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| SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION FOR CHILDREN
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Children's Baptism
Children's initiation begins with the Rite of Baptism for Children. This is often undertaken when the child is an infant, but it can be undertaken at a later stage up to the age of discernment. Special arrangments are made for children who are older than the normal age for children's confirmation and first communion (school year 3) but not yet reached the age of discernment.
Baptisms are on Sundays at 12nn on the 2nd Sunday of the month at Northbridge and the 4th Sunday of the month at Naremburn. Baptisms can also be included in the community Sunday Mass, by arrangement with the Parish Priest.
The initial preparation of the parents for baptism is undertaken by the Parish Priest, Fr Michael O'Toole. The parish offers ongoing support to parents during the intervening years between baptism and the other sacraments of initiation. Contact the parish office on 9438 1011 for further enquiries. Click here for an enrolment form for infant baptism.
Children's Confirmation, First Reconciliation and First Communion
Confirmation is the next sacrament of initiation after Children's baptism. In the diocese of Broken Bay, this sacrament is generally celebrated when the child is in year 2 at school. The celebration is normally held in June in St Philip Neri and St Leonard's. An information pack is distributed in March each year to Year 2 students at St Philip Neri and those attending catechist classes at Northbridge Primary. Information packs are also available from the parish office, at the rear of the churches and by download from the Access Forms page of this website.
First Reconciliation is held in December of the same year as Confirmation. The celebration of the sacrament is in small groups of 8-10 children with their families and friends. Information packs are distributed in October to Year 2 students at St Philip Neri and those attending catechist classes at Northbridge Primary. Information packs are also available from the parish office, at the rear of the churches and by download from the Access Forms page of this website.
First Communion is celebrated in September of the following year at both St Leonard's (during 10:30 am Mass) and St Philip Neri (at a special Mass at 11 am). Information packs are distributed in July to Year 2 students at St Philip Neri and those attending catechist classes at Northbridge Primary. Information packs are also available from the parish office, at the rear of the churches and by download from the Access Forms page of this website.
Dates for 2007
CONFIRMATION
Wednesday 9th May Parent’s meeting – 7.45pm
Wednesday 16th May Leader’s meeting – 7.30pm
Sunday 20th May Presentation Mass – 9.00am
Wednesday 13th June Rehearsal at 3.30pm
Saturday 16th June Confirmation Northbridge – 12.00 noon; Naremburn – 1.30pm
FIRST COMMUNION
Wednesday July 25th Parent’s meeting – 7.45pm
Wednesday 8th August Leader’s meeting – 7.30pm
Sunday 12th August Presentation Mass – 9.00am
Wednesday 12th September Rehearsal – 3.30pm
Sunday 16th September First Communion Northbridge – 11.00am
Sunday 23rd September First Communion Naremburn – 10.30am
RECONCILIATION
Wednesday 24th October Parent’s meeting – 7.45pm
Wednesday 31st October Leader’s meeting – 7.45pm
Sunday 4th November Presentation Mass – 9.00am
Wednesday 28th November Rehearsal – 3.30am
Saturday 1st December First Reconciliation Group 1 - 4.00pm
Monday 3rd December First Reconciliation Group 2 - 7.00pm
Wednesday 5th December First Reconciliation Group 3 - 7.00pm
Tuesday 11th December First Reconciliation Group 4 - 7.00pm
Wednesday 12th December First Reconciliation Group 5 – 7.00pm
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| RCIA - RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS
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Baptism for Adults and Adolescents
The Rite of Christian Initation of Adults provides for all Sacraments of Initiation into the Catholic Church for adults and children who have reached the age of discernment.
Come and See
When you are called to discipleship of Jesus you come with your own unique life experience: your family and friends, your work and recreation, your hopes and hurts, your personal faith and uncertainties. You may have some connection with the Catholic Church through your family or friends. You may have even been coming to Mass for many years sharing in the faith journjey of a spouse, fiance or child.
Whatever it may be that is calling you to explore a journey of faith with Catholics, you bring your own story to the story of the Church. Whatever your background and circumstance you are welcomed and valued.
As such the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is a journey of faith with Catholics who are members of this parish community, and with other men and women who are also exploring whether the Catholic faith is right for them. The journey is one of a conversation with others on the same journey, as you search to deepen your relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Each person's journey is unique: some may journey for 2-3 or more years before making the decision, others may take only a few months. For some, it is their first experience of Christian initiation, while others have already been baptised and now wish to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church.
If you hear God's call and are looking for ways to respond; if you have ever wondered what might be involved in becoming a Christian or being received into full communion with the Catholic Church, call Paul Mason, Pastoral Associate, on 0414 436 017.
