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ST LUKE’S UPDATE – MARCH, 2024

HOLY WEEK AND EASTER

Palm Sunday Vigil Mass, Saturday, March 23
5.30pm

Palm Sunday Mass, March 24
10am

Holy/Maundy Thursday Mass, March 28

7pm – followed by Adoration and Evening Prayer

Good Friday – March 29

Stations of the Cross – 10am

Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion – 3pm

Easter Vigil Mass, March 30
7pm – (note: different to the usual 5.30pm Vigil Mass time)

Easter Sunday Mass, March 31
10am

RECONCILIATION: Saturday, March 23
4.30pm to 5.15pm.

ST LUKE’S WEEKLY MASS TIMES
Saturdays, 5.30pm (except March 30 when it will start at 7pm)
Sundays, 10am

Mass is held at St Luke's Catholic College, Frontier Avenue, Marsden Park.

BULLETIN
See our Weekly Bulletins on this page below.

FACEBOOK
We update our Facebook page weekly with news and reflections – access it on this link: https://www.facebook.com/stlukesmarsdenpark

PRAYER REQUESTS
Please scroll down this page to see our prayer requests form.

BAPTISMS, HOUSE BLESSINGS AND PASTORAL CARE
To book a Baptism, house blessing or arrange pastoral care and support email marsdenpark@parracatholic.org or call 8840 8521.

NEW TO MARSDEN PARK OR SURROUNDING SUBURBS?
If you are new to our community, please email us at marsdenpark@parracatholic.org with your name and contact details so we can advise you of news and updates.

Deacon Tony Hoban
Pastoral Director

Welcome to St Luke's
Catholic Faith Community

St Luke's is Australia's newest Catholic Church community, located in Marsden Park, western Sydney, within the Diocese of Parramatta.

The community came into being with the appointment of Deacon Tony Hoban as Pastoral Director on January 1, 2018. Supported by his wife, Annette, and a start-up Advisory Group, planning has begun for the life of the new community. The intention is to develop a community of intentional disciples of Jesus Christ, working in collaboration with St Luke's College. Our gathering place for Mass and other events will be at St Luke's Catholic College, Frontier Avenue, Marsden Park. We are looking for people who desire to grow in faith within a supportive community to join us.

We acknowledge that the Darug people were the original custodians of the land on which we operate. We pay our respects to elders past and present, and acknowledge the Aboriginal people for their custodianship of this land.

Deacon-Tony-and-Wife

Your generous donation will help facilitate our weekly worship and will form part of the foundation of our new church

Signup to our mailing list

Be a part of something new and join our Catholic Faith Community!

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Submit your own prayer intention or prayer of thanks

“The prayer of a righteous man (person) has great power in its effects.”
James 5:16 RSV.

Our own prayers to God for our needs can be supported and supplemented by the prayers of others.

In our St Luke’s Catholic Faith community we have people (youth and other prayerful groups) willing to support you in prayer.

Prayer intentions and prayers of thanks submitted here will be sent to a one or more of these prayer groups with our faith community.

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Our Community Prayer

O God You show us in St Luke, our patron,
a person of faith
who desired all people to come to know and love you
in the community of your Church.
Teach us to embrace what St Luke pioneered:
discipleship of Jesus Christ.
Trusting in your love and grace
and nourished by Word and Sacrament
may we grow in our relationship with you
and together make our Catholic Faith Community
a community of communities,
a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink
in the midst of their journey,
and a centre of constant missionary outreach.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Luke, pray for us.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, pray for us.
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.

Diocesan News

LIFTED inspires student leaders, young people to be ‘pilgrims of hope’ in 2024 

Hundreds of young people across Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains have been inspired to walk together on the journey of faith and to find joy in being a Catholic.  (Read More)

‘I just want to see saints in this Parish’: Fr Chris del Rosario 

For Fr Chris del Rosario, swapping the fast-paced world of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta for a small parish in the Blue Mountains has been the making of him.  (Read More)

Bishop Vincent’s Homily: ‘Living deeply the paschal mystery’

Bishop Vincent’s Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year B 'Living deeply the paschal mystery' 17 March 2024 (Read More)

FAQs

The first step in creating a new Parish is to create a Parochial District. This allows people within an area to receive pastoral care and support. Once the community has some stability in terms of numbers of people and finances it becomes a Parish.

Because 'Parochial District' is not a term many people are familiar with, we have decided to name ourselves something that people can better relate to.

Catholic Faith Community both describes what we are while also differentiating us from St Luke's Catholic College. However, both the Faith community and the College community are part of the one Catholic Community of St Luke's, Marsden Park.

Deacons exercise leadership in the church as ministers of the Word, the altar and charity. A natural part of this leadership is to oversee the pastoral and administration aspects of a local faith community. Of course, we require a Priest to say Mass and administer the Sacrament of Penance, however, Deacons are in many cases well equipped to handle the increasingly complex work of church administration as well as perform baptisms, weddings outside of Mass and provide pastoral care and support to members of the community.    

St Luke's also has a Priest Supervisor in Fr Chris de Souza, who is a Vicar General of the Diocese of Parramatta.

Using the skills of deacons taps into some unique skillsets as they are generally married men who have experience as fathers and husbands, in secular employment, community groups and in church ministry. The utilisation of a deacon to play this type of pastoral and administrative role is nothing new. In the United States, more than 140 deacons serve as administrators of parishes.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "Deacons share in Christ's mission and grace in a special way. The sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint ('character') which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the 'deacon' or servant of all. Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity.

"Since the Second Vatican Council the Latin Church has restored the diaconate 'as a proper and permanent rank of the hierarchy," while the Churches of the East had always maintained it. This permanent diaconate, which can be conferred on married men, constitutes an important enrichment for the Church's mission. Indeed it is appropriate and useful that men who carry out a truly diaconal ministry in the Church, whether in its liturgical and pastoral life or whether in its social and charitable works, should 'be strengthened by the imposition of hands which has come down from the apostles. They would be more closely bound to the altar and their ministry would be made more fruitful through the sacramental grace of the diaconate.'"

Mass will be held on April 8, 2018 for the first time at St Luke's Catholic College, Frontier Avenue, Marsden Park, with the Bishop of Parramatta, Vincent Long, as celebrant.

From that Sunday onwards, Mass will be held at 10am each Sunday at St Luke's Catholic College.

We will have various Priests from the Diocese of Parramatta visiting on Sundays to say Mass, assisted by Deacon Tony.

We will listen to the voice of the people of St Luke's Catholic Faith Community to discern what other activities people want to become involved in.

The options we can consider include things like the Alpha program, Bible Study, social events, social justice initiatives, playgroup, men's and women's groups, youth and young adult activities, and neighbourhood support. We will also support Sacramental Programs for students at St Luke's Catholic College.

We will aim to look outward as well as inward and want to contribute to people in need as well as growing in our faith and discipleship of Jesus Christ.

Contact Us

Pastoral Director
Deacon Tony Hoban

Office
2 Springdale St, Marsden Park, NSW, 2765

Mass
St Luke's Catholic College, Frontier Avenue, Marsden Park

Postal Address
PO Box 4045, Elara Village, Marsden Park NSW 2765

Phone
(02) 8840 8521

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