Thanks to our Quiz Master’s, the beautiful Mon (who will be one of the MC’s for the Piece by Peace gathering at Federation Square in Melbourne) & the quick witted comedian Rob (MC for Christmas in July Debrief night) – the night went smoothly with lots of laughs and lots of prizes being given out during the night.

Highlights for the night:

• Half the hall screaming out BINGO at the same time when 0 was the last number to be called out in Mobile Bingo.
• Raising only $5 for our most expensive bottles of liquor, but pull out a $5 bottle of wine and we suddenly raised more than $40.
• The look of dread when tables realized that they didn’t get points for their round if their name wasn’t marked on the answer sheets.
• Renee at front desk being bombarded by more people then she could handle as people arrived on the night.
• Having everyone in the hall jumping out of their seats with cricket like stances as they prepared to catch OYA pens which went flying past them in the air as prizes.

But nothing beats:

• Emma’s look of complete shock when the hammer went down at our auction after she bid above her means for a Blues Jersey in the hopes of pushing the bidding price up “I guess she will be working at the Newsagents for some time to pay that off” - Rob.

Overall, it was a fabulous night and it couldn’t have been such a success without the help of all those who donated prizes and their time.

A special mention goes to:

The Norman family for donating all the sporting merchandise.

William Pownall – Donating & Making the beautiful Glass table and Terrarium

The Learning Ladder – Donation of books

FFPCA – for the Lucky Door Prizes

Krispy Kream

Dumerique Street Cinema’s

Oblate Youth Australia

And all our friends & family for all their support, donations of prizes, money and time and especially to all those who spent the past 3 days setting up the hall, running the night and then cleaning the hall!

For some words may never be able to describe their experience and for others it will be just another event in their lives, but for one moment in time, The World Youth Day Cross and Icon was at our parish and lived among us. We may never know the full effect this has had on any one person, nor may we see how this has changed our own community, but for one night we stood at the foot of the cross and that is because we believe!

Quotes from the people of our parish:

"Never before have i witnessed the whole parish experience, work, live and be a whole community"  
Rose Leto-Rerecic

"I'm speechless" Therese Vaughn

"Walking with the WYD Cross & Icon was a symbolic journey of faith, treading in the same hopeful footsteps of the youth of the world" Fran Holt

"After seeing the Cross & Icon for the 3rd time, the emotional feeling is as strong as the first time"
Steve Vaughn

I got the opportunity to be a witness to our own 'Modern Day' Disciples - Petrina Rinkin

"It was an honour and a great privelidge for me to carry the cross" Daniel Brites

"Under the Cross that night I made friends unexpectedly with a group of beautiful girls & that is the power of Christ without a doubt" Catherine Loyola

"I hope that WYD is as good as this"
Brendan Vaughn

The visit of the WYD Cross & Icon was a humbling experience...I was awestruck by the size of the cross and the beauty of the icon... It is an experience that i will carry with me always. - Monique Sammut

"Awesome" James English

The walk was great, an experience no words can describe, knowing all the places this cross had been, now we were taking it thru our streets. - Renee Ghali

"Helped me to have an open heart and aways receive his words and wisdom" Rafik Ghali

Introducing Emma

 No longer the “baby” of the group, it is hard to believe that Emma has been around for as longs as some of it’s older & (cough) wiser members.

 

 

 

 Originally a non-practicing Catholic, Emma joined the junior youth group a little over 5 years ago and has since been dubbed a “church-a-rella”, now a senior & Youth Group Coordinator it’s time to see what this Church-a-rella is all about.

 

 

 

 Since joining the youth group Emma has helped out at all the major events, she has been constant junior leader, main leader of a junior camp, speaking at last years Easter Retreat, back-stage helper at all the productions and she is a senior leader just to name a few things, so what does she think about being Youth Group Coordinator “I was excited at the prospect of taking up this new role” Emma responded, followed quickly by “ wait… don’t write that, I’ll sound like a tool.”

 

 

 

 “In all seriousness, I have some pretty big shoes to fill, because Brendan has pretty big feet” she says while laughing at her own joke. “no seriously good job & thanks for everything” she adds on as Brendan grunts at her lame joke.

 

 

 

 Finding it difficult to keep Emma on topic I grab the next person I see and ask them what they think of Emma, thankfully they take my questions a little more seriously.

 

 

 

 “Emma is a lovely person” responds the latest recruit Aly. “I think Emma will be a new breath of fresh air, her enthusiastic nature will rejuvenate youth group” Monique continues passionately.

 

 

 

 Emma butts in with “my eyes are full of integrity” and we all have a laugh at her lack of modesty, “well that’s what father Paul says” she adds on laughing herself.

 

 

 

 But youth group and church only make up one aspect of her life. At 20 years of age Emma has just finished her Bachelor of Entertainment and is now looking for a full time job in events management. She describes herself as “funny, outgoing, goddess-like, talkative and friendly”.

 

 

 

 Her most embarrassing moment? “Geez, where do I start?” says Emma trying to deflect the question while Brendan quickly interjects “Please don’t start at the beginning”.

 

 

 

 In the interests of helping people get to know her better she tells the infamous story of how she “accidentally” poured petrol on herself while filling the car up at the servo. It’s a story everyone loves to hear & Emma takes the continuous flow of banter at her expense quite well as the stories continue to be embellished by all the members of the group (whether they were there or not, doesn’t seem to matter).

 

 

 

 2008 is surely going to be a big year for the group with the Journey of the Cross and Icon in March, WYD, two camps and Youth Masses to look after and as my final question I couldn’t help but ask about how Emma will deal with such a jam packed year. “I don’t have anything I want to implement as such, as it is going to be a very hectic year but at the same time if I see a need for the group I’ll do my best to fulfil it” she answers in a non tool like manner, with eyes full of integrity, and no lame joke to follow. 

