The Messenger
St George the Martyr, Goodwood
August, 2026
Dear Friends
EVERY MORNING when I read the news of late, I seem to think almost automatically, what has President Trump done now? I am perhaps used to politicians stretching the truth, but never the blatant disregard for truth we are seeing now. As the war with Iran continues, as the petrol prices go up and down, I have heard so many times that the war is over from the President, to only have it start again.
Besides the convenient distortion of facts to suit politics, there is the continual misery of people, the people in Iran, under an autocratic government and being bombed; the continual misery of people in Gaza where the promises of reconstruction are another ‘truth’; or the misery of people suffering from war in the Ukraine, or Sudan, or Myanmar, or too many other places.
I was liked the discussion of truth recently in an article in the Tablet, a UK Roman Catholic paper, about Pope Leo’s recent publication Magnifica Humanitas that:
What is at stake is a basic respect for truth – and it is impossible to read Leo’s words except as a rebuke to President Donald Trump and others who regard information as something to be shaped and controlled, in order to protect and enhance their power: “When questions about what is true lose their appeal, and a pragmatism takes hold that is content with what appears useful or effective, then democratic life is weakened … Indifference to the truth leads, slowly but surely, to a descent into totalitarianism.”
Leo notes [in Magnifica Humanitas] that the “technocratic paradigm” identified by Pope Francis – in which a mindset of efficiency, profit, and control dominates human and ecological relationships – is coming to permeate all forms of human interaction. Leo himself identifies a second mindset that characterises this sometimes dispiriting moment: “a culture of power” that is increasingly distorting our sense of what human coexistence really means, promoting the lie that human beings are fundamentally driven in their relationships by conflict and violence. Leo recalls us to the truth about human beings, mysterious and elusive though of course we are. We are not machines, and we are not fundamentally greedy and violent. In our brokenness, in our longing to love and be loved, in our desire to repair our broken world, in our need to forgive and to seek forgiveness, we are – the audacious Christian story goes – glorious.
It is well worth remembering that point, that we are not fundamentally greedy or violent. We are the glorious children of God, made in God’s image. Just as God is love, so we show this forth, by truth and forgiveness. Toleration is integral to who we are.
This is very Anglican as well. Perhaps the greatest of the early post-Reformation Anglican theologians was a man called Richard Hooker – he died in 1600. What is characteristic about his theology is not his defence of the Anglican settlement in the Reformation, but the toleration he showed towards those who held opposing opinions. Martin Luther, by contrast, was rather bellicose towards his opponents and tended to denigrate them – Hooker instead takes a middle ground of respecting and disagreeing. I rather like to think it has to do with our Benedictine monastic foundation of the church in England – St Benedict was also one who promoted moderation in the religious life.
We celebrated St Benedict’s Day here at St George’s last month with the oblates renewing their vows to follow the Rule of St Benedict, insofar as their state of life allows, and the vows of a new oblate to our community. Our oblates are not pseudo monks and nuns – they are lay people living in the world, but reading Benedict’s Rule daily, to inspire them to live a life of moderation and devotion.
On pastoral matters it was a joy to bless Anait and Martha Masih early one cold Wednesday morning for their 64th wedding anniversary. I also attended the requiem for the repose of the soul of Rosalie Haring, sister of the late Emily, who was for so long a great stalwart of our parish. During July we also had Nic and Debbie Osmond visiting us from Dallas, Texas, and their daughter Victoria became engaged to her American boyfriend Malachi during the visit, suitably on Glenelg beach.
Catholic Renewal Sunday
I have included in this newssheet the sermon of Archdeacon Andrew Eaton that he gave here for Catholic Renewal Sunday in July. Our annual commemoration of the start of the Catholic Revival movement in 1833 is part of our shared heritage with the other great Anglo-Catholic churches throughout Australia and the wider Anglican Communion.
Finances
We are fortunate as a parish to have built up a significant endowment to help pay for the running of our activities. Our thanks to those generous benefactors over time, most notably through bequests. A reminder to those making wills to please remember St George’s – the money should be left to the Coulthard Memorial Fund Inc, which is our investment fund and separate from the Diocese.
However, there is still the need to give in the plate, and rightly so, for sacrificial giving is part of a Christian’s life. If you have not increased your giving for some time, please consider an increase – even if only two or five dollars to help us keep up with the ever-rising costs of living.
