Daily Notes & News
The Month of November, 1998
Sunday, 1st
There was another good crowd at Mass this morning although numbers were down for the evening Mass. There was nothing the matter with the weather so I'm not sure why there were so few this evening.
The Mass at Ouse today was a great celebration with two children who have been involved with Sr Lorraine and the correspondence school from Bruny Island coming up to Ouse for their First Communion. The family is an absolutely delightful family who, simply by their presence made it an enjoyable day.
The First Communion was followed by a Baptism at Ouse and then a Baptism at New Norfolk. Unfortunately I was not able to join either family after the celebrations, firstly because I needed to get back to New Norfolk for the second baptism and then because I spent time trying to get the photo right for Taffy's funeral tomorrow and kept trying when I should have given up and put in a symbol - which I did eventually.
As I said the evening Mass was a little light on but I must have challenged people in the homily because a number of people said that I had made them uncomfortable - I suspect that should be the right response.
Hopefully, I can now sit down, watch some TV and then have an early night and a good sleep.
Monday, 2nd
Sorry about not having been able to upload the page for yesterday - some hiccup or other whenever I tried to upload the pages stopped me.
I raced straight from Mass to Moonah for the funeral of the late Walter (Taffy) Jones and from there came back to New Norfolk to Malbina, our local cemetery, for his internment.
I came home after that because I had some problems with the computer when attempting to print the funeral leaflet so after working at some files and checking for viruses (and finding nothing untoward) I can only hope that the problems have disappeared.
I did some work on the First Eucharist certificates and took them down to show Sandy Cowling, the Gr 3 teacher, and everything looks ok so I've printed them all out and will leave them in the Church tomorrow when the children come up for a practice.
The rest of the day I've taken fairly easily - I'm still tired and lethagic and everytime I stop for a minute I seemed to be nodding off. I'm being 'bashed-up' by my friends for not going to the doctor but I really don't have time - although I'm sure I will get there before the end of the week.
I don't have any appointments for tonight (or tomorrow) thankfully so I'll try and head for bed now to enjoy the break.
Tuesday, 3rd
Well, the Melbourne Cup has been run and won. Because of the Council of Priests meeting I didn't back a horse in the cup although if I had I would have just come out short of even. There were three horses with double initials (Count Chivas, Gold Guru and Persian Punch) which I would have backed each way. Perisan Punch ran third so I would have got $5.50 for my $6 outlay.
The Council of Priests Meeting was interesting with Archbishop Doyle telling us that he would like the Council to continue after his installation as Archbishop sometime early next year. There was also discussion about the format of meetings for next year and the decision was made regarding two Pastoral Confernces, the second to be about the middle of July which would allow us the opportunity to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Priestly Ordination of Archbishop D'Arcy.
There was no indication that this would not be acceptable to the Archbishop - the first indication that he might be around at that time for this special occasion.
I called into see the work being done at Graham Family and spent some time talking to Ann about some difficult decisions she is going to have to make. I think that I helped her with at least one of them (I've just had a phone call to say that one of my suggestions had been implemented) so I'm hopeful that things might be worked out with the other suggestion as well.
Thankfully I didn't have any more work to complete when I arrived home so I've been able to start work on my report for the Tasmanian Council of Priests which I will complete tomorrow morning.
Now for bed.
Wednesday, 4th
After Mass this morning I completed the report of the National Council of Churches Forum for the TCC Meeting held in Launceston this afternoon. We had also been collecting orders for our Christmas puddings so these needed to be entered into our database. In the background Ruby and Margaret had been cutting up the calico for the small puddings and bagging them as part of the delivery process which will take place on Friday.
Late in the morning I received a call from Shelley at Glenorchy asking whether I might be able to assist her as she was having trouble with one of the programs from Grapevine - the Parish database program. The problem was much bigger than Grapevine so I spent time talking her through the preparation for a complete restore program but it had to be put on hold because of a minor crisis that needed to be resolved first. More about that tomorrow.
I made a quick trip to the school sports and watched children enjoying themselves in the various races and activities they were joining in. I particularly enjoyed watching Jenny Mitchell and Gill Thompson helping Henry win some ribbons.
