St Joan Of Arc in Haberfield | Church

St Joan Of Arc

Locality: Haberfield

Phone: +61 2 9798 6657

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24.01.2022 Since the COVID-19 pandemic started there have been a lot of cancellations or postponements of weddings and baptisms. And, with the limits on numbers, some are searching for venues that will hold the maximum number of people. What seems to have happened with that is that the people involved live in the hope that the problem will pass and they will be able to celebrate these things as before, with all the fuss and fun they have been used to. I wonder how many have seen a dif...ferent opportunity; one for thinking about reshaping their expectations about what they think is normal. The limits on numbers means we cant have the type of celebrations we have come to expect, something that often took on more importance than the event itself. There are options. Remember that there have been times when people celebrated these events in much simpler ways. Parties were held at home, not at some purpose-built center. Is it possible that people today can change their expectations and adapt to the changed circumstances? Fr Phil See more

24.01.2022 Where is St Joan of Arc Parish heading in the next three years? St Joan of Arc Parish has a Pastoral Council made up of parishioners who represent some of the existing active groups in the Parish. In February this year the Council held a Parish Planning Workshop which has produced a pathway for the Parish into the next 3 years.... There are a number of priorities identified and stages along the way for aiming to achieve them. The Report may be viewed on the Parish Bulletin which is online at the following link: http://www.stjoanofarc.org.au//SJOA-Bulletin-a4-21062020-1

23.01.2022 Trinity and the pain of the world?

21.01.2022 A woman dreamt she walked into a brand new shop in the marketplace and, to her surprise, found God behind the counter. What do you sell here? she asked. Everything your heart desires, said God.... Hardly daring to believe what she was hearing, the woman decided to ask for the best things a human being could wish for. I want peace of mind and love and happiness and wisdom and freedom from fear, she said. Then, as an afterthought, she added, Not just for me. For everyone on earth. God smiled. I think youve got me wrong, my dear, He said. We dont sell fruits here, only seeds. (with thanks to Anthony de Mello SJ) ----------------------------- What seeds might God have given you, what gifts?

20.01.2022 Did you know that today, 8th August, is the Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop? Ask her to join her prayers to ours for the well-being of the nation and the resolution of the problems in Melbourne where the MacKillop family lived for some time.

19.01.2022 A thought, additional to yesterdays reflection on Jesuss words of affirmation, comes from Anthony de Mello SJ. A woman was deeply hurt by the behaviour of her fifteen-year old son. Each time they went out together he would walk on ahead of her. Was he ashamed of her? One day she asked him. Oh, Mum, no, was his embarrassed reply. Its just that you look so young that Im worried my friends will suspect I have a new girl friend.... Her hurt vanished as if by magic.

16.01.2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGE0dpDCj5c A wonderful message for Social Justice Sunday coming up on August 30th.

16.01.2022 An old man would sit motionless for hours on end in church. One day a priest asked him what God talked to him about. God doesnt talk. He just listens, was his reply. Well then, what do you talk to him about?... I dont talk either. I just listen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prayer is the meaning of meditation in terms of our tradition. Our Christian sense of the meaning of prayer has been very attenuated, very restricted, It's been made very cerebral, very heady, very wordy, cut off from the heart where prayer reaches its perfection and its wholeness. Fr John saw this. This is the crisis of Christianity, the crisis of religion in our time, the cutting off from the heart. Fr John saw this when he reconnected to the tradition of meditation that he found in the simple and deep wisdom of the Desert Fathers. He found the missing link that helps us today to see the whole picture, the whole meaning of prayer. In Cassian, and in the gospel, he again understood the meaning of continuous prayer in the light of Christian faith: Pray without ceasing, St Paul says. ( The Tradition of Meditation for a Time of Crisis, Laurence Freeman OSB - World Community for Christian Meditation)

16.01.2022 For those of you with High School Kids, just letting you know that Youth Alpha is starting as part of the Ryde Gladesville youth group beginning 31st July. This is open to absolutely any high school child and will be running every Friday night for ten weeks. Here is the trailer link [https://youtu.be/_fyjL4NsAfM](https://youtu.be/_fyjL4NsAfM)... Youth Alpha is brilliant and cleverly done. It speaks to those fundamental questions our youth have in a way that is interesting and engaging, especially if they are starting to lose their faith or see the church as irrelevant. It's all about leading them into a relationship with Jesus. It is Christian not Catholic but is endorsed by many Catholic priests, including Fr Cantalamessa from the Vatican, who appears on the videos. This Alpha session will be run by senior students from St Aloysius, Riverview, St Pats, Marist sisters and OLMC. The group is super friendly and welcoming and numbers are growing fast with lots of newbies joining from all over Sydney. Anne Gray St Joan of Arc Family Educator Please book here: [https://bit.ly/3iCaZ09](https://bit.ly/3iCaZ09)

