AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD _ F ebruary 2007

Let God be your hope

The visible things are delightful, they’re beautiful, they’re good; seek the one who made them, he it is that is your hope. He it is that is now your hope, he it is that will later on be the reality you will possess; your hope while you believe, your possession when you see. Say to him, you are my hope. It’s right that you should say now, You are my hope; because you believe, you don’t yet see.

He is being promised you, you don’t yet have him in your grasp. As long as you are in the body, you are wandering in exile away from the Lord.

You are on the road, you haven’t yet reached home. The ruler and founder of the home country has become the road, to lead you there. So say to him now, You are my hope. What later on? My portion in the land of the living. What is now your hope will later on be your portion. Let him be your hope in the land of the dying, and he will be your portion in the land of the living.

Augustine: Sermon 313F, 3

Third National Augustinian Congress for the Laity, April 2007

Planning for the Third Augustinian Australian National Congress for the Laity is now well advanced.

This Congress, to be held in the parish centre of the Augustinian Parish of South Yarra, Melbourne, runs from Friday 20th April 2007 to Sunday 22nd April 2007.

The keynote speaker will be Fr Art Purcaro O.S.A.. He is from the United States, and is presently an Assistant General of the Order, and has for many years served in the Augustinian missions in Peru.

The title is: Augustine, Ancient & New Vision for the Future. So how about coming to Melbourne in 2007 to experience Augustine in Autumn?!

For further information about the Augustinian lay congress in Melbourne in April 2007, contact Augustinian Friends via the parish office of the Augustinian parish of South Yarra (ph. 03 9827 9117), or contact Fr Paul Maloney O.S.A. at the Centre for Augustinian Spirituality, 2 Hewitt Avenue, Greystanes, NSW 2145 (phone 02 9631 0340) or by e-mail at paulmal@bigpond.com.au

Raffle by Augustinian Friends

To show appreciation to Fr Art Purcaro O.S.A. for coming to Australia as the keynote speaker of the Third National Augustinian Congress for the Laity on 20th-22nd April 2007 (see news item above), the Augustinian Friends (Australia) are conducting a raffle for the Augustinian missions in Peru, where Fr Purcaro has served for many years.

The raffle has been made possible by the donation of a large triptych (a set of three adjoining paintings) by the artist, Simon Coates Dip FA, B.App.A., (MSA) of Sydney, Australia.

The triptych (image above) displays the compassionate Christ, the infant Christ and Christ at the Last Supper.

For the artist’s description of this tripych, click here.

The triptych has a combined dimension of 1,180 centimetres by 770 centimetres when the three panels are side-by-side. The medium used is acrylic paint on canvas.

Raffle tickets cost Aus$5 each. Until 20th April 2007 they can be obtained from Augustinian ministries in Australia. As well, their purchase can be arranged by contacting the Augustinian Provincial office: phone 02 9905 3049, or write to the office at P.O. Box 679 Brookvale NSW 2100, or email to osaadmin@bigpond.com

Villanova College, Coorparoo

For many years now much praise has been given to both the quality and scope of music education at Villanova College, which is an upper primary and secondary day school for over 900 males that is conducted under the auspices of the Augustinians at Coorparoo, Brisbane, Australia.

Caption: Staff member and Villanova’s musical director, Dr Peter Morris with the Villanova Symphony Orchestra in a Gold Medal performance at the 2006 QCMF in the Hanrahan Theatre on the Villanova College campus at Coorparoo, Australia.

Accolades still linger from the 2006 the sixteenth Queensland Catholic Schools & Colleges Music Festival (QCMF), a Festival which Villanova instigated and has always hosted.

Mr David Hutton, the Director of Catholic Education in thr Archdiocese of Brisbane, had this to say in a letter to the QCMF committee following the closure of the sixteenth Festival: “Firstly, well done on the smooth running of the Festival. I am personally very appreciative of the contribution Villa makes to the broader Catholic school community via QCMF. I know it comes at a considerable cost to the College in many ways. Secondly, I thought that the Villa performances I saw, reached a new standard of excellence. In particular the Symphonic Band and the Symphonic Orchestra performances were stunning.”

