A CHRISTMAS GREETING FROM ALL THE REDEMPTORISTS

On behalf of Fr Andrew Burns (Rector) and all the Redemptorists at Bishop Eton, once again I wish you and your families every blessing with the peace and joy of CHRISTMAS.

Each year, at this time, you shower us with gifts and messages of good-will and we want you to know that we are immensely grateful. It is a great privilege for us to be able to continue to serve the two parishes of Bishop Eton and St Mary’s and we promise to continue to do all we can to be there for you in the months and years ahead.

It may be that as I grow older, I am getting more and more nostalgic, but speaking to the children this year, I recalled an event in my childhood, when Bro Rogation, one of the De la Salle Brothers who taught me, asked a group of us to make an ecumenical gesture and request that the Anglican Ministers in our area put up a poster, which simply read: PUT CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS! In the last days leading up to Christmas, on my way to school, proudly I would pass these posters on their church notice boards and feel that I had done my little bit for Christmas that year! Of course, the message holds good nearly 70 years later. Certainly, our children got the message and were able to tell me that the word shortens the phrase CHRIST’S MASS. It then becomes obvious that the best way we can celebrate the Feast is by responding to the invitation and celebrating Mass together. We are keeping the now established Mass timetable of NINE MASSES through Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning in the two churches.