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Holy Spirit Province

PROVINCIAL NEWSLETTERPROVINCIAL NEWSLETTERPROVINCIAL NEWSLETTERPROVINCIAL NEWSLETTER

Date – 15/08/13

Edition – 036/2013

Dear Brothers, Sisters, Friends in the Passionist Family.

Visitation in Beautiful Oxley

Queensland certainly lived up to its reputation of beautiful one day and better the next. Last week I had the privilege of joining with and sharing with David King, Paul Mercieca and Ray Sanchez at “The Fort”, our St Mary’s Community in Oxley, The Fort is gloriously situated in

bushland looking over the Brisbane river and down to the city. Without a parish or retreat house attached.

The Fort is beautifully quiet and the life of the community deeply reflective. Fr Paul is occupied at the very large Canossa Hospital, Nursing Home, Retirement village adjacent to our property. Fr Ray Sanchez works as Coordinator of the Passionist Youth Team, parish missions and retreats and social justice awareness for the Province.

Fr David as Community Leader cares for the local community and the large gathering of those who make the Fort their spiritual home and place of worship, along with his own full time work of spiritual direction, retreats and work in the local Church.

As part of the Visitation we did manage a glorious picnic day on the river.

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Passionist Social Justice Team

This new group is an offshoot both of Fr Ray’s work with youth and his work in Social Justice. The recent General Chapter once again asked all in the Passionist family to be in any ways they can in the works of justice peace and the care of the earth. This new group had its inaugural meeting last week to begin planning its agenda. They are about to launch a Facebook page to reach out to others in the our Passionist community.

Fr Ray already has a newsletter which is sent out from our Provincial Office. You can get onto the mailing list by emailing Kathryn our Provincial Secretary at province.centre@passionists.com, keeping an eye open for notifications from our Province Facebook page ; The Passionists – Holy Spirit Province Provincial Council Meeting

Our Provincial Council met this week with a number of agendas – the normal business of the Province, a workshop on Future Directions for our Passionist Mission in our Province of Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea; and to catch up with a number of our religious – John Pearce just returned from chaplaining a Sydney based group of pilgrims to World Youth Day in Rio.

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Peter Gardiner returned from his own sabbatical immersion experience in Passionist missions and communities in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania. Fr John also attended the international gathering of Passionist youth and pilgrims which took [lace in conjunction with WYD. Your Council hard at work. You will notice the bowls of chocolate Rocky Road along the table to keep our sugar levels up

Prayers Needed: Mr Hal Power

Could I ask all of our communities particularly and our Passionist family to remember Hal Power in your prayers. Hal, whose 100th birthday we commemorated a few months ago died this yesterday and his funeral, will be celebrated next Tuesday. Hal is the husband of Maureen, our own parish dynamo for 70 years. Hal taught and is still fondly remembered by the

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community of St Aloysius’s College Milson Point. Many of us received the welcome and hospitality of Maureen and Hal over the years and benefitted from their understanding and acceptance. I know Maureen, his children Shayne, Kerry Anne and Christopher with all the grandchildren and great grandchildren would be grateful for your prayers. Fr Dan Donovan CP

Fr Dan, a true brother from our St Joseph English Province, died last week after a tragic fall down a flight of stairs. Fr Dan fell while on supply at a local parish in London and has been in a deep coma for many weeks. He passed away peacefully at the weekend. Fr Dan was a welcome and good friend to our Province and visited to spend tie with our communities and with the Passionist Family Group movement. Fr Ray Brain, our Australian Passionist presently superior of our London community at Highgate writes:

Fr Dan lived his childhood here in the Passionist parish of Highgate. He was educated by the Jesuits. After he completed his studies and ordained 1963, Dan conducted many missions around the country and gave numerous retreats. He spent some time in Paris – where the Passionists are responsible for the English speaking Church, in Avenue Hoche, very close to the Arc de Triomph. He could speak good French (some colourful stuff as well !!!)

Fr Dan was Provincial in the 1980’s and 1990’s when he came to Australia to celebrate our anniversary in 1988.

He was PP here at Highgate for 8 years; and spent his last 10 or so years

here.

He was very kind and helpful to me when I came to Highgate and loved to chat about fellow Passionists he had met including many Australians for whom he held a high regard. He spoke warmly about Steve McGarry and Gerry Glynn who both spent some time here back in the last century.

He was much loved and respected by many people around the UK and other parts of the world

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Our English Province just recently lost Fr Theodore Davey, a well known Canon Lawyer and member of the staff of the renowned Heythrop Theological College

Fr Mario – Rest in Peace

Another Passionist from the other side of the globe also passed away two weeks ago. Fr Mario was especially known to those of us who in 2005 attended the great Passionist Institute in Rome, followed by two weeks of pilgrimage around and a final retreat at Monte Argentario. The Institute was attended by religious from England, Ireland, Scotland, India, Holy Spirit province and our American provinces.

Fr Mario was a jovial and welcoming presence. An American of Italian background, Fr Mario will be greatly missed by his province.

Tom McDonough CP Fr Tom McDonough CP