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Emma will be working alongside our parent couple Mamma & Papa Vaughn and our Spiritual Guru Fr Daniel throughout this year to ensure the success of the group continues to thrive.

With WYD approaching, Emma has the legendary task of making sure all the leaders are on the ball with their youth group commitments, and this year she will be working closely with:

Renee G – Stations of the Cross

Kim B & Brendan V -  Senior Camp

Renee G – Petrina R – Junior Camp

James P – Musical Director

(not to mention all the seniors who will take up leadership roles on the monthly leaders calendar)

Yes you read correctly – we are attempting to get up and running our very own Senior Camp this year. Each year we travel to Melbourne for the annual encounter, however it was brought to the groups attention that we haven’t had a camp for just us and for those who would like to join our group. So keep your eyes opened for this event!!!

In short, this will be an exciting year, with hopefully more new faces to join our group as the build up to WYD continues.

A special welcome goes out to the new seniors and juniors who joined our group this week, we look forward to seeing you again next Tuesday!

Every Tuesday in the Youth Group Room (located in the hall)

Juniors – 7pm – 8pm

Seniors – 8.15pm – 9.30pm

Livin’ la Vida Loca

Parish Social Fundraiser

Saturday, 24^th November 2007

Thank you to the faithful few who attended the dance & thank you to everyone who donated their time or money.

We raised $510 from the night. A special thank you goes out to

Sefton Oblate Youth who donated $300 & the FFPCA who donated $300.

Raising a total of $1,100 in the past two months.

Well Done everyone!

Winter Wonderland Trivia Night

Saturday 28th July 2007

Congratulations to Petrina and the WYD Portfolio on a successful night...

$2,000 raised and a whole lot of fun had in a great community building event!

Well done!!!

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It may have taken the team over 13 hours to have the hall up and running and in tip-top shape but it was well worth the effort when members of the parish walked into see their beloved hall transformed into a Winter Wonderland, full of bubbles, winter snacks, chocolate fountains, Gus the snowman and so much more!

Thank you to the Juniors who attended!                        Spontaneous dancing at Trivia is a Must!

Petrina demonstrates how to eat a chocolate covered Strawberry , While Fran and Renee pose for the camera. Well done to Renee who won best dressed "on team", no doubt followed closley by Margaret and Fran! Thank you to the boys who dressed up aswell.

Just some of the Team and Fran with Gus the snowman

Rob & Mon - Winter Wonderland Quiz Masters

We had a last minute table crisis where Sefton came to the rescue, not only brining their tables but also having 2 tables participate! Margaret looked stunning as a judge along side Emma and Fran, while Helani looked like an angel helping out where ever need... which was everywhere!

Thank you to Sefton for supporting the Trivia Night.

Friday 8th June 2007: Wet & Windy

Forecast for weekend: Even Worse

Theme Song: Rock This Party

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Forget going to Wet & Wild, we had our very own Wet & Wild experience at Junior Camp but don't be fooled, no amounts of rain or wind could dampen our sprits.

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Walking into camp I was unsure of what to expect, but of all things I thought it might be, nothing would have ever prepared me for a SuperHero Convention.

Yes I was warned to wear a superhero costume but did I think anyone would actually partake in this dress up theme, lol not really.

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There were many characters to be seen Superman, Spider Girl/not yet a woman, Mother Nature, Gorilla Man, Wizards & more! And it was this Superhero theme that ran throughout the weekend.

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During the week we had to:

- Find the discussion group leader (by completing a Superhero puzzle of them)

- Make Superhero masks which reflects your personality

- Superhero Training Session 1: Recognising the Power; lead by Brendan & Brites

- Create a Kite & Paper aeroplane & reflect on the holy sprit in our lives

- Superhero Training Session 2: Activating the Power; lead by Kim & Petrina.

- Create a comic strip where you activated the power within your own life

- Had a Junior Group Youth mass

- and so much more.

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Perhaps the highlights of camp for me was having a couple hours break from the storm where we could all go out and fly the kites we made as well as preparing for youth mass.

Everyone was great! the food was great, the activities were great!!!

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In short it was the BEST Youth Camp EVER!!!

Within Every Ordinary Person is the potential to become a Superhero... All you have to do is Act1v8 The Power!!!

Below are some of Eagle Vales finest SuperHeros!!!

Please note that a picture tells a thousand tales and there will be many more pic’s coming up including Super Chef (who was super huge) and lots more! So keep popping on to check out this page.

This article is only a quick summary of what happened so please feel free to write another article if you were there and email it to petrinarinkin@hotmail.com.

The day began like any other Good Friday in our parish.

The Easter Retreat team headed by Kristina, Kim & Cat were in the hall bright and early setting up for the day. There was the usual last minute calls for help, “Extension… I need an extension cord… Jesus where’s your crown? JESUS always has a crown of thorns… pssshhh” 

But by 10am all was calm and we were ready for the parish to come together for Stations of the Cross (mimed by the Eagle Vale Youth Group).

If you are a regular you may recall the “usual” structure of games, prayer, a talk done by a special guest, followed by activities, lunch, and a closing prayer.

Luckily for those long time regulars the team had something new and different up their sleaves. Instead of a talks there were 4 different workshops to choose from, Social Justice, Beading, Pop Culture & Music.

Perhaps the most fun part of the day was making a making a music video which we turned into a DVD & played at one of our Youth Masses.

Another Highlight was watching Emma holding a “Free Hugs” sign out the front of church and seeing parishioners who hardly say BOO come up and give her a hug. Thanking her for making their day!

Perhaps that’s an idea to be used more often :)