THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER
8th May 2011
Graphics and cartoons & liturgical material appear only in the printed version
UNDERSTANDING THE TALMUD
Father McManus begged Rabbi Levy to teach him the principles of the Talmud. "But you wouldn't understand the spirit behind the Talmud," insisted the rabbi. "Please try. I'm fascinated by it." "All right, I'll give you a test. I'll ask you three questions. "First: Two men come down a chimney. One is white, the other is black and filthy. Which one washes himself?" "Well, obviously, the dirty one," answers the puzzled priest. "No, it was the clean one because he looked at the dirty one and thought he himself was as dirty, whereas the dirty man saw the clean man and decided he was clean as well, so did not wash himself. "Second question: Two men are coming down a chimney. One is dirty, the other is clean. which one washes himself?" "Well, the clean one, of course." "No, the dirty one, because he looks at himself, compares his dirty condition to the clean man's and washes himself. "Third question: Two men are coming down a chimney. One is clean, the other is filthy. Which one washes himself?" "Well, er, I don't know any more." "See!" exulted the rabbi, "how could two men come down the same chimney and one be dirty and the other clean?"
PROGRESS
All progress is based upon a universal, innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income. (S Butler)
TOUCH
Eating is touch carried to the bitter end. (S Butler)
RETURNING TO ZIMBABWE (23)
Andrew Neaum
This is the twenty third episode of an account of the recent trip
to Zimbabwe and Lesotho made by Diana and myself last October.
The previous episodes can be found on my website:
http://www.andrewneaum.com/articles.htm
I would have loved to have taken Diana on a trip to the Kadoma parish "out-centres" to which I regularly made my way while Rector there. However we did not have time to do so.
Chakari and dagga
There were two major out-centres in the parish. The first and nearest was Chakari, a township about thirty eight kilometres north of Kadoma along a narrow strip road. It comprised little more than the Dalny gold mine, which is still apparently in operation and one of the biggest gold mines in the country these days. I was acquainted with the place before ever I went there as a priest, because my sister and her husband had lived there for several years when he was a young policeman. This was in the days before the British South Africa Police became a para-military force in response to the increasing severity of the guerrilla war.
To be a country policeman in those pre-war days would have been almost as enjoyable as being a parish priest. It involved long treks into the bush, either on a motorbike or horse, dealing with largely minor offences and a population for the most part naturally law-abiding. I remember as a university student travelling with my brother in law in a police car around the Chakari area and talking to him about the widespread use of "dagga" among the general African population. He told me that almost everyone used it, and so as we passed someone walking along the road I suggested we stopped and searched him. This we did and sure enough he had a pouch of the stuff on him, and he was duly cautioned. I have since discovered that the "dagga" in such widespread use in those days in Southern Africa was more than likely not cannabis as we know it in the West, but a far milder "wild dagga", leonotis leonurus , sometimes called "Lion's Tail". It was much used in African traditional medicine as a treatment for fevers, headaches, dysentery, flu, chest infections, epilepsy, constipation, intestinal worms, spider bites, scorpion stings, hypertension, snakebites and more. I suspect that nowadays the more potent variety so widely and stupidly used in the Western world, cannabis sativa is more commonly used.
Empress mine
The trip to Chakari was through fairly intensive farming country and so even at the height of the guerrilla war was never hugely dangerous, though for a year of so there was a total curfew outside the town from about four o'clock in the afternoon. The soil around Kadoma is richly red and more suitable to maize, wheat, sorghum and cotton than to tobacco, which prefers a sandier and lighter soil. As with Victoria in Australia, so too with much of Zimbabwe, there are the relics of gold diggings and mines all over the place.
The other out-station I visited regularly to take services was about fifty kilometres southwest of Kadoma, the Empress Nickle Mine which was run by Rio Tinto, the head office of which was at Eiffel Flats just outside of Kadoma. The Empress Mine closed down in 1982 and as far as I know has never reopened. I used to stay overnight there and as the war developed had to travel in armed convoy. The countryside to the southwest was more dangerous being less populated and more devoted to cattle ranching than conventional farming.
