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Catholic Life
Publication of the Diocese of Sale
Melbourne & Sale CDF to merge - Page 3
Bishop’s Family Foundation gives $1 million - Page 5
ISSUE 178
November 2013
CatholicCare Pakenham office opens - Page 6
Year of Family Prayer lift-out - Pages 9-12
Year of Family Prayer THE Year of Family Prayer has been launched as a Sale Diocese initiative which will run for 12 months from the start of Advent. Bishop Christopher Prowse officially launched the year at the Mass to close the Year of Grace. The launch was to have taken place later this month as part of a pastoral plan but was brought forward after the bishop was appointed Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn. The spectacular icon of the Holy Family by New Zealand iconographers Studio of John the Baptist in Auckland has been chosen as the image to encourage family prayer. Thousands of prayer cards featuring the image have been prepared and will be handed out through the parish and schools network. Parishes will also be provided with some simple prayer ideas which families might choose to adopt during Advent and Christmas. A short DVD on prayer is currently in production and will be distributed early in 2014 and the pastoral council is also putting together a small family prayer book featuring a mix of traditional and informal prayers which it is hoped families will use for input into their prayer life. At the launch which was attended mainly by students from Marist-Sion College and St Joseph’s Primary School in Warragul, Bishop Prowse urged the students to take a greater role in family prayer. He suggested that they sometimes ask the family to pause before a meal to give thanks for the food and those who had prepared it. He also suggested that the
students ask their parents to take them to Mass from time to time. Although strictly-speaking, the diocesan pastoral council ceases to exist because we no longer have a Bishop of Sale, members will continue to run the Year of Family Prayer which has been so long in planning. Bishop Prowse announced it in his Pentecost pastoral letter earlier this year. Among other initiatives will be a family retreat Camp Nazareth, which will be held at Trafalgar East on March 14-16 next year. This will be a camp for families of all ages with fun activities for children, sessions for adults, and activities for the whole family. Later in the year there will be a specific focus on nurturing marriage. Pope Francis has recently also given strong support for family prayer in his Homily at Mass with Families for the Year of Faith. “I would like to ask you, dear families: Do you pray together from time to time as a family? Some of you do, I know. But so many people say to me: But how can we? Each one, with humility, allowing themselves to be gazed upon by the Lord and imploring his goodness, that he may visit us. But in the family how is this done? After all, prayer seems to be something personal, and besides there is never a good time, a moment of peace “Yes, all that is true enough, but it is also a matter of humility, of realising that we need God, like the tax collector! And all families, we need God: all of us! We need his help, his strength, his blessing, his mercy, his forgiveness. And we need simplicity to pray as a family: simplicity is necessary!”
A million reasons for your support The Bishop’s Family Foundation has given more than $1 million to helping programs for families in the Great Gippsland area from the City of Casey through to the NSW border. Help grow the fund so we can do more good works. Send donations to: Bishop’s Family Foundation, PO Box 1410, Warragul 3820