AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD - for June 2010

Hospitality to another

What a mystery, my brothers and sisters! Jesus goes in with them, he becomes their guest; and while he hadn’t been recognized all along the way, he is now recognized in the breaking of bread. Learn to take in strangers as guests, where Christ can be recognized.

Or didn’t you know that if you take in any Christian, you are taking in him? Didn’t he say himself, I was a stranger, and you took me in? And when he’s asked, Lord, when did we see you a stranger? He answers, When you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me. So when a Christian takes in Christian, members are serving members; and the head rejoices, and reckons as given to himself whatever has been lavished on a member of his.

So here let Christ be fed when he is hungry, be given drink when he is thirsty, clothed when he is naked, taken in when he is a stranger, visited when he is sick. Such are the needs of the journey; that is how we have to live in this wandering exile, in which Christ is in want.

He is in want in his people, he is replete in himself. But being in want in his people, replete in himself, he brings those who are in want to himself. In that place there will be no hunger, there will be no thirst, there will be no nakedness, there will be no sickness, there will be no exile, there will be no toil, there will be no sorrow. I know that none of these things will be found there, and I don’t know what will be found there.

................................................ .............St Augustine: Sermon 236,3...

Ordination to the Priesthood

Rev Minh-Tan Hoang O.S.A. was ordained to the priesthood in Sydney, Australia on 4th June 2010. The ceremony, conducted by Most Rev David Walker D.D. (Bishop of Broken Bay), took place in the commodious Brimson Centre at St Augustine’s College, Brookvale (Sydney) in the presence of a large congregation.

The new priest officiated at Masses of thanksgiving at St Therese Church, Lakemba on Saturday, 5th June, and at St Kieran’s Church, Manly Vale on Sunday, 6th June 2010. At all three ceremonies there were numerous concelebrants, including members of the Order of St Augustine who travelled from Victoria and Queensland for the occasion.

Annual International Course

The annual Augustinian course on the United Nations and the Social Doctrine of the Church will be held for Augustinian delegates of Justice and Peace in August 2010. For the first time it will take place in Australia.

It will be conducted at St Joseph’s Parish in South Yarra, Melbourne, Australia (see photo) from the 25th-28th August 2010. As usual, it will be followed by the annual DPI/NGO Conference, from 30th August to 1st September 2010.

(The Augustinian Order participates in an NGO – a non-government organization – that is registered at the United Nations). The leader of the NGO is an Augustinian from the United States, Fr Jack Deegan O.S.A.

For more information, contact Fr Brian Fitzpatrick O.S.A. (pmo87330@bigpond.net.au) or Fr Jack Deegan O.S.A. (jedeegan@comcast.net).

St Augustine’s College, Sydney

St Augustine's College is an Augustinian day school for over 1,000 male day pupils in the upper primary and secondary years of education. Founded in 1956, it is located at Brookvale (Sydney), Australia.

A tradition at the College has been the celebration of Mothers Day. On 7th May 2010 a Mass was held in the College's Brimson Center at 10.00 am. (See photo.)

It was followed by a morning tea for the mothers who were able to attend, plus the Middle School students.

In the Senior School a proposed Italian Study Tour has been announced for April 2011. Of special interest to students of History and Italian, the tour will visit Venica, Verona, Florence, Pisa, San Gimignano and Rome.

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 1,000 male day students in the upper primary and secondary years of education. It began at a smaller location in Whinstanes (Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) on 25th January 1948, and moved to its present site at Coorparoo in 1954.

Year Ten students of Drama have been working on a performance called Shaping the Person I wish to become. This involved each student interviewing a person he admires and then writing a monologue based on that person’s life. On Thursday, 3rd June 2010 the students will present their performances in the College’s Hanrahan Theatre at 6.30 pm. Their rehearsals have been assisted by the College’s drama teachers.

Photo: Hanrahan Theatre, Villanova College.

In Year Seven, students involved in debating have now participated in their first official debating contest in the inter-school competition conducted by the Catholic Independent Colleges (CIC). Two Villanova teams were pitted against St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace and, because of a forfeit by another scheduled college, the other two Villanova Year Seven teams debated against each other.