Then I made a quick dash towards Glenorchy to drop some material that Shelley needed before heading for Launceston for the TCC Meeting. Normally I would have had company but the need for people to be in Launceston at different times meant I travelled there and back by myself. The meeting was a good meeting with the guest speaker, Dr Howard Fearn-Warne, speaking about Habitat for Humanity, an organisation dedicated to the process of assisting people caught in the rent trap to be able to build/renovate and buy a home. A proposal with a great deal of merit which will be looked at seriously by different groups of Christian leaders throughout the state.
The drive home started very slowly as I thought I might need to conserve fuel but I was able to find a service station still open to top up so the drive was made at a more helpful speed.
Now to bed and hopefully a good night's sleep.
Thursday, 5th
After a slow start - I'm still having trouble uploading the Daily Notes & News and the Archived files to the server, even at 5am - I got ready for the School Mass for Mrs Crawford. It was a great celebration and the children particpated well.
Then it was immediately into the Christian Leaders meeting which only had a couple of people there but was a good meeting anyway. Lunch with Ruby followed before I headed into town to cover of all the items on my growing list.
The supermarket for the items needed for the morning tea after the First Communion on Sunday; Graham Family to check on the extensions and latest developments; Navy Office to check the preparations for the visit of the USS Abraham Lincoln next Friday; the Church Office and Book Centre for material for Advent; Office Works for some Coffee (on special) and some newsletter holders before calling into Co-Op Motors regarding the car and a noise (fixed simply); a trip to Bellerive to see the couple whose wedding is on Saturday and who have now arrived from Melbourne; and back to New Norfolk to print the Reconciliation service for the Children.
The ceremony has just finished and I'm making these final notes before going to bed with the hope that when I attempt to upload them in the morning I will be able to get through without too great a difficulty.
Friday, 6th
Everything seemed to be going well this morning with the preparations for the delivery of the Christmas puddings to the Parishes until we did some random quality control checks and found some problems with the smaller puddings.
I decided that we would take them out of circulation and spend time this week making new ones as there seemed to be a problem with a small number of them - all from the same batch but I'm not taking any risks.
I completed the newsletter for Sr Lorraine before heading out to see people and drop off the puddings. I called to see Fr Denis Allen in hospital as he is recovering from surgery for the removal of a cancerous obstruction in the bowel but he has left hospital so will have to try and catch him elsewhere.
I also managed to catch up with people at ITIM re the dinner for Jack & Nell Kelleher on Monday to say thanks for his time as Chairman of ITIM Tas over many years.
I have made arrangements to see the family of the late Hilda Haward tomorrow before the wedding at Bellerive in the early afternoon. The rehearsal today was the final thing I had to do before I headed off to see the Main Event. The seats were good and the show was excellent. The three very different stars worked well together and their performances - individually, as duets and together - were quite outstanding and I'd recommend anyone to see the show if possible. I'm not sure that I'll ever see Anthony Warlow again in a serious role without remembering some of his antics at the show tonight.
I arrived home late after sitting in the car park for some time so I'm actually writing this on Saturday morning but it's still Friday's news and I've just found out that I can't load the program because of a fault with HotDog Express but I'll add more details in tomorrow's Notes.
Saturday, 7th
When I got to the computer on Saturday morning my HotDog Express program told me that it was unregistered and wouldn't let me upload Notes & News nor the newsletter. So these few days (Saturday - Monday) are being added later.
Today was to be a busy day with getting the remainder of the puddings to town to deliver to the Parishes; the newsletters finished and uploaded and Daily Notes & News finished. It started with the above frustration and by the time it had finished there are been a few successes but a lot of time lost.
A quick trip to Rokeby, an eastern shore suburb, to see members of the family of the late Hilda Haward to make preparations for her funeral for Monday.
From there I called into Moonah to see some of the priests prior to the weekly lunch and found that Denis Alen was there after his surgery for the removal of a cancerous growth and found out that Mons Phil Green is to have more treatment for some small cancer spots on his bladder.
Then it was back to the Eastern Shore and to Bellerive for the wedding which went well, although the bride was half an hour late. Before the reception I took a few minutes to visit Linda and Michael, two friends at Lindisfarne, and found out that Michael has started a new job and that the roof of their house had been burnt out recently and they are still in the process of getting things fixed.
From there to the reception for a brief time before heading home for an early night before First Communion on Sunday.
Sunday, 8th
Today is a very special day for the children of our Parish making their First Communion. There has been a lot of preparation and running around to finalise everything but (as this is written after the event) it all went well.