Dates for 2007
RITE OF ELECTION
Sunday February 28th 2.00pm at Corpus Christi Cathedral, St Ives. Bishop David Walker presiding.
FINAL PERIOD OF PREPARATION
Thursday 1st March Lenten Gospel Reflection - 8.00pm
Thursday 8th March Lenten Gospel Reflection - 8.00pm
Thursday 15th March Lenten Gospel Reflection - 8.00pm
Thursday 22nd March Lenten Gospel Reflection - 8.00pm
Thursday 29th March Lenten Gospel Reflection - 8.00pm
FIRST RECONCILIATION for CANDIDATES FOR FULL COMMUNION
Friday 6th April - after Stations of the Cross
BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION & FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
Saturday, 7th April 7th - 7.00pm (Easter Vigil)
EASTER REFLECTION (MYSTAGOGY)
Sunday 20th May - 12.00nn
PERIOD OF DISCERNMENT
Tuesday 5th June General Enquiry Meeting - 7.45pm
Tuesday 24th July Initial Reflection Evening - 7.45pm
(These are general enquiry meetings. Others will be scheduled individually as necessary)
RITE OF WELCOMING
Sunday 29th July - 9.00am at St Phlip Neri church & 10.30am at St Leonard's church
(Other times may be scheduled as necessary to meet individuals' circumstances)
FIRST PERIOD OF PREPARATION
Begins Sunday 5th August Scripture Reflection - 12.00nn
(Other times will be scheduled as necessary to meet individuals' circumstances)
SECOND PERIOD OF PREPARATION
Begins Sunday 7th October Scripture Reflection - 12.00nn
(Other times will be scheduled as necessary to meet individuals' circumstances)
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| ECUMENISM
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Lenten Prayer & Reflection Program
The ecumenical Lenten prayer and reflection program runs during the first five weeks of Lent. Both afternoon and evening sessions are offered - afternoon sessions 1:30 - 2:45pm @ St Mark's Anglican Church, Northbridge; evening sessions 7:30 - 8:45pm @ St Philip Neri Catholic Church, Northbridge. $10 for booklet.
For more information, call Parish Office 9438 1011.
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| LITURGICAL MUSIC
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Naremburn Choir
The Naremburn Choir leads the singing every Sunday at the 10:30am Mass. Rehearsals are held prior to the major events at Easter and Christmas and on other occasions during the year.
The choir welcomes new members. If you enjoy singing, want to be part of a fun group and are willing to learn how to lead prayer in song, please contact the parish office on 9438 1011.
Northbridge Choir
The Northbridge Choir is developing and extending its role, encouraging and supporting people in singing the Mass. The full choir leads the singing on the first Sunday of the month at the 9am Mass. A smaller sub-set of the choir leads the singing on other Sundays.
Regular rehearsals are held on the last Monday of the month at 7:45pm at St Philip Neri church. Additional rehearsals are held prior to the major events at Easter and Christmas.
The choir welcomes new members. If you enjoy singing, want to be part of a fun group and are willing to learn how to lead prayer in song, please contact the parish office on 9438 1011.
Guitar Groups
The Northbridge Senior Guitar Group supports the singing at the 9am Mass on the second Sunday of the month and at the Class Focus Masses.
Another guitar group for young people is being developed to assist on Saturday nights. The group practices monthly on Saturdays at 4pm.
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| LITURGY AND LIFE
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Symbols and Rituals
by Paul Mason.
Our sense of God in our life is experienced in many different ways. We can experience a sense of the presence of God in the liveliness of a new dawn, in the evening sunset fire, in the warmth of a loved one’s embrace, in the gift of self in caring for another, and in the surprise of a smile returned from a babe in arms. We can also experience the absence of God in hearing of a senseless murder, in seeing the horrors of war on TV, and in seeing the faces of people who are suffering. Such experience calls us to yearn for a sense of the presence of God once again. And so in times of trouble we gather in churches and look to ritual and symbol to give us once again a sense of the presence of God, a sense shared and affirmed by our community.
Similarly, we look to ritual and symbol at those significant milestones in life – births, deaths and marriages. Baptism, wedding and funeral rituals help formalize our shared experience of the presence of God at these important times.
Christian experience of the presence of God comes in the most tangible way through our experience of the person Jesus. In the 21st century our experience of Jesus is one of absence and one of presence. While Jesus no longer walks and talks as he did during the time of the apostles, he is present to us in the writings of the apostles, and in the sacraments and Christian rituals. The apostles came to understand their experience of Jesus as the experience of God incarnate. “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ,” said the apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. He called the church to be the living symbol of Christ, the symbol of God in the world. And we, as members of this same church, are called today to participate in the universal body of Christ. This challenge to imitate Christ through the teaching of the apostles calls us to regularly reflect on the scriptures and to gather together, joining ourselves to the mystical body of Christ. In this way the Church can learn and actualize the sayings of Jesus, the message of his parables and stories, and the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection. In this way the Church can be what it is called to be, the experience of the presence of God.
