French's Forest Catholic Parish Notices and News

These days there are some young Catholic parents who wonder whether baptism is the proper thing for them to seek for their children. One argument they sometimes offer is that it would be better to defer baptism until their child reaches adulthood and then he or she has the opportunity to choose it. As appealing as this argument might seem on the surface, the problem is that the reasoning behind it is so inconsistently applied. Young Catholic parents do not give their children any choice about eating vegetables, learning to read or write and living out a moral code. They enforce these things because they know that nutrition, literacy and ethics are essential for adulthood. If we recognise that, from birth, a child has spiritual as well as educational, moral and physical needs, it strikes me as inconsistent to relegate this constitutively otherworldly element of a child’s character to a ‘must be decided on later’ category. Baptism is not brainwashing. Adults can come and go from the prac...

The Funeral for Patricia Bombell will be held at St Anthony’s Terrey Hills on Friday 16th January at 11am The Funeral for John Cody will be held at St Martin’s Davidson on Monday 19th January at 12:45pm We send our love and prayers to the families of the deceased.

Sincere apologies there will be no Mass at St Martin’s Davidson on Friday 23rd January. Please feel free to join in the 9:15 Mass at Forestville

From Tuesday 6 January until the end of February 2026, the Parish Office will be open on Tuesdays to Fridays only. We thank you for your understanding .

Pope Leo's World Day of Peace Message Theme of the Message for 2026 Peace be with you all: Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace. The annual celebration takes place on January 1st, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and invites the global community to reflect on the path toward peace. For a message of hope in these violent times, view the brief Youtube clip at www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJ2Ip5FwOE or read the full message at www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/peace/documents/20251208-messaggio-pace.html

Holy Father, God of our yesterdays, our today, and tomorrows. We praise You for Your unequalled greatness. Thank You for the year behind us and for the year ahead. Help us in Your new year, Father, to fret less and laugh more. To teach others to love by loving them. Knowing, when Love came to the stable in Bethlehem, He came for us. So that Love could be with us, and we could know You. That we could share Love with others. Thank You for another new year and for new chances every day. We pray for peace, for light, and for hope, that we might spread them to others. Forgive us for falling short this past year. We leave the irreparable past in your hands,  and step out into the unknown new year knowing You will go with us. We accept Your gift of a new year and we rejoice in what’s ahead, depending on You to help us do exactly what You want. We ask this in Christ our Lord.   Amen

Monday 15 December 2025 NO POLITICS - IGNORANT AND VIOLENT ANTISEMITISM MUST END I write today with a heavy heart, in profound sorrow at the loss of innocent human life in the shooting at Bondi during the Jewish Festival of Hanukkah. Families have been shattered, communities left grieving, and our Jewish brothers and sisters once again subjected to fear, trauma, and hatred. No words can undo such loss, yet silence is not an option. This is a moment of urgency for Australia. We must put down the ways of violence. We must reject hatred in all its forms. We must turn away from brutality and completely reject antisemitism. Violence corrodes the soul of a nation, and when it is directed at a people because of who they are, what they believe, or how they pray, it strikes at the very foundations of our common life. I wish to speak clearly and respectfully. There has been a call from government and sections of the media to speak of this primarily as “evil”. While the moral horror of such acts...

Dear Parish Family, Thank you so much for your incredible generosity and ongoing support! Because of you, our parish continues to thrive and serve the community. As you know, this vibrancy relies on your generosity for which there are now many different ways of giving using modern technology. In recent times we have introduced Tap’n’go machines in our churches. We have now added a new, easy, and secure way to make a contribution to support our parish—through a simple scan of a QR code. This small code allows you to give a single gift directly from your phone at any time, wherever you may be. All you need to do is open your camera, scan the code and you'll be taken directly to our secure giving page. It’s fast, easy, and helps the parish to continue the great work we’re doing together. Of course, like Tap’n’go, contributions by QR code are a once only gift. If you would like your donation to be regular and automatic, please join our Planned Giving program which is easily arranged ...