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

On Saturday 24th April 2010 Fr Robert Greenup and Deacon Ralph Madigan were invited guests at the 40th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Mareeba Mosque.

Muslims first began to arrive in the Mareeba area from the Balkans as early as 1885, but most arrived between 1920 and 1940. The Mareeba Mosque, opened in 1970, was the second mosque to be built in Queensland, and the first one outside of Brisbane.

In the above photo, from left to right, are: Imam Eljam Bardi from Shepparton, Imam Abdul Aziz from Cairns, Imam Ismail Hyka from Dandenong, Fr Robert Greenup, Deacon Ralph Madigan, and Imam Binyamin Murat from Mareeba.

Augustinian Parish, St Clair

Holy Spirit Parish at St Clair in western Sydney, Australia, was established twenty-five years ago, and has been administered by the Order of Saint Augustine for the past eleven years.

Recent issues of the parish Sunday bulletin have described segments of the life of Mary MacKillop, who later in 2010 will be canonized as Australia's first saint.

Mary MacKillop was only twenty-four years of age when she co-founded the Josephite Sisters. It was the youthful energy and idealism of Mary MacKillop, Archbishop Polding, Caroline Chisholm and others who in the nineteenth century established Australia's first real Catholic Church community.

The web site of Holy Spirit Parish is located on the Internet at http://www.holyspiritstclair.com.au

Fourth Australian Augustinian Lay Congress

Participants at the 4th Augustinian National Lay Congress will ponder the Christian call to spirituality in the 21st century. The Congress is being held at Villanova College in Coorparoo (Brisbane) on Friday (all day) to Sunday (half day) 2nd-4th July 2010.

The main speakers will be two laymen, Dr Joseph Kelley and Paul Wilson. 

Dr Joseph Kelley is the Vice President for Advancement and former Provost of Merrimack College at Andover, Massachusetts, which is an Augustinian-owned university. He is also Associate Professor in Religious and Theological Studies and founder of the Center for Augustinian Study and Legacy at Merrimack. Joe holds the Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Boston University, a D. Min. in clinical pastoral psychology from the Andover-Newton Theological School, an M.A. in Theology from the Catholic University of America, and a B.A. in philosophy from Villanova University, Pennsylvania. Since his arrival at Merrimack in 1974, he has also served as Vice-President for Student Life and Director of Campus Ministry.

Mr Paul Wilson was appointed by the Augustinians in 2006 to the Province's Justice and Peace Office in Sydney, and is the Director of Augustinian Volunteers Australia.

The theme of the Congress is Go forth on your path, and will invite participants to discern how we love and serve God in the twenty-first century.

For further information and bookings, contact the nearest Augustinian Priory, or the Provincial Office (business hours) – phone (02) 9905 3049 or osaadmin@bigpond.com

In 2007 proceeds from the Congress Raffle (Artwork by Simon Coates) went all the way to Peru and were carefully spent by Fr Art Purcaro O.S.A. in the Augustinian mission at Chulucanas, Peru.

The 2010 Congress Raffle will showcase another work of art – a patchwork wall hanging created by Lorna Haigh of Brisbane. It is valued at $1,500.

(At left): Photo of artwork.

Proceeds from this Raffle will go to a much nearer Augustinian mission, Villanova High School in the Susweni area of the city of Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia. .

Use the e-mail address or telephone number (above) to enquire about the purchase of raffle tickets.

Augustinians in South 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 Augustinian Delegation of Korea now staffs 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), three in simple vows, one novice and two postulants. There are also three expatriate Augustinian priests, two from the Cebu Province (Philippines) and one from Australia.

In September 2010 the Delegation looks forward to its twenty-fifth anniversary.

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

For news on this web site about the Augustinians in Korea and in other areas of the Asia-Pacific, click here.

Augustinian Parish of 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, which are located in the northern beaches area of Sydney.

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

A weekend "away" retreat for many of the seventy-eight North Harbour staff, liturgical ministers, music ministers, parish interns and children's liturgy leaders took place on 1st-2nd May 2010 at Mittagong (see photo at right).

