AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD -February 2003

Carried by Christ the divine being

Christ is day. If you don't recognize him here, listen to a wise old man; if you still lack understanding, young man, whoever you may be, listen to the white hairs of truth. That old man Simeon observed the infant Lord Christ who was being carried by his mother, and was holding heaven together. He observed how tiny he was, he knew how great he was, and he took him in his arms, because he had received a reply from God that he would not see death until he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He took him in his arms and said, now you will let your servant, Lord, go in peace according to your word, because my eyes have seen your salvation. So, proclaim the good news of day from day, his salvation. This, you see, is what Simeon was saying: "The one I was waiting for has come; what am I doing here any longer?" He took him, being on the point of being taken by him. He was carrying Christ the human being, he was being carried by Christ the divine being.

AUGUSTINIAN FEASTS Link Augustinians - Saints and Blessed
www.geocities.com/Athens/1534/saints.html

3 February - Blessed Stephen Bellesini

7 February - Blessed Anselmo Polanco

AUGUSTINIAN ANNIVERSARIES

Congratulations to Fr Michael Morahan osa who celebrates 25th anniversary of ordination on 4th February and Fr Tony Banks osa who celebrates 25th anniversary of religious profession on 6th February.

INTERNATIONAL YOUTH GATHERING - GUADARRAMA, SPAIN (near Madrid) 30TH JULY - 5 AUGUST 2003

Augustinian youth gatherings are for people aged 18-28 who have a connection with the Order of St Augustine and who wish to explore their spiritualty in an encounter with people from across the world.

They continue a tradition of encounter and prayer. In light of September 11 and the present troubles in our world the accent in 2003 is on justice in our time and the hope that common purposes, hearts set together on God, and the ministry of the members of our Church across the world might set a better hope for the future. These are themes dear to the hearts of all Augustinians.

For further information please contact Fr Tony Banks osa. Email: skabanks@ozemail.com.au

AUGUSTINIAN COMMUNITY, MAREEBA

The Augustinians have a long and rich association with the Diocese of Cairns. It began with the arrival of Fr John Hutchinson O.S.A. and his two companions at Cooktown in 1884.

Subsequently, the Augustinian presence extended to all the existing mainland parishes of the Diocese. Today, however, the Parishes of Mareeba and Dimbulah are the only parishes in the Diocese, which are still served by the Augustinians.

With this background, St Thomas's Priory, Mareeba is now offering an opportunity for single men to experience a period of simple community life in the Augustinian tradition with time for prayer, parish work, recreation and personal pursuits.

For further information contact:

Robert Greenup O.S.A.
PO Box 308, Mareeba, Queensland 4880
Phone: 07 4092 1077
Fax: 07 4092 3170
Email: stthomas@ledanet.com.au

MAREEBA NEWS

Congratulations to Ralph Madigan and Arthur Collins who were elected as the Cairns Diocesan Representatives to the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Catholic Council at their recent Assembly at Kinka Beach.

COLLEGE IN BRISBANE AREA OPENS WITH AUGUSTINIAN LINKS

A Year 8 (secondary student) with a Preschool student. All 170 Foundation Day students received a commemorative certificate and badge.

A new Catholic systemic primary and secondary college of the Archdiocese of Brisbane opened its doors to 170 students for the first time on Wednesday, 29th January 2003.

The school is named St Augustine's College at the wish of the Archbishop of Brisbane, who also suggested that it adopt an Augustinian spirituality.

The new college is located in a ten-year-old housing development named Springfield. It lies within the Parish of Goodna, which the Augustinians are staffing for the Archdiocese for the ten-year period from 1995 to 2004 inclusive.

Three of the Augustinians living in the Priory at Camira (which is another suburb within the Goodna Parish) were associated with the Foundation Day ceremonies of the new college.

Fr Brian Fitzpatrick O.S.A., as Moderator of the Parish of Goodna, previously signed the pastoral agreement with Brisbane Catholic Education, which committed Brian and his successors at Goodna to provide priestly ministry to the college. At the Foundation Day ceremony, Fr Fitzpatrick led the Prayer of the Faithful.

