December 2014 Issue 34

If you are interested to help in any of the tasks in the produc-tion of the Padua News, please contact any one of the commit-tee members or email: paduanews@yahoo.com.au

Thank you. Padua News Committee Dolores Turcsan Doris Bonello Anne Consiglio Colin Consiglio Edwina La Rose Lorraine Tellis Kim Barton Godwin Barton

Padua News is the official quarterly Newsletter of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Cnr Exford & Wilson Roads Melton South, VIC 3338 Tel: 03 9747 9692 Fax: 03 9746 0422 Email: MeltonSouth@cam.org.au Parish Priest: Father Fabian Smith

Message from Father Fabian

Message from our Parish Priest

The first of January every year is dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. It was in Ephesus where the Church council met in 431 AD, to affirm that Mary was the "Mother of God" because she is the mother of God in his human nature which, because of the Incarnation, could not be separated from the divine nature.

In this article I would like to share my experience in Ephesus in Turkey where I went for my sec-ond module of my sabbatical. We were on the bus going to Ephesus when we came past a beautiful larger than life size statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As priests we were really sur-prised to see this statue in a country where about nine-ty nine percent are Muslim.

As we journeyed on to the House of the Virgin Mary, our bus was pulled over on the highway by two police officers; the driver went down to speak to them. Up-on enquiry of who was on the bus, one of the police officers, a Muslim, came on to the bus. He heard that we were all priests and he was saying that he was going through a very difficult time in his life and wanted us to pray for him and asked if we could give him our blessing. A surprising request! Half hour later after making our way up a winding mountain road, we arrived at a very seclude location where we saw a simple stone building known as the “House of the Virgin Mary”. In contrast to the ornate Marian shrines all over the world, there’s not much here. Inside the house, a statue of Mary sits

atop an altar, with two flick-ering candles on either side. It is believed that after the crucifixion of our Lord, St. John left Jerusalem with Mary and came to live in Ephesus, one of the biggest and safest cities of its time. It is in Ephesus that the first church is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Ephesus had been recognized by Popes, and even an Ecumenical Council, as the likely city where Christ's Mother spent her remaining years.

Padua News This issue of Padua News is also published on the Parish Website

http://stanthonysmeltonsouth.wordpress.com/padua-news/

continued on next page

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Padua News Issue 34 Page 2

Sister Emmerich described a rectan-gular stone house, which John had built for Mary. It had a fireplace and an apse and a round back wall. The room next to the apse was Mary’s bedroom, which had a spring running into it. The spring that runs under the Virgin’s House is believed to have healing properties. In 1951, the site was carefully restored to reflect the way the home was when Mary lived there over 2,000 years ago. We were welcomed by two sisters and were made very welcome. There are a total of three sisters who look after the visitors all year round. A priest comes and celebrates Mass for them on Sunday. They have a regular congregation of ten. One of the sis-ters spoke English very fluently. She talked with us for a little while. She said it is the only place besides Jeru-salem where the Muslims and Chris-tians come to pray together. Many Muslims come to pray to Mary. Mary is a big part of their lives. Mary is mentioned more often in the Koran than in the New Testament. She is

honoured as Maryam, the mother of the prophet Jesus. When a child hurts itself, it runs straight to his mother seeking her lov-ing embrace and assurance that all will be well. In the same way I suppose people of different faiths come to our Blessed Mother carrying to her moth-erly care, worries of our lives; our families that our burdened, broken and struggling or estranged. At Mass in Mary’s house I entrusted each of you into the care of our Blessed Mother. As we look at the new born babe lying in the manger, let us be reminded that in the manger Mary gives Jesus to us and on the Cross Jesus gives Mary to us; a Moth-er who will always love us and obtain for us the grace from Heaven to help us in life’s journey on earth. May God Bless you! Father Fabian Smith Parish Priest

Message from our Parish Priest (continued from previous page)