Unfortunately, some of the elements of our current language of ritual and symbol do not work that well, often inhibiting our participation in the body of Christ and our experience of the presence of God. Many have become disconnected from our everyday living. The language of our liturgies is often incomprehensible – verbally, symbolically and ritually. To help build up participation in the body of Christ we need to renew and educate. In looking to renew liturgy, we are challenged to always use symbols that are universally understood, and to teach the ritual forms so that people understand what they are doing when they participate in the liturgy.
Next week we’ll look at the makings of good symbols.
Symbol & Ritual: Symbols that Work
by Paul Mason.
Last week I discussed how our everyday experiences of life lead us to our sense of God. In fact it is our personal experience that leads us to know ourselves and our world, our relationship with others and the transcendent. Our feelings of warmth and love - in a baby’s smile, in a loved one’s embrace, in the beauty of creation - come from our interpretation of symbolic communication. As such, our personal experience is the basic symbol through which we are aware and make sense of all things. And so our religious symbols and rituals, which exist to facilitate our sense of the presence of God, must be ground in our personal experience. Otherwise they tend to distance God rather than bringing us to a closer personal experience of God.
Of course we each have unique personal experiences, which may indicate a plurality of religious experiences. But all Christians believe that Jesus is the unique historical revelation of God, in a form that we can all understand, to which we all can relate – the Word of God made flesh. This provides the essence of our unity in the experience of God. For Christians, the historical Jesus Christ is the basic symbol of God. If we take a look at each of our Christian rituals, we see that they all involve an anamnesis of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, events contained in human history and experience. Anamnesis comes from the Greek, and means “not to forget,” “to remember.” It is a technique of symbolic communication used in many other human symbols and rituals – wedding rings, a dozen long stem roses, covenant contracts and the like.
So when we gather together, at our Christian rituals - at weddings or funerals, baptisms or Sunday Eucharist - we bring our individual personal situations and experiences and we participate in the anamnesis of key historical events in Jesus’ life. We express our relationship with God through our own life experience and our experience of Jesus. This is a participation in the symbolic communication of the Holy Trinity – the love of God, who sent his Son to us, and the love returned by the Son, sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. We recall the Last Supper, the Baptism of the Lord, the wedding feast of Cana, the Journey to Emmaus, etc. We make those historical events present to us today - the revelation of God to us through Jesus. We “re-member” the Body of Christ!
The question then arises – what are the key symbols in our rituals? Which symbols best relate our basic symbol (our personal experience) and the basic symbol of God (Jesus)? A key symbol is us – the people gathered together as the Body of Christ. Without “us”, there is no symbolic communication. Other key symbols are those involved in our anamnesis of Jesus life, death and resurrection. Each ritual has different anamnetic symbols – Ministry (service), Word (scripture), water, oil, bread, wine, etc. These symbols work because they readily relate to both our personal experience in life and our experience of Jesus. Next week, in the final installment on symbol and ritual in liturgy and life, I’ll explore how these symbols work and what can inhibit their effectiveness. I’ll also look at why some symbols don’t work well and therefore need some kind of reform.
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| WHY WE DO THE THINGS WE DO
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Moments of Silence During the Mass
In our hustle and bustle lives it is difficult to create time for silence. When there is a period of silence, we often are embarrassed or wonder if someone has forgotten their line. Yet silence is an important part of communication, allowing “the other” to speak. In liturgy, silence allows our mind to reflect on our personal situation and collect our thoughts before we pray as a community. It also allows the proclaimed Word of God to speak to our hearts. The new General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) calls for silence at specific times during the Mass to help us in this regard.
Immediately prior to the beginning of Mass, a period of silence should be observed so that all may prepare themselves – body, mind and spirit – for the liturgy. At the start of the Penitential Rite and again at each invitation to prayer (“let us pray”), the Priest invites us to recollect ourselves in silence so we may focus on what we are about to pray. After each reading and after the homily, the reader, the cantor and the Priest allow us a period of silence for the Word of God to penetrate our senses and touch our heart. Again, after all have received Holy Communion, a period of time is allowed for the priest and the entire assembly to praise God in silent prayer. Sometimes, instead of silence, a hymn or other song of praise may be sung by the entire assembly. This unity, in silence or song, is an expression of our unity in Christ in the Eucharist. When a song is sung after communion, the musicians allow a period of silence between the end of the communion song and the beginning of the song of praise.
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