AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD - for April 2011

Desire the inward healing

What did God achieve? He healed the issue of blood, he healed the leper, he healed the paralytic (these are all diseases of the spirit), and the lame and the blind - because everybody limps who isn't walking straight along the road of life, and everyone is blind who doesn't believe God, and the self-indulgent and extravagant suffer from a bloody flux, and everyone false and fickle is marred by leprosy. And we need him to heal us inwardly, yes him, the one who healed people outwardly precisely to get us to desire his inward healing.

St Augustine: Sermon 63A, 2....

Augustinian Youth Pilgrimage 2011

This is a great opportunity for young adults to attend World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid and as well to experience the Augustinian traditions of Spain and Italy at the same time. It is a 33-day pilgrimage departing on 28th July 2011, accompanied by Fr Minh-Tan Hoang O.S.A. of Brisbane.

Click on http://www.wydtours.com/augustinian-youth-pilgrimage.html for a full detailed itinerary.

The website of Augustinian Youth Ministry Australia is http://www.aymaustralia.org.au

.Thailand

For five years, Fr John Murray O.S.A. has worked in social justice ministry in Thailand. His work is with Caritas Thailand where he has a focus on refugees. In Ratchaburi Province, east of Bangkok, there is Tham Hin refugee camp which is one of the nine camps for the 150,000 Burmese refugees in Thailand.

On Monday 21st March, John helped to accompany Archbishop Giovanni d'Aniello, the Apostolic Nuncio to Thailand, to Tham Hin (see photo below). This camp was established in 1997 and is today home to more than 9,500 refugees who are Karen people from Myanmar.

In his homily during Eucharist at the camp, the Archbishop said that he came as the representative of both the Church and the Pope, to let the refugees know that "you are not forgotten and we care for you". Here, he said, this is shown through the efforts of Caritas Thailand and COERR (Catholic Office for Emergency Relief and Refugees) which works closely with UNHCR and the many other NGOs active in the camp.

Augustinian Centre for Spirituality

A small oasis of quiet and hospitality in western suburban Sydney, Australia, the Augustinian Centre for Spirituality at Greystanes (see photo below) assists persons and groups of all faith backgrounds in their spiritual journey.

Some members of its Augustinian community offer spiritual direction, reflection days, courses in prayer and meditation, and individual residential directed retreats.

A current activity is a series of prayer evenings on the Thursdays of Lent from 10th March until 14th April 2011, and a post-Easter evening on Thursday, 5th May.

Each session focuses on the following Sunday's gospel passage, and offers the opportunity to interact with the life of Jesus. Each evening will consist of prayer, music, song, ritual, reflection and silence.

To read the 2011 Program of the Augustinian Centre, click here.

"This is your time and this is your place" - an inservice for parish youth ministry and young adult ministry. This weekend program will take place at Greystanes on Saturday and Sunday, 21st-22nd May 2011. For details, click here.

For more information on the Centre, please phone (02) 9896 6749, or
e-mail osaspirit@bigpond.com.au

St Thomas of Villanova Parish, Mareeba

The Parish of St Thomas of Villanova in Mareeba has been staffed by the Order of Saint Augustine since it began almost a century ago. Mareeba is located on the tableland behind the tropical tourist city of Cairns, in northern Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Diocese of Cairns.

Saturday, 19th February 2011 saw a celebratory Mass and supper at St Thomas of Villanova Church, Mareeba (photo below) to commemorate the ending of sixteen years as Parish Priest by Fr Rob Greenup O.S.A.

Combined choirs led the congregation in the singing at the Mass which was celebrated by Fr Tony Banks O.S.A., Prior Provincial of the Augustinians in Australia and South Korea.

He was assisted by Fr Rob, Fr Michael Belonio O.S.A. (Mareeba's new Parish Priest) and Deacon Ralph Madigan.

A packed church listened as Fr Banks congratulated Fr Rob on his years of stewardship in Mareeba, Dimbulah, Kuranda, Mt Molloy and Julatten. Many innovations, introduced during that time, are now part of parish life.

After the Mass, many people gathered at St. Thomas's School for supper, which was preceded by a presentation from the parish, after a speech by the Parish Pastoral Council chairperson. Fr Rob was overwhelmed by the gifts and the attendance by the Mareeba people.

He will not, however, be leaving the district entirely, as he and Deacon Ralph will be working throughout the Diocese of Cairns in a new role with Aboriginal people.

Date Claimer for 2011. The Mareeba Parish Centenary celebrations will occur on the weekend of 11th-12th June 2011.

St Augustine’s College, Sydney

St Augustine's College is an Augustinian day school for almost 1,100 male pupils in the upper primary and secondary years of education. Founded in 1956, it is located at Brookvale (Sydney), Australia.

St Augustine’s College always welcomes parents each year in a true Augustinian way, with a Welcoming Party.