The house of Mary, which was un-known for centuries, was discovered by two priests in the late 1890’s, who were fascinated by the writings of a German Augustinian nun Sister Anne Catherine Emmerich, a stigmatic, who had many visions of the life of Jesus and Mary. What’s absolutely amazing is that this nun, an invalid confined to bed, who lived in Ger-many throughout her life from 1774 until her death in 1824, described this house and location in great detail.

short time as a nurse but God’s call and invitation became central in my life. At the time it was quite frighten-ing but I eventually made the call to the Vocations Director, the priest contact for those who are inquiring and began the involved process of application to the seminary. I began at Corpus Christi College in 2009 with eight other men who have become my closest friends in addi-tion to all the others seminarians in the various levels. Though weak and imperfect, they are good men who every day try to say yes to God. I spent my fourth year of formation at St Francis of Assisi Parish, Mill Park where I really came to learn that my vocation was to be with God’s peo-ple in the life of a diocesan priest. On September 13 this year, Arch-

bishop Hart ordained me and five others to the Order of Deacon and appointed me to your Parish. In the couple weeks that I have been at St Anthony’s, I have been made to feel very welcome by Fr Fabian and every-one I have met. I look forward to learning from, working with and get-ting to know all of you. I promise you my poor prayers and humbly ask for yours. St Anthony of Padua, Pray for us!

Submitted by: Deacon Daryl

Deacon Daryl

Hello. My name is Deacon Daryl Montecillo. I was born in Cebu city, Philippines in 1986 and two years later my parents moved our family to Australia. I am the eldest of three children having a brother and a sister. Both of them are at the family home in Bayswater with mum and dad on the other side of the city and they belong to the Parish of St Joseph’s, Boronia. After finishing high school I studied nursing with the hope of possibly branching into paramedics but throughout the years of study, the idea of priesthood which first arose around year 12, never went away. Through prayer and receiving the Sacraments, I came to realise that it wasn’t just an idea, but rather the gentle call of God. I worked for a

On behalf of the Parish, we wish Deacon Daryl a very

warm welcome

Padua News Issue 34 Page 3

Christmas Pageant 2014

A number of Parish children are enthusiastically preparing for this year’s Christmas pageant: “ A Christmas Story Musical”. The pageant will be held on Sat-urday, 20 December 2014 at 7pm (immediately after the 5:30pm Mass). Please show your support to all the Parish children who have given so happily of their time to participate, by your presence on the night. It will be a lot of fun, colour and music just in time to celebrate Christmas!

Children’s choir

Currently the children are preparing to sing at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass. The children’s choir is open to all school-aged children, who wish to be involved. The children’s choir will resume singing at Mass in February 2015. Please contact Lorraine Tellis (Tel: 9743 4292 or via the Parish Office), if your child would like to be involved.

Christmas preparation at St Anthony’s in Melton South!

CHRISTMAS LITURGY TIMES CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES

5.30pm, 8.00 pm, Midnight

CHRISTMAS DAY MASS 9.00 am

(All Masses will be preceded by Carols)

NEW YEAR’S EVE 11.00 pm Adoration

Midnight Benediction followed by Mass

NEW YEAR’S DAY 9.00 am

MACKILLOP FAMILY SERVICES GIVING TREE There will be a basket at the base of the Christmas Tree at the back of Church with cards noting the ages and gender of children in need in the Melton area. Please feel free to collect a card and bring in a gift to be placed at the bottom of the tree.

CHILDREN ADVENT LITURTY (picture below) Starting Sunday, November 30, (1st Sunday of Advent), there will be Children’s Liturgy at every weekend Mass during Advent.

ADVENT TALKS WITH FATHER FABIAN Starting Sunday, November 30, (1st Sunday of Advent), and then on every Sunday evening during Advent, Father Fabian will be giving talks starting at 5.30pm on the subject of ‘Significant Women of the Old Testament’. All welcome.

