirit so that the apostles can preach the Gospel. They

must stop gazing up to heaven and get involved in a mission that

concerns the whole of creation.

It is easy to misunderstand the meaning of this great feast. We can

take the picture language too literally and imagine rocket flights, or

we can interpret the message through the eyes of a heresy like

Gnosticism which, in its modern form, still exists in our society. We

hear talk about spirituality rather than institutional religion, secret

knowledge rather than the truth taught by the Church. There is a

preference for individualistic salvation rather than a desire for the

common good of the whole of society.

But the feast has two very practical applications in our lives of faith.

First, the Ascension of the Lord asserts that the risen Christ is now

with God and rules over the whole of his creation. He has not

abandoned this world. And second, the ascended Lord sends us out on

mission to preach and practise the Gospel. His commission to the

apostles, and to us, tells us not to escape the world but to care for

God’s creation, and especially those who are deprived of material and

spiritual assistance. The ascended Lord sends us to serve them as best

we can.

The Living Word

RESPONSES TO THE MASS

20th May, 2012

Entrance Antiphon: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking in

the sky? The Lord will return, just as you have seen him ascend,

alleluia. Responsorial Psalm: God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a

blaze of trumpets for the Lord. Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia, alleluia! Go and teach all people

my gospel. I am with you always, until the end of the world.

Alleluia! Communion Antiphon: I, the Lord, am with you always, until the

end of the world, alleluia. Scripture Readings for next week: Acts 2:1-11,

Galatians 5:16-25, John 15:26-27; 16:12-15 Scripture Readers for next week:

Saturday Vigil: Enrica Bova, Natalie Devenish

Sunday 9.00am: Margaret Cassidy, Peter Etcell

Sunday 6.00pm: Nunzio Arena Ministers of Communion for next week:

Saturday Vigil: Maria Del Vecchio, Judith Molloy

Sunday 9.00am: Mara Dusevic, Imelda Bottero

Sunday 6.00pm: Viv Fezzuoglio, Josie Banno

LORD, WE PRAY WELCOME HOME THOSE WHO HAVE DIED

Recently Deceased: Grace Zappala, Rosario Bille, Domenico Gelati,

Rosa Amata, Francisco Concepcion, Marie Laker, Jack Bleazard,

Antonio Barone, Christina, Jarron, Clara Fiorio, Francesca Licastro,

Dora Pizzolato, Marie Laker, Geoff Lupton, Naobi Bellety, Enid

Reneker, Bartolo Sciacchitano, Idilia Chisesi, Antoine Khoury

Rest in Peace: Joe Joyce, Peter Tolhurst, Giuseppe Merlo, Caterina

Cricelli, Saverio Anastasi, Sam Bedirian, Santo Romano, Rita

Formosa, Molly & Michael Molloy, Antonio Gerace, Ernest Scerri,

Francesca Giordano, Maria Sciara, Teresa De Fina

In your love and concern please pray for the following ill

members of our community: Annelise Buda, Giovanni Luci, John

Simington, Anne Simington, Harry Neely, Ted Fox, Naomi Fox,

Pasquale Ramirra, Fr Peter Lynch, Angela Lopert, Stephan Ferenc,

John Huie, Carmel Speranza, John & Gemma Madsen, Rosaline

Ashing, Giancarlo Budda, Mario Bianco, Tony Sulfaro, Maria Costa,

George Myers Special Intentions: Huie & Ashing Families, Marist Sisters

ALIVE AGAIN CATECHESIS

with Bishop Julian Porteous

Join hundreds of young people on Friday May 25 for a Free BBQ and

an amazing Faith experience when we meet at Trinity College Auburn

for this year’s Pentecost Catechesis with Bishop Julian! Starting at

6.30pm the night will feature music with Gary Pinto and the

Revelations (the CYS Band), local youth entertainment acts,

Adoration, Catechesis with Bishop Julian and will culminate in an

awesome prayer experience. This will be a FREE EVENT (wristband

required). For more information go to www.cys.org.au or to register

and collect wristbands contact annelise@cys.org.au or call 9764 4357.

STATUE OF OUR LADY

The Statue of Mary, Mother and Queen, will be away from the

Church for the next four weeks being cleaned and painted, A tem-

porary Icon of Mother and Child will be put in the Shrine to aid

devotion.

MARRIAGE MASS AND RENEWAL OF VOWS

St Mary’s Cathedral

10.30am, Sunday 29 July (Marriage &Family Sunday)

Married couples in the Archdiocese of Sydney who are celebrating a

special anniversary this year(25, 30, 40, 50or 60 years of marriage)

and those couples married in the last 12 months are particularly invited

to attend the Mass. In order for the newly-married and anniversary

couples to receive a special acknowledgment on the day, we ask that

all couples wishing to attend the Mass RSVP to

imfevents@sydneycatholic.org or 9390 5283.

PARISH FEAST DAY

600th Anniversary of Birth of St Joan of Arc

1412—2012

On the weekend of 26/27 May, 2012 we will celebrate our Parish

Feast Day in the Feast of St Joan of Arc. In all the parish Masses

on that day we will pray for her intercession on the Parish of

Haberfield. After the 9.00am Mass on Sunday May 27, 2012 come

and join us for Coffee and French pastries in the Mother Teresa

courtyard.

St Joan of Arc, pray for us.

PROJECT COMPASSION 2012

$12,806.45 was donated.

Many, many thanks

ST JOAN OF ARC SCHOOL MASSES

♦ Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians

9.15am Thursday May 24, 2012

♦ Feast of St Joan of Arc

9.15am Wednesday May 30, 2012

All most welcome.