Catholic Parish Milton

17/06/2026

16/06/2026

This week marks the 40th anniversary of Refugee Week in Australia. The theme chosen to mark this occasion is 'A Million Stories'. The Refugee Council of Australia provides this background to the theme:

"As Europe recovered from the devastation of World War II, Australia responded to an international call to offer a future to people with nowhere to call home.

Since that initial agreement in 1947 to receive 4000 refugees from Central Europe, Australia has issued one million permanent humanitarian visas – welcoming people from all parts of the globe, people who have helped to build modern Australia.
Refugee Week 2026 is a moment to reflect on that milestone and to celebrate the million stories behind it.

Each story is unique. Each one is powerful. And together, they shape the Australia we all call home today.

This is about more than a number. One person’s journey influences the lives of many others: children, grandchildren, and future generations who leave their unique mark on our shared story. A thread in something greater; a million colourful strands woven into a rich and beautiful tapestry, shaping communities and stories we continue to tell."

All of us have a story...about ourselves, our families, our journeys, our hopes and dreams. I love that image of each of us being colourful strands woven into a rich and beautiful tapestry. Weeks like this invite us to stand back from our individual strands and view the bigger picture that we make together...a picture of diversity, equality, tolerance and respect. It's a story that continually needs telling!

15/06/2026

Looking forward to a Christmas recital! 🎼🪕🎻

14/06/2026

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Here we are, back in "ordinary time" on Sundays once again...liturgically at least! Since Lent began, we have been celebrating all manner of seasons and feasts and now, we return to the more regular pattern of numbering off the "ordinary" weeks until Advent begins later in the year.

The talk of ordinary time, always reminds me of a professor of theology who regularly set us some sort of activity in class so she could wander over to the window and look out across the beautiful campus. After a while, she would exclaim "the ordinary is extraordinary"! We would all pause a moment, smile at each other and get back to work. I have never forgotten her words and the very ordinary moments which preceded them. Today I am basking in the "extraordinary" in the midst of Ordinary Time...may it be so for you too!

In previous Lectio notes on today's Gospel, Sr Hildegard began by saying that "the text is grounded in the compassion of Jesus who saw that the people were 'harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.' In response Jesus asks for prayer that the Lord will send labourers to his harvest for there are too many to care for and not enough workers. He calls his twelve to him. The number 12 means completion: the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles and the twelve baskets of food left over after the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Fullness and completion.
He then lays out the mission not only of the 12, but also all disciples:
'Go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge. Give without charge.'"

12/06/2026

☘️ The law said the priest couldn't be there. The law said the Mass couldn't be celebrated. The law said that anyone caught participating faced fines, imprisonment, and in the early years of the Penal era, transportation or death. And so fifty people knelt on a wet Irish hillside before dawn, in the cold and the wind, to receive something the law had decided they weren't permitted to have. They came anyway. They always came anyway.

The Mass rock is one of the most quietly powerful symbols in Irish Catholic heritage, a flat boulder on a remote hillside that served as an altar during the decades when celebrating Mass was a criminal act under British Penal Law. Hundreds of these rocks are still identifiable across the Irish landscape, still visited, still marked with small offerings by people who understand what happened there. The priests who celebrated at them were hunted men, moving between safe houses, celebrated by communities who fed them, hid them, and kept their presence secret at personal risk. The penalty for harboring a priest was severe. The communities did it anyway.

What the Penal Laws produced, by attempting to destroy Irish Catholic practice, was something their architects completely failed to anticipate. They fused Irish identity and Catholic faith together so completely that for two centuries the two were essentially inseparable, a bond forged not in comfort but in shared danger and shared defiance. If your Irish family carried its faith across the Atlantic, it was carrying something that had been worth dying for within living memory of the people who packed it for the journey. Drop a comment and follow The Irish Remembered for more. 🕯️☘️

12/06/2026

God bless Pope Leo, what a profound advocate he is, for all humankind. 🙏🏻💜🙏🏻

he fifth day of Pope Leo XIV’s historic apostolic journey to Spain brought a deeply moving and paradoxical moment of grace from inside the walls of the "Brians 1" penitentiary center in Barcelona. During the visit, two inmates presented their personal testimonies to the Holy Father, sharing how physical confinement unexpectedly led them to profound spiritual liberation."In faith, we have found freedom from our resentment," the inmates testified. They shared how the guidance of prison pastoral care helped them navigate internal conflicts, silencing long-held bitterness, restoring their lost peace, and giving them a renewed sense of purpose. Rather than viewing their time as mere punishment, they expressed a "healthy impatience" for the future, eagerly preparing for the day their lives resume outside. The encounter served as a powerful reminder of the Pope's ongoing message of mercy, emphasizing that no life is beyond redemption and that true freedom begins within the heart.

11/06/2026

Our wonderful Pope Leo inspires the world…God bless and keep him safe! 🙏🏻💜🙏🏻