After the celebration we went down to school for a party which continued the celebration for the children and the Parish.
From there I came back to celebrate a Baptism which also went well - I feel funny talking about the Celebration of Sacraments as going well - but it did.
I then spent time attempting to get the photo right for the front cover of Hilda's funeral booklet and I'm not that happy with the final outcome. I think that starting with a small image is where I am making the mistake because as soon as I attempt to enlarge to fit the page the definition disappears. The rest of the work has been completed successfully so I think it will be alright.
After the evening Mass I did some more work on the names of people offering to host sailors for the visit of the Abraham Lincoln this weekend before heading off to bed for an early night and a good sleep - I hope.
Monday, 9th
Well, my hopes for a good nights sleep were shattered by my friends the plovers (nesting birds on the lawn outside my window) who decided at 1.30am that they wanted to exercise their lungs - I'm not sure if they were defending their space or what but they woke me and I struggled to sleep after that.
After Mass this morning I managed to complete some work on the weekend's thanksgiving program and the big book I print for my own use at a funeral before heading off to town to celebrate Hilda's funeral at the Crematorium. As her grandson did the eulogy he mentioned that Hilda and Reg were married in 1921 by an Archbishop in the Town Hall at Smithton - the Archbishop of that day was Archbishop Patrick Delany (no relation). It was ironic that I might be the priest who celebrated the funerals of both Reg & Hilda so many years later.
After the funeral I went to the Athenaeum Club to farewell Jack Kelleher from ITIM Tas. Peter Marshall & Ruth Prescott from the National Team are in Tasmania this past weekend for the induction of Neville Dean and Kieron Mills into ITIM (an event which happened yesterday at the same time as the First Communion Ceremony so I was unable to attend).
The dinner went well and there were a couple of good contacts made that will be followed up in the next week or two in relation to the Foundation 2010 program for Tasmania.
After the dinner I headed home to try to finish off some more work for the Abraham Lincoln visit and then an early night and a good sleep.
Tuesday, 10th
Today we worked on some of our smal Christmas Puddings to check our quality control procedures. I am happy that the work we have done has been successful and that we will shortly be distributing the one person pud's to our customers.
I didn't manage to get as much done today as I would have liked because this morning my new copy of Lotus SmartSuite arrived and so I have been upgrading. However, I did prepare the draft letter to Church leaders regarding the work of the Christian Religious Education in State Schools Commission of the Tasmanian Council of Churches and send copies off to Isabel Thomas-Dobson and the TCC offices.
I also managed to get to school to drop off material that I have been asked to provide - it has taken some time before I managed to get it all together but it has happened. I also have done a little bit more work on the Baptismal Data entry for the Grapevine Parish program in preparation for one of our parishioners who is going to come in to do the data processing after work a night or so a week.
After having completed this rather haphazard days effort I went to the Derwent Entertainment Centre for the Guilford Young College Graduation ceremony which, surprisingly went for just two hours and was well done.
Now for bed, with the hope that the plovers don't do their thing too early.
Wednesday, 11th
Today is Remembrance Day and this morning after the meeting at the Church Office (where we talked about how to arrange to have a web page for the Archdiocese prepared and made some preliminary plans to make it happen) all the staff walked outside to stand in silence at 11am. Just a few moments later the air was split by the sound of 4 planes from the USS Abraham Lincoln flying over as a tribute to those who have fallen.
I still had another meeting with one of the staff and after that had all finished I headed out to Graham Family Funerals to say hello to my friend Jennifer and to wish her a Happy Birthday. Arrived just after they had cut the cake and had another chance to check out what was happening with the building.
Back home and I started work on the newsletter and some other things that needed to be done before heading back to town to have a birthday drink with Jennifer and some friends. It was a great little party with some real laughs and a great present from one of her firneds that really tickled my fancy!!!
Back home to do some more work and reply to some of the phone calls - checked my e-mail to see if anything from the Chaplains on board the Abe Lincoln (nothing so I'm still not sure what is happening).
Then off to the Howe's for the Home Mass and another great little crowd were there. The Home Mass program has been a great success although I'll need to encourage the hosts to actually extend an invitation to other people to attend when we run the program next year.