This year’s event was held outdoors in the College quadrangle, with a ‘street festival’ theme. Nearly 600 parents came together on a balmy February night to meet the College’s new Head of School, Matthew Hutchison, and enjoyed an evening of live Spanish music, tapas and paella under hanging festoon lights.

The College's web site is www.saintaug.nsw.edu.au

Villanova College, Coorparoo

Villanova is a college of the Order of Saint Augustine at Coorparoo in Brisbane, Australia. Villanova is a day school of over 1,200 male students in the upper primary and secondary years of education. It began at Whinstanes on 25th January 1948, and in 1954 moved to Coorparoo, on the southern side of the Brisbane River.

Recent issues of the College Newsletter indicated that the promotion of music and music education at Villanova continues apace. On the evening of 19th March the Term 1 concert by the Villanova Big Band took place. All profits went to Rosies Youth Mission, and $1,200 was raised thereby.

At the Hanrahan Theatre on the college campus on 8th April 2011 there will be a benefit concert for the Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal, led by guitar tutor, Dr Paul Svoboda, and his Aurora Guitar Ensemble.

And on 14th May 2011 the Villanova Irish Ensemble will for the third year be performing at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre as special guests of the Queensland Pops Orchestra at its annual Celtic Celebration Concert.

Photo: Villanova Irish Ensemble of 2008.

The college web site is: http://www.vnc.qld.edu.au

St Joseph's Parish, South Yarra

In Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian State of Victoria, the Augustinians have care of the Parish of Saint Joseph, South Yarra. The parish also has a second church, dedicated to St Thomas Aquinas, at Bromby Street, South Yarra. The Order of St Augustine has ministered in the parish since 1976.

With the generous assistance of grants from Community Enterprise Foundation of Windsor & Prahran Bendigo Community Bank $5,000, City of Stonnington $3,000, $2,000 in private donations & support of the parish's Emergency Housing Association, the oldest crisis shelter in parish control has been thoroughly refurbished. (See photo above.)

This crisis shelter has been conducted by the parish for over twenty years, and is rarely unoccupied.

The South Yarra parish website is: http://www.parishofsouthyarra.org.au

Augustinian Parish, North Harbour, Sydney

The Catholic Community of North Harbour in the Diocese of Broken Bay is the union, which happened on 1st July 2006, of the two previous adjacent Augustinian-administered parishes of Manly Vale and Balgowlah in the northern beaches area of Sydney, Australia's largest city.

The Augustinians began their pastoral leadership at Manly Vale in 1952 and at Balgowlah in 2004.

The March "Open Mic" (Open Microphone) Night played to a "full house" in front of the stage at the Parish Centre, Manly Vale (see photos above). A number of the volunteer performers are already members of one or more of the music ministries in the parish.

The purpose of the evening is to foster musical and vocal talent in the parish, and this initiative is proving popular.

The St Kieran's Gavel Club is a public speaking group for youth 13 - 17 years of age who meet every 2nd Sunday of the month during school term at the Parish Centre from 11.00am to 12.30pm.

It is sponsored by St Kieran's Toastmasters Club, who meet every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 7.00pm. For more details, phone the parish on (02) 9949 4455 during office hours.

The parish website, now extensively renovated, has received many plaudits. A new feature is the addition of video clips. The most recent inclusion in that regard is a four-minute presentation on Celebrate Sunday, which centres on the 6.00 pm Sunday Mass at St Kieran's Church, Manly Vale. Go to http://www.vimeo.com/15978171

Augustinian Parish, St Clair

Holy Spirit Parish at St Clair in western Sydney, Australia, was established in 1981, and has been administered by the Order of Saint Augustine since 1995.

A Retreat Day open to all parishioners will take place in Holy Spirit Church on Saturday, 16th April 2011 from 10.30 am until 3.30 pm. It will be conducted by two members of the Augustinian retreat team from Greystanes, and is offered as a preparation for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, which will occur in the following week.

The Retreat Day is an initiative of the spirituality commission of Holy Spirit Parish. More details are available from the parish office; phone (02) 9670 8222 during business hours.

Like every parish in Australia, Holy Spirit Parish has provided a Lenten Program for 2011. These Lenten Groups are meeting at a variety of venues, and at different times of the day, including after the morning Mass on Mondays, during the hour before the parish school ends classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and also on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings.

Further details of parish life appear on the web site of Holy Spirit Parish: http://www.holyspiritstclair.com.au

Augustinian Parish, Coorparoo

The Parish of St James, Coorparoo (Brisbane) has been in the care of the Augustinians since 1952. Villanova College, also conducted by the Order, is located within the parish.

During 2011, the new English translation of the Mass texts will be introduced to Australia.

In preparation for this, parishioners are invited to attend four meetings (February to April) at which we will view and discuss videos on different parts of the Mass (using the current translation).

