Greater Western Sydney Central Council

• • Blackheath Sacred Heart – Conference President John Tweedie
  • Emu Plains Our Lady of the Way – Conference President Thomas Cook
  • Glenbrook St Finbar’s – Conference President Garry Pursehouse
  • Katoomba Mary Mackillop – Conference President Russell Smith
  • Lawson Our Lady of the Nativity – Conference President Paul Gannon
  • Springwood St Thomas Aquinas – Conference President Margaret Smith

• • Greystanes – Conference President Michael Kukla
  • Harris Park Our Lady of Lebanon – Conference President Kim Moussa
  • Parramatta St Patrick’s – Conference President Graham Cook
  • Rydalmere Holy Name of Mary – Conference President Ron Della Vedova
  • Wentworthville Our Lady of Mt Carmel – Conference President Carmel Ruddy
  • Westmead Sacred Heart – Conference President John Chandran

• • Cranebrook Corpus Christi – Conference President Greg Hall
  • Emerton Holy Family – Conference President Georg Eberl
  • Penrith St Nicholas – Conference President Brian Brainwood
  • Richmond St Monica’s – Conference President Peter Humphrey
  • St Clair Holy Spirit – Conference President Sina Carvalho
  • St Marys Our Lady of the Rosary – Conference President Peter Morgan
  • Warragamba Sacred Heart – Conference President Anthony Sciberras

• • Blacktown Mary, Queen of the Family – Conference President Deborah Squire
  • Lalor Park St Bernadette’s – Conference President Kevin Sloane
  • Marayong St Andrew’s – Conference President Samuel P Cassar
  • Plumpton – Conference President Jude D’Souza
  • Riverstone St John’s – A/Conference President Helena Greedy
  • Rooty Hill St Aidan’s – Conference President Alan Ruff
  • Seven Hills Our Lady of Lourdes – Conference President Reno Abela
  • Toongabbie St Anthony’s – Conference President Paul Sinclair

• • Baulkham Hills South Our Lady of Lourdes – Conference President Larry Hegarty
  • Baulkham Hills St Michael’s – Conference President Gary Grills
  • Castle Hill St Bernadette’s – Conference President Les Blanch
  • Kellyville Our Lady of the Rosary – Conference President Faith Lam
  • North Parramatta St Monica’s – Conference President Jacob Payra
  • North Rocks Christ the King – Conference President Ron Giacomelli
  • Glenwood/Stanhope Gardens Bl John XXIII – Conference President Kev Naati
  • Winston Hills St Paul the Apostle – Conference President Sam Formosa

Vinnies Western Sydney Community Sleepout will be held on Friday 19 August, 2022.

Currently we’re planning for a physical event, rather than virtual.

Watch this space for further details to come.

We are fortunate to have three events happening in our beautiful Greater Western Sydney within the next couple of months.

Please refer below for details on these three opportunities for St Vincent de Paul Society Members to show their support for those who need a hand up.

Your conference or region may like to select one of these events to attend.

1. Pasifika Climate Election Forum

April 27^th at Penrith Panthers club

6:00pm arrival

This is led by the Uniting Church’s Pasifika congregations along with the wiser church and local community talking about Climate Justice.

Registration link:  https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/pasifika-climate-election-forum-tickets-292840101627

2.  Parramatta Federal Candidates Forum

May 5th at Parramatta Mission.

6:30pm arrival.

Will be speaking to candidates around Affordable Rental Accommodation and Cost of Living, as well as Climate Action, and rights for refugees.

           Registration link: TO BE PROVIDED.

3.  National Sorry Day action

May 26^th at St Joseph’s Centre – 33 Barina Downs Rd, Norwest

9:45am arrival

Hills Yarning are organising this event – flyer is attached.  As Vinnies have recently re- launched our second RAP, it would be great to support this action.

RSVP by 20/05 at info@hillsyarning.com

PCC Reflect and Act Outcomes v2

Recruitment Road Map revised for Parramatta FEB 2020 V2

Opportunities Brochure FINAL (1)

Childsafe Training available via Zoom

We are currently holding sessions (subject to registrations) on:

Tuesday evenings 7.00pm – 8.30pm

Wednesday mornings 10.00am – 11.30am

Thursday afternoons 3.00pm – 4.30pm

To register for these sessions please email metromembers@vinnies.org.au

Please note you can also register in a group to attend around one computer.

Vinnies, along with CatholicCare, House of Welcome, Jesuit Refugee Services and several Parish Social Justice groups, are part of the Parramatta Diocese Social Justice group, called ‘Diocesan Journey – Walking with Refugees’ and supports the Diocesan actions wherever possible.

The Diocesan Social Justice group have decided to commence contributing weekly articles to Catholic Outlook – “stories, reflections, interviews etc. about or by one of our clients, about one of our projects, about something that is important to us at the moment, or other”, within the context of assisting a refugee or person seeking asylum.

If you have any Vinnies stories or articles to submit to Catholic Outlooks, please send to janice.stokes@vinnies.org.au, using the guidelines provided below.

This is a great opportunity to share amongst the Parramatta Diocese and Catholic Outlook’s audience, the work that Vinnies does, how we collaborate with other agencies, and the level of support that Vinnies provides the community, whilst also highlighting the issues faced by people seeking asylum and refugees.