14.01.2022 Who do you think you are?

14.01.2022 Happy Birthday Fr Phil for 4 September!!

14.01.2022 Take and eat, this is my body; take and drink, this is my blood.

14.01.2022 Good to be able to meet with Matt, Joy and Angus the ministers from the Baptist, Uniting and Anglican Churches of Haberfield a few days ago. We look forward to developing contact between our different communities so as to support one another in the work of bringing the Gospel to the local community.

13.01.2022 If any parishioners are interested in joining some school parents to help out JRS please contact [email protected]

13.01.2022 We thought life in time of pandemic was a challenge when it broke out in February/March and continued into April and May. Then we were all in it together; then it was easier to identify. It came through travellers returning by air or by cruise ship. Hotel quarantine seemed to achieve its purpose. Now it is more real if such is possible. Now it is in our midst, not out there as it seemed to be then. Now it really is the time to get through this together. Now is the time to ...put aside ego and self-focussed arguments about rights and freedoms. There is a place for such arguments, but not now. And there is no such thing as absolute freedom, whatever one might imagine about it. It is a time to really care for one another. Now, as Victoria has discovered, is the time when the danger of sickness is greater, when the danger of losing income is greater if curfews and lockdowns become imperative for the sake of the well-being of the community at large. This might mean that we have to learn to do with less of everything because the necessary goods need to be spread around to those finding it difficult to afford the basics. Here in NSW I think we are sensing that whats happened in Victoria could easily happen here too. Lets continue to support and care for one another and make sure it doesnt. We are truly in this together and well get through it together. Fr Phil

12.01.2022 Do not be afraid

12.01.2022 Fr Phils beautiful message tonight at our final First Holy Communion ... whatever happens in life know that through the Eucharist you always belong to the heart of Jesus. Thank you Fr Phil and our two acolytes, Vince and Tony, for shepherding us over the last five weeks. Thanks also to the amazing Mrs Guardiscione and all the teachers who came to support the children too, especially Mrs Speranza. Blessings to Mrs de Grazia and her family too. Finally thank you Alf Tornatore for his beautiful photos and for whoever was responsible for the beautiful flowers on the altar! Parishioners quietly doing Gods work do not go unnoticed.

11.01.2022 A series of three interviews between Pope Francis and Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food Movement, have been published recently in Italy. An article on the interviews has been published in La Croix International on 9/9/2020 here is a quote from the article. Laudato si', "a social encyclical"... But Francis insists that this text must not be reduced to a "green encyclical". "It is rather a social encyclical. While it speaks of ecology, we must in fact all start from the presupposition that we are the first to be a part of ecology," he says. The pope then pleads for society to rediscover "the beauty of nature". "You know what's the main expense for families worldwide, after food and clothing?" he asks Petrini. "Cosmetics. And the fourth? House pets. Isn't that curious?" "There is a worldliness that characterizes this era and leads us to appreciate an artificial beauty that is ephemeral and light," he continues. --------------------- The full article can be found at the following URL https://international.la-croix.com//laudato-si-gret/12982 See more

10.01.2022 Then we made our Confirmation! https://www.facebook.com//a.117497152925/364146728260696/

06.01.2022 We prepared for Confirmation.... https://www.facebook.com/102475267761178/posts/363515861657116/?d=n

06.01.2022 There was an old woman, roughly dressed, walking on a beach, stopping to pick up things and put them in a bag she carried, often muttering to herself. Some children were playing on the beach and their parents, seeing the old woman coming, called the children to stay close to them until the old woman passed by, Later on they learned that the old woman had made a pastime of picking up bits of broken glass she found so that the children wouldnt cut themselves.... How we misjudge the saints of this world. (source unknown)

06.01.2022 And from another perspective on the role of the self, from the same source as yesterday. An elderly man stood at the door with a piece of cake in his hand. my wife is eighty-six today, he said, and she wants you to have a piece of her birthday cake. The cake was received gratefully, particularly because the man had walked nearly half a mile to deliver it. An hour later he was back. Is anything the matter? he was asked.... Well, he relied sheepishly, Agatha sent me back to say shes only eighty-five.