Organised by St James's Liturgy Group, these sessions will help us understand the Mass better, prior to the changes.

Each session will be offered twice. Topics and dates are as follows:
The Entrance Rite – 'We Shall Go Up With Joy' – 13 & 16 February
The Liturgy of the Word – 'The Word of the Lord' – 6 & 9 March
The Eucharistic Prayer – 'Lift Up Your Hearts' – 27 & 30 March
The Communion Rite – 'Say Amen to What You Are' – 10 & 13 April

St James’s Social Justice Forum is meeting on Tuesday, 5th April 2011 at 7:30 pm in the Priory. The topic, "Disability Awareness and Inclusion - Sign of the Kingdom," will be presented by Rev Deacon Anthony Gooley and Mrs Ann O'Brien. All are welcome to come, listen and learn.

You can view the parish web site: http://www.stjames-coorparoo.org.au/

Augustinian reception and simple profession ceremonies ....

The regular Sunday 9.30 am Mass at St Kieran's Church in the Sydney suburb of Manly Vale, N.S.W. on 6th February 2011 was an occasion of great joy for the Augustinians of Australia and all of their supporters. At that Eucharist, three novices became simply-professed Augustinians, and changed into the black Augustinian habit.

At the same ceremony, two postulants became novices for 2011-2012. There are already two postulants living in at Brookvale with hopes of being novices in 2012-2013.

The Order of St Augustine has been present in Brookvale for about fifty-five years.

Augustinian 25th Anniversary in Korea

The Order of Saint Augustine first went to South Korea in 1985, and two Australian Augustinians were in the group of four priests initially sent there. The Order in Korea accepted its first Korean-born candidates in 1990, and still regards the task of training its Korean-born Augustinians as a primary ministry.

The 25th anniversary celebrations of the Order in Korea took place on the first weekend of October 2010, and brought back to Korea three of the first four priests that the Augustinians sent there in 1985 (two from England, and two from Australia). The fourth of these friars then visited there during November.

The Augustinian Delegation of Korea has three communities, located at Incheon, Kanghwa Island and Yeon-Chon (north of Seoul).

The Augustinian Delegation has nine Koreans in solemn vows (five priests and four lay brothers), four in simple vows, and three postulants. There are also three expatriate Augustinian priests, two from the Cebu Province (Philippines) and one from Australia.

For a summary elsewhere on this web site of Augustinian involvement in South Korea since the Order's arrival there in 1985, click here.

Augustinian Formation Association (A.F.A.)

The Augustinian Formation Association prays for and raises funds for the formation of current Augustinian candidates and for future Augustinians.

It has now fulfilled this role for a number of decades.

Based in Sydney, Australia, its current office bearers are Trudi McFadden (president), Eddie Robinson (treasurer), Lesley Sing (assistant treasurer) and Yvonne Clark (secretary).

The AFA is hoping to expand its membership, especially seeing that the number of Augustinian students in formation is increasing, meaning that additional support would be very timely.

To obtain more details about the Augustinian Formation Association generally, contact the staff of the Provincial Office on (02) 9938 0200 during office hours.

Augustinian Friends

Augustinian Friends is a lay group conducted in Australia for those wishing to learn more about the spirituality of Saint Augustine of Hippo, and to have contact with others who share this goal. Branches of the Friends operate at a number of Augustinian venues in Brisbane, Mareeba, Melbourne, Northern Victoria, and Sydney.

The Friends' newsletter, Amici, has now reached its tenth anniversary, and much has happened within Augustinian Friends during this decade. For example, there have been four Lay Congresses: in Echuca in 2001, in Brookvale (Sydney) in 2004, in South Yarra (Melbourne) in 2007, and in Coorparoo (Brisbane) in 2010.

An annual meeting of the National Committee of Augustinian Friends took place at the Augustinian Centre for Spirituality at Greystanes (Sydney) on the weekend of 6th-8th November 2009 (see photo below). The most recent annual meeting took place there on 17th-19th September 2010.

These meetings approved a parish programme for the Easter period developed by the Augustinian Spirituality Team. Local Augustinian groups have offered to run the programme in Augustinian parishes. It is particularly suitable for those who have just completed the RCIA program.

The leader of the Augustinian Friends for 2011 is Sylvia Phillips, and Fr. Paul Maloney O.S.A. is the chaplain of the group.

The English and U.S. Augustinians are involved with generally similar Augustinian Friends movements in their respective nations.

In England, “Friends of Augustine” has now begun its own website:
http://www.friendsofaugustine.org In the United States, the web site is http://www.augustinianfriends.org

For an Amici newsletter subscription or for any additional information on the Friends, contact Fr Paul Maloney at Greystanes (Sydney) at paulmal@bigpond.com.au or phone him on (02) 9631 0340.