Back home and ready for bed, although I checked my e-mail again and found an e-mail from Jenny to say that her daughter Michelle who has been OS for most of the year is back in Australia (Melbourne) and will be arriving in Tassie tomorrow - what a great birthday present. Still nothing from the Abe Lincoln and they arrive first thing tomorrow morning so I'm not sure what is happening.
Thursday, 12th
Today has been a day of waiting. I helped out at Sacred Heart College this morning with a class on my Parish and what it means to be a Parish Priest today. The whole time I was waiting for the Chaplain from the Abraham Lincoln to contact me - and all day I waited and no response.
I have this terrible feeling that the people who offered to host a sailor have also missed out because I have had no response from him and I don't know whether he has the names of the people who have offered hospitality.
I called to see my parents on the way back from town and they are reasonable well although we didn't have time to talk because Dad asked me to try and fix something; then put on a video of Grace and her having a bath and getting dressed and then Karen and Steven arrived with Aaron & Lauren.
After Mass I worked on the newsletter and finsished that and wrote a couple of letters as well as completing the internet edition of the newsletter. I also worked on the financial papers for the PPC meeting that was held after tea tonight.
Thankfully it didn't last too long with people taking pity on me and not staying too late after the meeting although there are some questions about how well the financial process of the parish is being run - actually at the moment it is being managed and it is not easy to get all the information that is required for a proper understanding of the status from the machine because I'm not certain how to set the program up to give me the right information. I'll have to ask some pertinent questions along the way from an expert and get help.
That's all - I wait and see if the emails have got through to the Abe Lincoln tomorrow.
Friday, 13th
I've now given up meeting the Chaplains on board the Abraham Lincoln as there is no way that I can contact them and I have to rely on them getting back to me. I found out this morning though that they did get my e-mail with details about the people who had offered to host a sailor so hopefully they will get a phone call.
After Mass this morning I finished the newsletters and worked on the marriage papers for the wedding tomorrow. I went down to school to do some brief work but found that it would have been easier to complete it back here because the things I needed to use were not available.
I called to see Greg Hudson about our Christmas Raffle and then returned to print off the raffle tickets which go on sale during this coming week. We have a good prize list so it should sell well although we have not been able to get permission for as many selling days as we might have liked on the High Street but there are lot's of groups looking for selling days.
Late this afternoon I had a visit from some friends from Glenorchy who were out for a ride and stopped for a coffee. After chatting with them I hit the road to get to New Town for the wedding rehearsal and immediately after that had finished I was on the road again to get to Calvary Hospital (only five minutes away) to join in the celebration of their 60th anniversary of the founding of the Hospital.
Every time that Calvary erect a Marquee it either rains or it is so windy he wholke thing is in danger of collapsing - tonight was no exception, well at least it was raining. There were a good number of supporters of Calvary there and I came home with a little bonus. We were using glasses specially prepared for their jubilee and one of the staff presented me with a box of a dozen to take home so I now have a collection.
To bed and a quiet night (I hope)
Saturday, 14th
Well today has been an interesting day. After doing some work in the Church and Office this morning the phone rang and it was Fr Thomas Jennings (Fr TJ), the Catholic Chaplain off the Abe Lincoln. We arranged to get together for lunch at the Cathedral and then a tour of the Cathedral before he was to head back to the ship for duty.
Then I celebrated a Baptism here at New Norfolk which was well attended before heading off to the lunch for the retiring housekeeper at the Cathedral Presbytery. I took some food and wine with me to drop off at a friends place where I was to have the evening meal.
Almost everyone was at the Cathedral and it was a great meal prepared by four of the women of the parish and Mrs Lovely (as she is known to many) the guest of honour. TJ was already there as was Brian Yates from Sydney as well as Richard Leonard SJ who is in Hobart for a meeting. Geoff Jarrett and Terry Rush spoke and told some great yarns about Mrs Lovely and had us all in fits of laughter.
After the meal I took TJ down the hill and showed him throught the Cathedral before we went back through the town to the ship and I headed off to do the wedding at New Town. I didn't leave myself much time but fortunately the 2.30pm wedding was late finishing so I was in plenty of time.
With the wedding celebrated I then headed off to Glenorchy for my meal with some friends and managed to arrive in plenty of time to provide some assistance in preparations. It was a funny night with lot's of stories and laughter and plenty of food. I told them that they would be on the internet today so I'll just name them. Carlene Larkin, Jenny Searle (on call for Graham Family Funerals and answering the phone every few minutes or so), Laura Searle and a friend of hers, Annette and Ron Parry, John, Lexie & Anna Brereton and myself.