Villanova ensembles gained the following remarkable list of awards at the 2006 Festival:

Gold medals were received by Year 5 Strings, Year 6 Strings, Yr 7/Intermediate Strings, Senior Strings, Symphony Orchestra, Year 5 Band, Year 7 Band, Symphonic Band, Big Band, Percussion Ensemble.

Silver medals were received by the Guitar Ensemble, Junior Flute Ensemble, Jazz Band 3, Concert Band, Year 6 Band.

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

Augustinian Parish, St Clair

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The Parish of the Holy Spirit at Saint Clair (a suburban of western metropolitan Sydney, NSW, Australia) has been able to show appreciation in a very visible way for the ministry of the members of the Order of Saint Augustine and Sisters of Mercy who have ministered within the parish.

This has been done by the placing of two metre-square wooden icons close to the sanctuary of the parish church. They have been positioned on the side walls near the sanctuary, on each side of the stained glass windows, facing the congregation.

The icons (photos above) are carvings in wood of the logo of each of these religious orders.

To commemorate and honour the commitment and dedication shown to the Holy Spirit parishioners, by the Sisters of Mercy and the Order of St Augustine, two murals have been commissioned depicting the defining emblem of each Order.

The icons were carved from jarrah and New Guinea rosewood by Joel Mitchell, who is a young and gifted woodcarver from Springwood, New South Wales (Australia).

Joel is a youth worker with Mamre “Links for Learning”.  This is a program run at Mamre House, for youth who are at risk of leaving school early. Joel teaches them life skills, mathematics and English.

The cost of commissioning the murals was donated by a family in the parish.

The parish web site is http://www.holyspiritstclair.com.au

Augustinian Parish, St Clair

On Thursday evening, 25th January 2007 a function was held at the parish centre of Holy Spirit Parish, St Clair (New South Wales, Australia) to say good-bye to Fr Peter Tangey O.S.A., who had been transferred to St Augustine’s Priory, Brookvale about thirty kilometres away in another part of metropolitan Sydney.

Over 300 parishioners and friends were there to wish him every success for the future and to say thank you for a job well done. It was a happy occasion mixed with some sadness. There was a buffet, the presentation of a gift, speeches, and a power point presentation on Fr Tangey in a "This is Your life" style.

Fr Tangey has served at St Clair for the past eight years.

Lenten Resources

The Augustinians in Ireland have generously circulated a list of Internet web links that contain resources for the liturgical season of Lent.

This list is now offered to you here. Of course, this Australian Province web site has no control or responsibility if any of these external links in the meantime has ceased to operate, or has changed its content.

To access this list of Internet links to Lenten resources, click here.

Augustinian Parish of North Harbour

Paul Skippen, the employed full-time family and youth ministry coordinator of the Augustinian Parish of North Harbour (Sydney, Australia), is producing a weekly e-newsletter for parishioners who request it.

This e-newsletter is a quite separate production from the printed parish newsletter that is available at the church doors each Sunday.

Sensing a need for easily-available material to assist reflection, spiritual journaling and prayer by parish members of various ages, Paul introduced this practice to this Augustinian parish last September.

The reflection is based upon the Gospel readings of the Mass of the previous Sunday. (Paul explains this conscious decision thus: “Not many people read the Gospel before Sunday Mass, and in reflecting further on it after Mass they have the additional benefit of the Sunday homily they’ve heard.”)

Upon request, this weekly e-newsletter is transmitted to people each Monday afternoon as an e-mail attachment. During Lent 2007, Paul intends to provide a similar e-newsletter daily, based once more on the Gospel readings of Lenten weekdays.

Paul is willing to add to the e-mailing list anyone who requests it.

To see a recent copy of this e-newsletter that is attached to this web site, click here.

If you wish to have the weekly e-newsletter (and the daily Lenten e-newsletter) automatically e-mailed to you, send your e-mail address to paul.skippen@ozemail.com.au 

Augustinian Parish, Mareeba

The Order of Saint Augustine has staffed the Parish of St Thomas of Villanova at Mareeba in Australia's tropical north since its inception almost a century ago.

