The next mens breakfast will be in the church hall on Saturday 6th March, starting at 7.00 am .

Our guest speaker will be Cheryl Brown the principal from St Anthony's primary school who will share with us the subject of Agile Learning Spaces, which is also referred to as open plan learning. This topic is one of great interest in the school community and we look forward to sharing this with all those who can attend.

It would be great to see some new faces and  if you are a regular please invite a friend.

The first mens breakfast for 2010 will be on Saturday 6th February,  following the success of our 2009 guest speakers,  the committee have organised several people to join us this year.

For our February breakfast John Knight has kindly organised a speaker from the Technology for the Disabled group, the web link below highlights their efforts

If you are new to the parish or have not been able to attend a previous breakfast, please join us and if possible bring a friend. We start at 7.00 am in the church hall

http://www.technicalaidnsw.org.au/

The next men's breakfast will be on Saturday 3rd October in the parish hall, starting as usual at 7.00 am.

For this  breakfast gathering the committee  have organised a very special guest speaker,  it will be our NSW premier Nathan Rees, who has kindly agreed to share some of his stories with the men's group.

I have not had an opportunity to mention the success of the August breakfast. For those who were not able to attend you missed a very memorable morning, our previous speaker John Crawley held everyone spellbound as he recalled his fabulous football (soccer) career. John shared with us the high and lows of professiomal sports and as he spoke his enthusiasm rubbed off on his audience, he has a passion for his work and is very fortunate to able to mix business with pleasure.

Once again we thank John for his time and look forward to another opportunity to hear him speak.

The organisers of the men's breakfast group thank everyone for their continued support, and we hope that as many men as possible,  from the school and the parish,  can join with us on  Saturday the 3rd.

The first week of August was mostly lectures and study but we also visited the Holocaust Museum, a moving and unforgettable experience.

Friday and the weekend was another incredible time………..a tour of the

Negev Desert. It actually takes up more than half of Israel and is awe-inspiringly rugged and dramatic and incredibly hot!

 It is also the location of many ancient sites from the Old Testament and, of cause, the Torah. We saw ruins of ancient cities as well as places like Abrahams Well and Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.  The Well    Caves in cliff

 We also celebrated Eucharist in the evening of our second day, it was very peaceful and spirit filled.

During our last week a wonderful highlight was our trip to Bethlehem. It was so exciting to find ourselves entering the town of Jesus’ birth.

On the way, we saw the ruins of Herod’s Palace, Herodian and the Shepherd’s Fields that we hear of in the Christmas story. There is a church built there now.

In Bethlehem itself the Nativity Church is the highlight. The present one was built in 530 AD on the site of the Church commissioned by St Helena and her son the Emperor Constantine in 326 AD.    

Entry into “cave” within the Church

On the way home that day we visited The Caritas Baby hospital (His Holiness the Pope also visited there in May of this year, so we were in good company!) The hospital was built to care especially for any babies, children and their mothers who are victims of the violence that erupts in this part of the world.

 On Thursday, to finalize our Course, the Sisters of Zion hosted a Ceremony and dinner at their Ecce Homo convent in Jerusalem. “Ecce Homo” means “Behold the Man” and commemorates Pontius Pilate presenting Jesus to the crowds at His trial. It is located on the Via Dolorosa, which is Latin for Way of grief or way of suffering.
We have 2 days left after the formal end of our studies to try to see more of places like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is so large and contains so much, and to prepare ourselves to leave this land which is so fascinating. It is very hard to leave but I am also looking forward to being back home.      Love from Al

I can’t believe how quickly the time is going! We are doing and seeing so much! I think my reports may have to continue after I get back!

The end of July saw us on a tour of the Galilee area, the River Jordan, the ruins of a 5^th Century Synagogue called Beit Alpha, the cities of Capernaum, Tiberias, Cesarea Philippi (all names from our Bible readings) and more!     Primacy of Peter

 The church of the Primacy of Peter, which commemorates Jesus' reinstatement of Peter after that fish breakfast on the shore, is built on the site of an earlier 4^th C church right on the shores of  the Lake.

We spend 2 nights in little cabins at a place called Ein Gev, It began life as a kibbutz but is now more of a holiday park. It made a good location for us to travel to the various places on our schedule plus at the end of long hot days we could cool off in the waters Jesus walked on!!!  We also had a lovely lakeside Mass on our second evening.

    Lake Galilee

Back in Jerusalem and a couple of days later we had our Mass in a stony garden belonging to the Sisters of Zion (Catholic nuns) on the Mount of Olives. It is all so amazing and so wonderful to be here!

More studies coming up and then a few days in the Wilderness (honey and locusts anyone?)

Blessing to everyone, and I have been remembering to pray for St Anthony’s at Toongabbie!

Friday 24July 09

What a full on first week! Lots of learning and even a Hebrew test already. But I think it’s going well. It is a different way of learning, Rabbi’s like to ask questions rather than give answers! This means pupils have to be on the ball!