Papua New Guinea
I will be away for one Sunday, 16 August, as I will be at Mount Hagen in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Archdeacon Michael Whiting will be taking the services that day. The last day for collecting any old mobiles (suitably factory reset) to take there will be Sunday 9 August.
Visit of Bishop
Bishop Sophie will be our guest preacher for our Dedication Festival on Sunday 6 September. We have yet to set a date for the visit of of the new archbishop.
Benediction
A reminder of our monthly benediction service on the first Wednesday of every month at the new times of 5 pm, followed by wine and pizza. This half hour service is ably led by Deacon Ben Falcon, who gives a short reflection. The next one will be Wednesday 5 August then Wednesday 2 September.
See you at church,
God Bless,
Fr Scott
Sermon for Catholic Renewal Sunday
HUES of the rich unfolding morn,
That, ere the glorious sun be born,
By some soft touch invisible
Around his path are taught to swell; —
Thou rustling breeze so fresh and gay,
That dancest forth at opening day,
And brushing by with joyous wing,
Wakenest each little leaf to sing; —
So begins John Keble’s poem ‘Morning’, from his wildly successful 1827 book of poetry, ‘The Christian Year’. My copy was a gift by the rector of St Peter’s East Maitland, Lovick Tyrrell, to his friend Gertrud Clift on her wedding day, on the 12th October 1886, just 13 days after the dedication of the new St Peter’s Church.
Tyrell, like Canon Wise from this parish, and many many other Australian Anglicans, must have been inspired by Keble and the Oxford Movement and sought a place for the catholic heart in this Country. A banner saying ‘Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness’ was hung over the West doors of St Peter’s at its dedication. And just a month after Tyrrell gave this very book to Gertrude Clift, he wrote to the Maitland Mercury Newspaper saying:
“I write in the interests of the church, that there may be peace within her borders…that the church is truly Catholic in the sense she allows a widely extended range of doctrine and practice, and so embraces all shades of opinion…”
and a little later on he continues:
“And in regard to Ritualism, so called High, Broad and Low Church have their several Rituals… some prefer surpliced choirs, others object to them; some turn East at the Creed, others think this practice superstitious; some stand when they give to God in this Holy House, others prefer sitting…”
This sounds a little like the comprehensive Anglicanism we hear from many of our Bishops in the 21st century.
It is good we are celebrating Keble, John Henry Newman, Edward Pusey and others whose Oxford Movement led to catholic renewal in the Anglican Church. Because while the issues that first arose in 1833 that led Keble to preach his sermon, National Apostasy, namely the interference of government in the church, are not our concerns, we might be bold enough to explore or even name what is the greatest threat to the church in our day, and how we might seek catholic renewal in the church in our time.
While the temptation might be to look at the secularisation of society and see the church under attack from outside, I think one of the greatest threats to the church is from within. A move to homogenisation – one way of doing theology, one way to think and practice within the church, to create a monoculture in the same way some in secular politics are trying to lay claim to a monoculture in this country.
There is a richness to our catholic heritage, our liturgical practice, our prayer, our contemplation that leads to action, the incarnational and sacramental bedrock of our faith, that is not motivated by numbers, but participation in the divine life.
At the most recent Anglican Consultative Council in Belfast, the Anglican Communion launched Vision36 was launched – a call to plant or restore one million, that’s right, one million churches across the communion. Former warden of Trinity College and more recently Dean of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, Andrew McGowan, said to Anglican Bishops in the US last year that these new programs always aimed at growth don’t work and won’t save the church from decline.
I won’t go into all his reasoning, but he did say if we as church are to be anything in the face of decline, we need to be authentic, not starting from the premise of how do we sell something, but rather how do we live more deeply the call of Christ.
In the Gospel set for today, Jesus gives us a blueprint for authentic Christian living. Not an instruction manual for holy living per se, but rather Jesus naming to the crowds gathered on the mountain ‘who in their world’ was best suited and situated to hear the arrival of ‘the Kingdom of God’ as Good News.
