Weekly message from Fr Duane - 27 April 2025

CHANGES TO THE WEEKDAY SACRAMENTAL TIMETABLE Fr Jerzy Slowinski departs for his annual leave this coming week, and thereby concludes his 6 year term at Unanderra. Upon his return he will move to a house with brother priests of his religious order. Fr Jerzy will continue his ministry to the Polish Community but will no longer be serving the Unanderra parish in their weekday Sacraments. As such I have modified the weekday timetable across the two parishes of West Wollongong and Unanderra for this period between now and the ordination of Joseph as Priest towards the end of this year. Note: the Saturday morning reconciliation at Unanderra will be discontinued for now, meaning 2 hours per week of Reconciliation in each place. I hope that these changes cause minimal inconvenience to you all and I will be open to your questions and feedback about these changes during the coming weeks. I thank Fr Jerzy for his generous service to the parish of Unanderra, and also at West Wollongong when I have requested his assistance here, and let us pray for him during this time of transition.

OTHER PRAYER REQUESTS Some of you would know Deacon Peter Presdee, a permanent Deacon who served in our Diocese for many years, with a special ministry of mercy to prisoners in the South Coast Correctional Centre. I had the privilege of working alongside Deacon Peter in my previous parish of Nowra. Sadly, Deacon Peter passed away last week, and his funeral is this Wednesday at 11am at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Catholic Church, Varroville. May he rest in eternal peace.

Let us pray for next week’s Federal Election, that all seeking leadership positions, and all voters, will be guided by the Spirit of Christ. The Election Statement of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has been shared as an attachment with the emailed bulletin, and can be viewed here: bit.ly/ElectionStatement2025

Finally let us pray especially this week for Seminarians Joseph and Sinh, ordained as Deacons this Tuesday evening (more details in the bulletin – all welcome to attend). We look forward to welcoming Deacon Joseph to serve across the parishes of West Wollongong and Unanderra!