PARISH GROUPS 2010 - 2011
Bulletin
The high standard of both our monthly Big Bulletin and weekly bulletins is known far beyond our parish. Sometimes it takes a visit to another parish to appreciate the quality of our bulletins or perhaps you have heard favourable comments from a visitor. Hopefully you personally appreciate and enjoy the excellence of our publications.
This is not accidental. It happens because there is group of dedicated parishioners who constitute the Bulletin Group. Nobody is expected to do everything, there is simply too much for anyone person. However by sharing the task such as: typing, gathering articles, printing, folding, writing, contacting other parish groups, formatting, encouraging parishioners to write articles, graphic design and just coming up with ideas it all comes together.
If you have a interest in any of the above, this is your group. Join the Bulleting Group and keep our Bulletin the leader in the field. You will also get to meet and get to know some terrific people.
Finance
If you are a student completing Bookkeeping or a Finance Course, manager, employee, or household person who is entrusted with the job of managing money and understanding financial reports and budgets; why not join our Finance Group Committee?
The Finance Group is not directly involved in the day today management of the parish finances; this is done by dedicated parish employees. The role of this committee is more of an advisory one to assist the Parish Priest in the administration the Parish finances, preparing budgets, planning for future capital works, reviewing expenditure and income streams, reviewing prepared financial reports and making comments and recommendations.
By joining the committee you will only need to give just an hour and half on every First Wednesday of the Month of your time and knowledge to discuss the Parish Finances.
FOG
What does FOG do?
The mission of the Faith On-Going Group is to promote faith development, education, enrichment and experience within our parish. This happens through meeting, discussions, gathering, viewings, reading, and writing; in fact to promote faith through whatever is conducive to strengthening, extending and deepening parishioners' personal and communal faith.
FOG will work within the parish with other groups to realize its aims.
Y4JT (Youth for Jesus Today) Mentors
An awesome number of young people have joined the recently formed Youth for Jesus Today, Resurrections Junior youth group. If any adults are prepared to give this Y generation your knowledge, experience, help or just be there for them. Come join the Y4TJ Mentors group.
The Parish meeting night is used to plan the youth activities for upcoming events. If you want to be involved with the Youth then the Youth meet once a fortnight on Tuesday from 5.00 - 6.30pm where you may assist with BBQ's, organising games, attending as the adult some of the offsite activates such as walking, or activities at the Hunt Club such as pottery.
Anybody joining this group would need to obtain a “Working with Children” card if they don’t already have one.
ICT (Information, Communication & Technology)
How might we make use of technology?
Until recently it would not have been possible to have data projection in our church. This is now possible and the capability would at its most basic level allow us to have the words of hymns displayed. However the possibilities for visually engaging the congregation are limitless.
We could also link up to the internet and have a funeral go live to say the Philippines. What are the possibilities for making our web site interactive? Could we have on-line group discussion?
Many questions to be answered by those committing to this group.
Plus 22s
There is a group known as the Plus 22's it is for parishioner between 22 and 35. There are usually four or five BBQ's each year at Fr Noel's following our 10.30am Mass.
These BBQ’s are terrific days that offer the opportunity for young people to gather and socialize.
This group however could do more. What if some in this group make the time to come to the Parish Meeting Night and plan the BBQ's or perhaps initiate other activities? What if there was the opportunity to discuss and deepen faith? What if...?
If you would like to get involved in helping to organize this group simply sign up. Alternately if you would like to be advised of the next function then simply write Information Please, along with your name and contact details.
RCIA- Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
Do you have a friendly and welcoming personality?
Are you willing to share your faith and life experiences with others?
Have an ability to listen and respect another's opinion?
Willing to discuss your thoughts on your understanding of the Bible and the Church teachings?
If your answer is YES to any of the above, you might consider joining our group.
RCIA is a group committed to sharing our faith and knowledge with adults wishing to become Catholics. Helping them to understand our religion, develop a relationship with Jesus, an understanding of the Gospel, Prayer and our community.
We begin as partners and friends with the candidates but soon become their mentors.
We are sometimes their first encounter with Resurrection Parish and the Catholic Church. The group meets fortnightly with the candidates and on the Parish Meeting Night.
Liturgy
Are you interested in helping prepare and plan our major liturgical celebrations?
Would you like to know more about liturgy?
If your answer is yes to either of those questions this is the group for you.
The word liturgy comes from a Greek word meaning work; there is always work involved in good liturgy. Good liturgy assists people to participate, praise, pray, worship and celebrate the Good News that the Risen Lord is indeed present when we gather.
Readings, ritual, actions, singing, decorations, and environment all need to be integrated into the liturgy. It is not only major feasts that require planning. How we celebrate the 34 weeks of Ordinary time, Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals, and special occasions all require planning.
Good Liturgy just does not happen.
C.S. Lewis wrote in his book A Grief Observed that "Praise is a mode of love which always has some element of joy in it". This more than anything sums up what good liturgy can be.
Stewardship
This year there is a renewal Thanksgiving campaign it is called Stewardship. Over 95% of all parish income comes from parishioners who faithfully and generously commit to our weekly envelopes.
The Stewardship group takes a lead role in monitoring our Stewardship Programme. They do this by an analysis of the data, collecting statistics, and keeping parishioners informed about how the programme is going. This on-going task is vital to our mission.
Outreach
As the name implies this group is to "reach out". Reach out to families with a family member having special needs, to those grieving for the loss of a loved one and for women challenged by cancer or other illness. The Outreach Group is also open to Parishioners with other needs.
How might this happen?