We took a quick trip around the town before heading back to Harare. Superficially the place has not changed enormously. It appeared drier than I ever remember it, and scruffier, but Warwick Street, upon which All Saint's and its Rectory stand, is still lined with its lovely "flamboyant" trees, which were in bloom. They reminded me of how I used to walk up that street to take an evening service at the local high school in my cassock, and how on one memorable evening I had been the recipient of a derisive wolf whistle from some young hoons in a passing car, my response being to sway my hips and skirts in what I considered to be a seductive fashion.
Africanisation
Very few if any of of the old parishioners I had ministered too would be still around, indeed many of their names were recorded on the board in church as resident now in the memorial garden. The services these day are quite rightly all in Shona, and the church looks well cared for and alive. There were signs of a vibrant African choir and it would have been good to be able to experience this, but this was not to be.
In my day the parish had been largely white, for our society in those days was a divided one, blacks were allocated to their own areas and had their parishes there. The Africans who actually lived in the town tended to be servants living in what was usually poky and inadequate accommodation. While our parish church was in theory open to their attendance at its services, most of them would be busy at service times and so if they attended church they did so in the "townships" in the afternoons when they had time off. No matter how much we might deplore the dreadful Mr Mugabe, no one with any sense of right and wrong would ever wish back Mr Ian Smith and his myopic and racist vision.
To the parish born
I have enjoyed every parish of which I have been the rector, and Gatooma was no exception. I consider myself to have been called to be no more than a parish priest. My father was a fine one and it is a vocation for which I am all but tailor made myself. One of the greatest blessings that Bishop John Hazlewood granted me when I first came to Australia was to allow me the freedom to crucify any likelihood of preferment by encouraging me to be unutterably outrageous as editor of his diocesan paper, the Ballarat Chronicle! This I was, with gusto, and although every bishop read the paper with great interest and amusement they would also shudder at the thought of having to cope with such an uninhibited, articulate, cocksure and irreverent priest in any position other than of the most modest of sorts in their diocese. For this I am grateful.
My only problems in Gatooma were with "charismatics" who in those long gone days were in the ascendant. There is nothing at all wrong with prayer groups and talking in tongues, so long as they are kept in good Anglican balance and proportion. There was one little old lady in Kadoma, however, who was the centre of a little band that tended towards fanaticism. She once told me, to my amusement, of a visit she and a band of her fellow healing-freaks had arranged to the local hospital to pray for a relative of hers called Vince who was grievously ill with some dreadful cancer. "Father," she informed me with some horror, "he is an unbeliever." She went on to tell me that she and her fellow harpies had surrounded his bed and prayed and prayed and prayed, before asking the patient solemnly and expectantly: "do you give yourself to the Lord, Vince." There was silence for a while and then she said, with disgust, "do you know what he said? He said, ‘I suppose so.....'" I sympathised with him.
My brother was once asked the same question by an American dental surgeon who had both of his hands and forearms in my brothers mouth bloodily extracting his wisdom teeth. My brother too thought it politic to gurgle a less than heartfelt "yes."
So we turned our back on Kadoma and headed back to Harare the way we came, taking especial care at traffic lights because so many of them do not work. (To be continued)
OF BIRDS AND MICE
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
CONGRATULATIONS
Birthdays
Merle Maskell 8th May
Joyce Oxley 10th May
Jim Olphert 12th May
Jennifer Pleming 14th May
Norm Mitchelmore 14th May
Anniversaries
Bev & Michael Condon 12th May
CONFIRMATION CLASSES
At 4.15 on Tuesday the 10th of May there will be the first of this year's Junior Confirmation Classes. Will all those interested please come along. At this meeting we take down necessary details and discuss the best dates and times for classes.
