Welcome to our Parish Newsletter!

/newsDear Parishioners,

Welcome to our new parish newsletter!  As we are unable to gather each weekend for Eucharist and less and less are we able to distribute paper materials we have decided to produce a regular online newsletter.  Over time I hope that we can hear from more of you and include the voice of our parishioners in our regular communications.  Thank you to Kirsten Italiano, our parish secretary for the incredible work she has done in order for us to move to this new newsletter. 

It is coming up seven weeks since Father Trác and I become your parish priests at Surrey Hills Wattle Park.  What a seven weeks this has been!  We have moved from Stage 3 restrictions when we were unable to gather as a community to small gatherings of up to twenty for Mass, and back to Stage 3 restrictions again.  Our schools have moved into remote learning, back to school and now have seen a return to remote learning.  In the midst of all of this I have been impressed by the way in which people have been thoughtful, caring and gentle with each other.   Our parish and school communities have truly displayed to each other what faith in action looks like.

In the last couple of weeks, I have gathered together an interim Leadership Team for our parish community in order to begin planning for the future of our parish, both in the short term and the long term.  In the short term our Leadership Team has decided on two priorities.  The first is communication and the second is to develop a strategic leadership group to assist in creating a plan for the future.   I am grateful to the following group of parishioners who have agreed to join me as an interim leadership team as we work towards creating a more permanent Parish Council.  Our current members are: Peter Collery, Denis Billings, Damian Clarke, Geoff Whelan, Maree O’Connor, Tony Cassidy, Shane Heffernan, Carol-Ann Wong, Nanette Giovannini, Kirsten Italiano, Kelly Wagner, Anita Kelliher, and Madeleine Jones.  Some members of this group met in July and the full group is planned to meet in August.  I will keep you informed as our initial plans unfold.

As well as planning for the specific needs of Surrey Hills Wattle Park we will look further afield as to how we might be able to collaborate with our neighbouring parishes of Camberwell, Deepdene and Balwyn.  Already there are plans for a joint Adult Learning session on Social Justice in a COVID environment for August this year.  There are clearly some areas where collaboration and partnerships will make sense.

Before we go too far down the track of planning we would like to hear your voice.  To this end our parish will be conducting a survey of all parishioners across our parish.  You will hear more about this in the coming weeks.  The idea is that everyone, no matter to what extent you are involved or not in our parish or school community will be invited to give feedback and then, if you want, to take part in a focus group where you will be invited to share more fully your thoughts and ideas for the future of our parish. 

This same survey will be conducted in the parishes of Camberwell, Balwyn and Deepdene.  In this way we will also be able to hear the similar and diverse voices across our parishes.  We live in a changing world and a changing church and so it is timely for us to take stock of where we are and where we would like to be. 

I would like to wish you and your families every blessing and good wish as we move through the next few weeks of restricted movement in response to the growing global pandemic.  Let us all continue to support each other in faith, hope and love.  Let’s hope that as we practice physical distancing we may also keep social connection.
 
With best wishes
Fr Brendan