Online booking of Parish Facilities

Overview:

Welcome to the Catholic Parish of Pittwater booking system. This system applies to Parish Meeting Rooms, the two Churches and other facilities.

What is bookable:

The currently bookable facilities are as follows:

• Sacred Heart Church, Mona Vale **
  
• Maria Regina Church, Avalon **
  
• Parish Centre (Mona Vale)
• Maria Regina Hall (restricted availablility)
  
• Meeting Room, Sacred Heart Church

In the future, it is likely that other items such as a data projector will be added to the list.

Who can book?

Each Director of a Ministry (see the Ministries menu) can book the facilities. However, the Churches (marked with ** above) can only be booked by the Parish Secretary.

Access:

You are responsible for obtaining keys to the booked facility and also for ensuring it is left in the same or better condition when you finish with it. Note that the booking system DOES NOT automatically give you access or cause furniture to be arranged to your liking. That's for you to organise separately.

How does it work?

The booking system is set up as a "Calendar" along side the Parish Calendar which has the Parish Events for the year. Note that facility bookings will automatically be included in the calendar of events viewed in the left hand column of the front page of the Parish web site. So, for instance, if there is a booking for a funeral, that fact will be included in the Parish Calendar.

If you look to the left side of this document, you will see two monthly calendars (current plus next month). You can click in the top bar of either of these calendars to bring up a much bigger calendar which will then replace this document you are reading. This calendar should only display facility bookings and you will see a colour coded legend under the calendar for quick reference. If you hover the mouse above an item, you should see further details of the booking.

If you are a suitably authorised person (e.g Ministry Director or Clergy or Parish Staff), you can login at the bottom right hand side of this web page. This will allow you to enter new bookings, change bookings or delete bookings. Naturally, you should not delete someone else's booking without their permission.

Quick guide to entering a new booking:

Once you are logged in and the calendar is displayed on the screen, you will see a section underneath the calendar "Add an Event". This is where you can add a new booking. Click the link "Add an Event" which is just above there and coloured blue. Please fill in at least the following items:

• Select the Calendar (Parish Facilities)
• Type in the Subject (e.g Funeral of Jonathon Snurd)
• Select the Category (ie the facility you are booking). This must start with "Parish Facilities". (e.g. Parish Facilities -> Parish Centre (Mona Vale)
• Fill in your name plus phone number and/or email address in the "Contact" area.
• If you REALLY want the booking to be private (which could create confusion because people will think there is no booking), then select "Registered" for the Access Level near the top right.
• Now select the start and end dates and start and end times. In general, you will not have events spanning several days but it is possible and the facility is there to do this as well as to define recurring (weekly, monthly, first Friday....)
• When finished, remember to click "Save" near the top right of the form.

Editting a booking:

If you click on an existing booking, as long as you are logged in, you will see a quite small "edit" icon near the top right of the entry. Click it and you will enter the same form that is used to create a booking but items will already be filled in. Then simply correct what needs changing and click "Save" or "Cancel" when finished.

If you want to book a Church, click here to contact the Parish Secretary .

Any questions, comments or clarifications, contact the Administrator by clicking here.

Meditation Group

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The Pittwater Meditation Group has been meeting in the Parish Centre at Sacred Heart Church for the past three years. We are members of the Australian Christian Meditation Community.

John Main was our founder and Lawrence Freemen OSB is now the present director world wide. His home base is the U.K. but he frequently visits Australia, and will be with us in October when he will be conducting a week long retreat at St. Ignatius College Riverview.

The Pittwater group meets weekly on a Friday r morning at 10 am, for meditation. We start with a reading prayer, then listen to a short talk on some aspect of meditation; this is followed by 20 minutes meditation And we conclude with the prayer for the World Community of Meditation. This all takes roughly forty five minutes, We then all adjourn for morning tea, which is a lively affair as we catch up with each other's news. We have a regular attendance of eight to ten people Everyone is most welcome, and some are members of other religious persuasions. See you at 10am any Friday except the first Friday day of the month when we meet at 9 am.

Maureen Suggitt

Welcome new members

Welcome to the Catholic Parish of Pittwater. We are delighted that you are committed to your faith journey and have chosen to join our parish. We aim to be a community of hope, providing spiritual nourishment to all. We trust that, whichever of our two communities (Sacred Heart Church at Mona Vale or Maria Regina Church at Avalon) you are joining, your new community will help and support you in your own journey of life and faith.

Our website contains plenty of information on our two communities and we hope you will find an area in which you would like to be involved.

We strongly believe that being part of our parish ministries will not only help you get to know us, but will also enhance your sense of ownership and belonging.

To begin your membership of the parish community please download a New Parishioner Form by clicking on this link.

Please return the form either by:

• handing it to the Celebrant on Sunday

• returning it to the parish office

If you are unable to print the document you can collect one at the rear of either of our two churches.

Once a year, both of our communities welcome new members with a special morning tea. We will let you know when this is on and it will also be advertised in the parish bulletin.

If you, or a member of your family, is not currently a member of the Catholic Church and you would like to know more about this please visit the section on RCIA.

Once again, a very warm welcome to our parish and we look forward to getting to know you as you become involved in the life of your new community.

On behalf of Pittwater Parish

Fr George Kolodziej sds

Parish Priest

Parish Bulletins

Current and older Parish Bulletins can be downloaded here.

Matrimony, RCIA and Anointing of the Sick

As these programmes are not yet finalised for 2009, please contact the Parish Secretetary by clicking on this link for further information.

Sacramental Programmes

If you require information about the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Communion or Confirmation, please contact the Sacramental Coordinator by clicking on this link or through the "Contact Us" link near the top of all pages.

Daughters of Divine Zeal

The Daughters of Divine Zeal assist the Parish of Pittwater in  number of areas.

The Daughters of Divine Zeal (Fdz) Order of nuns was founded in Messina Italy in 1887. The Sisters are an international religious institute of women offering service to the needs of the Church in various parts of the world. The Sisters(Daughters of Divine Zeal) are vowed women called by the love of God to live their baptismal consecration and to journey continually toward perfect charity. Their founder St. Annibale Di Francia’s and their charism to obey Christ ‘s command “Pray the Lord of the Harvest to send labourers into His harvest (Mt. 9: 38, Lk. 10:2),” forms their distinct spirituality. With a fourth vow the sisters offer their lives as a prayerful oblation to God for the sanctification and increase of priests and religious and propagation of Holy Vocations. The Sisters fulfill their consecration through daily prayer for vocations, participation at Mass, office recitation, rosary, and personal prayers. The Daughters of Divine Zeal apostolate expands to all ministries in the Church. They work in parishes, schools, orphanages, nursing homes, hospitals and food/nutrition centre in the poor ghettos and among the youth.

The Daughters of Divine Zeal work in Italy, Brazil, USA, Spain, Philippines, Korea, India, Africa, Albania, Bolivia, Indonesia, Mexico, Vietnam and Australia.