The
Catholic Weekly
Online
Sydney
11 January 2004
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HSC
pupils in top class
Trinity
students credit teachers
What
will they do now?
Catholic
all-rounder students in HSC 2003
Catholic
teachers’ pay rise welcomed
Vows
revisited 68 years on
Heroes
of the Vatican
Grow
grows too well
Staff,
residents believed in me
Sharing
our vulnerability
Pregnant
Pause
World
Youth Day
Graham
Andrews learns by teaching
Timor ‘sister’ parish
plan for St Canice’s
Symbols
of belief
A
conversation with ... Piers Paul Read, biographer of Sir Alec Guinness
Out
of Africa – with hope
Visit
to husband landed Anna in jail
Where
do teens see God?
Sparked
by ‘tongue of fire’
Parish honours ‘linchpin’ of
Vinnies conference
Maria finds family link in UK college
The day Br Nicholas dropped the pin
Vows revisited 68 years on
Bill and Mary inspect the register at St Anne’s with son Jim and daughter Pauline.
St Anne’s Church in Bondi was newly opened but incomplete when Mary Margaret (Molly), “the young bride with the cute hat from Bondi”, and William Montague Carty – “with the white spats” – were married there in the presence of Fr Danny O’Sullivan on December 7, 1935.
Molly was 90 years and one day old when she and Bill, who is approaching
96, were welcomed by Fr Paul Foley and the parish community on their return
to
St Anne’s for the Sunday morning Eucharist on December 7, 2003.
They were joined by Pauline Gallagher, one of their three daughters, and
son Jim, a Marist priest, who conceleb-rated the Mass with Fr Paul.
At the end of Mass, Molly and Bill renewed their marriage vows to continue to love each other “in good times and bad, for richer and poorer until death”.
Fr Paul then invited them to morning tea and produced the marriage register.
Sure enough, there was the entry dated December 7, 1935, duly signed by the then newlywed couple.
parish pump
with Chris Lindsay
Geoffrey Prendergast from North Ryde reminds us of the wonderful innocence of little children, especially at this time of the year. On seeing the Advent wreath adorned with candles at his local church a small parishioner inquired of his mother: “Is this the Lord Jesus’s birthday cake?” Out of the mouths of babes!
…
Given the Australian trend towards an increasingly litigious and politically
correct population, will future Christmas greetings be reduced to this? “Best
wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, non-discriminatory
and gender-neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday practised within
the religious or secular tradition of your choice – being mindful of
the choices of others without regard to race, creed, colour, age, computer
platform or sexual preference of the wishee." We wish not!
…
Keeping it in the family: last September, Alexander Jisu Melocco, the great
grandson of Peter Melocco, the artist responsible for creating the Celtic cross
on the floor of St Mary's Cathedral crypt, was baptised there. Peter Melocco
was an Italian-born migrant who arrived in Australia in the early years of
the 20th century from Parma, Italy. He supervised the delicate work of creating
the cross, with its five medallions at each of the extremities and in the middle,
in marble terrazzo.The work took the best part of a decade.
…
Talking about St Mary’s, it is quite a busy place this time of the year.
We read in Gathering, the newsletter of the cathedral, that last year more
than 6000 people attended Easter ceremonies and more than 5000 attended Christmas
Masses.
…
Fr Peter Dresser of Kandos, in the Bathurst Diocese, was visiting the local jail recently and was told by a guard that the prisoner could only have a cigarette "if it was from an unopened packet". Not quite the miracle of the loaves and fishes, but a tricky task nevertheless.
Contributions to Parish Pump from readers are welcome. Call us on 9390 5400 or email us at editor@catholicweekly.com.au