Dear Parishioners,
In his Pastoral Letter dated 16 August 2022, the Archbishop addressed the reality of providing priests to meet the needs within the Archdiocese has become less certain than it previously was (a copy of his letter was made availa- ble via Flocknote and the Archdiocesan website).
Last weekend, we announced that Fr. Simeon has been appointed as Administrator to the Moora Parish and the surrounding pastoral areas. Following this latest change in clergy appointment at Bateman Parish, the Archbishop has informed me that due to shortage of priests in the Archdiocese, an appointment of a new Assistant Priest to our Parish is not possible at this time.
As you might recall, our current Parish Mass schedule was designed for 3 priests assisting at the Parish, which not only includes St. Thomas More church but also sacramental support for Corpus Christi College and the surrounding Aged Care Homes in the area. As a result of Fr. Simeon’s appointment, we will now be operating as a single priest parish. Thus, we need to overhaul our liturgical schedule on an ongoing basis so that we can best serve the needs of the whole parish while also maintaining the spiritual wellbeing of the clergy assigned to St. Thomas More, Bateman Parish.
Having met to consult with members of the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) and Liturgy Committee (LC), we have done our utmost best to come up with new arrangements for weekday and weekend Masses to serve our parish needs. I’m sensitive to the inconvenience this will bring to many of our parishioners as it will disrupt your normal routines. However, decision for these changes of Mass schedule was not taken lightly and I’m encouraged by the support I received from both the PPC and the LC earlier this week. Please note the new Mass schedule will be implemented from Saturday 1st October 2022. Let us embrace these changes to create new opportunities for building our Parish community life. A chance to meet new families and people across our Parish. Moving from 5 weekend Masses to 3 Masses means we can come together stronger as a Parish community and also take the opportunity to pray for vocations to religious life and the priesthood. We anticipate that some of these changes might not suit everyone thus we have commenced work with our neighbouring Parish communities, to wel- come you if they have Mass times that suit your families better or for weekday Masses that might not be hosted at St. Thomas More, Bateman Parish. Let us actively encourage, pray for and support more vocations to the priest- hood and religious life. We invite you to join the Parish Travelling chalice ministry, so that together with your families you can commit to praying for vocations by hosting the chalice in your homes.
God bless.
Fr. Phong Nguyen Parish Priest