VERY IMPORTANT
You will note that your Patronal Festival invitation is on the back page of "Outreach". We do need numbers for catering so please fill in the form and return to the office. If for some reason you have not received an "Outreach" see Heather at the office and she will give you one. We hope that there will be a great turnout for this special day. It is a lovely occasion when our Parish gets together to celebrate our heritage and enjoy a good time together. Please have a look at your diaries and give the day priority. It is also a good opportunity to invite anyone who may be lonely, new to Shepparton or would like to reunite with their Faith, a good outreach opportunity.
READINGS 4th Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:41-47; 1 Peter 2:1-10
PASTORAL CARE
If you are going into hospital, have family in hospital or would like home communion please let us know and we will arrange a visit from a Pastoral Carer or a Priest.
G.V Extended Care Auxiliary
Film & Boxed Luncheon: "Easy Virtue". Featuring Oscar Winning Colin Firth who starred in "The King's Speech”. Thursday May 12th 11.30lunch-12.30pm film $20 per ticket from Mimma's Hairdressing Wyndham Mall 58318220 All proceeds to Grutzner House and Mary Coram Wings of G.V. Health.
"Moving On" Grief Support Group
Dinner meeting Tuesday 10th May 6.30pm in the Narthex. Our Guest speaker will be Carmel Smith from Hospice she will be addressing "How as palliative care nurses do we prepare families and Carers for the terminal phase of an illness". Please place names on the list on the narthex table to help with catering. Cost $5
Turaton Concert - St. Augustine's Hall
7.30pm Friday 13th May "Songs from the Heart" Tickets will be available from the office $20/Concession $15, includes supper, please bring a friend along and support this effort.
Hospice Service
Next Sunday 15th May at 2.30pm there is a Hospice Memorial Service here at St. Augustine's. All welcome
Welcome
We welcome today "Friends of Holy Trinity Cathedral" and thank them for being with us.
Lady Day Morning Tea
Thank you to all those who sold raffle tickets. The amount raised was $300 and will be sent to ABM towards education and clean water. 1st prize - Joy Martin, 2nd prize - Joyce Auldrige. Anyone who still has sold or unsold tickets could you please contact Nola Brewer.
Evening Guild
Members are reminded of the May 19th meeting at Golden Orchard, Boundary Road, Shepparton East. Cars meeting at St. Augustine's car park at 1.15pm to leave by 1.30pm phone Merle 58315601. All welcome
Friendship Group
Meeting Tuesday May 17th. We will be leaving the church car park at 1.45pm to arrive at Billabong Nursery complex at 2pm. We will be taken on a guided tour of the complex before we enjoy afternoon tea in their tea rooms. Cost $7 per person. There will also be an opportunity to visit their shop. All welcome, for further information contact Betty Garraway 58254564.
Biggest Morning Tea
The Shepparton Unit will be hosting their Annual B.M.T. in St. Augustine's Supper room on Monday, May 23rd at 10.00am
Please come along & support this very worthy cause. Wilma/Bev
Welcome
We welcome today to our Children's Service, Luke, Jody-Lee and Imogen Maskell and Joshua, Ellen & Emilia Grieve as part of their baptism preparation.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
May 12th G.V Health Ext. Care film afternoon & lunch
May 13th Turaton Concert 7.30 in St. Augustine's Hall
May 15th Hospice Service 2.30pm
May 17th Hospice Bi-annual Fund Raising Function
May 22nd Patronal Festival
May 26th Raffle Sub-Committee meeting
May 28th Garden Working Bee
June 3rd Synod
June 4th Synod
June 5th Alternative Worship Service
June 16th Parish Fair Planning Group meeting 4pm
June 25th Garden Working Bee
July 17th Bishop's Visit
July 30th Garden Working Bee
Aug 20th Wedding
Aug 27th Garden Working Bee
Sept 24th Wedding
Sept 24th Garden Working Bee
Oct 1st Wedding 2pm
Oct 8th Wedding 2pm
Oct 8th Wedding 3.30pm
Oct 22nd Parish Fair & Garden Party
Oct 23rd Confirmation
Oct 29th Wedding
Oct 29th Garden Working Bee
Dec 10th Wedding
REQUESTS FOR PRAYER
Nicole Ackland, Lorraine Ashbury, Jeffrey Andrewartha, Deb Bagley, Liam Bognar, Kaye Boyle, Ian Carman, Tom Downie, Kath Grills, John Griffin, Frank Harder, Leigh Harder, Margaret Hoare, Katherine Holt, John & Kate Horder, Glenda Kuehnapfel, Hilder Lidgard, Lyn Morcom, Margaret Kidman, Albert Oxenbury, Isabelle Richards, Peter Swindells, Suzanne Singh, Patricia Sparkes, Shirley Young, David, Bonny & Keith, Peter.
