Alight Youth Group
This invitation is open to all young people within our Parishes aged between 15 to 30. Our youth group meets on the 1st Friday of every month at 7.30pm. We come together in friendship, fun and to become "Alight" in our faith. If you would like to volunteer at one of our Youth Masses, please contact us. We would love more volunteers to read and participate in the mass!
For more information please email: nicole.c.ridler@hotmail.com.
Passionist Family Groups
Passionist Family Groups have now been operating at St Mary’s for 11years .There are 4 groups run by dedicated leaders, with approximately 7-10 families in each. Most meet socially every month to enjoy each other’s company and participate in a variety of activities ,which the group decide on. The groups have members ranging from new born to an 97 year old .Groups are structured so that young families are put together in one group and the “mature ages” in others groups .We also have non catholics (mainly spouses) and they too are very active in our activities and feel “at Home” in our community of St Mary’s. Family Groups operate in a very relaxed atmosphere and no-one is under pressure to come each month or to organise social functions .We aim to keep costs to a minimum. There are no joining fees or do’s and don’ts, just have fun and enjoy. Details of our activities can often be found in the weekly church bulletin.
For more information contact Pauline and Michael Prendergast on 9434 2464
Ladies’ Auxiliary
We are a small group of friendly ladies who like a cuppa and a chat. We would love to see Mums whose children are at St Mary’s or whose children are leaving St Mary’s for Secondary School. It’s a great way to socialise, to find new interests and make new friends. You can be assured of a warm welcome! We support and look out for each other and the needs of our Parish. We raise funds through the year in many ways: Morning Teas, Parish Fete, Cake Stalls, Winter Warmers Stalls and Raffles. We collect goods (craft, jewellery, gifts) all year round to stock the stalls on Fete day. Age is no barrier - we have a spot for everyone! We would love to see new faces when we gather on every third Wednesday of the month at 10.15am in the Parish House.
For more information contact Maureen (9435 5906) or Lucy (9435 6990)
Friendship Group
Started in 1979 as The Over 50’s, then became the Mature Age Group. Now known as the Friendship group. We meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month. All welcome. Membership $10 / year.
On home months we meet in the St Mary’s Church Gathering Space at 12.00. We have a brief meeting, discuss the next 1-2 months, have lunch (BYO) & play Bingo (Book -10 games for $5 includes a Jackpot).
Alternate months we support our local RSLs & Hotels. We have yet to return to bus trips – prices are very high unless
we can get over 30-35.
For more information contact Geraldine Conroy on 9435 4306 or 0438 148 896.
Soul Sisters
Soul Sisters is a group of women. It was formed as a discussion group and started meeting in 2012 with the aim of nurturing and supporting each other. We spring from the community and are bringing life to community ideas and hopes. We exist to explore being women in the church of today and into the future, looking at the roles of women in the world, stretching our minds and hearts with the views of others and to talk about many things that concern us such as: promoting the role of women in the church and recognizing the huge contribution of women; understanding women in their various roles as mothers, spouses, activists and feminists from the perspective that Jesus had; climate change and other issues that affect our community and world.
We recognize that the church is situated in a wider community and not just the parish and school. Our parish vision speaks of being a vibrant Christian community engaging with the world – we need to break out and engage with the differences in the world rather than being fearful and judgmental. One of our aims was to look to finding ways of opening our minds and hearts to other faiths bridging divides to bring healing in a fragmented world. With this in mind we created a series of talks entitled ‘ Women of Faith’ where we invited Islamic, Jewish and Buddhist women to talk to us in our parish about how they live their lives in Australia today as people in their own faith tradition. We also invited others from the Parish to join us on a visit to the Islamic Museum in Northcote and a visit we would very much recommend.
This last year with our aim to continue to explore these issues we again held three talks with discussion after each. The first was an interview by David Letterman with Malala Yousafzai, highlighting her courage and belief in education for women; the second being on the immense sacrifice of the White Helmets, volunteers saving lives in Syria in times of great danger and the last being an inspirational TED talk by Brene Brown titled ‘How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent and lead’. We are hoping to bring more of these talks to our parish and community over the next few years.