Right and below: Christmas Pageant from previous years Submitted by: Lorraine Tellis

The Children’s Choir during a practice session

Padua News Issue 34 Page 4

Reproduced with permission from RBC Ministries" “God Waiting” is written by Julie Ackerman (December 1, 2013) and published in “Our Daily Bread” (Website: http://odb.org/) on December 1, 2013, To receive a free print copy of “Our Daily Bread”, please subscribe at http://odb.org/subscriptions/. Or contact a member of the Padua News Committee for assistance. Thank you.

traditions. Like the ancient Israelites, we too are waiting for Jesus. Alt-hough He already came as the long-awaited Messiah, He has not yet come as ruler over all the earth. So today we wait for Christ’s second coming. Christmas reminds us that God also waits . . . He waits for people to see His glory, to admit that they are lost without Him, to say yes to His love,

to receive His forgiveness, to turn away from sin. While we wait for His second coming, He waits for repent-ance. What seems to us like God’s slowness in coming is instead His pa-tience in waiting (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord is waiting to have a relation-ship with those He loves. He made the first move when He came as baby Jesus and the sacrificial Lamb. Now He waits for us to welcome Him into our lives as Savior and Lord.

Waiting …..

During the Christmas season we wait. We wait in traffic. We wait in checkout lines to purchase gifts. We wait for family to arrive. We wait to gather around a table filled with our favorite foods. We wait to open pre-sents lovingly chosen. All of this waiting can be a reminder to Christians that Christmas is a cele-bration of waiting for something much more important than holiday

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should

perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Parish Pastoral Council Corner: House Visitation

I remember when I was in Malaysia, I was in a parish with a very big con-gregation. I didn’t know many of the parishioners. We only smiled at the sign of peace and when Mass ended we went our own way until the Parish Priest organised small ‘communities’ within the Parish. Then I got to know many parishion-ers that lived in my area. Our ‘community’ was like a family. We looked out for each other, we had get-togethers, prayer meetings and even Masses said in our homes. When someone passed away, we were all there to support and pray for them and their family. When someone needed a ride, we offered to take them to church or hospital. When someone was sick, we visited. When I came to Australia, I didn’t know anyone and even now I only know a handful of people in St An-thony’s Parish. So when Fr. Fabian told me about his plan for zoning the

Parish and his vision, that is for Parishion-ers to get to know one another, I put up my hand to help be-cause I knew

firsthand the benefits of getting to know the parishioners in our own neighbourhood. Father Fabian likens the Parish to the heart which pumps life to the rest of the body. The Parish as the heart of the Catholic community, pumping spiritual life to the rest of the com-munity. We all go to different Mass-es and many of us do not know the majority of the people who goes to church. Father Fabian’s vision is to eventually allocate the parish into zones. Each zone will have a leader, who may organise gatherings, etc so that all the people in the zone might be able to get to know one another and thus, be able to help each other, and eventually leading to the parish-ioners looking out for each other’s spiritual wellbeing, etc. For example, if a parishioner needs transport to go to Mass, he or she may be able to call on someone in their zone for transport. Alternatively, if someone could not go to Mass, someone in their zone could take Holy Commun-ion to them. I was a bit afraid of the large task ahead but I guess we have to start somewhere. So I started by getting

the list of parishioners from the parish office and sorted everyone according to where they lived. I then used the local map, marked out where everyone lived and zoned them accordingly. One thing Fr. Fabian and I realised that the listing was from a very old Census. We needed to update the Census. We brought it to the Parish Pastoral Council’s attention and re-quested all Council members to help, by visiting the parishioners in their homes and having the Census Card updated. All Council members agreed to do so. However, more help was needed as there were around 1100 homes to visit. We then asked Parish-ioners to come forward to help with the Home Visitation. We would like to thank all those who volunteered their services and hope that more Pa-rishioners would come forward. The journey towards this Vision of a St Anthony’s Parish Family is a long one, and as we have started the House Visitation, we hope that all parishion-ers will work towards this common Vision.