St Thomas’s Church was filled to overflowing for the 6.30pm Family Mass on 24th December 2006. It was wonderful to see so many people wanting to share in this special celebration for the Birth of Our Lord.

Christmas carols were sung for the half hour before Mass began. The church bell ringing loudly heralded the start of the procession and Mass (see photo). Children dressed as angels led the procession. Fr Rob Greenup OSA presided and after welcoming us all, invited the young children to place their stars in front of the altar. (These stars had been distributed before Mass.)

The Gospel reading was enacted by a number of young people, who did so with dignity. These same youngsters then dressed the altar and brought the gifts forward. Mass ended with the stars being retrieved by the young children. Mareeba is a parish within the Diocese of Cairns, in the tropical northern fifth of the State of Queensland, Australia.

Augustinian Parish, Mareeba

The Santo Niño de Cebu (“Holy Infant of Cebu” - see image at left) refers to a wooden statue made by Flemish artisans and brought to the island of Cebu (Philippines) in the year 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan, the leader of the first expedition to sail all the way around the world.

For centuries the location of this statue of the Santo Niño has been the Augustinian minor basilica at Cebú, and  there is great devotion to the Santo Niño throughout the Philippines, and in all parts of the world where there are Fiilipino communities.           

An annual Santo Niño festival is celebrated in the Augustinian Parish of Mareeba, Queensland, Australia. It most recently took place at the 10.00am Mass in St Thomas of Villanova Church, Mareeba on Sunday, 21st January 2007. The focus of the feast is on the child Jesus who lived quietly and humbly for his redemptive mission in the world.           

The church was full, and many Filipino people had travelled from throughout the Diocese of Cairns to share in the celebration.  Augustinian priest Fr Jun Belocura O.S.A. (see photo), a native of Cebu who has been based in Sydney for the past three years, came to Mareeba for the festival and presided at the Mass. As a prelude to the festival a novena with the rosary and other prayers was held in the church each day from Friday, 12th January until Saturday, 20th January.   

Fr Jun gave a very animated homily on the gospel reading, and spoke of how devotion to the Santo Niño relates to the church family. He depicted the church family by folding a piece of paper into a triangle representing the priest, family and community.  Each part by itself was incomplete, but the one holding it together was the Cross. (He cut the paper into three parts, and ended up with the shape of theCross.) The singing at Mass was led by a number of the Filipino community, who sang a number of hymns in a Filipino dialect.

            Following Mass the statue of the statue of the Santo Niño de Cebu was carried in procession around the church and school grounds as followers recited the Rosary. Everyone then shared many delicious dishes traditional to the Philippines, and fellowship with one another.

Augustinian Parish, South Yarra

Extensive renovation work is now complete on the former St. Joseph's Primary School building and of the Augustinian parish grounds at South Yarra, Melbourne, Australia.

The former parish school building now serves as a commodious Parish Centre. Various parish and local community groups are now using it as an ideal venue for their activities.

The Parish conducted a grand opening (see photos) of this new St. Joseph's Parish Centre on Sunday, 3rd December 2006.

The ceremony was conducted by the retired Archbishop of Melbourne, His Grace Francis Little D.D., assisted by the parish priest, Fr John Barry O.S.A..

As one example of the Centre's use, the volunteers who staff the Parish food bank have a special designated area in the building. It incorporates a counter style approach and access to an emergency telephone, which will greatly increase their safety and security.

As well, a large stainless steel pass-through freezerhas been installed in the external wall of the food bank to enable those in need to access frozen bread and bakery goods on a 24-hour basis.This freezer has the added benefit that volunteers are able to restock it from inside the Parish Centre, another important security factor.

In addition to this, the food bank will enjoy more storage space. Currently the food bank assists approximately 800 families per year and the demand is constantly on the increase.

