AUGUSTINIAN BULLETIN BOARD - January 2005

We have Christ as an infant; let us grow up with him

The Lord Jesus wished to be a man for our sakes. Don't hold this kindness cheap; Wisdom is lying there on the earth. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. O food and bread of the angels! The angels take their fill of you, they are content with you, and they don't grow tired of you; they derive their life from you, their wise judgment from you, their bliss from you. And where are you for my sake? In a cramped and crowded hostelry, in rags, in a manger.

For whose sake? The one who regulates the stars is sucking his mother's breasts; he fills the angels, speaks in the Father's bosom, is silent in his mother's. But he is going to speak when he reaches the right age, and to fill up the gospel for us. Going to suffer for our sakes, going to die for our sakes, going to rise again as the model for our reward, going to ascend into heaven before the eyes of the disciples, going to come from heaven in judgment. There you have the one who was lying in a manger; he made himself small, but didn't lose himself; he took on what he was not, but remained what he was. There you are, we have Christ as an infant; let us grow up with him.

St Augustine, Sermon 196, 3

AUGUSTINIAN ANNIVERSARIES - 2005

Fr James Bolton O.S.A. 50th Profession 18th March

Fr Ronald Bopf O.S.A. 50th Ordination 4th June

Fr Baltazar Belocura O.S.A. 25th Profession 4th June

Fr Joseph Walsh O.S.A. 50th Profession 16th September

Fr Paul Maloney O.S.A. 40th Ordination 29th October

Fr Laurence Mooney O.S.A. 40th Ordination 29th October

ST NICHOLAS' 700th ANNIVERSARY

The year 2005 will mark the seventh centenary of the death of St Nicholas of Tolentine O.S.A., who was the first Augustinian saint declared after the Grand Union of the Augustinians in 1256 AD. This will be a major event for the Augustinian community at the sanctuary that is dedicated in his honour at Tolentino in Italy, as well as to the Augustinian Order and the Christian Church generally.

To mark this seventh centenary, the Augustinians at Tolentino will prepare and promote a special series of cultural, religious and visual events. Preparations are already under way. They are centred at the Egidian Library within the Augustinian monastery at Tolentino, which is working in conjunction with the local university and other interested groups.

Firstly, for both the years of 2004 and 2005 two international congresses will be held. One will be historical in its focus, and the other theological, so that a more complete picture will emerge of the cultural and spiritual climate in which Nicholas of Tolentine lived and worked seven hundred years ago.

Secondly, in the three-year period of 2004-2006 three volumes will be published, dedicated to the iconography of Saint Nicholas from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. In following all the stages that were involved in spreading devotion of Saint Nicholas, these three books will necessarily detail the expansion of the Augustinian Order internationally, and describe all of the confraternities of Saint Nicholas that arose in various nations at different points of this 700-year time frame.

Thirdly, there will be a grand exhibition of the most important masterpieces of painting and sculpture which have either the figure or the life of Saint Nicholas as the main theme.
The exhibition is planned to tour four venues: Tolentine (Italy) from October to December 2004, Rome from March to April 2005, Madrid (Spain) in the autumn of 2005, and a city in Central Europe in the spring of 2006.

More details will be uploaded on this website as they become available.

ANNIVERSARY IN ST. CLAIR

Holy Spirit church sanctuary

January 2005 marks the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the Augustinian Order at Holy Spirit Parish, St. Clair (Diocese of Parramatta), in the western portion of the Sydney metropolitan area. As reported here previously, the sanctuary of the parish church was enhanced with new sanctuary furnishings in March 2004.

ST MARY'S PARISH, ECHUCA

St Mary's church - Echuca

January 2005 is the month of transition of St Mary's Parish, Echuca, Victoria from administration by the Augustinian Order to administration by a diocesan priest, Fr Matthew O'Hagan, of the local Diocese of Sandhurst.

Father O'Hagan officially assumes responsibility for the parish on 15th January, but the two Augustinians, Frs David Austin O.S.A. and Joseph Walsh O.S.A., will minister there with him until the end of the month. The final activities for the Augustinians will be farewell ceremonies in the form of a parish dinner on 28th January and a Mass on Sunday, 30th January 2005.

After this, both Augustinians will transfer to the adjacent Augustinian Parish of Kyabram, where presently Fr Austin is the parish priest and will continue to be so.

AUGUSTINIAN COLLEGES IN AUSTRALIA

In Australia, the Augustinians conduct two secondary colleges, which provide middle schooling and high schooling for male day pupils. Both colleges have major building projects under way. At Coorparoo (Brisbane) Villanova College has the Augustine Centre ready for opening. As well as general learning areas and specialist music practice rooms, it contains the Hanrahan Theatre, named after the College's second Rector (Principal), the late Fr John Louis Hanrahan O.S.A.

At Brookvale (Sydney), St Augustine's College is well into the planning phase of its Creative Arts Centre, which will significantly expand the College's facilities for the music, art, drama, and design and technology departments. The building is scheduled for both construction and completion during 2005.
Fr Pat Fahey osa, Provincial, on behalf of all the Augustinians in Australia wishes all our visitors a happy and blessed New Year.

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