Submitted by: Lillian Christian

Padua News Issue 34 Page 5

St. Anthony’s Bingo - 28 Years and Counting…..

In the beginning: Father James our first Parish Priest intended for the Parish Centre to be used for Bingo and unfortunately he was unable to see it come to fruition. Father Frank Bellett called a Parish Meet-ing in mid 1986 to discuss the future of St Anthony’s Parish and among items for discussion was the use of the Parish Centre for possible fund raising pur-poses. At this meeting it was decided that the Centre could be used for Bingo. The Victorian gaming com-mission was contacted and asked what was the worst night for Bingo and we were told Tuesday nights. We thought that we would therefore have no problems using this night of the week as far as competition went and it was also the most suitable day for the use of the Centre for a church

as there were few holy days that fall on a Tues-day.

We were also very lucky to have some experienced Bingo organizers in our Parish community, the HOLDSWORTH family of Lorna, Ken and daughter Margaret and a host of raw recruits, parish volun-teers. Father Frank was able to obtain an old BINGO display board from his old Parish and we were able to bor-

row tables from St Dominic’s until we were able to purchase our own. An advertising letter drop by parish-ioners to all the houses in Melton South and advertising in the local papers was carried out. Our first Bin-go session was on Tuesday, October 14, 1986. The first night was a roar-ing success with approximately 150 people turning up. Wasn’t that a re-

lief as we did not know how we would go!

There were two events I remember very well. One highlight I remember was when we had a winner in our nightly $1 raffle (one ticket 20cents) who won a Tatt’s Gift pack and sub-sequently won $340,000. The win also resulted in an increase in our numbers for some time. Possibly the players thought there would be an-other winner. The second was the Bingo 25th Anniversary dinner where we had 26 retired volunteers who turned up along with the current staff volunteers. Over the last 28 years we have had a total of 242 volunteers in-cluding many of them being non parishion-ers. The current ros-ter has 56 volunteers. I would like to thank all the volunteers who have supported me and been there through thick and thin. Local Bingo competition has re-sulted in our bingo losing players over the last year and a loss of volunteers. Time for change be-came apparent. New faces were required and the parish is very grateful that, Rose Maae has taken on the role of Bingo Su-pervisor and new vol-unteers have also

come forward. Rose is full of enthusi-asm and is introducing game changes that will hopefully re-invigorate Bingo and it will continue for many years to come. In closing, if you haven’t been to Bin-go, it is a great night out and the Par-ish would definitely like to see you there. I have enjoyed every step of the way, and a big thank you to my wife Pat for her support over the years.

Submitted by: Sam Chiles

And now: Bingo is now being supervised by Rose Ma’ae. Additional help are welcome! Please come and support Bingo!

On behalf of the Parish, we

would like to thank Sam and Pat, and all the volunteers,

past, present and future, for their time at Bingo to support

our Parish.

We also thank all supporters who attends Bingo on Tues-

day nights!

Padua News Issue 34 Page 6

What have you been missing out on? Catch up with what happened in the past year!

January

New Car Park Signs and Car-Parking arrangements in Church

Jan-May Father Cyril ministered to us while Father

Fabian went on Sabbatical leave

February Car Boot Sale

March Parish Visit by The Most Reverend Archbishop Denis J. Hart DD, Archbishop of Melbourne - His Grace celebrated Mass, blessed the new Presbytery, visited house-bound parishioners and visited the Parish School.

June /July The Last Supper and the Holy Spirit

installed in front of the Altar

December-February Sausage Sizzle and Second Hand Book Sales by the Social Committee to raise funds towards Church Roof repairs

January New Presbytery

Padua News Issue 34 Page 7

What have you been missing out on? Catch up with what happened in the past year!