Perhaps by offering comfort or practical support to a family with somebody (often a child) with special needs; a BBQ, a family day, guest speakers, or just spending some time with the parent/career are just a few of the possibilities.
On the last Friday night of each month a group of parishioners who have suffered the loss of a loved one come to Fr Noel’s for a meal, for companionship, for a laugh and yes sometimes a cry.
For some years there has been a group of women who occasionally come together socially, spiritually and for support. These women have been touched by cancer or some other serious illness.
The Outreach Group can be the “umbrella” for all these diverse activities. The Outreach Group could lift the profile of these much appreciated initiatives. In this way other Resurrection parishioners who may be struggling can be reached. There will also be a deeper appreciation that Resurrection parish does care and we certainly do reach out.
St Vincent de Paul
Our St Vincent de Paul conference is part of a world-wide organization started by Frederic Ozanam in 1833.
Five nights each week food is given to needy families in our parish. They are visited by members of the St Vincent de Paul conference. Each member takes a turn visiting once a week or once a fortnight, depending on the number of members in the conference. Members always visit in pairs. The annual Christmas family/children’s party held in December for all the families visited throughout the year is always a highlight.
If you would like to make a real difference in people’s lives where your reward may be a smile or a thank you; commit to this group.
School Advisory Council
To be well-educated means many things – to be a good reader, a good writer, to be good at mathematics, to have knowledge about a wide range of things. In our school, it also means to have knowledge about God, His Son Jesus and the Church which is entrusted to proclaim The Good News. In the spirit of co-operation and partnership the School Advisory Council seeks to develop further all of these elements of being ‘well-educated’.
The School Advisory Council aims are to:
Foster close relationships between all who make up this community.
Work closely within and contribute to the total Parish Meeting structure.
Discuss issues tabled by the parent representatives.
Elicit ideas and opinions in regard to school policy and programming.
Create support for those working on behalf of the school.
Seniors
This is a group made up of some seniors and some who do not as yet qualify for that distinction.
The purpose of the group is to organize activities for Resurrection Senior parishioners. These include both spiritual and social activities. Anointing Masses, morning teas, movie days, lunches, outings, and the Christmas lunch are just some of the many ways this group reaches out to our senior parishioners. All this takes time, good humour, and some organizational skills, but the reward of seeing “golden oldies” enjoying themselves more than compensates for the effort.
Social
The Social Group is a fun group who enjoys planning and organizing Social events for our parish. WE are determined to get the people of our Parish together to have fun and get to know others in our Parish Community. WE are a group of people from many walks in life, our meetings are light-hearted, while we come up with different ideas to get people to come out, meet new friends and socialize. We need people who are great at welcoming, meeting new people and who can make others feel welcome when they first come to one of our functions, as this leads them back time and time again. We are always looking for new and innovative ideas to get people to join us. If you think you are one of these people, why not come to one of our meetings and see for yourself.
Sudanese Welcome
Many of our Sudanese parishioner arrived in Australia as refugees. The aim of this group is to help these families make the transition into Australian life. It might be with employment, education, English, material goods or just befriending a family. For this group to be successful both Sudanese and non- Sudanese parishioners need to be involved. A particular focus of this group might be to encourage our young Sudanese parishioner to join one of our Youth Groups or the Plus 22s and thereby assist young Sudanese to assimilate into the Australian way of life.
Step Up (Work Skills Support)
Resurrection is a large parish, some of our parishioners do not have the necessary skills to put a job application together, or have knowledge of some elementary interview procedures. Some of our younger parishioners need to be motivated to find a job.
This group would meet with individual parishioners to assess their skills and hopefully ster the person in the right direction. The group might also arrange seminars, workshops, etc. with the focus on providing parishioners with encouragement, motivation, basic skills for stepping up the ladder.
Another possibility is to list all the skills, professions and business of Resurrection parishioners. This could have a twofold purpose, (1) knowing the skills that may be available for our parish to utilize and (2) raising parishioner’s awareness of other parishioner's who are conducting their own business.
Working Bee Preparation
Visitors frequently comment favourably on the overall look of Resurrection Parish. One of the first things noticed is our beautiful gardens, and then it might be the tidiness, the signage, or just simply that it looks like a place that is loved.
Resurrection Parish is indeed a place that has been loved into life by many people over the years. It just has not happened. It has required lot of hard work. Our four working bees each year really keep things moving. However to get the most out of these four working bees they need to be organized. This is where this group comes in. Each person in the group can take responsibility for a designated area of our property, keep an eye on it, and make a list of possible jobs for the next working bee.
At the monthly Parish Meeting Night each group member is expected to report on the likely scope of work for the next working bee. In this way priorities can be established so that on the day of the working, parishioners who come have their time and talent put to the best possible use.
Please note that by joining this group you are committing yourself to coming to the Parish Meeting Night, not simply coming to Working Bees.
Youth
Resurrection Parish has been truly blessed over the last eleven years to have had a very active youth group known as RYDERS (Resurrection Youth Disciples Engaging in Real Situations). Some years have been better than others, but there has always been a nucleus of committed young parishioners involved. It is for young people between the ages of 15 and 20.
There have been seven youth camps during this time. Six young parishioners have represented Resurrection Parish at past World Youth Days in Rome, Toronto, and Cologne. Eleven participated in Sydney three years ago and three have been selected to represent Resurrection in Madrid during August this year.
ANYTHING ELSE
Are there any gaps?
Is there another group that you feel would benefit the parish?
If so what is it?
Would you be prepared to be part of such a group? If so click here to sign up