The organisers, who were parish members, named the weekend “Ignite”.

The intention was that the time together would further ‘ignite’ the great passion for ministry at Eucharist that these ministers already have.

The parish web site is http://northharbour.catholicau.com/index.html

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.

The parish has announced the recent completion of two new crisis shelters (see photo at left) in a vacant building at 54 Fitzgerald Street, towards the edge of the parish property.

This project was made possible by the supervision and generous support of the St Joseph's Emergency Housing Association.

The Association was supported by other donors - the Victorian State Government, the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, the Sisters of Charity Foundation, the untiring efforts of many volunteers and fundraisers, and the interest and support of many other bodies and individuals in the community.

The premises were blessed and opened on Sunday, 2nd May 2010 at 11.30 am.

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

The parish church of St James (see photo above) was the venue for the Jubilee Masses of two Augustinians who celebrated their fiftieth anniversary of priestly ordination.

Fr Joseph Walsh O.S.A. was ordained in Rome and, other than for about three years in Ireland, his homeland, he has served in the Australian Province at various centres in eastern Australia. His Jubilee Mass took place at 9.00 am on Sunday, 9th May 2010.

Fr Peter Hayes O.S.A. was ordained in the United States of America, and has served in Australia, his homeland, for the great majority of his priesthood; he devoted a number of years to Augustinian ministry in Ireland. His Jubilee Mass took place at Coorparoo at 9.00 am on Sunday, 23rd May 2010.

For further information about the parish and its activities contact the parish office at (07) 3397 1671 during office hours, or view the parish web site: http://www.stjames-coorparoo.org.au/


Augustinian Centre for Spirituality

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

Its resident Augustinian community offers spiritual direction, reflection days, courses in prayer and meditation, and individual residential directed retreats.

The 2010 program of prayer days and courses is available on this web site: click here.

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


Youth Leaders

The Australian Augustinian Province conducts a national six-day Augustinian youth festival every two or three years, and takes a group of participants to each triennial six-day Augustinian international youth encounter.

The previous international encounter was held in Sydney after World Youth Day in July 2008.

The next six-day Augustinian international youth encounter (see logo at right) will occur in London in September 2010.

Further information about the London event is available on the London AYE web site www.aye10.org.

The web site of the Australian Augustinian Youth Movement is:
http://www.aymaustralia.org.au

To learn more about the Australian group for AYE 2010 London, contact the Augustinian Youth Officer at michael.delacruz@augustinians.org.au

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, contact the staff of the Provincial Office on (w) (02) 9905 3049.

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 three Lay Congresses: in Echuca in 2001, Sydney (Brookvale) in 2004, and in Melbourne (South Yarra) in 2007.

The 4th National Congress for Augustinian Laity will take place from Thursday, 1st July to Sunday, 4th July 2010, at Villanova College in the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo. For information, contact any of the Augustinian parishes listed hereunder, or the Provincial Office at (02) 9905 3049 during business hours.

The 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 meeting also approved a parish programme for the Easter period developed by the Augustinian Spirituality Team. Local Augustinian groups will offer to run the programme in Augustinian parishes. It is particularly suitable for those who have just completed the RCIA programme

The position of Co-Leaders of the National Committee is presently shared by Ruth McGowan and Maureen Atkins of northern Victoria, 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.

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

Augustinian Volunteers Australia 2010

The Augustinian Justice and Peace Course, which is used as part of the formation program for Augustinian Volunteers Australia, was conducted at Augustinian Priory, Brookvale (Sydney) during the three weeks from 1st – 20th February 2010.

There were six candidates for Augustinian Volunteers Australia 2010. Two came from Brisbane, and the four from the Sydney region are from the Augustinian Parishes of St Clair (Parramatta Diocese) and North Harbour (Broken Bay Diocese). 

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

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 2010

• 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: 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 2010
2 Hewitt Avenue
Greystanes 2145
Enquiries (02) 9896 6794
www.augustinians.org.au/communities/greystanes.html