National Sorry Day 2020 falls on Tuesday 26 May 2020. It is also known as the National Day of Healing and is an annual event that has been held in Australia on 26 May since 1998.  We remember and commemorate the mistreatment of the country's Indigenous peoples, as part of an ongoing process of reconciliation between the Indigenous peoples and the settler population.

It leads us into the Week of Prayer for National Reconciliation Week which is held each year between 27th May 2020 and 3rd June 2020.

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2020 is In This Together. 

Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

For the Catholic Church in Australia, this week offers us a time to be fully the Church that Jesus wants us to be - a Church in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make their own unique contribution and that contribution is joyfully received by others.

AND SO WE PRAY...

Loving God, you call us to work together to be one people.

May we work together to bring hope and healing to all who live here in Australia.

Help us to show compassion and justice to all, especially our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters, whom we have treated so badly in the past.

May we walk forward in a spirit of healing and reconciliation so that all may live with dignity and respect.

We make our prayer in Jesus’ name.

Amen

OUR LADY HELP OF CHRISTIANS 

The feast day for Mary Help of Christians has been celebrated in Australia since 1844.  The infant church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. No priests were sent to the colony in its early days and Mass was not allowed except for one brief year until 1820. It was largely the Rosary in those early days that kept the faith alive.

Catholic Australia remained faithful to Mary and was the first nation to choose her under the title Help of Christians, as principal Patroness.

When Australia became the first country to have Mary Help of Christians as Patroness, it became the first country to have a mother-cathedral under the same title, which is St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

In our Prayer for Our Lady Help of Christians, the Church prays that through Our Lady’s intercession God will “grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens”, so that “under her protection Australia may be granted harmony, justice and peace”.

 

AND SO WE PRAY...

Almighty God, deepen in our hearts our love of Mary Help of Christians.

Through her prayers and under her protection, may the light of Christ shine over our land. May Australia be granted harmony, justice and peace. Grant wisdom to our leaders and integrity to our citizens. Bless especially the men and women of the Australian Defence Force and their families.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord.

Amen.

Mary Help of Christians, pray for us.

I recommend ....

In response to COVID-19, a significant initiative has been developed for staff and parents to support their ongoing personal spiritual formation. It is a new podcast series entitled ‘Ripples: Inspired Voices, Treasured Stillness’.

Ripples seeks to offer a space where people can draw on the wisdom of a series of guest speakers and can experience some treasured stillness through meditation. On Tuesday of each week a new Episode and Meditation will be offered. Practices like these create a ripple effect. They have the potential to impact the way we respond to family, friends, colleagues, to others in our world, to creation and to our loving God.

The Ripples Podcast is now available on the Continuity of Faith and Learning website, on Podbean and Apple Podcast.

SAVE THE DATE

Sunday 24 May	Ascension of the Lord	The Ascension of Our Lord, which occurred 40 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter, is the final act of our redemption that Christ began on Good Friday. On this day, the risen Christ, in the sight of His apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven.
Monday 25 May	Our Lady Help of Christians
Sunday 31 May	PENTECOST Sunday "As the Father sent me, so I send you: Receive the Holy Spirit."	PENTECOST is a very important feast in the Catholic Church because it marks the descent of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, on the Apostles and Mary, the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. This happened fifty days after Easter. It is the beginning of church, as a community of worship and evangelisation.