This ministry offers men the opportunity to meet with other men to reflect on the Gospel, share their faith journey and support each other through prayer and fraternity.
Meetings are held on Mondays at 7pm and Thursdays at 7.30pm in one of the Parish meeting rooms.
The ministry is coordinated by Anthony Buttigieg and the group leaders are Colin Bracken and Peter O’Toole. Mark Duggan is the ministry secretary. All men are welcome. Please contact Mark on 0407 327 006 for more details.
From Monday the 25th of July at 6:45pm and every Monday following will be the St James Men’s Ministry Group.
The key focus of the group is supporting men in fellowship, scripture based sharing and evangelisation.
Great for people who have experienced the Alpha course and other courses, to continue there faith journey and also for those who are new to the Parish, or anyone who is looking for fellowship and getting to others.
All are welcome. Coffee Tea and sweets provided. For more information, contact Anthony on 0400 142 124 or Royden on 0426 071 375.
Special thanks to Charles Mei who has been leading our men’s ministry ‘Brothers for Christ’ for many years, even through the challenging times of Covid and church renovations. We thank Charles for his deep commitment to this invaluable ministry and his love and service. Welcome to Anthony Buttigieg as the new Coordinator.
Are you a man (25+) seeking a deeper connection and relationship with Christ?
Well you are invited to join us at Brothers For Christ, a ministry for men who seek a positive, spiritual change.
We are meeting at the Paulist Centre on Mon 01 June at 6:30pm and Thurs 04 June at 7:30pm.
Choose a time that suits you. We would love to have you join us.
Deacon Royden has been holding regular prayer sessions, like retreats, rosary, Divine Mercy Novena, Mens Ministry Meetings on the Zoom platform, with a few more to be added in the coming week.
If you are interested in joining any of these to help support your prayer life and interact with other parishioners, please contact Deacon Royden on 0426 071 375 who can then send you invites to particular sessions that you may be interested in.
St James Men’s Ministry will host a Men’s Breakfast in the Paulist Centre from 8am – 11am on Saturday 16 November. All men welcome. A donation of $7 would be appreciated to cover costs.
Our guest speaker, Rev Royden D’Souza, will present a talk on Christian Leadership. He will address the 5 Cs: Character, Connection, Community, Commitment and Commission. He will help us to appreciate that we can all be effective leaders.
Please register your intention to attend on the sheet in the Narthex. For further details please contact Peter O’Toole 0410 330 864. We look forward to seeing you there; you won’t be disappointed
The Men’s Ministry end of year Mass was held on Thursday 29th November. Hat’s off to Collin Bracken who not only opened his home for this event but was a wonderful host throughout the evening.
The Mass was said by Fr Jude and the homily was based on each members’ contribution of what the Men’s Ministry group meant for them during the year.
From a group members’ perspective: each one liked the format of the gatherings as it was a “members pace” driven event vs a rigidly formatted meeting. Everyone agreed that during each meeting, the Holy Spirit was allowed to guide the level of sharing and what the week’s Gospel message meant for each one based on what was happening at that time in each of our lives. This enabled the group to explore the different perspectives and respectfully offer their opinions of what the Gospel taught.
This encouraged a different way of looking at and tackling various events as they occurred over the next fortnight until we would meet again and repeat the process. This developed a feeling of longing to attend the next meeting as refilling of these experiences – more like a refill of the Holy Spirit as levels dropped during the fortnight. Many men experienced a deeper spiritual growth as the year progressed with excellent camaraderie building among each other as well.
From a leaders’ perspective, it was realised that their role was to serve and allow the members to lead the meeting through various discussions at their own pace. This freedom allowed the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives and bring clarity and peace on how we saw and handled life’s events as the year went on.
The other main element was the BBQ – that Tony Bonicci cooked magnificently and the ambience of Collin’s home which made the whole experience fabulous! With so much positive energy and trust bubbling around, the evening was overflowing with joyful moments and it was all over in a flash.
In summary, the turnout was great and the camaraderie among the men were the highlights of the evening. I can confidently surmise that Men’s Ministry 2018 was a great success and we eagerly wait to see what 2019 has in store for us all.
We wish you a very safe and festive Advent season and a Prosperous New Year.
Mario Lobo, SJMM Group Member
On Sat 10 Nov myself and 27 other men from our Parish got together for our Men’s Breakfast. Along with beacon, eggs and coffee we were blessed to have John Hendry, a former executive member of Geelong Grammar School, give us a presentation on quality relationships.
John’s talk focused on forgiveness, love, positiveness, meditation and the importance of rest, just to name a few.
What really spoke to me was the power of forgiveness; holding onto resentments affects us and in order to heal we need to forgive others. The Monday after the men’s breakfast we had our Men’s Ministry Group and I found that everyone who participated in our discussion could relate to the differences between reacting or responding to somebody. Are we coming from a place of love or fear?
What I really liked about John’s talk was his focus on the mental, physical and spiritual aspects of our being; he went into detail but still kept it simple. John’s talk also covered all the beatitudes in the Gospel; he presented them in a way that anyone from any culture or religious background could understand and appreciate.
I would like to thank John for volunteering his time and efforts and would be pleased if Fr Jude and Peter would invite him again to speak further on this important topic of relationships.
Anthony Buttigieg
SJMM Group Leader
Two groups of men continue to meet fortnightly on Monday and Thursday nights. Recently, after twelve months as a committed leader of the Monday group, Charles Mei has decided to take a break.
We thank you, Charles, for your ongoing service to Men’s Ministry; we wish you well in all your endeavours and look forward to seeing you at meetings whenever you are able to attend. Anthony Buttigieg has agreed to lead the Monday night group. Colin Bracken continues to the lead the Thursday night group; recently attendance has grown. If you would like to know more about Men’s Ministry and/or attend a meeting please take a brochure from the narthex and/or speak to one of the leaders.
The Knights of the Southern Cross are seeking new members to form the St James Branch.
The KSC is a catholic men’s order which started in 1919 to serve the needs of the bishops. Branches were formed by men from a number of local parishes. The Werribee Branch has been in existence for many years and has members from St Andrews, St James and St Peters. The Branch meets every month.
The members have raised money to fund charitable works such as scholarships for MacKillop and Thomas Carr College students, St Vincent De Paul and other deserving recipients.
New branches will be parish based and will serve the needs of the parish priest and will be structured to meet the needs of our times.
Please consider becoming a member of the St James Branch of the KSC.
For more information please contact Steve Murphy, Branch Chairman of the Werribee Branch on 0402 084 613, or come to the Men’s Breakfast on Saturday 19 May at the Paulist Centre 8am – 11am. You may also like to click the link www.ksca.org.au or take a brochure from the narthex.
Steve Murphy, KSC Branch Chairman
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