AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD – May 2006

The newly baptized exhorted to live good Christian lives

St Augustine

You have been singing a new song, infantes, so recently made new by him; and we have been singing it with you, because we have been redeemed at the same price. Let me now admonish you as fraternal charity demands; not only you, but all those who are listening; admonish you as your brother and your father; as your brother, because one mother Church gave birth to us all; as your father because it was I who begot you through the gospel.

Live good lives, my most dearly beloved children, so that you may get good results from receiving such a great sacrament. Let vices be corrected, behaviour well ordered, virtues cultivated. May each of you be attended through life by devotion, holiness, chastity, humility, sobriety; so that as you offer such fruits to God, he may delight in you, and you in him. May I too have joy from the fulfilment of your hope, when I see in you the fruits with which my hope is rewarded.

Love the Lord, because he loves you; pay frequent visits to this mother who bore you. Consider what this mother has conferred upon you, joining creatures to the creator, making slaves into children of God, making the devil's henchmen into Christ's brothers and sisters. You won't show yourselves ungrateful for these immense benefits received from her, if you show her the proper consideration of your presence. Nor can any of you hope to have God as a gracious Father, if you neglect the Church as your mother.

Finding God again

St Augustine

Under this theme, a series of Wednesday evening gatherings will be offered during May and June by the Centre for Augustinian Spirituality at Greystanes (western Sydney). The Centre is incorporated into the community of four members of the Order of Saint Augustine at Saint John Stone House, Greystanes.

This course on Wednesday evenings dwells upon Christian prayer and everyday life. Saint Augustine believed that prayer renews individuals, making them both younger in age and stronger in their person.

This course details the ways of prayer that a number of key saints have given to the Church - John Cassian, Augustine of Hippo, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross and Ignatius Loyola.

The sessions of the will be related to the personal experience of the participants, difficulties in prayer, and the spiritual for union with God.

Enquiries can be made by phoning the Augustinians at (02) 9896.6794. The cost of the course is $85.

Parish of North Harbour

Balgowlah	Manly Vale

The people have decided! With the formal union of the Parishes of Manly Vale and Balgowlah on 30th June 2006, the new single parish will be named the Parish of North Harbour.

That the name has geographical overtones was a suggestion from diocesan authorities that the parishioners adopted. There is no suggestion, however, that the two parish patron saints, Saint Kieran and Saint Cecilia, are in any way relegated.

This union of the two parishes is part of a broader plan that is taking place simultaneously in at least half a dozen parishes in the Diocese of Broken Bay.

The forthcoming Catholic community of North Harbour will be fortunate in beginning its existence with a three-year pastoral plan that was approved during April.

The plan makes provision for an increase in human resources dedicated to serve specific areas of parish life. These areas include ministry to seniors, support for liturgical music, management of the parish plant, families and youth. The parish web site is www.stkieranspmv.catholicau.com

International Youth Encounter 2006

Youth Encounter's Poster

The venue has been chosen for the Eighth Augustinian International Youth Encounter on 1st - 7th August 2006. The encounter will take place at the outdoor summer conference facilities in the grounds of the fourteenth-century Visconti Castle at Pavia in northern Italy. The building is now managed by the City of Pavia, which uses it as a museum and as a conference venue.

The castle grounds: Youth Encounter's venue

A group is being organised in Australia to attend this Youth Encounter. It will bring together between 300 and 500 young adults (under 30 years of age) from all continents. To see three hundred photographs of the previous youth encounter in Spain in 2003, go to www.augnet.org/Guadarrama.

An Australian group of participants is now being finalised. For further For further details about being part of the Australian group going to the Encounter, promptly contact Father Tony Banks O.S.A. in Sydney by phoning 02 9905.3049 (office hours).

St Augustine's College, Brookvale

As part of the golden jubilee celebrations of this Augustinian school in the Sydney metropolitan area, a heavily-illustrated book was published on Tuesday, 7th February 2006. Commissioned by the College, the book was researched and written by Mr John O'Brien, a former Principal of the college.

The book is entitled Together in Truth and Love. It is available from the College for $50 plus postage. Phone 02 9938.8200 (office hours) or e-mail adm@saintaug.nsw.edu.au

Villanova College , Coorparoo

Villanova Park

A highlight of Sunday, 7th May 2006 is a Mass of Blessing at Villanova Park, the extensive playing fields at Tingalpa of the Augustinian Order's educational flagship in Coorparoo ( Brisbane, Australia), Villanova College - a day school for boys in upper primary and in secondary (high school) grades.

The Mass of Blessing is part of the official opening of a building that has recently been completed at Villanova Park. The structure will be called the Cor Unum Centre. The name is taken from the original Latin exhortation of the Rule of Saint Augustine, Corunum et anima una ad Deum ("Be of one heart and one soul on the way towards God.")

With much of the cost coming from donors to the recent "One Mind One Heart" campaign at Villanova, the main seminar room in the building is dedicated to the friends of Villanova. In this Friends Room there will be lists of the Mothers Committees, Fathers Committees, campaign committees, Parent and Friends Executives, Sports Club executives, and other supporters of the college.

Historical photographs from various eras of the forty-seven years of the College will also be on permanent display there.

The Villanova web site is www.vnc.qld.edu.au/

Holy Spirit Parish

Sanctuary of Holy Spirit Church, St Clair

Plans are now well developed for the celebration late in October 2006 of the anniversary of Holy Spirit Parish, which is located in Saint Clair in western Sydney (Diocese of Parramatta). The Augustinians resumed responsibility for staffing this parish in 1995.

Ten days of celebration will include two weekends. There will be ca Parish Ball, and Sundays 22 nd and 29 th October will each have a special focus. On the former Sunday there will be a family Mass of Thanksgiving, followed by a parish family picnic. The Bishop of the Diocese of Parramatta will be present at a Mass on 29th October.

A permanent momento of the celebrations will take the form of an updated parish history. This will follow on from the one that marked the tenth anniversary celebrations of the parish in 1991. With this task in mind, a historical committee has been formed.

The celebrations are being coordinated by a Celebrations Steering Committee, and sub-committees are managing each separate event. It is expected that former parishioners now resident elsewhere will return to Saint Clair to attend these various celebrations.

The present parish moderator is Fr Brian Fitzpatrick O.S.A., and he is assisted by Frs Peter Tangey O.S.A. and Jun Belocura O.S.A. The parish web site is www.holyspiritstclair.com.au/ Enquiries can be made by phoning the parish office on (02) 9670.1744.

The parish has a "twinning" relationship with the Augustinian Parish of Saint Joseph ( San Jose) in Iloilo City, Philippines.

Korea

Paolo Kim O.S.A.

The Augustinians in Australia and Korea are members of APAC (Augustinian Pacific and Asia Conference), along with those in the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia and India.

On 4th March 2006 at St Monica's International Augustinian College in Rome, five young Augustinians were ordained deacons of the Catholic Church. One of these young men was a Korean, Paolo Hyun-Woog Kim O.S.A.

His fellow deacons on 4 th March were Michael Sequio ( Province of Cebu, Philippines), Bernardus Baru ( Indonesia), Joseph Lam ( Germany) and Eleodoro Villanueva ( Peru).

In Incheon, South Korea, Paolo previously made his solemn profession in the Order of Saint Augustine on 5 th September 2005. This happened on the occasion of a Mass for the twentieth anniversary of the arrival of the Augustinians in Korea.

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AUGUSTINIAN CENTRE FOR SPIRITUALITY PROGRAM 2006
2 Hewitt Avenue
Greystanes 2145
Enquiries 9896 6794
www.augustinians.org.au/communities/greystanes.html