AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD - December 2004

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

On behalf of the Australian Augustinian Province, Fr Pat Fahey O.S.A. (Provincial) wishes to express Christmas greetings, and to assure all benefactors of the Province that they will be remembered in the Masses and prayers of the Augustinians throughout the holy season.

SAINT AUGUSTINE ON THE INCARNATION AND THE CHRISTMAS EVENT

He by whom all things were made was made one of all things. The Son of God by the Father without a mother became the Son of man by a mother without a father. The Word Who is God before all time became flesh at the appointed time. The maker of the sun was made under the sun. He Who fills the world lays in a manger, great in the form of God but tiny in the form of a servant; this was in such a way that neither was His greatness diminished by His tininess, nor was His tininess overcome by His greatness. [St. Augustine, Sermon 187 1,1]

God became a human being, so that in one person you could have both something to see and something to believe. [St. Augustine, Sermon 126, 5]

He lies in a manger, but contains the world. He feeds at the breast, but also feeds the angels. He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, but vests us with immortality. He found no place in the inn, but makes for Himself a temple in the hearts of believers. In order that weakness might become strong, strength became weak. [St. Augustine, Sermon 190 3,4]

He so loved us that for our sake He was made man in time, through Whom all times were made; was in the world less in years than His servants, though older than the world itself in His eternity; was made man, Who made man; was created of a mother, whom He created; was carried by hands which He formed; nursed at the breasts which He had filled; cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word without Whom all human eloquence is mute. [St. Augustine, Sermon 188 2,2]

He who was God was made man by taking on what He was not, not by losing what He was... Let Christ, therefore, lift you up by that which is human in Him; let Him lead you by that which is God-man; let Him guide you through to that which is God. [St. Augustine, On 1 John 23,6]

Truth, eternally existing in the bosom of the Father, has sprung from the earth so that He might exist also in the bosom of a mother. Truth, holding the world in place, has sprung from the earth so that He might be carried in the hands of a woman. [St. Augustine, Sermon 185, 3]

ST AUGUSTINE'S CHURCH, BROOKVALE

Young adults at the final Mass in the Brookvale church.

On Sunday, 21st November 2004, the feast of Christ the King, the final scheduled parish Mass was celebrated in St Augustine's Church in Brookvale, a suburb situated within St Kieran's Parish, Manly Vale (Sydney, Australia).

Celebrants on the occasion were Sydney Augustinians, Frs Pat Fahey (Provincial, principal celebrant), Peter Wieneke (parish priest of Manly Vale), Denis K. O'Shea, Ralph Cameron, Senan Ward and Peter Jones. The Augustinian professed students, Minh-Tan Hoang (Tan) and Jin Young Jeong (Lino) were acolytes. The church was filled to capacity.

When the Manly Vale Parish began in 1952, it was placed in the care of the Augustinians. After Mass had been celebrated each Sunday for three years in a nearby public venue, Saint Augustine's Church was built and opened late in 1955. The closure of the Brookvale church in its forty-ninth year of continuous use was an outcome of a review of the administration and the provision of liturgy within the Manly Vale parish and the adjacent Balgowlah Parish (which now is also staffed by the Manly Vale Augustinians).

Parishioners contributed their memories for reproduction in a commemorative historical booklet that marked the church's closure. Peter Keogh, a long-time resident and parish committee member, ended his reflections thus:
"In conclusion, I want to say thank you to all the Augustinians who have served at Brookvale over so many years. May their work and the work and loyalty of the Brookvale community for so many years be remembered, and may they be rewarded for their building up of Christ's community here in our parish."

ST FRANCIS XAVIER PARISH, GOODNA, QUEENSLAND

St Francis Xavier church - Goodna

On 30th December 2004 the Australian Augustinian Province completes its contract with the Archdiocese of Brisbane to staff St Francis Xavier Parish, which is centred on the outer-Brisbane suburb of Goodna. After exactly ten years in the parish, the Augustinians are being farewelled at a number of ceremonies, the first of which had already happened at the time that this report is being prepared. On Saturday, 27th November 2004 Archbishop John Bathersby (Brisbane) attended the Saturday vigil Mass in the parish, and then went with parishioners and other invited guests to a "social" that was hosted by the Parish Events Committee in honour of the departing Augustinians. Another celebration will occur after the 9.30am Sunday Mass at Goodna on a forthcoming Sunday, and be attended by Bishop Joseph Oudeman OFM Cap., who is the assistant bishop for the region of the archdiocese in which Goodna is located.

Father Roger Burns is the diocesan priest who has been appointed by Archbishop Bathersby to be the incoming Parish Priest of Goodna on 31st December 2004, taking over from Fr Brian Fitzpatrick O.S.A.

ORDINATIONS AT INCHEON, KOREA

L-R: Kim Dae-ho O.S.A. (Thomas Aquinas) and So In-sok O.S.A. (Jacobo)

Fr Pat Fahey O.S.A. (Provincial, Australian Province) will attend the ordination to priesthood in Incheon, South Korea on 8th December 2004 of So In-sok O.S.A. (Jacobo) and Kim Dae-ho O.S.A. (Thomas Aquinas), who are members of the Region of Korea. They will become the first Korean-born Augustinians to be ordained in their homeland.

The Augustinian Korean mission began in September 1985 when four Augustinians, two from Australia and two from England, were sent there. The two Australians, Frs Michael Sullivan O.S.A. and Brian Buckley O.S.A. still serve there. There are two now other foreign-born Augustinians also working there, Frs Adam Lasmarias O.S.A. (Cebu Province, Philippines) and John Sullivan O.S.A. (Australia).

AUGUSTINIAN CENTRE FOR SPIRITUALITY PROGRAM 2004
2 Hewitt Avenue
Greystanes 2145
Enquiries 9896 6794
www.augustinians.org.au/communities/greystanes.html