Sunday 5 July 2020
REGISTRATION TO ATTEND MASS
IS NO LONGER REQUIRED
Please be advised that as we enter into Phase Four in which the government restrictions will be lifted commencing on Saturday 27 June 2020, parishioners are not required to register to attend Mass.
PLANNED GIVING ENVELOPES
Boxes of Planned Giving envelopes are now available in the Church Foyer for collection. They are in alphabetical order. Please pick them up after Mass. We would like to thank you for your generous support to the Parish Planned Giving.
WITH SINCERE THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS
JUSTINA & KEITH FROM BRYTALIFE.
Saint Thomas More, Bateman Parish would like to express our sincere thanks to our generous sponsors, Justina and Keith for kindly donating Brytalife sanitiser products and treatments, together with the dispensers and stands for our church. We truly appreciate their wonderful support to our parish with Brytalife sanitiser products to keep our parishioners safe. For more information on Brytalife, please visit their website: www.brytalife.com
ARCHBISHOP’S OPEN LETTER
INQUIRY INTO THE CHILDREN AND COMMUNITY SERVICES AMENDMENT BILL 2019.
As you may know, our state government has introduced the Child and Community Services Amendment Bill 2019 which seeks to make it mandatory for priests to report any incidence of child sexual abuse including those heard in confessions made during the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This would mean that the seal of confession to protect the penitent would be broken and in actual fact, force priests to betray the trust of penitents. Archbishop Timothy Costelloe has explained that in accordance with Church teachings, all priests have taken a vow to uphold the seal of confession to protect the penitent and the integrity of the Sacrament. Archbishop Timothy Costelloe has clearly stated that the Catholic Church treats child sexual abuse as a serious offence and he is committed to the protection of children. This is clearly evidenced by the measures put in place to safeguard our children from sexual abuse, something which is taken very seriously by the entire Catholic community.
The Archbishop explained in his open letter, the effects of these proposed amendments by the state government contained in Section 124BA in the following way, “In short what this means is that any information disclosed to a priest during the course of Confession which leads the priest to believe that a minor is being sexually abused must be reported to the authorities, irrespective of the wishes of the penitent. Failure to do so will constitute a criminal offence under the proposed amendment”.
We have been encouraged to make submissions to the committee reviewing the bill to express our concerns as a Catholic community in regards to how the amendments would violate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and its detrimental effects to all penitents. Please read Archbishop Costelloe’s open letter, which is available at the back of the Church, on the church noticeboards, the parish online communication channels, and on the website of the Archdiocese of Perth.
Submissions can be made as groups of parishioners or as individuals. The link for submissions can be found in the Archbishop’s open letter and the deadline for all submissions is Friday 24th July 2020. More information to help you in writing your submissions will be available next week. I encourage you to make this a priority to protect the Sacrament of Reconciliation and our Catholic faith.
CHAPLETS OF THE DIVINE MERCY
A beautiful, prayerful, sung devotion held in our Church on the second Wednesday of each month. The next devotion will be held on Wednesday 8th July 2020 commencing at 7.30 pm.
If you have not attended previously, why don’t you come along and participate in this uplifting experience? All are welcome.
RCIA NEWS
As a result of COVID-19 the RCIA Sacramental Programme did not occur at Easter Time. The Sacraments will now be received by our Elect at the 6.30 pm Mass on Saturday 25th July 2020. If this is your Mass of choice, please be aware that this will be a somewhat longer ceremony than the normal Saturday Evening Mass.
Due to the alterations to our 2019/20 Programme and the consequent time limitations our next RCIA Course will commence with an Enquiry Night on 6th May, 2021.
If for a particular reason you wish to be received into the Church before this date please contact one of our Priests or the Church Office and we will endeavour to accommodate you.
RCIA Team
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION MASSES
We are pleased to announce that as COVID Social Restrictions have been relaxed we are able to offer enrolled Parish First Holy Communicants the Sacrament of the Eucharist on the weekends of the 8th/ 9th and 15th/ 16th of August 2020.
The receiving of the Sacrament will take place at the regular Saturday 6.30pm Mass and following Sunday 11am and 6pm evening Masses.
Due to some restrictions still in place, the number of communicants is limited to 15 per Mass. However, there is no restrictions on the amount of guests each family has. It will be strictly on a “First in best dressed” system.
Children from Yidarra school have been allocated the 3 Masses on the weekend of the 8th /9th August with limited spaces on the weekend of the 16th August 6.00pm Mass. And children from the Parish have been allocated the 3 Masses on the weekend of the 15th /16th August.
Therefore, it is essential that you must book a place for your preferred Sacramental Mass attendance. Please book as soon as possible to avoid missing out on your preferred time. Communicants that fail to make a booking will be allocated a date.
If you have any further queries please send an email to
catechist@bateman.perthcatholic.org.au.au or call Tues/Wed on 93101747 from 8.30-3.30pm.