Fr Michael Morahan O.S.A. is Rector (Principal) of the Order's Villanova College at Coorparoo, which is about 20 kilometres from Springfield. He and others at Villanova have assisted the new college in numerous ways, particularly with a variety of resources materials about St Augustine.

Thanks to Fr Morahan and Villanova, every classroom now in use at the new college contains a framed print of St Augustine that was taken from the 15th-century Gozzoli fresco series in the Augustinian church at San Gimignano, Italy.

Fr Michael Endicott O.S.A. is the priest within the Goodna Parish who is assigned to concentrate on the Springfield district. He was a foundation member of the college's local steering committee that in mid-1999 joined in planning the college. At the Foundation Day ceremony, Fr Endicott was called to bless the religious artefacts that adorn the classrooms, the staff, the students and the families involved with the college.

The wider Augustinian world was highlighted at the Foundation Day ceremony by written greetings and/or student-made posters from Augustinians and Augustinians schools elsewhere in the world. Villanova College in nearby Brisbane was represented by a teacher and four students, and St Augustine's College at Brookvale (Sydney), Australia sent a poster.

Austin Friars School at Carlisle in England sent a letter signed by all their staff, and a poster created by its junior school students.

A Year 8 student is surrounded by some of the balloons that were given to each student.

St Mary's School in the Augustinian Parish of Nagasaki, Japan has entered a Sister School relationship with the new college. This will benefit the Springfield middle school students who will all study Japanese as their second language. Secondly, both schools will share an Augustinian spirituality. In that Nagasaki is a city undertaking initiatives for world peace, St Mary's School will share this mission with Springfield students. A letter was received from the Japanese Augustinian ministries via their regional vicar, Fr Masaki Imada O.S.A., who until 2002 was Principal of St Mary's School.

A letter of congratulation came from the Augustinian Prior General, Fr Robert Prevost O.S.A., who lives in Rome but presently is in Bolivia, South America. The Prior General welcomed the new college to the world-wide family of Augustinian schools.

Greetings also arrived from Fr Jesus Guzman O.S.A., who is the Order's representative at the United Nations in New York, U.S.A. He also offered to provide materials to St Augustine's College on peace studies.

St Augustine's College is a co-educational Archdiocesan college within the Brisbane catholic Education system. Its 170 foundation students are enrolled in Preschool, Grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and in Grade 8 (the first year of secondary education in Queensland). The school is master planned to reach a maximum of three primary streams per grade level, and five secondary streams per grade level, at which time its enrolment will be 1,400 pupils.

Stage one of its building projects (just completed) saw the completion in recent days of fourteen buildings. This expenditure for land and buildings cost five million (Australian) dollars. Stage Two is already being planned, and will be required to be ready for use in January 2005.

Please add file DSC04470 with caption "A Year 8 (secondary student) with a Preschool student. All 170 Foundation Day students received a commemorative certificate and badge".

And DSC01821ul with caption "A Year 8 student surrounded by some balloons that were given to each student".

Holy Spirit Parish St Clair Site Gets Lots of Praise

www.holyspiritstclair.com.au

The parish website has been listed as a RECOMMENDED site on the Catholic Telecommunications network. This produced several emails being sent to the parish from people who consequently logged into our site. They were all very complimentary. The following were typical:

"Congratulations to you and the team. I have just been to your fabulous site. Apologies if I am one of thousands who are emailing you. However, it is just superb-and I am very judicious of my praise of websites...for quite a while I way writing reviews of sites for a magazine."

"....it's fantastic and a credit to you all. It's a great model of communication as well as a model of the various ministries that are undertaken by your community. I especially liked access to the parish Bulletin."

"...congratulations on your website-it's a terrific source of information on the parish and all your activities-a really good model for other parishes and groups."

A WAY TO KNOW JESUS BETTER - 'The Kyabram Stations'
By Fr Dave Austin OSA
www.augustinians.org.au/communities/kyabram.html

AUGUSTINIAN CENTRE FOR SPIRITUALITY PROGRAM 2002
2 Hewitt Avenue
Greystanes 2145
Enquiries 9896 6794
www.augustinians.org.au/communities/greystanes.html