It is now tomorrow and I haven't been home long so I'll finish and head for bed.
Sunday, 15th
This morning started slightly overcast and damp but looked as if it would turn out to be a nice day - which it has.
There were a reasonable number of people at Mass this morning, as well as the evening Mass, in spite of the drizzle. Then the trip to Hamilton showed how quickly the country was dryng out - especially in paddocks where the poppies are growing. Some paddocks were flowering well whilst others were very patchy, signs of lack of water. The paddock next to the Church was particularly dry so I doubt whether there will be a good crop there.
I visited my nephew who turns 12 tomorrow for a birthday afternoon tea and saw most of the members of my family that gather for things before coming home for the evening Mass and then a very early night - I am so tired that I doubt I'll be able to read even for a few minutes.
Monday, 16th
It was rather hectic getting everything ready before going on retreat. And just when I thought that I had finished and could head into town to meet Fr Jennings (TJ) from the Abe Lincoln I recalled that I hadn't sent in the details regarding our Christmas Mass times to the Standard to be published in the December edition which will go to press sometime this week.
I called to collect 'TJ' from the Royal Guide Dogs Association and eventually went on board the carrier with him and five sailors from the ship and with 4 visually impaired people and their carers. It was the most amazing time going with these people as we moved through various parts of the carrier. As part of their trip they were taken from the hangar level to the flight deck on the plane elevators, all around the flight deck and then down through the Library and Chapel area back to the Hangar space. They were really high spirited and thoroughly enjoyed themselves so a good time was had by all.
I arrived at Maryknoll for the start of the retreat and found that I had left some things behind including - wait for it - my Bible, left sitting on my bed which is why this Notes & News has been done bcause I dashed back home to get it a couple of other minor things.
Back to Maryknoll and my time of prayer.
Tuesday - Thursday (17-19th)
The retreat went well with the following being the themes for each day.
Monday night we looked at Luke 18:35-43 (The Blind Man of Jericho) and asked ourselves what did we want from Jesus as he travelled along and who were the crowds in our lives who might sometimes keep us away from spending time with Jesus?
Tuesday - we looked at the question of Humility with two scripture themes being presented to us: the first was from John 14:8-10 where we looked at how transparent we were in our reflecting Jesus to others and secondly from Luke 18:9-14 where we were asked to reflect on how we acted when confronted with others who might cause us some difficulty as we are called to reflect Christ to others.
On Wednesday we were asked to look at the question of forgiveness; firstly our openness to recognise our need of forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:1-7,13) and our willingness to be forgiving (Matt 18:21-22). Thrown in for good measure ws a reflection of what happens in our lives when we seek forgiveness but make no real changes in our lives and we find that the end is worse than the beginning (Luke 11:25). At the end of the day we celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation which was a wonderful experience of Church for all of us.
Thursday we looked at how we continue the work of the Master. We saw how Peter changed from being a missionary to being a pastor (John 21:1-19) where the passage starts with Peter as a fisherman and ends by him being asked to care for the people of God. The work of the pastor and how we care was a real part of this day of reflection.
Friday, 20th
Today our morning reflection was centred on our homecoming and how open we will be to receive Christ in the people with whom we live and work. The passage of Scripture was from the Book of Revelation with special emphasis on 3:15. After a final celebration of the Eucharist and shared lunch we have gone our separate ways; some driving home immediately and others completing tasks along the way before arriving home tomorrow.
So now, sadly, there is the weekend work to be completed before I can get to bed tonight.
The peaceful setting of Maryknoll Retreat Centre is very quickly becoming a memory - such a wonderful relaxing time away from the phones and door bells and everything else which so frequently intrudes into a time of prayer, and even into times when trying to complete work that needs to be done.
But back to work to get all of these things out of the way so that tomorrow can be a new day.
Saturday, 21st
Well, all the work that I had to do yesterday was finished in good time without too much difficulty and I even managed to get to see mum and dad. Neither of them seem particularly well at the moment so I'm not certain what the next few weeks holds for them.
Lunch at Moonah was good with a better number there than for the past few weeks although we are starting to get into the wedding season so most guys are coming only when they don't have a wedding.
