St Rita's Catholic Parish

02/06/2026

01/06/2026

🌹 What a beautiful Feast Day! 🌹

What a wonderful way to celebrate our patroness, St Rita of Cascia! A heartfelt thank you to Archbishop Shane Mackinlay for joining us and making the day so special.

To everyone who came along — your presence made it truly memorable. And a huge thank you to our amazing volunteers whose hard work and generous hearts made it all happen! 🙏

Blessed are we to have such a wonderful community. Until next year! ✨

22/05/2026

This week's St Rita's newsletter is now available - Happy Pentecost! Come, Holy Spirit! Macleay Island 21st Anniversary SUNDAY 3:30pm. IMPORTANT: No Mass 25th-29th May (flooring), No Choir Wed 27th, No Adoration Sat 30th. Feast of St Rita with Archbishop Shane 31st May 9am ONLY - read more https://www.stritasparish.org/index.php/newsletter🙏🕊️

21/05/2026

⛪ Her feast day is 22 May — and the world still shows up.

St Rita died in 1457, but her presence in Cascia, Umbria, is very much alive. The Basilica of St Rita houses her incorrupt body — preserved without decay after death, which Catholics view as a sign of holiness — and draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year.

The celebrations around 22 May are extraordinary: roses blessed and distributed, processions through the streets, people travelling from across Italy and beyond.

She wasn't officially declared a saint until 1900 — centuries after her death — because the formal canonisation process is long and demanding. But the people of Umbria, and far beyond, had been calling her a saint long before Rome confirmed it.

Whether you're Catholic or not, her story is worth knowing. A woman who lost almost everything, kept her faith and her gentleness, and became a symbol of hope for the desperate. Not a bad legacy for someone born in a tiny Italian village over 600 years ago. 🌹