St Augustine's College, Brookvale

St Augustine’s College is an Augustinian day school for almost 1,000 male students in the upper primary and secondary grades of the education system of New South Wales, Australia. It was founded in 1956 at Brookvale, a northern beach suburb within the metropolitan area of Sydney.

In the southern hemisphere, the academic year goes from February to early December. The College is very proud of all of its Year Twelve (i.e. graduation) students, who participated in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) public examination at the ende of the 2006 academic year.  

Of the College's sixty-four HSC school-leavers of December 2006, twenty of them were placed on the HSC Distinguished Achievers List for gaining scores placing them in the top achievement band, Band 6 (i.e., with aggregate scores between 90 – 100%). 

Of these twenty students, ten of them achieved a University Admissions Index (UAI) of 90+. The College Dux of 2006 achieved a score of 99.5%.

Pictured above are some of these students at a barbeque at the College after the HSC and UAI results came out.

To view the web site of the College, go to http://www.saintaug.nsw.edu.au

Augustinian Parish of North Harbour

A number of Augustinians carried out a transfer from one community to another during the second half of January 2007. The holiday period makes the transfer easier to manage but unfortunately makes it less likely that details of farewell ceremonies reaches the website's news desk.

One such transfer was that of Fr Abel van der Veer O.S.A.. He has just completed twelve years as an associate pastor of the Parish of North Harbour in the northern beaches area of metropolitan Sydney, Australia.

He has now moved a thousand kilometres northwards to Villanova Priory at Coorparoo, Brisbane as Prior of the Augustinian community and an associate pastor of the surrounding Augustinian Parish of St James, Coorparoo.

A farewell ceremony (see photos) was held for Abel in the parish centre beside St Kieran's Church, Manly Vale, one of the two churches in the North Harbour parish.

In his words of farewell, Abel made particular reference to elderly Catholics who live alone, and often are not well enough to journey to Mass. In acknowledging the pastoral gifts of Abel, Mr Matt Cooper, pastoral council president, said that seeking out and visiting these "shut ins" was one of Abel's great and enduring pastoral concerns.

The creation of the Parish of North Harbour resulted from the union of the former parishes of Manly (Saint Kieran’s) and Balgowlah (St Cecilia’s) in metropolitan Sydney in July 2006.

The Order of Saint Augustine is responsible to the Diocese of Broken Bay for the parish's ministry.

The parish begins on part of the northern edge of Sydney Harbour, hence its name. The new parish has retained St Kieran (of Clonmacnoise in sixth-century Ireland) and St Cecilia (an early Roman martyr) as its patron saints.

The web site of the new Parish of North Harbour is http://www.northharbour.catholicau.com

Augustinian Formation Association (A.F.A.).

The AFA prays for and raises funds for the formation of future Augustinians. Based in Sydney, its office bearers for 2006-07 are Trudi McFadden (president), Eddie Robinson (treasurer), Lesley Sing (assistant treasurer) and Yvonne Clark (secretary). (Three of the office bearers appear in the above photograph.)

To obtain more details about the Augustinian Formation Association, contact Fr Laurence Mooney O.S.A. (AFA chaplain) or the staff of the Provincial Office on (w) 02 9905 3049.

Villanova College, Coorparoo

With the beginning of the 2007 academic year, Villanova, the Order's college at Coorparoo in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia will take yet another major step in its "three schools - one college" model of administration and governance.

At that time Mr Glenn McConville (pictured) will join the staff as Head of Senior School.

This follows the appointment at Villanova of a Head of Middle School and a Head of Junior School during the past two years. Villanova educates male day students from Year Five (upper primary) to Year Twelve (upper secondary) inclusive.

The three Heads of Schools report to the Rector (Principal) of Villanova, Fr Michael Morahan O.S.A. Villanova began at a temporary site at Whinstanes, north of the Brisbane River, in 1948, and moved to its present location at Coorparoo in 1953.

During the years, seven Augustinians have been Rector (Principal) of Villanova in succession: Fathers Richard B. O'Donnell, John Louis Hanrahan, Kevin Burman, Donal Paul Dempsey, Laurence Mooney, Peter Wieneke and Michael Morahan.