We know Jesus faced opposition to his call to repent and believe in the Good News. Often those well-placed to hear his message were those who benefitted most from the Status Quo. The religious elites, the powerful, the wealthy. So instead, its as if Jesus is saying to the crowds, and us, if you find yourself saying, yes!, Amen!, that’s me!, to any of these blessings, then it is you then who are well disposed to hear the Good News. Because they are so well known I might just touch on one or two.
Blessed are the Meek, for they will inherit the earth.
We know our world is structured around virtues of wealth, power and might as governing who and what is successful. But I wonder if Jesus is saying ‘you are blessed when you are gentle and trusting, not grasping and trying desperately to hold on to success, because God’s Kingdom will be open to you’.
What would it look like for the church, or us as disciples, to not be ‘grasping’ for success, to not need to be close to the seat of political power, to not be a church anxious and turning to the next program designed to fill churches, but instead live authentically, gently, as disciples of the crucified and risen Lord, trusting God and God’s providence strengthened by the eucharist, daily offices and personal and contemplative prayer. How can we be brave enough to rest in God’s peace and embrace life as a gift? The meek, the gentle, they know how to do this.
We have examples of this in our lifetime, such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Blessed memory.
We know him as the fearless campaigner against the oppressive regime of Apartheid, usually with a smile on his face. But he was also a man of deep faith. And the bedrock of that faith was his catholic spirituality. His long-time offsider, Bishop Michael Nuttall preached at his funeral, saying.
“Here is the mystery of the interior pilgrimage of the soul. There were three P’s about our Archbishop; he was the prophet, the pastor and the pray-er. What many perhaps did not realise was that the prayer undergirded, guided and prompted all the rest. A daily Eucharist was his custom, regardless of the circumstances; I remember having one with him in Frankfurt airport when we waited for a connecting flight.”
A daily eucharist was his custom – which undergirded, guided and prompted all the rest.
A second Beatitude. Blessed are the Pure in Heart for they shall see God.
I heard this paraphrased as ‘Blessed are those with a clean window in their Soul, for they will perceive God’s presence when and where others don’t’.[1] On Catholic Renewal Sunday, this is a beatitude that comes with a warning label.
Because regardless of what expression of faith and spirituality we might align within the Anglican church, we can easily find ourselves with a dirty, cloudy, grimy window to the soul. The Pharisees were perhaps the best example in Jesus’ time. People of deep faith, at least initially, who over time became self-righteous and terribly judgmental, convinced that if God did send a Messiah he would probably look and sound like one of them.
They couldn’t perceive God’s presence in Jesus. But the tax collectors could. The Sinners, the demonically possessed, the prostitutes could see him. They knew they were in need of forgiveness.
They were open to repentance. Repentance is like Windex for the window of the soul. This beatitude reminds us that welcoming the Kingdom of God into our lives isn’t a head problem, but a heart problem.
Orthodox Bishop and Saint Theophan the Recluse writes:
“You must descend from your head to your heart. At present your thoughts of God are in your head. And God Himself is, as it were, outside you, and so your prayer and other spiritual exercises remain exterior. Whilst you are still in your head, thoughts will not easily be subdued but will always be whirling about, like snow in winter or clouds of mosquitoes in the summer.”[2]
These beatitudes lead us to ask; are we open to receiving the Good News. And if yes, how will we respond?
Our forebears, like Canon Wise of St George’s, caught a vision of the Kingdom drenched in the beauty of holiness, the tradition of the early church and the prayers of the people. In the face of stiff opposition from Archbishop Nutter Thomas, including for observing a requiem mass on All Souls day, he held the line in renewing the catholic practice of the church in this parish, and in this country. In an article titled ‘Canon Wise and the Congress’ in the ‘Quiz and Lantern’ periodical from November 1906, the author summarises Canon Wise’s speech to the Anglican Congress in Melbourne, finishing with: “it will be interesting to look for developments in the Anglican fold if the Goodwood Canon intends to carry out his Ritualistic ideas in the face of the opposition he has created among those of his denomination”.
I think you and I gathering here today, celebrating Keble, Newman, Wise, Tyrrell, Tutu (and dare I say it, Moncrieff) is evidence enough of the positive developments that came about because of commitment to our catholic tradition and living the gospel authentically.
May we be enlivened by their faith, encouraged by their witness, and prepared to be the faithful remnant who being grounded in the eucharist, the daily office and personal prayer, can be part of the renewal of the catholic faith within Anglicanism, at a time when the world is crying out for a serious faith, a faith with beauty, mystery, wisdom, and contemplation.