Last Sunday was a lovely day we had a bus tour around the "horizons of Jerusalem" which was fantastic (the city is surprisingly small it felt like a quick dash around Parramatta!!) we went from the south of Jerusalem (where we're staying) to the Bethlehem border in about 10 mins!!  The whole trip however, took in north, south, east and west and our guide was very good and covered facts and sites from ancient biblical and later New Testament times as well as recent history.

Then we visited Tantur, which is an institute for Ecumenical Studies, run by the Catholic University of Notre Dame in the USA, where we had lunch and were shown around. Tantur is Arabic for “Hilltop”.

Back at St Charles, Father Vince said Mass for us in the convent gardens.

The convent by the way is really beautiful with classic convent type living areas, and the German nuns are just lovely! We’re right in the middle of a bit of a trendy area with cafes and restaurants and little independent theatres. Very cool place to be.

Monday 27July

Last Friday evening and Saturday we experienced some of the Jewish traditions, including their Sabbath evening meal. Saturday morning we visited a Hebrew College.

We went to a great Mass at the Peter in Gallicantu Church. This is the reputed site where Peter denied Jesus. The church takes its name from the Latin word "Gallicantu", meaning cock-crow. This is in commemoration of Peter's triple rejection of Jesus "... before the cock crows thrice." (Mark 14:30)

There are steps going down to the valley that they are pretty sure Jesus walked up after His arrest.

Sunday morning was a Tour of the Old City. It was great.   We went through the archaeological sites of the city of David and Temple Mount. Saw the famous Dome Mosque and the Wailing Wall.   Walked on some of the original steps and pavers from the 2nd Temple period.

Blessings to everyone Al.

The next breakfast will be held at the parish hall on Saturday 1st August starting at 7.00 am.

Following the success of the inaugrual breakfast we have a guest speaker,  John Crawley is part of the national soccer team training staff, specialising in goal keeping.

We received mixed reviews about how often to hold the breakfast,  and it was decided that a breakfast will be held every month and people could decide for themselves how often they could attend. Make a note in your diary and please feel free to invite a friend from the parish or school to come along.

We again ask that a gold coin donati0n be made to cover the cost of your breakfast.

RSVP to Peter Gardner 0419 262 464  or  Cameron Laurie 0418 681 075

We’re There!!!

Along with my travelling mates, I have arrived in Jerusalem!

It was a really long journey, but Jerusalem is amazing, very hot and very different from home, but just amazing to be here.

We arrived at the convent, where we are staying, early Wednesday morning. Our “home” for the next four and a bit weeks is the St Charles Borromeo Convent and is run by the nuns of the German Sisters of Charity. It is located in the German Colony in the City of Jerusalem. Our rooms are little “cells” but each one has a small en-suite and we will be fine.

The Bat Kol institute, where we are doing our studies, is only a few streets away.

We have had two days to settle in, recover from the long flight, explore a bit and do some study. I’m a bit nervous about working with some of my fellow students who have degrees in Theology and the like!!!!!!!

I also had to wait nervously for my guitar which somehow got offloaded in Bangkok. Thankfully it turned up today.

The old city of Jerusalem is only about 20 minutes walk from here, so we have been twice already. So many people from all nations and such ancient and venerable places to see! We will go again as part of our immersion experience and will be shown key places in some detail and have them explained, so you will hear more.

My emails are travelling via two computers at the moment, so I will post this as soon as I can.

The photos are part of the Aussie group at the airport on Tuesday, (that’s Fr Vince Casey looking after us) and also the St Charles Convent and  grounds.

God bless you all and please spare a prayer for us.

Hi All

A big thanks to all those hearty souls who braved the icy conditions at the first men's breakfast. From all accounts the mornng was immensly enjoyed and gave everyone an opportunity to put names to familiar faces. We received some important feedback on the morning and hope to use this information to build on this successful start.

The intention is to hold a breakfast on the first Saturday of each month and have a variety of guest speakers to share with us  small insights into their lives, we will keep everyone posted on the date for the next breakfast.

Thanks to the organisers and especially Grant Picman & Andrew McGloughlin who gave up their time to cook for the thirty five men in attendance.

Well it's getting pretty close now, I fly out on Tuesday the 14^th July, and I'm getting a little bit nervous...still excited...but nervous

I've been very busy lately, tying up loose ends at both my jobs, doing last bits of shopping in preparation for the trip and keeping up with all my Hebrew study. Which, by the way, is going well! I got my test back from our teacher in Jerusalem and I got 99%! Pretty impressive if I do say so myself!!

We received our itinerary today, it is packed full with study taking up most of the time, but also with excursions and immersion experiences to Galilee, Bethlehem, The Negev Desert, the Dead Sea and tours of the Old City of Jerusalem. We'll also be experiencing Synagogue worship and visiting Yad Vashem (the Israeli Holocaust Museum).

It's looking to be an amazing and Faith deepening experience!

Know that I will be thinking of you all while I'm there, and will offer prayers for you, my parish community, while at the Holy places.

Thank you again for the wonderful support you have all shown me.

Blessings

Alison