November Trial Zumba class, as a fundraiser for the roof repairs - considerations for an ongoing Zumba class is being discussed

July The Spit-Roast being prepared by

the Social Committee

September Sale of tomato seed-lings to raise funds

towards roof repairs and the sound system.

June International Food Festival

October Sausage Sizzle to

raise funds to subsidise printing

costs of the Padua News

October 4 Mysteries of the Ro-sary Prayers between

1pm & 3pm for peace in the Middle East.

And many more activities to come - Do not miss out!

Some of our regular activities includes:

Every 2nd Tuesday of the month - Prime Timer Activities

Every last Sunday of the month - Movie night in the Holy Family Room

Every Wednesday - Christian Meditation in the Holy Family Room

Every Thursday evening - Youth Group meets in church

Every First Friday evening - 1st Friday Devotions

Every First Saturday - 1st Saturday Mass

Every last weekend of the month - Cuppa after Mass

and many more!

Contact the Parish Office for information! Come along and build our faith together, towards a stronger faith-filled and holy community

and have some fun along the way!

Padua News Issue 34 Page 8

St Anthony’s Dinner Dance

On Saturday, October 11, Shirley (my good wife) and I attended a dinner dance in Padua Hall. It had been some time since we danced the ‘Life fantas-tic’ but it didn’t take long before we regained our confidence, not that we would have qualified for ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Although some parisioners displayed a certain amount of dexterity not normally seen on Sunday morn-ings! Dancing to dulcet sounds of the ‘Dynamic Duo’, two versatile and tal-ented young men, a good time was had by all. Plenty of good food prepared by the loving hands of our Pastor (a beautiful mild curry) and our fellow parishioners washed down, in my case, with a cold beer, what more would a good Catholic want. The conversation of good friends, fine food, and a great band - ‘Saturday Night Fever’, eat your heart out!

Submitted by: Michael Higgins

Top and Left: Some of the ‘Elves’ who helped with the serving of the food for the night! Bottom: After all the hard work, sitting down to dinner and resting the feet!

Happy dancers, dancing to the music by ‘Dynamic Duo’

Happy just to watch? Or Taking a breather after dancing?

Padua News Issue 34 Page 9

One Million Rosaries In late September, the Mary Help of Christians Crusade (MHCC) Youth Group had be-gun their campaign for the "One Million Rosaries for Peace in the Middle East". The group promoted this in parishes, schools, youth groups and workplaces. Everywhere, in search of people who would pledge to pray the rosary during the month of October for the intention of peace in the Middle East, and by the grace of God and through the intercession of the Blessed Moth-er, the target was reached at around 9:00pm on October 31, a few hours shy of the deadline. The final count reached 1,091,416 rosaries. It is hoped that this campaign also reawak-ens in people the value of prayer, par-ticularly, the Holy Rosary and devo-tion to the Blessed Mother.

St. Anthony’s Youth Group

St. Anthony's Youth Group has been meeting every Thursday evening for the past year. Currently being fa-cilitated by the Brother and Sister missionaries of the Alliance of the Two Hearts, each week has been an opportunity for the youth to deepen their faith through prayer, adoration and spiritual talks and activities (such as games, discussion groups and movie nights). It has provided an environment for the young people to engage in the faith and to learn more so that it can be used in the develop-ment of their faith journey. The youth group is always open for any youth every Thursday 7-9pm in the Holy Family Room.

Marian Visitation From Oct 27 to Oct 31, a large statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary made her home within the school grounds of St. Anthony's Primary School. It marked the occasion of the month of

October, which is especially dedicated to the Holy Ro-sary. The students wel-comed her on the Monday with great enthusiasm and joy as she was triumphantly procession amidst the class-

rooms, finally taking her place by the front doors, reminding the students, parents and teachers alike of her pres-ence every time they entered and left the school. The highlight of the day was when the school prayed a whole rosary together as they created a ro-sary made of helium balloons. The balloons were then released with great excitement and prayers, as it made its way towards Heaven.

