5Th January, 2020 - Year A
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Teaching our FAMILIES to teach their families THE FAITH 5th January, 2020 - Year A The EPIPHANY of the LORD ALL HALLOWS’ Dear Parishioners, PARISH CHURCH 1. Parish Hours over January. 2 Halley Street The parish will be closed from 20th December to 2nd January, 2020 at FIVE DOCK 2046 reduced hours. Administrator: The parish will be manned between the hours of 9.30am and 12.30pm Fr Matthew Solomon on the following days Assistant Priest: 7th, 9th, 14th, 16th, 21st and 23rd January. Fr Nicholas Rynne Elsa will return to the office on 29th January, 2020 Deacon: Rev. Mr. Constantine Rodrigues [email protected] God Bless Fr Matthew. Secretary: Elsa Waldie Welcome to the 2020s: What Catholics can expect in the next dec- Presbytery: ade Monday: Closed Tues - Fri: 8.30am - 3.30pm Closed for lunch 12.30-1.30 pm What will happen to the Church in the coming decade? Only God Phone: 9713 7960 knows, but it’s still worth considering what may lie ahead in the 2020s. Fax: 9713 5172 Here are 10 things that might happen in the next 10 years – some more Email: likely than others. [email protected] Web: www.allhallows.org.au Demographic change If current trends continue, the Church will grow by roughly 15 million All Hallows’ Parish School souls a year, taking the total number of Catholics beyond the 1.4 billion mark by the end of the 2020s (the highest figure in history). Most of the Principal: Mrs Helen Elliott growth will be in Africa and Latin America, with some two million more Phone: 9713 4469 Fax: 9712 5184 Catholics each year in Asia. The table of the top 10 countries with the Email: most Catholics is likely to change. The Democratic Republic of Congo, [email protected] currently 10th, is likely to rise up the rankings, while Italy, France and Web: Spain slip down. www.ahpsfivedock.catholic.edu.au Sacramental Life Rising anti-Christian persecution According to the charity Open Doors, each year around 4,000 Chris- Eucharist: tians are murdered for their faith, 2,600 are detained without trial and Saturday - 9.00am & 5.30pm Vigil 1,200 church buildings are attacked. There is, sadly, no reason to think Sunday - 8.30am this will change. Indeed, these figures may rise if (as seems likely) Sunday - 10am Children’s Liturgy global instability increases. Given their lack of powerful defenders, Sunday - 6.00pm Youth Mass Christian minorities from Egypt to Indonesia will continue to suffer per- Monday - 9.00am secution, ranging from petty discrimination to lethal violence. Expect Tues - Wed - 8.00am religious freedom to shrink further in China and India, the world’s most Thurs - Fri - 9.00am populous nations. Lauds (morning prayer) is prayed 20 minutes before morning mass A revival of popular piety daily. All Welcome. According to the United Nations, one in every three travellers is a pil- Reconciliation: grim, and each year some 20 million people visit the Basilica of Our La- Saturday 9.30-10am, 4.45-5.15pm dy of Guadalupe, six million head to Lourdes and 300,000 walk the Sunday 8.30am - 9.15am Camino. These numbers may rise in the next 10 years. Sick Calls: Any time - day/night. Growth of the Extraordinary Form Funeral Masses: While figures are hard to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests that In co-operation with Funeral the Extraordinary Form of the Mass has grown in popularity, notably Directors. among millennials, since Benedict XVI liberated it with the motu proprio Exposition: Summorum Pontificum in 2007. In the United States, there were 220 Every Wednesday after 8am Mass. regular traditional Latin Masses in 2006. By 2016, this had increased to roughly 450. Several religious communities that celebrate the Old Mass appear to be flourishing. Devo- tees will remain a minority but may become increasingly influential over the next decade. Papal visits to the world’s hotspots Pope Francis is eager to visit some of the world’s most strife-torn nations. He opened the Year of Mercy in 2015, for example, in the Central African Republic. In 2020, he hopes to visit South Sudan, a nation that has known nothing but conflict since its birth in 2011. He may also make a long-awaited trip to Iraq, conditions permitting. Other potentially perilous papal destinations include Venezuela, Pakistan and per- haps even North Korea. Safer ports of call in 2020 are expected to include Cyprus and Montenegro. There is one nation he seems unlikely to visit: his homeland, Argentina, which he hasn’t returned to since his election in 2013. Diplomatic developments with China The chances of a papal visit to China are currently slim. It’s likely that the Holy See would have to es- tablish full diplomatic relations with Beijing first. That prospect seems years away, even though the two states signed a historic provisional agreement in 2018. There are many