The fellows in our Saturday Tattslotto group are a little better off at the moment - during the last ten week series we won over $370 which means that there was more than enough for the next ticket with some change. We are now almost all paid up to the one date so I will be able to distribute the winnings evenly and everyone will have a good start to the New Year (with our Tattslotto anyway).
There were only a few people at the wine & cheese night tonight - in fact at one stage I thought that there might only be four of us but in the end there were a dozen. We enjoyed ourselves so that was the main thing.
Now to bed and sleep before tomorrow celebrating the Feast of Christ the King.
Sunday, 22nd
It was good to be able to celebrate with a good number of people at all Masses today - even if there weren't a large number of children who had recently made their first communion.
The Country Meeting at Ellendale today looked at how to improve the living arrangements for Sr Lorraine and how to provide her with better office conditions. Unfortunately I had to leave to get back for the Baptism and so I didn't learn how what arrangements were finally made.
At the evening Mass tonight we said farewell to one of our families who are heading overseas for a short time - to England for the Christmas holidays and all the cold that will mean.
I'll probably watch a little bit of TV before heading off for an early night.
Monday, 23rd
After Mass this morning I did some work on the Christmas Pudding list to find out the current status of our supplies. Then I took order forms down to school for any orders that might be forthcoming from there. While having a coffee I also found out that there was the Orientation afternoon for the children and parents for Prep next year so I made arrangements to be there for the meeting.
On returning home there was some work to be done on the Thanksgiving program as well as the Baptismal entries for the weekend. Then I settled into getting the material for the weddings that are coming up in the next few weeks and finishing off some of the material that shouild have been filed some weeks ago.
Then I made some more phone calls to a couple of friends before calling it an early night but I some how feel that I'll be awake early tomorrow - I'm not certain why but I don't feel really tired.
Tuesday, 24th
What a day! I really did wake up early this morning and I had a full day of meetings and appointments to keep me going.
After Mass Sr Lorraine and I worked through some of the points arising from the Country meeting on Sunday, planning for Adult Faith education for 1999 as well as addressing some of the pastoral issues facing the parish over the next period of time. Also thrown into the conversation was the Chapter that she is attending from next Tuesday.
A quick lunch and then some friends arrived to talk about a pastoral problem facing them at the moment. Their concerns addressed some of the issues facing the broader Tasmanian Church community as we move towards the future with a new Archbishop and I'm not certain that there are any simple solutions readily available.
By the time they had left I had a few minutes to myself so I went for a short walk to clear my head. I sat down for tea and a couple who didn't arrive for an appointment some weeks ago arrived. I worked with them and just before they completed the FOCCUS program my next couple arrived.
Kylie & Gray have just finished and it is now 8.30pm so I am heading for bed and hopefully a good nights sleep.
Wednesday, 25th
Somehow or other the early part of today got lost in things happening but no real awareness of time. Again, the first part of the morning was spent dealing with Pudding Orders to keep track of what is happening.
The newspaper hadn't been delivered so I went off and collected the local paper and some other material from the newsagents and found that the paper was ready so collected a copy on the way. Then Katie Rainbird arrived and we spent some time organising material for her marriage booklet as well as signing off some of the papers for her wedding in late February - since they are lving in Queensland and won't be back until just before the wedding this was important.
Then it was off to Launceston for the Awakening meeting - I blotted my copy-book when I called into a shop to buy something and the young salesman didn't look behind him for two sales and I got miffed. I apologised to him but I was still in the wrong and felt bad about it.
The meeting went well although there are some things I now have to get done either today or tomorrow to allow some decisions to be made down the track.
I then hopped in the car to get back home in time for the Home Mass at the McCauley's. I've just arrived home and have to say that the program has been very successful with a couple of new people coming to each celebration
THursday, 26th
Mass this morning included two classes from St Brigid's School, the Grade 2's and 5's. The children were good and sang well - the parents didn't sing as well.
After Mass there were some details I needed to arrange regarding next week's Business Morning Tea so the fax machine went into overdrive before I printed another copy and raced around the town dropping off the leaflets for the shops without faxes.