Anniversary of death:
Jim Reither, Eva Wooton 8th, Bosilka Damianopoulos, Simon Keeley 9th, June Reid, Roger Knights 11th, Charles Causon, Alma Broughton 12th, May Jones, Douglas Walker 13th, Julie McKendry 14th,
Duties for 8th May 2011
Readers 8.30 Victoria Heenan, John Wellman
Readers 10.30 Nancy Noonan, Verna Pestell
Servers 8.30 Beth, Michelle
Servers 10.30 Greg Pestell, Eve & Grace Way
Intercessors Clergy, Children
Euc. Assts 8.30 Carole Henderson, Ian Bryce??
Euc. Assts 10.30 Christine Evans, Joe Fernandez
Welcomers 8.30 Eileen Quaife, Volunteer
Welcomers 10.30 Jenny Moran, Frank Steen
Sidespeople 8.30 Trevor Batey, Joy Campbell
Sidespeople 10.30 Alan Akers, Charlotte Brewer
Tea 8.30 Gwyn Cowland
Welcoming Table 8.30 Dorothy Cook
Mowing 7th Norm Mitchelmore, Joe Cummins
Altar Linen for May Bev Reither
Duties for 15th May 2011
Servers 8.30 Michelle, Beth
Servers 10.30 Frank, Beth, Sophie
Intercessors Bev Condon, Jenny Pleming
Euc. Assts 8.30 Carole Henderson, Bev Condon
Euc. Assts 10.30 Jenny Pleming, Greg Pestell
Welcoming 8.30 Gwen Betson, Shirley Dean
Welcomers 10.30 Sandra Simonis, Charlotte Brewer
Sidespeople 8.30 Joe Pearson, Norm Mitchelmore
Sidespeople 10.30 Nola Brewer, Volunteer
Welcome Table Bev
Altar Linen for May Bev Reither
Tea 8.30 Val Bambrook
Mowing None this week
THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Monday 9th May
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Arise 255
Tuesday 10th May
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
10.00am Playgroup
11.00am Shepparton Aged Care/A. Russell
4.15pm Confirmation Classes/Library
6.30pm "Moving On" Dinner Meeting/Narthex
Wednesday 11th May
7.45am Mattins only - Lady Chapel
10.00am Eucharist - St Augustine's
2.00pm Vestry
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
6.00pm EfM - Roz's Room
Thursday 12th May
7.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist - Harmony
3.30pm Evening Prayer - Lady Chapel
5.30pm Choir Practice
Friday 13th May
8.45am Mattins & Eucharist - Lady Chapel
11.00am Eucharist - Ave Maria
7.30pm Turaton Concert
Saturday 14th May Associate Priest's Day off
7.45am Mattins only - Lady Chapel
6.00pm Vigil Eucharist - Lady Chapel
4th Sunday of Easter 15th May
8.30am Sung Eucharist - St Augustine's
10.30am Eucharist - St Augustine's
8.45am Eucharist - Dookie
10.45am Eucharist- Katandra
2.30pm Hospice Memorial Service