Legion of Mary

Melbourne Senatus

Prayer with Action

REPORT ON PPC AT HASTINGS –                                   12^th -23^rd  November 2009

Several of the legionaries arrived on Wednesday 11th November in order to prepare for the commencement of the PPC. Although it was still Spring, the weather was proving to be very hot in Victoria but we did enjoy cooler evenings, being so close to the sea.

We had a chore group of twelve legionaries who stayed basically for the whole time and another 21 legionaries came for one for more days to assist.We had been told that there were approximately 20,000 homes in the Parish and it was made up of various townships such as Somerville, Hastings, Tyabb, Bittern, Balnarring, Somers, Crib Point, Shoreham and others. There was a multitude of maps and we extend our thanks and gratitude to those who prepared them so painstakingly.

We commenced with Sommerville (which was the furtherest away from our base at Hastings) and in four days had visited over two thousand homes, covering nearly all except for the sparsely populated roads on the outskirts of the township. Our final shift at Sommerville was on the first Sunday morning and the crew were very happy to visit local homes in Hastings in the afternoon as it was becoming very dry, trying to clean up the last of the homes in Sommerville.

Everyone had a great afternoon and we found several Catholics who had not been attending Church but were very interested in joining the Legion when we told them what we were doing. One has already presented herself to members of the Legion.

We continued to work in Hastings with one car now going to Tyabb (which was much smaller). Each day various legionaries would travel down to Hastings to assist and these people very much boosted our figures and assisted in the great success of the PPC. We were being wonderfully looked after by the ladies of the Hastings PPC and Alison and Jac were accommodated with their only male member, a Dutch man who lives alone and is in his 80’s. He would faithfully ride his bike each morning to Church and nearly all the local legionaries stayed for the daily Meeting which was often quite packed. Most days we went out at 10.00 am and returned for lunch at 1.00 and went out again at 2.00pm until 5.00pm. There was always a beautiful lunch with loads of fresh fruit on a platter and the local legionaries and parishioners worked tirelessly to feed us. We had tea each day at 6.00 – 6.30pm and after writing up our sheets, we would return to our host’s homes about 8.30pm.

There was quite a heat wave on during this time and many days were fiercely hot. In fact, one day when we were to visit a beautiful Estate of very large homes, we decided to rest during the middle of the day and go out at 4.30pm. This proved very fruitful as we found a good percentage of people at home and it was not so hot as during the day. We followed this pattern for two days and this method works well in Summer and with daylight savings.

We were moving through the various areas and maps and were covering the majority of the homes. As there were many outlying areas and sparsely populated, we simply went for the areas where the homes were close together and targeted the majority of people.

Meanwhile various legionaries were coming and going and quite a few of the chore group did not get there mandatory day off. In fact, several of them did not even have half a day but no-one was complaining and they were all as eager and enthusiastic as ever. Some days we had Mass at 8.00am and other days a Communion Service which was beautifully conducted by the Sacristan, Val. The Priest, Fr. Greg Reynolds had only been there for several weeks and he seemed to be extremely busy and also had to travel interstate for several days, so we did not see too much of him but he was very pleased with the way that things went.

It is a beautiful Church at Hastings, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, and the Parishioners seem very enthusiastic and willing to get involved. Every night, somebody different brought in our cooked meals and the Hastings legionaries continued to wait hand and foot upon us.

We finally finished all we could do of all areas by late on Sunday and decided to pack up and leave after Mass and a final farewell on Monday.

Fr. Greg attended this meeting together with the Hastings legionaries and everyone expressed their gratitude all around and their sorrow at leaving such a wonderful Parish. The proceeds of the secret bag $572.65 were handed over to Fr. Greg to assist the Parish in their various costs of feeding us all during this time. The final tally figures were 7293 homes visited, 3962 not home, 2720 not Catholic and 611 Catholic.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Srs. Antoinette Waite and Marie Calander for their work put into co-ordinating all legionaries who attended and arranging maps etc. and for their wise counsel and assistance during the PPC and especially to Sr. Pat Pope who is a legionary from Hastings and who was thrown in at the deep end when Fr. O’Shea was moved to Mansfield prior to the proposed PPC. Sr. Pat did a magnificent job of co-ordinating billets, cars for travel, food catering etc. We were also very blessed to have with us for the first time a great "new find" in Sr. Christine Smith from Tasmania. Sr. Christine acted as Secretary at the various Meetings and did a wonderful job of the Minutes. We have told her we want to see her on every PPC from now on. Also many thanks to ever-faithful Philippe Hennequinn for acting as our Treasurer and taking care of the funds.

We were told on the last Sunday that there were several people who had come to Church after long absences and that the number attending was greater than usual. This was also a great encouragement to us. Again, many thanks to all Parishioners, local legionaries and to the whole team of 33 legionaries who took part in this great event.

Alison Buman  PPC Team Leader

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