Story By: Patti McNaught

On 13 March, some parishioners from St Mary MacKillop Parish Highfields travelled to Brisbane to hear Fr Richard Leonard present “Living Liturgy: Being sent out on Mission to the World.” When this was advertised in the bulletin, parishioners were keen to go. As we were all oldies, we thought that hiring a bus would be better than travelling in tandem in cars. Thankfully, Mary MacKillop Catholic College loaned us their small bus, and Joe Tonkin came forward as our driver.

On the day, we all met in the same location, and soon, everyone was on board. Joe had arranged some music to entertain us along the way, and we arrived in good time for the 7:00pm presentation. At the Hanley Room, we were greeted with a cuppa and a chance to meet parishioners from other towns before the presentation.

Introduced and assisted by Michael Mangan, Fr Richard Leonard was at his brilliant best as he delivered his great presentation. He touched on the fact that we are nourished by word and sacrament at our weekly Eucharist. The gathered community are then sent out to live and proclaim our faith, hope and love in Christ. What does the world look like into which we are sent? What liturgy might enable us to reclaim a missionary energy that is hospitable, bold, inclusive, and Catholic? It was only a 60-minute talk with Q&A afterwards, but we could have listened to him for longer.

Fr Leonard made mention of the Toowoomba crowd that travelled to see him and thanked us. Huge thanks go to the college for the loan of their bus, and to the best driver on the planet, Joe, for the fun and laughter that we all enjoyed on the way to Brisbane and back. A wonderful night, well worth waiting for. We are now known as “Oldies Inc.” and will travel together on more occasions such as this in the future.