The Catholic Weekly 14 June 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 3 14, June, 2020 Looking for a new Job? www.catholicjobsonline.com.au SYDNEY’S BELOVED Tyburn nuns, a womens’ contempla- tive order, will relocate from their current location at Riv- erstone to a nearby property in Kurmond – about 30 min- utes inland towards the Blue Mountains. The decision has come in response to ever-increasing development in Riverstone - now a suburb on the outskirts of Greater Sydney - affecting the quality of monastic life. “Riverstone has become so noisy with all the traffic – especially for our retreatants who want to come to our monastery for a time of prayer, peace and quiet,” the sisters informed supporters in their latest newsletter. “The noise has become so bad that we are no longer able to provide a peaceful setting for our retreatants.” The Sisters hope to relocate next year. However prepara- tions are already underway with the monastery chapel’s pipe organ to be dismantled and packed for storage in preparation for the move. A 15,000-plus library of books will also need to be moved. Known popularly as the Tyburn Nuns, the Adorers Tyburn nuns to shift as they seek to escape Sydney’s madding crowd ¾ ¾ David Ryan Sisters seek solitude as the city encroaches Mother Christina waters the monastery garden when The Catholic Weekly visited in 2019. PHOTO: GIOVANNI PORTELLI of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre are a branch of the Benedictine order found- ed in Paris in 1898. The nuns subsequently moved their headquarters to London in 1901 where they are based to this day with monasteries in nine countries including Australia. The Tyburn Nuns arrived in Australia in 1956 at the in- vitation of Cardinal Norman Gilroy and settled in North Sydney, moving to Manly in 1962 and Riverstone in 1986. The noise has become so bad that we are no longer able to provide a peaceful setting for our retreatants.” Riverstone Tyburn newsletter ARCHBISHOP ANTHONY Fisher OP has announced the launch of the Sydney Centre for Evangelisation to support parishes in their mission at a time of “unexpected challeng- es and also new opportunity”. Putting Jesus at the centre of its focus and backing parish efforts to evangelise are its pri- orities, the Centre’s Ditrector, Daniel Ang told The Catholic Weekly . The new centre, based at the Liverpool Street offices of the Archdiocese of Sydney, will build and extend on the work of Parish 2020 and the archdiocese’s Evangelisation Project which has been led Bishop Richard Umbers. It will be led by the current ¾ ¾ Marilyn Rodorigues New Centre aims to back parishes director of Parish 2020 Daniel Ang. “I have decided to combine Parish 2020 and the Evange- lisation Project into the new Sydney Centre for Evangelisa- tion, absorbing and extending the good work of both these agencies,” the Archbishop told staff in a 9 June statement. “This integration will sup- port the renewal of our parish- es in their mission to provide the people of Sydney with new opportunities to encounter Christ,” he added. “The Centre will deliver greater integration between the spiritual and structural dimensions of our life as an Archdiocese, enable increased support for our parishes in their resourcing for mission, and will include the establish- ment of a new parish renewal team to implement our devel- oping Archdiocese Mission Plan.” Bishop Umbers will contin- ue towork closely withMr Ang and his team as the episcopal vicar for Evangelisation, the Archbishop said. Mr Ang told The Catholic Weekly that in bringing to- gether the needs of parishes as revealed by Parish 2020’s information gathering exer- cise conducted over the last 12 months and for staff to provide the Centre’s practical support, “we as an Archdiocese will be in good stead to renew to- gether our commitment to place the encounter with Jesus Christ at the heart of all our endeavours. “The Centre will give ex- pression to that commitment by ensuring the practical support of our parishes and their people as they carry out Christ’s mission in their local communities. “We live in an age when there aremore people to reach than have been reached,” he said. “We have great scope and desire to increase the practi- cal support of local commu- nities in their focus on being and making disciples, in their mission to constantly evange- lise the hearts of parishioners, invite baptised Catholics back into active involvement in the church, and reach out to those who do not yet know Christ and that their home is with us. Soon after his 2014 instal- lation, the archbishop initi- ated the Parish 2020 five year pastoral planning project with the goal of examining the situ- ation and mission of the Arch- diocese, and the structures that can best support new approaches to evangelisation and renewal of Sydney’s local communities of faith. That process, and a review of the progress to date, will lead to the release of the Arch- diocesan Mission Plan in the coming months. “The goal of this undertak- ing is to ensure that all of our communities, agencies and people are supported to be mission-oriented and better connected with one another, sustainably resourced to reach out and also to plan for gener- ations to come,” Mr Ang told The Catholic Weekly . STORY ONLINE: THE TYBURN NUNS OF RIVERSTONE Virus forces procession change THIS YEAR’S Eucharistic procession on the Feast of Corpus Christi - Sunday 14 June - has been cancelled due to New South Wales government public gather- ing restrictions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. However Sydney Arch- bishop Anthony Fisher OP has encouraged the faith- ful to observe this most im- portant feast by attending adoration in local parishes. In normal circumstanc- es, Catholics in their thou- sands would have gath- ered fromacross the region to carry the Blessed Sacra- ment through Sydney’s Central Business District to sanctify and bless the metropolis. “I know that many par- ishes across the archdio- cese of Sydney will be of- fering you an opportunity to spend time with our lord through Eucharistic ado- ration, “said Archbishop Fisher who emphasised the centrality of the Eucha- rist to the Catholic faith,” he said. “The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith [and] the feast of Corpus Christi is a time to unite in our love of the Blessed Sacrament.” “I invite you to spend some time in prayer with our Lord on this great feast.” The Archbishop com- pared the extraordinary situation with the circum- stance of Australia’s early Catholic history where the resilience of the faithful in their devotion to the Eucharist sustained the faith despite the suppres- sion and banning of the Mass by the British gov- ernment. “Let us draw inspiration from the colonial Catho- lics in Sydney who were forbidden from attending Mass for 30 years but nur- tured their faith through prayer and Eucharistic ad- oration.” The annual feast of Cor- pus Christi was established by the Church in 1264 by Pope Urban IV on the rec- ommendation of Doctor of the Church Saint Thomas Aquinas. ¾ ¾ David Ryan NEWS