Submitted by: Brother Onesimus

Left: Preparing the send-off of the Rosary of balloons Top: the Rosary balloons making its way towards the Heavens!

Padua News Issue 34 Page 10

My Journey through St. Anthony’s Primary School

Throughout my years at St. Anthony’s, I have been given the opportunity to experience a wide range of ac-tivities. My warmest memories are held in my heart. I look for-ward to going to Secondary School. Camping at Cam-paspe Downs is just one of many highlights. It gave me the chance to get involved in a Trivia Night, Movie Night, Hut Making and many more fun filled activities. It was a coincidence that my birthday also happened to fall on the first day of Camp. This was a once in a life time experience. There was also Big Day Out held this year. I got to spend the whole day with my friends. We spent the morning in Science Works, and the afternoon in Flip Out. But the day wasn’t through yet, our last stop on this adventure was La Porchetta. There have been so many worthwhile experiences over the last seven years, far too many to mention. I would like to thank and acknowledge all the teachers that have guided me. I am looking forward to going to Catholic Regional College and will never forget my years in St. Anthony’s. By: Michelle Tennakoon

Saint Anthony’s has always been a school that is bursting with joy each day, that’s why unforgettable memories are made here every day. I have enjoyed my stay from Grade 2 to Grade 6, the jour-ney through 5 grades has been an extraordinary experience for me and most would think likewise. The teachers bring out each child’s potential and made it shine like a diamond. I was always quite the shy but I always enjoyed that I at-tended this school. If you’re going through a tough time, the staff and children would always be there to support you here at Saint Antho-ny’s. I was always helped through all the tough times I had to face. Saint Anthony of Padua Primary School will always be the greatest school I have ever attended through my pri-mary school years. I would like to thank all the teachers who worked hard to help me become the person I am. By: Paul Llanes

Memories of my Confirmation

One of my Confirmation memories was when I met Bishop Vincent Long. When he confirmed me he put the oil of chrism on my forehead. We all had to select a saint and we re-searched his/her life. I researched St Bernadette. I discovered that Mary ap-peared to Bernadette. We had a Reflec-tion Day at Brimbank Park and we worked with the Brothers and the Sisters from the Ob-late of the Two Hearts. We prayed the Rosary together. In class we read the story about Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ friends. We learnt that some of the symbols for the Holy Spirit were wind and fire. Before the Confirmation ceremony we received a holy medal and a stole. We entered the church and walked down the aisle with our sponsor. My sponsor was Jessi-ca Concepcion. We received a really special certificate at the end of the ceremony. Now that we have been confirmed we will try to demonstrate the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Confirmation has lots of mem-ories I will never forget. By Guia Tunogbanua

One memory from my Confirmation was when we all researched about the life of a saint, even the people who weren’t receiving their Confirmation researched a saint. I researched St Catherine of Sienna. I learnt that Catherine shared the same stigmata as Jesus. In class we used ‘WWURRCK’ (pronounced work) to help us remember that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are Wisdom, Wonder and Awe, Under-

standing, Reverence, Right Judgement, Courage and Knowledge. On the day before our Confirmation, we travelled by bus to Brimbank Park for our Reflection Day, with the Broth-ers and the Sisters. We sang songs, prayed and went to Reconciliation. On my Confirmation Day, my sponsor was Lota Lazaro. We received a medal and a stole (if you didn’t have one). We processed down the aisle and bowed with our sponsor. During the ceremony the Bishop anointed my forehead with oil of chrism and tapped my cheek. Confirmation was a very special time for me and my family. By Alyanna Manalili

Bishop Vincent Long

Padua News Issue 34 Page 11

My work experience at St Anthony’s Primary School

I have been fortu-nate enough to be able to work at St. Anthony’s Primary School as an obser-vational teacher mainly with a Grade 3 class; Mid-dle J. This was a ten week requirement

as part of my primary education course that I am currently undertak-ing at Australian Catholic University. I was lucky that I was able to go to this school!

