|
On the weekend of April 21st-22nd, Fr. Peter McGrath and Mary Ingham had a great visit with the Armidale Catholic Church and also our new parish there, the Armidale Uniting Church. It was great to come to Armidale again, and in Autumn, Armidale is at it's loveliest; all the trees dressed in wonderful autumn colours of gold, red and claret
Fr Peter said the 6pm Saturday night Mass and did the Homily at St. Mary's Cathedral catholic church, encouraging our Family Group people in their ministry, & urging others to join the PFGM.
Peter and Mary then attended a celebration with a pot luck dinner, and a session of renewal in the Torreggiani room at 7pm Saturday night. It was a great night, with musical entertainment & community singing and fun, and a lovely way for our Family Group people to renew their friendship with Fr. Peter and Mary.
PFGM has been going for 13 years in Armidale, and they have 10 groups and is under the wonderful guidance of Maureen Armitage, our Co-ordinator, and also regional Co-ordinator of the area. Maureen now has also added to her co-ordinating team, Jim and Denise Fittler who have helped her in this great work. The administrator of the Cathedral parish is Rev. Mgr. Ted Wilkes, and he has always supported the Family Group Movement in his parish and always made us very welcome when we visit his parish
|
Welcome to the PFGM.
|
On Sunday morning, we were welcomed at the Armidale Uniting church at the 9.30am service. Fr. Peter talked about Family Groups to the congregation, with the help of Maureen, Mary, and Dr.Mark. The Uniting church has 5 groups which were set up last year with the help of our Catholic Family Group leaders, and also the Uniting church Family Group co-ordinators of Port Macquarie. We loved our visit to the Uniting church gathering and enjoyed morning tea with the parishioners. We were especially welcomed by
their pastor Will Pearson, and his wife and also pleased to meet our Co-ordinator Patsy Falloon.
|
After lunch, with our leaders at the Bistro in The Grand Hotel, we had a combined gathering of interested people from both the Uniting and the Catholic community and we shared our thoughts on the Family
Group Movement and ways we can get more people to be involved as well as deepening the commitment of those present at the meeting. Peter then attended the 5.30pm meeting at St Mary's and again spoke of PFGs, their aims and how they can benefit the parish. There were many people who attended both Masses who raised their
hands as belonging to the movement
We look forward to returning again soon
Mary Ingham
|
|
Autumn colours of Armidale
|
|
Combined meeting of Armidale Catholic
& Uniting Church members.
|
|
Betty Pearson, Maureen Armitage, Mary Ingham, and the
Uniting Church co-ordinator Patsy Falloon
with Pastor Will Pearson
|
|