This is my first Christmas at St Kieran's. I had been waiting for it for 22 years. As some of you may know I had applied for St Kieran's back in 1978 and it has happened in January 2000. About this time last year I was still waiting for an answer. I am very happy to say that my appointment to St Kieran's is a dream come true for myself and indeed it was worth waiting for.
Over the past eleven months I have met most of you at home or otherwise. It gives me great pleasure talking with you and sharing your life as you do with me. Since my Priestly Ordination I have always loved pastoral work in a parish setting and I believe that at St Kieran's I am well at home.
Well during the past year we have worked together and we have achieved more or less the full work programme for the year. Around the house there will always be things to be done and one never finishes. However I'm happy to report that before we say good-bye to the year 2000 we have completed a lot of maintenance work in the church, presbytery and (on Cape Street) which has been waiting for a long time for one reason or another. The next maintenance work, already organised to be completed in early February, is 150 square metres of paving in front of the Parish Centre on Cape Street (where the St Kieran's Church sign is). This will give access to the Parish Centre and parking facilities to disabled people.
Pastorally speaking, again I'm very happy with your response especially with your attendance to the daily Mass. We celebrated the first Easter together and for the rest may I suggest to you as always, please bring a friend because it helps. During the year we have celebrated with gusto the annual parish celebrations like: First Holy Communion, First Reconciliation, Confirmation, Maria Annunziata, twice we went on Pilgrimage for the Holy Year to Fremantle and New Norcia and we have also attended the big Celebration of Christ the King at the Subiaco Oval. All round, I believe we had a very good year. Thanks be to God!
On this occasion I would like to say thank you to each one of you for all your help and financial support, encouragement and understanding. Special thanks go to the Parish Pastoral Council and to all different groups working within the parish and in particular our parish school. Finally I wish you all a very Happy, Safe and Holy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year 2001.
Yours sincerely,
Fr Michael
Parish Priest's New Year's Reflections
A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2001 to each and every Parishioner.
The Year that was 2000 through the eyes of St Kieran's Parish Website:-
Mid January 2000 - Appointment of New Parish Priest as from February 3, 2000.
January 2000 - Installation of the Parish Web Site: www.angelfire.com/wa2/stkieran
(established before the new parish priest took residence in the parish).
An interesting point to note is that the "wa2" in the address stand for "Washington2".
Some people think that the "wa" stands for Western Australia - a local Site.
It's not! It is international.
Sunday 5 March 2000 - New Parish Priest Induction by the Archbishop on the feastday of the
Parish Patron Saint Kieran,.
Sunday 23 April 2000 - Easter Celebrations at St Kieran's.
May 16 - Opening of the New Centre Aisle in the church.
Sunday 21 May - Parish and School Communities combined together in the celebration of the annual
Feast of First Holy Communion - 39 new communicants.
May 23 - Reconciliation Day for 35 Year 3 Students.
Sunday 28 May - Annual Parish Celebration of Maria Annunziata.
Sunday 16 July - Parish Farewell to Phillip Russell and Dominic Seeber on their way to the
World Youth Rally in Rome - the parish has helped Phillip and Dominic financially.
August 13 - Successful Dedication Sunday 2000.
Sunday 20 August - Parish AGM Sunday
27 August - Official Installation of New Parish Pastoral Council.
Jubilee Service Awards - in Appreciation of Outstanding Service (followed by Luncheon).
Sunday 17 September - Confirmation Day with 42 newly confirmed.
October 7 - Completion of Traffic/Pedestrian Strip on Cape Street.
December - Launch of HelpLine 2000
December 25 - Christmas at St Kieran's - Full Programme.
Sincere Thanks
Many sincere thanks to all those involved in the Christmas Celebration. A very special thank you to the members of both choirs English and Italian and those who helped with the decoration of the Crib, Sanctuary and Altar. Thank you also for your good wishes, cards and Christmas Offerings. The four Christmas Masses were well attended - considering that this year Christmas has fallen on a Monday - too close to Sunday.
HelpLine 2000 Results
The HelpLine was the most successful so far. I have received more than 60 calls. It gave me a good picture of what is happening out there. Quite a few calls came during the night. I have received few calls from Crisis Care in Perth. The best ad for my Help-Line was the publicity in The West Australian of Saturday 16 December "Suicide alert casts shadow on holiday". There is a lot of work yet to be done. Thank you to those parishioners and others who supported me and gave me a good hand.
The following is the text of how one of our parishioners looked at it:
Dear Fr Michael,
May I take this opportunity on behalf of the management and staff at Purslowe Funeral Homes, to congratulate you, and to thank you for the selfless commitment and your volunteer staff at this (for some) very difficult time of the year. Your HelpLine for those in need, within our community is indeed a truly worthy task, which, for some, would seem thankless; but I am sure for those you help, the debt of thanks would be life long.
Please keep up this important work, and may you, and your staff have a truly (as I am sure you will) blessed Christmas.
Yours sincerely,
Graeme Oldman
(Community Liaison Manager)
Christmas all the Year
I sometimes think we expect too much of Christmas Day. We try to crowd into it the long arrears of kindness and humanity of the whole year. As for me, I like to take my Christmas a little at a time all through the year.
David Grayson
Proud of our Parish
Here we are, at Saint Kieran's, seventy four years since becoming a parish and again celebrating the Christmas and New Year season . We are proud of our heritage, a well established parish with a fine school for our children.
Looking back to the 20th century, we became a parish in our own right after being first administered in the pre-World War II days, from the West Perth/Leederville parishes. Today our achievements stand "high on the hill", so to speak.
Clearly there is acceptance of the opportunity to carry out God's work. Your own representatives on the Parish Council are evidence of that, being dedicated, focussed and capable. Also, it was a pleasure to see a number of nominations for the Parish Jubilee Awards, resulting in six names being forwarded to Archbishop Hickey.
What a joy to see Phillip Russell and Dominic Seeber together in Rome for the beautiful World Youth Rally. And, so impressive was the beautiful Feast Day of Maria Annunziata, continuing the deeply-rooted and now tradition Mass, procession and social gathering we have at that time. This year 39 of our children preceded the event with their First Holy Communion.
My First Christmas at St Kieran's was indeed a wonderful one! I can still see the happy smiles on our childrens' faces proud to play the shepherds at the Crib while their parents call them kids. I can still hear our Christmas Carols on tape. I can still feel the warmth of that friendly
"Merry Christmas" being conveyed to all at Mass as well as to the absentees for one reason or another.
My other side of the Christmas celebration is my annual
HelpLine for people out there searching for God in a different way.
Yes, I'm happy to report that this year I have received 76 telephone calls and it was very special.
From the Presbytery-On-Line-I have reached to as far as Margaret River Down South. I have listened, sobbed, rejoiced, laughed and celebrated with parishioners and others beyond the parish boundaries. It's great to hear voices searching for God even if it were asking in despair if there is a God in the middle of the night.
Yes, there is a God and we are members of his family through the Birth of Jesus His Son.
The Compliments of the Season to each and every member of our Christian Family.
Yours sincerely,
Fr Michael Gatt