I then headed for town and managed to get a gift voucher at Dick Smith's for a mix-up with prices. Then I called into the Catholic Book Centre to collect the Ordo for 1999 - the booklet which informs us what is celebrated on which days during the year. I also had a chance to see Sr Genevive (home from Singapore for the Chapter). She has not been weel since being home but is currently talking two hundred to the dozen so part of her is alright.
I then went to K-Mart to get some things and managed to collect the Main Event CD - which I am now enjoying listening too. A quick trip to Graham's to see how the extensions are going before heading to Sacred Heart Church for the rehearsal for Saturday's wedding.
The final meeting of the Southern Parishes Forum was the last thing on the agenda tonight. The meeting went well with some excellent work being done in the area of collaborative ministry which will be asking a lot of parishes in the next few years.
Now to bed.
Friday, 27th
The Grade 3 children didn't get to Mass this morning because of the weather - good for the country but not good for the cricket which managed only a short time late in the afternoon.
After Mass I started on the pudding orders before spending time working on the newsletter. I managed to complete most of it and started printing it before I finished the day. I visited the school at recess and checked some of the details of the arrangements for the end of year Mass and other celebrations. I also collected some pudding orders and so some more work on the orders.
After lunch I headed for town to see the team at ITIM in making plans for 1999 and the work of
Foundation 2010
one of the major focii for the Mission into the next years. We made a list of people who will be invited to a Breakfast meeting early in the New Year with the hope that they might work with us in presenting future breakfasts focussing on their particular areas of concern and expertise.
When I arrived home there was a message asking me to contact a friend who wished to see me regarding some concerns they are having about a work related situation. There will need to be some more work on that next week so I hope that things aren't too bad.
After tea I started on the printing of the newsletter (almost finished) so I'm now heading for bed to catch up on the Bill (TV program videoed from last Tuesday) which I haven't had a chance to see yet.
Today started slowly - I had the best slepp I've had for a long time. After finishing the various pages for the web I visited the hospital to see a patient but he was seeing the doctor and then having lunch so I headed home for my own lunch before rushing round to get all the work for the weekend completed.
There was a good congregation for the Baptism and everything went well. JUst before I headed off to the wedding I rang Mick Wheeler in Melbourne and got al the latest news, including the appointment of Joe Grech as the new Auxiliary Bishop in Melbourne. It had been rumoured for some time but is now a reality.
The wedding was a grand celebration as well - everyone was nervous but things went well. Immediately after the ceremony I headed home as we have an ecumenical service at the Seventh Day Adventists to go to tonight so will have to finish here and head off.
Saturday, 28th
Sunday, 29th
Today has been a long day - some dogs started barking about 3.30am and kept barking for about 20 minutes and so getting back to sleep was a problem.
The trip, after the 9am Mass to Bronte Chalet, was slower than usual because of a large number of cars on the road, many of them hire cars who were travelling well below the speed limit. The trip is normally a careful trip because of the twisting roads but it became almost tortuous with the slower cars making life a little difficult.
There were ten for Mass and we enjoyed a good lunch afterwards so in all the time there was enjoyable, with lots of chat and interesting sharing. There are major extensions going on in the front of the Chalet which should mean a whole new view next time I'm there.
I managed to get home just 10 minutes before my 4pm couple arrived to see me - everything worke well with them so they are now almost ready for their wedding on 27/12. After they left I had a little bit of time before the evening Mass to sit down for a few minutes so I rang home and spoke to Dad who is sore from a fall on Friday but otherwise still struggling on. Mum was out but it seems that the doctors have finally found out part of the cause of her constant pain - the years of cortisone tablets have caused bleeding into almost all of her joints and there is virtually nothing they can do to stop the pain. I suppose knowing the reason helps but it certainly doesn't solve anything.
After Mass I had a quick snack, watched the news, typed this page and now I'm heading for bed.
Monday, 30th
After Mass this morning we finished off the weekend details of the Thanksgiving program and Baptisms as well as finalising details regarding the pudding orders.
A quick visit to school and a hello to some of the children before lunch and visiting some of the local businesses to complete the orders for the Business Morning Tea in the town on Wednesday.
Two appointments with couples regarding Baptismal preparation before I headed for town to be part of the launch of the 1998 Christmas Bowl appeal. The ceremony, in St David's Anglican Cathedral, was a really spectacular occasion with a variety of music providing a rich setting to the celebration.
I've just arrived home and I'm ready for bed so I'll post this tomorrow morning and then start a new page for December.
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