Archdeacon Andrew Eaton, Recor of St Peter’s East Maitland, SMMS at St George’s Goodwood
Sunday 12 July 2026
Services
Sunday Services
8.00 am Mass
10.00 am Solemn Sung Mass
Weekday Services
Monday Fr Scott’s Day Off
Tuesday 10.00 am Mass,
followed by gardening.
Wednesday 8.00 am Mass
Thursday 12.00 noon Mass
Friday 8.00 am Mass
Saturday 8.00 am Mass
August
1 Holy Men and Women of the Old Testament
2 PENTECOST 10
4 John-Baptist Vianney, the Curé d’Ars, Spiritual Guide, 1859
5 Oswald, King of Northumbria, Martyr, 642
6 THE TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
7 Holy Name
7 John Mason Neale, Priest, Hymn Writer, 1866
8 Dominic, Friar, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221
8 Mary MacKillop of the Cross, Founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Cross, 1909
9 PENTECOST 11
10 Laurence, Deacon at Rome, 258
11 Clare of Assisi, Founder of the Minoresses (Poor Clares), 1253
13 Maximus the Confessor, Theologian, 662
13 Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down & Connor, Teacher of the Faith, 1667
14 Martyrs of the 20th Century 20th C Martyrs, including Maximilian Kolbe (d 1941), Maria Skobtsova (d 1945), Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia (d 1918), Martin Luther King (d 1968)
15 ASSUMPTION OF MARY
16 PENTECOST 12
20 Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Teacher of the Faith, 1153
20 William and Catherine Booth, Founder of the Salvation Army, 1912 and 1890
22 Mary, Queen of Heaven (Octave festival)
23 PENTECOST 13
25 BARTHOLOMEW, APOSTLE AND MARTYR (from 24)
27 Monica, Mother of Augustine of Hippo, 387
28 Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Teacher of the Faith, 430
29 BEHEADING OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
30 PENTECOST 14
31 Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, Missionary, 651
September
1 CONSECRATION & DEDICATION OF CHURCH, 1903
2 THE MARTYRS OF NEW GUINEA, 1942
3 Gregory of Rome, Teacher of the Faith, 640; Eliza Darling
4 Birinus of Dorchester, Apostle of Wessex, 650
4 Translation of St Cuthbert
6 Sunday in the Octave of the CONSECRATION & DEDICATION OF CHURCH, 1903
8 BIRTH OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
8 Accession of Charles III 2022
9 Charles Fuge Lowder, Priest, 1880
11 Mother Esther CHN, Founder of the Community of the Holy Name, 1931
12 The Holy Name of Mary
13 PENTECOST 16
15 HOLY CROSS DAY (from 14)
15 Our Lady of Sorrows
15 Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, bishop and martyr, 258
15 John Oliver Feetham, Bishop and Bush Brother, 1947
16 Ember Wednesday
16 Ninian, Bishop of Galloway, Apostle to the Picts, c432
16 Edward Bouverie Pusey, Priest, Tractarian, 1882
17 Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary, 1179
18 Ember Friday
18 John Ramsden Wollaston, Priest and Missionary of Western Australia, 1856
19 Ember Saturday
19 Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, 690
20 PENTECOST 17
20 John Coleridge Patterson, First Bishop of Melanesia, and his Companions, Martyrs, 1871
21 MATTHEW, APOSTLE, EVANGELIST AND MARTYR
23 Thecla, Virgin 1st C.
25 Sergius of Radonezh, Russian Monastic, Reformer, Teacher of the Faith, 1392
25 Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, Spiritual Writer, 1626
26 Wilson Carlile, Priest, Founder of the Church Army, 1942
27 MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS (from 29)
28 Wenceslas, Prince, Martyr, Apostle to the Czechs, c907
30 Jerome, Translator of the Scriptures, Teacher of the Faith, 420
Address for correspondence
The Parish of St George the Martyr,
The Rectory
34 Angus Street
Goodwood, SA, 5034
Email: stgeorges8@bigpond.com
[1] Brian Zahnd
[2] Into the Silent Land, Martin Laird
St George the Martyr Anglican Church, Goodwood 