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Christmas Message
2005
A Very
Happy and Holy Christmas and a Very Happy and Healthy New Year 2006 to
Each And Every Member of Our Parish Community.
Dear Parishioners,
I believe that most of you would agree that 2005 was a happy, holy and a
healthy year for our parish community. So many of us have celebrated in
so many ways and they have become happier, holier and healthier. On this
occasion in the past six years, I have never missed to remind you about
the extensive renovations to our Parish Centre in the order of
$100,000.00. The renovations have been completed a year ago and we are
all very happy with a job well done. Thanks to our good management, now
it has been officially established that the renovations are fully paid.
Hence the parish is debt free. Very sincere thanks for your co-operation
and generosity. Last October we had a Canonical Pastoral Visitation by
Bishop Donald Sproxton after ten years, and I would like to quote some
excerpts from the Bishop's report dated 27 October 2005.
"St Kieran's is a senior
parish of the Archdiocese. From it quite a number of the northern
parishes have been created. In post war times, it saw a great change
with the influx of Italian families. Many of the children and
grandchildren of these families have moved out into those northern
areas. Still, however, there is a sentimental and traditional
attachment by those younger families to Osborne Park. Fr Michael
Gatt became Parish Priest in early February 2000. He has brought
many gifts to the community, notably his ability to speak Italian
and his administration skills. Fr Michael has enormous energy and
commitment to the parish. He recognises the great potential to
evangelise and catechise through his contacts with families who
present for the Sacraments and funerals. He relates many stories
about the impact of the liturgy on these people."
"Fr Michael enjoys managing
the administrative tasks of the parish and he has found the computer
very helpful in this work. He prepares the Sunday Bulletin and is
organising the financial recording. In the financial matters of the
parish, he has a very capable Committee of four other members.
Renovations on the Parish Centre have been quite successful due to
Fr Michael's persistence and the cooperation of his finance and
maintenance team...."
"I have found St Kieran's
to be a settled and devotional community. The sacramental needs of
the parish are well catered for due to Fr Michael's love for the
liturgy. It was very good to see that a Children's Liturgy of the
Word is provided on Sunday. This will attract families to the parish
Mass because effort is made to help their children understand the
celebration. The parish that provides a place for its children will
continue to grow."
So, in the words of Bishop
Sproxton, I believe that we have a lot to be proud of and this belongs
to the past and present generations alike. However, there is still room
for improvement, but not much more to be desired. For all this we
gratefully thank the Lord and we remember that all this has happened and
it is still happening because the first Christmas. Christmas today has
become very commercialised and many of our people are even shy to say "Happy
Christmas". They rather say happy holidays or anything but
please, donıt mention the word Christmas - which means the Mass of
Christ.
Recently, the Prime Minister has
been asked about this, and as you may recall he spoke about it loudly
and clearly. So, perhaps for a couple of generations now, weıve had a
new festival called Xmas - and Xmas is miles removed from Christmas. In
the old Algebra days, X stood for the unknown. In the new Xmas, X still
stands for the unknown, the religiously vague, the deliberately
secularised, the spiritually lost.
In Xmas, the most lost element is
Christ. He is the most significant casualty in the new festival.
Because, if there is no sin these days, there is no need for a saviour
and therefore no place for Christ. Xmas has its own new symbols which
are adaptations of the old ones. We have Xmas cards which are completely
innocent of Christ and devoid of references to the Mass.
We have Xmas office parties which
try to fill a void and which sometimes are not innocent. We have
ludicrous extravagances and no little self-indulgence.
We have lost the Way. If we are to
find our way back from Xmas to the birth of Christ we need faith and
quietness and humility and generosity and restraint. We need to remember
that we have sinned and that we need to be saved.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS - BUON NATALE - JOYEUX NOEL
Fr Michael
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