Religious Education
Sacrament of First Holy Communion 2025
Presentation Masses for First Holy Communion will be held on the following dates:
Saturday 3rd May at 7pm at St. Joseph’s Warragul
Sunday 4th May at 9am St. Josephs Warragul
Sunday 4th May at 10.30am at St. Ita’s Drouin
Candidates and their families are asked to attend one of these Masses. Please arrive early and bring the Presentation form to this Mass.
For further enquiries please feel welcome to contact Liz via email: Warragul.sacraments@cdsale.org.au or phone: 5623 1642
Easter Vigil
The Easter Vigil was truly beautiful and deeply moving. We were blessed to witness our RCIA candidates take their next step in faith as they were joyfully initiated into the Catholic Church. The light of Christ shone brightly through every prayer, every candle, and every heart present. Welcome to Mia Hickey, Kimberley Page, Luke Farrugia and Lachy Walsh, our newest members – we are so proud of you and thrilled to walk the journey with you.
If you are interested and would like more Information about the Catholic faith, you are invited to an Information evening on Wednesday 30th July at 7.30pm in the Marian Room at St. Joseph’s Church, Warragul. For enquiries, please contact Fr. Brendan or Joan Robertson at the Parish Office: 5623 1642, or Deacon Mark Kelly: 0427 748 646.
Catholic Education Week
A message from Deacon Mark
Closed Doors
We Easter people are still celebrating the resurrection of the Lord. No empty tomb or joy in Jesus’ divinity and our hope of salvation would be futile. But the empty tomb vindicates our hope. He is risen indeed! As we mourn Pope Francis we are buoyed by hope for his salvation and our own.
Jesus’ disciples know he is risen. Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James found the empty tomb and the angels confirm he is alive, he is risen as he foretold. Peter (of course), ran to check the women’s story and he too was amazed.
So, are the disciples out in the streets celebrating and confidently proclaiming? They are not! Instead, we find them in today’s gospel (John 20:19-31) huddled fearfully in the upper room with the doors closed. Didn’t they even go looking for him? Who were they afraid of and why? If it was the Jews or the Roman soldiers they wouldn’t have gone near the tomb. What is really their problem?
Perhaps they were hiding from Jesus, who they had ignominiously deserted in his hour of need. Rightly, they were pretty ashamed of themselves. If they found him, would Jesus want to see them? Easier to hunker down behind the locked door and wish the issue away.
A bit like us maybe. Mostly we’ve had good intentions, to do the right thing but, somehow, the world has hindered us. What happened to the better self we wanted to be? Instead, we’ve messed up and got ourselves in a hole. We’re frightened of what Jesus might think. Perhaps we keep our heart locked, trying to hide from Jesus.
“All good, mate!” is Jesus’ way. He breaks through our insecurities, as he did his first disciples offering peace instead of backward-looking recriminations, rather - unlimited, unquenchable love, starting us back on the road with new life in the Holy Spirit.
Deacon Mark Kelly