06.01.2022 Among Jesus teachings are some so short that they are easily remembered but so simple that they arent really taken seriously. Like one in the Gospel set for today from Matthew 7:12 So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets. We know the meaning of the words, but somehow we wait for others to treat us as we would like them to treat us before we do it Jesuss way.... It isnt unique to Jesus; many cultures have a similar Golden Rule, as it has been called, sometimes in the positive sometimes in the negative like dont do to others what you would not like done to you, but the principle is the same. What would our world, our locality, our community; our family be like if we were working at doing it Jesuss way?

05.01.2022 https://www.facebook.com/pwpnaustralia/videos/3783292801700924/?vh=e&d=n

04.01.2022 Every event in life is part of the language with which God speaks to us. All events are signs of Gods love. If you drink a glass of water the water is Gods I love you to you. If you are two days in a desert and can find nothing to drink, your thirst is Gods I love you. As we learn this language at first, we think only some events mean I love you, the nice, desirable things that happen. But as we learn the language better, we see that the entire language, every event..., means I love you. God has only this one thing to say. God has no way of saying I hate you. ( Meditatio Newsletter May 2020, Laurence Freeman OSB ) paragraph used for Daily Wisdom for 11 June 2020 -World Community for Christian Meditation Website. I read this quote yesterday morning and the last sentence just jumped out God has no way of saying I hate you. It is one of those things you sort of know but when it is written like that it jumps out. If you practice Christian Meditation and use the WCCM app to help with it, you may have read this too. Did it speak to you? It made sense. So many of our images of God, our imagining what God could be like, are our human projections on to God, but none of them are God. Some may just brush against the wonder of God but they dont shape God. One of the tasks of prayer is to keep us open to the truth of God, the God who is not what we imagine. Jesus himself taught that way. His parables and his teachings break open the preconceptions of God that are held by his listeners.

04.01.2022 The man whispered, "God speak to me. And a meadowlark sang, but the man did not hear. So the man yelled "God, speak to me! And the thunder rolled in the sky, but the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, "God let me see you. And a star shone brightly, but the man did not notice.... And the man shouted. "God show me a miracle! And a life was born, but the man did not know. So the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God and let me know you are here! At which, God reached down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on. The man cried "God, I need your help". and an e-mail arrived reaching out with good news and encouragement. But the man deleted it and continued crying.. ----------------------------------- Don't miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way that you expect. The good news is that you are loved. Author Unknown.

04.01.2022 The death of George Floyd in the USA has raised the profile of the fact and tragedy of the deaths in custody of indigenous peoples everywhere. In the reporting, the Australian story of deaths in custody produced specific information of which I have been ignorant. There have been 437 indigenous deaths in custody since a royal commission held into the problem ended in 1991. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults also constitute 28 per cent of prisoner numbers, despite mak...ing up less than three per cent of the national population. Senator Pat Dodson, in Parliament on Wednesday, warned against these concerns being seen as simply a state responsibility. We know that First Nations people who come to the attention of the police are likely to be arrested and charged, he said. And if you look at this, from the point of view, from a First Nations point of view, this is about the subjugation of the First Nations people. There have been commissions and studies and reports and documentaries on this topic but their impact has been almost negligible if you look for changes that may taken place. It is past time for action.

03.01.2022 PRAYER A cobbler came to Rabbi Issac of Ger and said, "Tell me what to do about my morning prayer. My customers are poor men who have only one pair of shoes. I pick up their shoes late in the evening and work on them most of the night, at dawn there is still work to be done if the men are to have their shoes ready before they go to work. Now my question is: What should I do about my morning prayer?" "What have you been doing till now?" the Rabbi asked.... "Sometimes I rush through the prayer quickly and get back to my work but then I feel bad about it. At other times I let the hour of prayer go by. Then too I feel a sense of loss and. every now and then, as I raise my hammer from the shoes, I can almost hear my heart sigh, 'What an unlucky man I that I am not able to make my morning prayer." Said the Rabbi "If I were God I would value that sigh more than the prayer." Anthony de Mello collection

03.01.2022 Another story from Anthony de Mello S.J. A sergeant was asking a group of recruits why walnut was used for the butt of a rifle. Because it is harder than other wood, said one man.... Wrong, said the sergeant. Because it is more elastic. Wrong again. Because it has a better shine. You boys certainly have a lot to learn. Walnut is used for the simple reason that it is laid down in the Regulations! -------------- In todays Gospel reading, we hear the passage so familiar from Ash Wednesday about prayer and fasting and almsgiving. The stand-out theme in Jesus teaching here as in many other places is that whats in the heart is far more important than whats on show. The best reason for doing something comes from the heart.