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

Augustinian ceremonies in Korea

Australian and English Augustinians introduced the Augustinian Order to Korea twenty years ago, and their two decades of work are now being blessed by a series of solemn professions and priestly ordinations. The third locally-born Augustinian to serve in Korea as a priest was ordained to the priesthood on 27th December 2006 (see photos below).

The ordination took place at the Augustinian Priory at Incheon, South Korea. It was held in the St Rita Spirituality Centre, an additional building that was blessed and opened by the bishop immediately before the ordination ceremony.

Numerous photos of the Augustinian activities and personnel in Korea are available by going to http://www.augnet.org/default.asp?ipageid=6 , and then choose the photo gallery named Korea.

Masters Degree Program in Augustine

A summer program leading to a Master of Arts degree in the study of St Augustine has begun at Quezon City in Metro Manila. The venue is the Saint Augustine Centre of Studies (SACS - see photo below).

The new Masters program was officially launched at the SACS graduation ceremony on 27th March 2006, and the first units of the program were taught from 10th April to 20th May 2006.

The teachers of these units were Fr Arnel Dizon O.S.A. (An Introduction to St Augustine), Fr Pederito Aparece O.S.A. (Augustine and Neo-Platonism), and Dr Macario Ofilada Ph.D. (The Dialogues of Augustine). All units are taught in the English language, and there are choices of topics in every course.

There are choices of outcome available within the program. These give different options such as equipping the student to teach Augustine to others, or else preparing the student for further studies in Augustine at a doctoral level.

For example the option that leads to a Master of Arts in Teaching Augustine studies Augustinian pedagogy, Neo-Platonism, Augustinian metaphysics and Augustine’s theory of knowledge. It then surveys Augustine’s sermons, letters, and major books.

The full program is expected to require three summers of classes by each student, and variously also some comprehensive examinations or the writing of a thesis. Students from overseas or other parts of the Philippines can apply for summer accommodation as SACS, depending on its availability.

The next courses will be offered in April-May 2007. Printed information on the course in general and in particular, plus enrolment details, are available in a brochure that may be obtained by writing to the St Thomas of Villanova Institute of Philosophy, Saint Augustine Center of Studies, Fisheries Street, Visayas Avenue, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines.

For information about the M.A. program, persons in Australia can contact the Augustinian Provincial Office at Brookvale, Sydney by telephoning (02) 9905.3049 during office hours.

Augnet

Augnet, a comprehensive web site on Saint Augustine and the Order of Saint Augustine, has recently been redesigned and renovated. It contains over 1,200 pages of text, which also contain almost 1,900 illustrations. The Augnet web site was officially "launched" at a ceremony in Sydney in August 2002, with the Augustinian Prior General as the guest of honour.

New technical features in the renovated Augnet include a search engine, which searches every page of Augnet for any word or phrase that is nominated by a user, and a site map, which quickly allows a visitor to see and understand the local arrangement of Augnet's sections and sub-sections.

Over 1,800 large images in thirty-one extensive photo galleries illustrate Augustinian events and places internationally. Between August 2002 and April 2006 Augnet has served 63,000 different hosts/URLs, and presumably many of these hosts have visited Augnet more than once.

These hosts have downloaded 734,000 pages of Augnet. This is an average of 17,000 pages per month, 580 pages per day and 24 pages per hour throughout that period of forty-four months. By 19th January 2007 the total number of pages downloaded had reached 1,073,052 pages.

There were 25,323 separate visits to the site during the calendar month of January 2007, which was an average of over 800 visitors a day.

For the first time, on 19th October 2006 Augnet received 1,000 visitors within one twenty-four period. On 12th January 2007 there was a new daily record of 1,411 visitors.

Visit this web site at http://www.augnet.org

Augustinian Ministry Websites 2007

• 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.northharbour.catholicau.com

• St Joseph’s Parish – South Yarra Vic Australia
  Website: www.ozemail.com.au/~osasthyarra

• 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

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