I shared this experience with my friend Luka who was observing one of the prep classes. As I had just completed year 12 last year, it was a

little weird to have my usual role re-versed from the student to the teach-er in the classroom environment. But once I got comfortable with the leadership role, I started to love Wednesdays as the students made it a fun filled day.

My mentor, Jennifer Porritt, shared so much of her knowledge and her time to help me with preparing as-signments and/or provided many resources and I can’t thank her enough for that. The experience was wonderful, I have really loved it and now am more excited about my fu-ture career as a teacher. Every day was a little different and getting to know the students certainly made each day memorable.

The school community were so wel-coming to us and the staff were al-ways so kind to make us feel wel-come in everyday conversation and also involved us in the annual curric-ulum day and the preparation of the school production.

I have learnt a lot about how to han-dle different situations in or outside the classroom plus different perspec-tives on teaching methods.

So I just want to say ‘Thank You’ to everyone at the school and I hope that I eventually make as good as a teacher that I observed.

Submitted by: Irene Fernandes

Photo Quiz - test your Parish history knowledge (answers on Page14)

Q1. Who are these people and roughly when and where was it taken?

Q5 Where was this “Oil Drilling Contraption” installed in

Melton South? ( and Guess what, it’s still there!)

Q2. Who are these people and roughly when was it taken? Q2. What is this stained-

glass window referred to as?

Q6: Who, Where and When? Who was the Parish Priest at

this time.

Q4. What is this stained-glass window referred to as and what does it depict?

Padua News Issue 34 Page 12

St Vincent De Paul Society

Here, at St. Anthony’s Parish, we have a number of spirituality groups that provide an opportunity for each of us to live up to the above gospel message. These groups have been established with the encouragement and support of our Parish Priest and shepherd, Fr. Fabian. One group in particular is a new Conference affili-ated with the St. Vincent de Paul So-ciety. Myself and several other St Anthony parishioners are involved in this group. As many of you will know, the St Vincent de Paul Society assists the wider community covering a broad range of tasks and issues, such as re-quests for food, furniture, clothing, payment of bills, housing etc. They also attend to prison calls, soup kitchens, welfare of the disadvan-taged and numerous other causes. Various teams of volunteers, or “Conferences”, have been established both nationally and internationally to assist St Vincent de Paul Society, with responding to requests for assistance, that have originated through the St Vincent de Paul call centre. The work undertaken by our new Conference over the past year, has mainly involved assisting the existing Melton Conference, with fielding and responding to calls and making home

visits, for areas within the city of Melton. Our activities in this regard have only been achieved, with the nurturing sup-port and guidance of team members from the Essendon Conference, who have patiently walked with us through this past year, namely John O’Connor, Carmen Merrigan and Therese Hanna. With these solid foundations, our intention is to branch out on our own, as the “Melton South” Confer-ence by February 2015, attending mostly to requests for assistance on the south side of the freeway. Fur-ther, as established “Vincentians”, we aim to eventually concentrate our activities on the needs of those within our own backyard i.e. our Parish family. We also hope, that as more of our parishioners learn of our vocation, to serve those in need of assistance within our Parish and community, that our number of volunteers in the team will grow. Shortly, we will publish a number in the Parish newsletter to enable parishioners to contact us. We can assure you that our work is per-formed under the guidelines of the ‘Privacy & Confidentiality Act’ and will remain confidential.

Hence, if you are in need, or if you are aware of a parishioner who is in need, please contact us so that we can use the resources we have availa-ble to help. Alternatively, if you would like to assist with our cause and be part of the team, you can also contact us on this number to volun-teer.

Submitted by: Lorraine Tellis

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE!

T Priest was hearing confessions with many people to go, a latecomer rushed in wanting to know whose hearing, the response was “We all are!”

Submitted by: Bernie Jonglebloed

Presentation of the St Vincent De Paul statue by the Essendon Conference to the Melton South Conference

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these brothers of mine, you did it for me!’”