02.01.2022 The Sacred Heart of Jesus

02.01.2022 A Man for All Seasons. This was the name of a play first written by Robert Bolt in 1954 then reworked for the stage and premiered 1 July 1960. It tells the story of Sir Thomas More who was canonised as a martyr on 19 May 1935 and whose feast is celebrated today. The following article is taken from Universalis. St Thomas More (1477 - 1535)... He was born in London, the son of a judge, and himself became an eminent lawyer. He was a humanist and a reformer, and his book, Utopia, depicting a society regulated by the natural virtues, is still read today. Thomas More was a close friend of King Henry VIII. As a judge, he was famous for his incorruptibility and impartiality, and he was made Lord Chancellor the highest legal position in England in 1529. When Henry VIII demanded a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, Thomas More opposed him. He resigned the chancellorship in 1532 and retired from public life; but he could not retire from his reputation, and so it was demanded that he take an oath to support the Act of Succession, which effectively repudiated papal religious authority. He refused and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. After the execution of John Fisher, he was tried on the charge of high treason for denying the Kings supreme headship of the Church, found guilty, and sentenced to death. He went to his execution, on 6 July 1535, with a clear conscience and a light heart; he told the spectators that he was still the kings good servant but Gods first, and carefully adjusted his beard before he was beheaded. He wrote a number of devotional works, some of the best of them while in prison awaiting trial. He fought his fight without acrimony, telling his judges that he wished that we may yet hereafter in Heaven merrily all meet together to everlasting salvation.

02.01.2022 From Pentecost to Corpus Christi. Thank you to all who come together to make our church doors a light unto the world.

01.01.2022 https://youtu.be/AKGc-j_l70s Could this be you or someone you know?

01.01.2022 blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice. The Gospel reading for weekdays in Ordinary Time takes up today Matthew Chapter 5 which begins with the Beatitudes. As I read them this time, I am reminded how often the readings of the day are apt for whats going on around us. The passage is printed below. I invite you to read the passage and sit quietly with it if you can find a moment for it.... Another translation uses the word Blessed instead of Happy and says blessed are they who hunger and thirst for justice. Whichever way it is read, there seems plenty of material touching on events here at home and in the USA that cry out for justice and peacemaking. And is it not past time for a full revelation of the causes of deaths in custody of indigenous prisoners in Australia? Matthew 5:1-12 Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them: How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted. Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God. Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven: this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.

01.01.2022 Praying? Many of us were taught to believe that prayer is always polite and clean. We should never raise our voices. We should never doubt and always accept all things as being God's will. We never consider the possibility that sometime prayer is rough and messy. We do not consider that we can use strong words, scream, and even question why. Maybe all things are not God's will. Prayer is simply presenting ourselves to God the way we are without masks, guises or fluff. If we f...eel angry, anger is our prayer. If we feel depressed, depression is our prayer. We feel frustrated, frustration is our prayer. If we pray with an honest heart then the words we use, the feelings we have and the way we pray is never inappropriate. Prayer doesn't have to be perfect it only has to be honest. (from article -The struggle is the prayer- Fr Chris Saenz, The Far East Magazine June 2020)

01.01.2022 27th June is the anniversary of my parents wedding day in 1942 at Our Lady of the Rosary Church Fairfield. I may have noted at another time that they were both born in Italy. My father from the Friuli region at a town called Sesto al Reghena. My mother, an only child, was born in 1915 in the Piemonte Region at Chiusa S Michele, about 30km west of Turin. My father, Davino, arrived in 1939, the last member of his immediate family to reach here. My mother, Rita Cantore, arrived ...aged 9 with her parents in December 1924. Both families here became market gardeners except for Dad who became, in 1947, the first employee of La Fiamma where he then worked for 27 years as a journalist, being mostly responsible for the sporting pages though he came to know most of the workings of a newspaper over those years. They met in Smithfield and after their marriage lived in that area until 1959 when we moved to Ashbury, moving back to the Mt Pritchard area in 1974 when Dad retired from La Fiamma. Dad passed away in October 2001 and Mum in January 2009. Fr Phil