Augustinian Friends at North Harbour Parish (Manly Vale and Balgowlah) had the Australian Augustinian Provincial, Fr Tony Banks O.S.A. speak at a gathering of Augustinian Friends of North Harbour on the Augustinians and Asia today. This took place on Thursday 31st March 2011.

For additional information about Augustinian Friends on this web site, click here.

Augustinian Volunteers Australia 2011

In February 2008, Augustinian Volunteers Australia was launched with a group of five part-time co-workers. These three women and two men offered their assistance to Church ministries in the poorer suburbs of Western Sydney. This was subsequent to a formation course which included an immersion experience in that same region of Sydney.

The Fourth Volunteer Formation Course (Justice & Peace) of Augustinian Volunteers Australia took place in Brookvale (Sydney) from 31st January to 19th February 2011. The principal lecturers were Fr Paul Maloney O.S.A. on “Augustinian Spirituality for Justice and Peace,” and Mr Paul Wilson M.A. (Theology, New York) on “Social Ethics and Catholic Social Teaching.” The Augustinian Provincial, Fr Tony Banks O.S.A., was a visiting lecturer for one day in each unit.

The course began with eleven participants, and ten completed it. Eight of the ten came from Augustinian parishes: three from St Clair (western Sydney), three from North Harbour (Northern Sydney) and two from Coorparoo (Brisbane). Of the ten, two were male and eight female. A majority of them are university students, two are teachers, one a lawyer and one a counsellor.

The youngest participant is a person commencing at University in March 2011, most of the others are aged in their twenties, and two are over fifty. (See photo of lecturers and participants above. One participant was absent).

Nine of the ten course participants have decided to become actual Augustinian Volunteers in 2011, by which they will give the equivalent of a minimum of one day’s time per week to their placement, and will receive ongoing AVA support and supervision as they do so. Augustinian Volunteers Australia provides supervised placements but is not involved in providing accommodation, hence the Volunteers remain in their usual living circumstances in their home city. In this way, they are able to maintain contact with their present Augustinian parish.

Brisbane will be the venue of placement for three of the new 2011 Volunteers, and Sydney for the remaining six. As well, there are expected to be two Sydney AVA members from 2010 continuing their placement in 2011, and two likewise in Brisbane. This means that in 2011 there are thirteen Volunteers with supervised placement.

This is the fourth year of AVA placements, and some of the placements for 2011 are still being finalised. Among the placements that can at this stage be announced are that two AVAs will work with refugees in Brisbane, and two with Sudanese women and children at Mamre Homestead in the Western Sydney suburb of St Marys. Working with the homeless and with indigenous youth in inner Sydney has also been arranged.

Mr Paul Wilson, who is employed full-time as the Justice and Peace Officer of the Australian Augustinians, said, “The Volunteers are encouraged to see their ministry as benefiting others in society as much as themselves, and in some cases it is this latter appreciation which quite amazes volunteers. They enter the program because they want to be there for others, to help in the transformation of our society, but what sustains them is the enormous benefits to one’s own spiritual life in seeing how others, who may have far less than they do, can cope with life. The simplicity of some people’s lives, particularly of those on the streets, can prompt a review of our own values and change the priority we give to elements in our own life.”

More details about Augustinian Volunteers Australia are available on the social justice section of this web site.

For further information go to http://www.aymaustralia.org.au/ministries/augustinian-volunteers

Contact:

Mr Paul Wilson, Justice and Peace Project Officer, c/- St Augustine’s Priory, P.O. Box 679, Brookvale NSW 2100, Australia. Mobile phone: 0438 646 294 Email: paul.wilson@augustinians.org.au Website: www.augustinians.org.au

Augustinian Ministry Websites 2011

• St Augustine’s College – Brookvale NSW Australia
  Website: www.saintaug.nsw.edu.au

• St James’ Parish – Coorparoo Qld Australia
  Website: http://www.stjames-coorparoo.org.au/

• Villanova College – Coorparoo Qld Australia
  Website: www.vnc.qld.edu.au

• Parish of North Harbour – Manly Vale & Balgowlah, NSW Australia
  Website: http://www.northharbourcatholic.org.au

• St Joseph’s Parish – South Yarra Vic Australia
  Website: http://www.parishofsouthyarra.org.au

• Holy Spirit Parish – St Clair NSW Australia
  Website: www.holyspiritstclair.com.au

• Augustinians in Korea
• Website: http://www.osakorea.or.kr

FOR SOME CURRENT NEWS ABOUT THE ORDER OUTSIDE AUSTRALIA Click here

The Augustinian international web site is:
http://www.osanet.org/home.asp

AUGUSTINIAN CENTRE FOR SPIRITUALITY PROGRAM 2011
2 Hewitt Avenue
Greystanes 2145
Enquiries (02) 9896 6794
www.augustinians.org.au/communities/greystanes.html