Our One Mission, Two Parishes Theme or Focus

for 2023 is:

Being the Good News

by Promoting God's Hospitality!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome YOU to our Parish Website,

The Tomb of St Luke the Evangelist

Saint Luke the Evangelist's final resting place (images) ~ Abbey of Santa Giustina (& Wikipedia)

Saints in Rome and Beyond! Saint Luke the Evangelist

pdf and our ACBC 2016 Parish Social Profile (1.62 MB) pdf
(1.62 MB)
Fr Gerard
Parish Priest

The Missionary Nature of the Church: “The Person who has trust and participates in the faith of the Church wants to believe with the Church. This seems like our life-long pilgrimage: to arrive with our entire life at the communion of faith. We can offer this to everyone, so that little by little one can identify and especially take this step over and over again to trust in the faith of the Church, to insert themselves in this pilgrimage of faith, so as to receive the light of faith ... The essence of Christianity is not an idea but a Person. Great theologians have tried to describe the essential ideas that make up Christianity. But in the end, the Christianity they constructed was not convincing, because Christianity is in first place an Event, a Person. And thus in the Person we discover the richness of what is contained ... How can one's personal authenticity be discovered if in reality, in the depths of our hearts, there is the expectation of Jesus, and the genuine authenticity of each person is found exactly in communion with Christ and not without Christ? If we have found the Lord and if he is the light and joy of our lives, are we sure that for someone else who has not found Chirst they are not lacking something essential and that it is our duty to offer them this essential reality? ... If we are convinced and we have experienced the fact that without Christ life is incomplete, is missing a reality, the fundamental reality, we must also be convinced that we do harm to no one if we show them Christ and we offer them in this way too the possibility to discover, the joy of having discovered life.  (Benedict XVI ‘Benedictus’).

Journeying together in daily life ...

pdf CELEBRATING SUNDAY: (124 KB) ‘Christians are Sunday People. What does that mean? Before we ask ourselves how we pdf "observe Sunday," (124 KB) pdf (124 KB) we have to consider what we Christians actually celebrate on Sunday. The real and first reason for celebrating Sunday lies in the fact that on this day Christ rose from the dead. In doing so, he inaugurated a new age. For the first time someone returns from the dead and will not die again. For the first time someone has broken the bonds of time that hold us all in captivity. But Jesus did not pass quickly into heaven. He did not simply shed time as one might shed a worn-out garment; on the contrary, he remains with us. He has returned and will never leave us again. The feast of Sunday is, therefore, above all a profession of faith in the Resurrection. It is a profession of faith that life is good. Very early in the history of the Church Christians asked themselves: “Why did the Lord choose this day? What meaning did he intend to convey thereby?” According to Jewish reckoning, Sunday was the first day of the week. It was therefore the day on which God created the world. It was the day on which God ended his rest and spoke: “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3). Sunday is the first day of the week, the day of creation. That means, then, that Sunday is also the day on which we give thanks for creation … Creation has been given us by God as our living space, as the scene of our labour and our leisure, in which we find both the necessities and the superfluities of life, the beauty of images and sounds, which we need precisely as much as we need food and clothing.’
(Benedict XVI 'Benedictus')

12 March 2023

POPE FRANCIS’ MESSAGE ‘LENTEN PENANCE AND THE SYNODAL JOURNEY’ for Lent 2023.

PROJECT COMPASSION 2023

Week 5

Project Compassion brings together Australian schools, parishes and supporters to raise funds for people in vulnerable communities across the world. This year, we introduced you to the story of four inspiring people whose lives have been transformed with your generous support: Laxmi, Tereesa, Priscilla and Thu. Today, they are creating a better world for their families, their communities and for all future generations. Please donate to Project Compassion 2023. Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow For All Future Generations. You can donate through Project Compassion donation boxes and envelopes available from your parish, by visiting caritas.org.au/project-compassion, or by calling 1800 024 413.

8 February 2023

CARITAS AGENCIES RESPOND to catastrophic Turkey earthquake Caritas agencies are responding to a series of powerful earthquakes in southeast Turkey (officially known as Türkiye) and Syria, where thousands of lives have been lost already and the death toll increases by the hour.

5 February 2023

ESAFETY WEEK: On Tuesday 7 February 2023, the 20th Safer Internet Day will be observed globally. In a world that is more connected than ever before, online safety awareness is becoming even more important.

29 January 2023

WELCOME BACK to all the Primary School Students, their Families and Staff in both Primary Schools who begin Term 1 of 2023 this week.

21 January 2023

We offer our best wishes to our local Vietnamese Catholic Community who celebrate the Tết Lunar New Year this Weekend and into the early part of the coming week @ Saint Timothy's Forest Hill ...

SATURDAY 21-01-2023 @ 7:30PM MASS

Vietnamese New Year Eve Thanksgiving Mass

SUNDAY 22-01-2023 @ 5PM MASS

1st New Year Day, Praying for Peace

MONDAY 23-01-2023 @ 7:30PM MASS

2nd New Year Day, Praying for Parent & Ancestor

TUESDAY 24-01-2023 @ 7:30PM MASS

3rd New Year Day, Praying for Jobs & Farmers

15 January 2023

From January 2023 please be advised that the Parish Office for St Luke the Evangelist Blackburn South and St Timothy's Forest Hill (both Parishes) will operate out of St Timothy’s at 17 Stevens Road Vermont Vic 3133. The Telephone numbers remain the same, the email addresses remain the same and the personnel remain the same. The Presbytery at 46 Orchard Grove Blackburn South will remain the residence for the parish priest of both parishes.

5 January 2023