MATTHEW 25:40

Padua News Issue 34 Page 13

News from CRC Melton - Journey of Remembrance

Year 9 Students at Catholic Regional College Melton, witnessed “Victoria’s Journey of Remembrance” on Mon-day morning, October 20, 2014 . A Victorian Government Gallipoli Cen-tenary initiative. This community fo-cused roadshow, Victoria’s Journey of Remembrance, is a program of events at secondary schools to encourage and support Victorian students to learn more about their country’s World War One history, to research their own personal connections, and to work within their local communi-ties to ensure that we share Victoria’s stories as we lead into ANZAC Day, 2015. Special guests included representa-tives from the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Don Nardella, our local Member, representatives from Victo-ria’s Journey of Remembrance road-show, Alex Wallis, Legacy, Stan Franklin, Bacchus Marsh RSL and

Eddy Turner representing Fr Michael Moody. It was fitting that the day culmi-nated with the planting of a seeding of the Lone Pine here at CRC in front of the College Chapel. The Lone Pine seedling was donated by a family within our com-munity. We greatly appre-ciate this gesture as it will be where we gather, as a College on Remembrance Day and Anzac Day, to pay our re-spects to those men and women who fought for Aus-tralia. Mr. Mark Sheehan Principal

Issue 33, Page 7

Title of the article should be:

“Blessing of the

Trade Training Centre”

We apologise for the

mistake!

CORRECTION

Left: Special guests from the Victoria’s Journey of Remem-brance

Bottom: Wreaths placed for Remembrance Day at CRC

Blessing of the Trade Training Centre

Padua News Issue 34 Page 14

A poem on Love - for the season….

LOVE Abou Ben Adhem awoke one night from a deep dream of sleep,

and saw within the moonlight in his room, making it rich and like a lily in bloom,

an angel writing in a book of gold. Excessive peace had made Ben Adhem bold and to the Presence in the room ,he said :

"what writest thou ? " The vision raised its head & with a look made of all sweet accord answered :

" the names of those who love the Lord ." "And is mine one ? " said Abou . "Nay ,not so ", replied the angel.

Abou spoke more low but cheerly still : "I pray thee, then, write me as one that loves his fellow-men".

The angel wrote & vanished. The next night it came again with a great awakening light

and showed the names whom love of God had blessed: and lo ! Ben Adhem`s name led all the rest !

HOW CAN YOU SAY YOU LOVE GOD WHOM YOU DO NOT SEE?

WHEN YOU DO NOT LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR WHOM YOU DO SEE ??

Answers to Photo Quiz - test your Parish history knowledge (from page 11)

Q1. Mid 1980’s Fr Frank Little, Fr Peter James Mass in the original St Anthony’s School Foyer - No church in those days, Mass was said in the Foyer on Sunday mornings

Q5 This is where it ended up - our Church steeple!

Q2. Mid 1980’s - Fr Peter James, Fr Bill Donegan at St Dominic’s Hall Q3. The Resurrection Window

dedicated to our first Parish Priest, Fr Peter James

Q6: St. Anthony’s 10 year Anniversary Mass at St Anthony’s Church. September 1993

Reader Colin Consiglio, Parish Priest at time was Fr Peter Finn.

Q4. The Holy spirit window commemorating Melton’s strong migrant population

Submitted by Lorraine Tellis Source Unknown

Padua News Issue 34 Page 15

Kid’s Colouring Page

 

Submissions for next newsletter All Parishioners are welcome to give their suggestions. If you have any article of interest for the next newsletter, please submit them to the Parish Office or email to: paduanews@yahoo.com.au by January 31, 2015

Editorial Policy The Padua News is approved by Father Fabian Smith prior to printing. The editors and Father Fabian reserve the right to edit all articles submitted. Articles may be reproduced with permis-sion from the writer and editor.

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Issue 34 Page 16 Padua News

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