Parish of St Anthony of Padua Melton South

Welcome to the Web Presence of St Anthony of Padua Melton South, Victoria, Australia

Greetings!.

            

Dearest Parishioners

The Bishops of the Province of Victoria have after prayerful and considered reflection determined the following actions:

• Immediate suspension of public liturgies, celebrations of the Mass, until further notice.
• All other gatherings are suspended.

Whilst all public liturgies and gatherings have been suspended, both the church, St Anthony’s and at St Bernard’s will be opened from 8am to 8pm every day for private prayer. Holy mass will be offered for you every day in private by the three priests in the parish. If you need to talk to any of us or receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation or the Sacrament for the sick, please do not hesitate to contact any of the priests in the parish. So that one of us is readily available to care for you at this challenging time we, the three priests, have decided to live separately in different location within the parishes until further notice.

Father Alexander will be residing at St Bernard’s Presbytery to care for those in Bacchus Marsh and can be contacted on 0451 665 632.

Father Fabian will be residing at St Anthony’s Presbytery to care for those in Melton South and can be contacted on 0403 435 471.

Father Lucas will be residing at Missionaries of Love and Peace at Greendale to care for those in Korobeit and can be contacted on 0478 768 141.

 

This living arrangement will be in place until public liturgies resume.

 

Not being able to go to Mass during the week and on a Sunday can be very distressing, but over a long period of time it can also take its toll on your spiritual life. To prevent that from happening, here are some things you can do at home or when you visit the Church until public liturgies resume.

 

1. Make a Spiritual Communion

Spiritual Communion is the heartfelt desire to receive Our Lord, even when we are unable because of the distance or for some other reason. This desire to receive him through spiritual Communion is an act of love which prolongs our thanksgiving even when we are not in the Eucharistic presence of Our Lord. The wish to live constantly in his presence can be fuelled by acts of love and desire to be united with him and is a means of drawing more deeply from the life of the Holy Spirit dwelling within our souls in the state of grace. Here are two options for prayers you can say:

 

From St Aphonsus Liguori:
My Jesus, I believe that You are truly present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as being already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

 

From St Thomas More:
I wish, my Lord, to receive You with the purity, humility and devotion with which your Most Holy Mother received You, with the spirit and fervour of the saints. Come Lord Jesus. Give me, good Lord, a longing to be with You … give me warmth, delight and quickness in thinking upon You. And give me Your grace to long for Your holy Sacraments, and specially to rejoice in the presence of Your very blessed Body, Sweet Saviour Christ, in the Holy Sacrament of the altar.

 

‘The effects of a sacrament can be received by desire. Although in such a case the sacrament is not received physically … nevertheless the actual reception of the sacrament itself brings with it fuller effect than receiving it through desire alone’.       (St Thomas Aquinas)

 

2. Watch Mass live: 

It may not be the same as being there, but if you can watch a Mass online it will help you to maintain your Sunday routine and to remind yourself that Sunday is the Lord’s day. Some options for watching Mass online: The Dominican Sisters of St Joseph live stream and record Mass every day, as well as the Rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and the Divine Office. They have a schedule on their website so that you know what time to be in front of your screen if you want to watch it live. The website Mass Online offers links to Mass being streamed in many churches across the world. Likewise, Live Mass offers the same service. Both websites give a schedule of when Masses take place local time and allow you to save them to Google Calendar in advance to remind you.

If you live with other Catholics, whether your family or flatmates or if you have Catholic neighbours, you may like to gather together to watch Mass to create a sense of community. Watching Mass at the same time every Sunday – or indeed every weekday – may help you to create a new routine, which will be particularly important to your wellbeing if you’re housebound or without Mass for a long period of time. Even if you have no one to watch with you, watching online will help you to feel that you belong to a worldwide community of believers – to Christ’s Church.

 

3. Read the Mass readings of the day

Even when the world is business as usual, it’s important to read Sunday Mass readings ahead of time. If you can, try to spend some time meditating on them to discern what God might be trying to tell you through the readings. Lectio Divina is a great method of meditating on Scripture that was started by St Ignatius of Loyola and is something you might like to utilise when praying with the Sunday Gospel. For an explanation on Lectio Divina, here is a helpful video from a parish priest, or alternatively here is a written guide from IgnatianSpirituality.com. For the readings themselves, the Magnificat App is currently free to help all those unable to attend Mass. The UK edition is available on Android and on iOS. Editions for the US and in other languages are also available – such for Magnificat wherever you get your apps. Alternatively, find them online at Universalis.

 

4. Mark the Lord’s Day

When you’re housebound for weeks on end, or even if you’re no longer commuting, you may find it harder to notice that it’s a Sunday as it becomes just the same as every other day. It’s more important than ever then to mark the Sabbath. You might like to make an effort to wear your “Sunday best” even if you’re not leaving the house, or to have a day free from screens, pray the rosary together as a household, or something else.

 

On behalf of Father Alexander and Father Lucas, I can assure that each of you are in our prayers and at every mass during this time.

Many blessings

Fr Fabian

 

Please click on the document below to read the Announcement letter from the Bishops of the Combined Province of Victoria.

8 MARCH 2020 LETTER FROM THE BISHOPS OF VICTORIA

The Parish Office is still open:

Monday & Friday  9.00am – 12.30pm & 1.15pm to 4.00pm;   Tuesday 1.00pm – 5.00pm;     Wednesday 9.00am – 5.00pm;    Thursday 9.00am – 5.00pm

 

PLEASE SEE THE LATEST WEEKLY BULLETIN FOR ANY CHANGES

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At St Anthony’s Parish we hold the care, safety and well being of children and young people as a central and fundamental responsibility of our parish. Our commitment is drawn from and inherent in the teaching and mission of Jesus Christ, with love, justice and the sanctity of each human person at the heart of the gospel (CAMCommitment Statement to Child Safety).

‘If you see something that concerns you, say something’

Please see our Child Safety page for documents that relate to this commitment.

You will find this link at the top of every page.

ooOOoo

 

 

 

You can always find out up to date and current news in the latest Weekly bulletin which can be found here. 

 

The latest issue of  Padua News can be viewed via this link.

Looking forward to catching up

Many Blessings,

Fr Fabian A Smith

“Let us pray that we may take Christ’s coming seriously.”

—oooOOOooo—.

 

Recently added to our Web presence is  information about Sacraments at St Anthony of Padua. Click on the Sacraments links above or here

 

Don’t forget, there is always something special being planned in our Parish, take a look under Special Events ( or click here) for  summaries and some photos from our special events.

 

 Would you like to meet your Pastoral Council representatives? Take a look at the Pastoral Council page, or click here to go to the gallery directly.

For all the latest information don’t forget to take a look at our Weekly Bulletin Page.

 

NOTE: This is the official web presence of St Anthony’s Parish of Melton South Victoria.
This is still a trial and a work in progress to test and assess the viability of such a project.
This information is presented with good intentions as to correctness.
Please contact the Parish centre for authoritative information

There is some local  information under the ABOUT heading or in the meantime if you need assistance, please either telephone or email. The details are above.

tg2012