obstacles, including the status of Taiwan, which the Holy See continues to recognise. But it is not impossible that such difficulties will be resolved in the next 10 years. A papal transition Given their reverence for the Holy Father, most Catholics would prefer not to think about the next con- clave. But there will be one, of course, and it may well take place this decade. It is impossible to predict the outcome, but the event would have profound consequences for the whole Church. If nothing else, expect more discussion of the conclave in the coming years, especially given papabile Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle’s transfer from Manila to Rome. Vatican financial crisis Meanwhile, the Vatican faces a grave test of its financial integrity. This year Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s money laundering watchdog, will publish a highly anticipated report on the Holy See’s pro- gress. Moneyval may conclude that the Vatican has failed to take adequate steps to prosecute those suspected of money laundering, as it requested in its 2017 report. A negative verdict would reinforce the impression that the Vatican has failed to clean up the financial scandals that have dogged it for the past 40 years. More abuse revelations Another scandal will, unfortunately, stretch on into this decade: clerical abuse. This has already devas- tated the Church in Europe and North America. In the 2020s, disturbing new revelations are likely to emerge from Latin America, Africa and Asia. Pope Francis has given the Church powerful new tools to respond to the looming crisis in these conti- nents, including the motu proprio Vos estis lux mundi, which in theory holds bishops accountable for cover-ups. But Church leaders appear hesitant to use these new mechanisms, preferring older, less ef- fective ones. This is unlikely to change without considerable lay pressure. New saints This decade should see a host of new saints. It’s difficult to forecast the progress of Causes as they are dependent on miraculous healings. But those who could be canonised in the 2020s include Blesseds Charles de Foucauld (d 1916), Pier Giorgio Frassati (d 1925), Cyprian Tansi (d 1964), Jerzy Popiełusz- ko (d 1984), Chiara Badano (d 1990) and the Tibhirine monks (d 1996), as well as the Venerables Au- gustus Tolton (d 1897) and Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận (d 2002). Other Causes worth keeping an eye on are those of John Bradburne (d 1979), Dorothy Day (d 1980), 15-year-old computer expert Carlo Acutis (d 2006) and 21st-century Iraqi martyrs such as Ragheed Ghanni (d 2007). Any developments in these Causes will prompt rejoicing throughout the Catholic world and remind us that, however daunting the road ahead, there are always saints among us. INVITATION: WE PRAY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE DIED You are cordially invited to an OPEN NIGHT P lease pray for:- commencing at 6.30pm on Thursday, February 13, at St Bede's Church, 43 Pyrmont Rd, Pyrmont, to Recently Deceased: celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of The Gregorian Schola of Sydney. This lay group was founded in Mass Intentions: 1989 with the encouragement of the then Dean of St Vigil: Kay Fowler Mary's Cathedral, Monsignor Lex Johnson (letter 8.30am: Peter Hyems dated December 3). The idea was to offer the people 10.00am: All Hallows’ of Sydney the opportunity to learn and to pray/sing 6pm: Teresa Gratten the music which Vatican II, and many popes before 6th: Kevin Hume that, declared as “specially suited to the liturgy and... 7th: Veronica Pasqual D’Souza & Celine de Silva should be given pride of place”. We invite you to 8th: John Vincent (Sick) come, see, and hear the schola for our thirtieth 9th: Michael Roche anniversary. Manuscript sources will be shown and 10th: Holy Souls in Purgatory sometime used. There will be audience participation with QandA. Bookings are essential. Email For the following ill members of our community:- [email protected]. Enquiries 9419 5838. Kathleen Collins, Alessandro Mangogna, Please come and support this important group and Katherine Adamo, John Collins, Tony Lim, Karen those who keep it together. Entry by voluntary Abdallah, Theo Argy, Vincenzo La Manna, donation. Let us know ASAP if you hope to come. Andrew Ammendolia, Elysha Fazzalaro, Mia Spalina, Bernadette Lane, Sarah Galleghan, Ryan Family, Kylie Lane, Judith Tetley, Anna Pezzuto, GERMAN CATHEDRALS AND Marie Mylott, John Vincent, Rosa Maria Santos, OBERAMMERGAU PILGRIMAGE 2020 Belinda Briggs, Mark Bridgett Fr Chris Dixon, from the Diocese of Parramatta, is leading a pilgrimage focussing on “German GET YOUR COPY OF Cathedral Pilgrimage and the Passion Play at THE CATHOLIC WEEKLY th Oberammergau”, for 13 days leaving 25 August • God walks amongst us: Christmas Wrap th 2020 and returning 6 September 2020.