Guidelines for Catholic Outlook news articles

• 500 words per article is a good length.
• We need at least one pic per article. They need to be horizontally oriented and we will crop them down to 960 x 500 pixels to fit in our header space at the top of each article. Please let us know the credit that should be attributed for each pic. This pic features in the header of the story and will also be the pic that appears when the article is shared to Facebook and Twitter.
• We can do links within the story. We can also embed videos. We will also need either a still from the video or else another general shot that appears when the article is shared to social media.
• Our layout is fairly limited unfortunately but we can include pics, captions, subheads, highlighted quotes, italics, bold and dot points within the story.
• Can you also send through a 1-2 sentence bio of the author and/or 1-2 sentences about the service to put the article in context. This will be published at the end of the article.

The St Vincent de Paul Society NSW launched our first Reconciliation Action Plan in February 2018. In progressing this work, we are committed to being guided by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities and organisations on the best means to advance reconciliation.   

With the assistance of Reconciliation Australia, the RAP details the Society’s commitments and key actions under three priority areas – Respect, Relationships and Opportunities.   

A State-wide Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group has been established to oversee implementation of key actions within each of these priority areas. The Metropolitan Regional RAP Committee has been established to support local implementation of the Vinnies NSW Reconciliation Action Plan and related activities.  The Metropolitan RAP committee has representation from various areas of Vinnies, including Membership representation from Broken Bay Central Council, Greater Western Sydney Central Council and Sydney Central Council. 

Please contact Caterina Tribbia for more information.

For access to many resources related to Cultural Competency, including Cultural Protocols, the Reconciliation Action Plan, Prayer of Acknowledgement and other resources:   https://mavs.vinnies.org.au/cultural-competency-framework/ 

The Bartlett Street Engagement Project came about as an initiative between between PCC, Amelie Housing, and Rydalmere Conference. The aim was to engage with the residents in order to have them communicate, share ideas and develop community spirit.

To date Rydalmere Conference have held 19 sausage sizzles, 7 hot dog days, one Christmas Dinner, total of 26 events. It was perplexing to find that some residents watched from a far for some 10-15 gatherings before they had the confidence and trust to join the group.

What a Christmas Dinner you may say!
Yes this was our year’s grand finale before a break over Christmas and New Year; members felt that residents deserved a special and memorable end to the 2019 activity. This Christmas lunch was held on Monday 18th November and it was a full sit down affair with decorated tables, bon- bons, party hats. A veritable feast!

About 35 residents enjoyed their Christmas dinner with plenty of food being available for seconds. Each resident was given a gift bag contained various items of personal hygiene/grooming, calendar ,along with a generous amount of baked treaties ( thanks to some new volunteers!)  Dr Geoff Lee State Member for Parramatta (Minister for Skills & Education ) joined the party and announced that our application for a grant for a Community Garden for Bartlett Street was approved by the Premier.

Rydalmere conference members are chuffed by the level of appreciation expressed by the residents and their willingness to continue to walk down this path of mutual respect and understanding. They feel that at last people do care for them.

As many members know Vinnies via SVDP Housing is building 502 social and affordable housing units in NSW under the SAFH program  with NSW government.

300 are in Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains; the Penrith units have had residents for 12 months now.

The Merrylands development on Centenary Rd is now full.

The Blue Mountains and Jordan Springs  properties are nearing completion.

On 5th December members of the Cumberland Regional Council, housing officers, and tailored support staff had a tour of the site. It’s still a building site but everyone was excited by the look and fitout of the units we visited.

There are 78 , 1,2,and 3 bedrooms units with great kitchens, secure access, ceiling fans, window screens, etc. The gardens, BBQ play area and other amenities will give residents plenty of out door space to help build a community. All residents will have access to a tailored support plan.

Ideally conference members will be able to help build the community.

Do conferences have an opportunity to refer people they assist to be interviewed for residency?

Yes but all prospective residents MUST be on the housing waiting list.

More information will be circulated about referral to conferences soon.

The development of a new Conference at the Matthew Talbot has been in conversation for several years.

Tony Cranney, Central Council President, has been in discussions with Leo Tucker, Executive Director, Mission and Spirituality, and Joy Bowen, of the Mission Team based at the Matthew Talbot.

Conversations have led to action, and the Matt Talbot Conference has started!!

The initial role of a Conference at the Matthew Talbot Hostel, Woolloomooloo will be a spiritual/pastoral role, which is encouraged in our Vincentian Rule in that “Promoting a life of prayer and reflection, both at the individual and community level, and sharing with their fellow members.”

The Conference is firmly based in the Talbot Hostel where space is allocated for that distinct purpose, so that the men at the Talbot are the primary recipients of care.  Joy Bowen will be responsible for the enhancement of pastoral skills and supervisory support to each individual and group.  She can also fill the space of spiritual advisor until one is nominated.  Further ministries of Conference members could include intentional friendship, practical assistance in providing household needs when men are housed, involving men in games, activities, eventually across the Woolloomooloo site, including the Ozanam Learning Centre.

If you have questions, contact Tony Cranney (Tony.Cranney@vinnies.org.au) or Joy Bowen (Joy.Bowen@vinnies.org.au).