St George the Martyr, Goodwood

September, 2026

Dear Friends

IT IS ALWAYS CHALLENGING to visit Papua New Guinea, and it is around 15 years since I last did so. Third world countries are never easy to navigate, with haphazard services and occasional danger. But it is worth it. It was a joy last month to see Bishop Nathan Ingen and his wife Mother Jesica, at Mount Hagen. It was also the annual show there as well, one of the legacies of the Australian colonial life, but now adapted into a sing sing for three days with dozens of tribal dancers in costume doing dances and singing on the showgrounds. It was a fascinating and colourful sight, only marred by the occasional riots and gunfire.

We have been supporting the Church there for many years, and we even donated a small statue of Our Lady of Walsingham to the church there some thirty years ago. Our donations go a long way – besides the diocesan literacy programmes there is a continual need just for the Mothers’ Union to be supported, clergy to be helped and innumerable other financial demands. My suitcase was filled with second hand mobile phones and vestments, as well as some old clothes and other sundry gifts. I preached at the church there on Sunday morning – I hope they could understand what I was saying, but I was applauded several times when I made points, a practice that is not very Australian Anglican at all.

I was not sure what to preach about – I had the Gospel text, but what were the needs of a congregation in the highlands of PNG? The bishop suggested that I talk about what we had given to them over the years, but I realised that although we had given them some material gifts, the benefit was mainly for our people in Australia. So I started by thanking them for being there for us. For it is an important part of who we are that we can give to others. When I visit some parishes, I only hear about the worries of raising money or how everyone has colds. Dull boring stuff!

But to be the Church we need always to be looking outwards. We find Christ at the altar and Christ in those in need. This is why we are blessed by having this connection with the highlands of PNG. We share their troubles and their prayers. We learn about them as they learn about us. It helps us realise that Our Lord did not come just to save the people of Goodwood, but also all people. We have helped their school in Simbai, helped purchase a four-wheel drive for the bishop, and just topped up the diocesan coffers over the years. But most importantly we have become involved. Mission should not be some abstract idea – mission would be about people.

St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury way back in the 6^th C, was sent to the English because his pope, Gregory, had seen the English slaves in the markets and was moved to pity them. For Gregory, the English were not just some distant people on a far province no longer within the Empire, but a group of huddled, frightened people whom he had met in Rome. Mission came from that encounter with people. In the same way, for us, I hope mission is not just some dry duty, but a way to help people struggling, people who are some of our nearest neighbours in the world.

One small thing I always enjoy about PNG is the language – it is inventive in making new words. So this time I learn that the people at the different markets who help carry the goods in and out are not porters, but taxi-boys. I like that.

In September we have the visit of the bishop on 6 September (see below) and the month concludes with Michaelmas on 27 September. St George’s since Fr Wise’s time has had always a particular devotion to St Michael – Fr Wise wanted to rename the church after the archangel but as there was already a St Michael’s at Mitcham that could not be done. However, we have a chapel to him in the church, and he appears prominently in our windows and we have the beautiful carving of him next to the organ, distinctive with one wing up and one wing down.

Vale Fr Michael Varnish

Fr Michael Varnish died on Tuesday 18th August, 2026. He was a former parishioner and warden, and after training at St Barnabas’ College was ordained in the Diocese of Adelaide in 1975 (Deacon) and 1976 (Priest). He served as Assistant Curate at St Columba’s Hawthorn and as Priest in Charge of Warradale/Darlington. Following this, he ministered in the Diocese of Riverina as Rector of Leeton (1983-1987) and Rector of Broken Hill (1988-1991). He went on to be the Parish Priest of Port Pirie and an Archdeacon in the Diocese of Willochra, then Rector of Holy Trinity Launceston (Diocese of Tasmania) before returning to Adelaide in 2003, the same time as I started as Rector here. During his retirement he ministered in the Diocese of the Murray, including as Locum Tenens in Happy Valley and as Rural Dean in the Onkaparinga. The last few years he has suffered from dementia. His requiem mass will be here this Friday 4th September, at 1 pm. We pray for his soul and for Kath and family at this time.

Deacon Ben Falcon

We congratulate Deacon Ben as he has been accepted to be ordained priest this 28 November. It is not always easy to be accepted, and Ben has had to wait a number of years, but the new Archbishop has accepted his calling. 

Concert for the Corinthian Singers

There are four great Marian anthems used during the year, traditionally at the end of Evensong or Compline. We only use two here at St George’s, the Regina Coeli and the Angelus. One of the others is the Salve Regina, which has been particularly gifted with fine music. The Corinthian singers are presenting a fine collection of music for this anthem with the Ave Maria with music by Poulenc, Pekiel, Josquin des Pres, plainsong chants, and Palestrina’s Missa de Beata Virgine. 3:00 pm Sunday 27 September 2026, St John’s Church, 379 Halifax Street, Adelaide, Tickets $35 and $30 online from TryBooking, cash and card at the door.

Visit of Bishop

Bishop Sophie Relf-Christopher will be our guest preacher for our Dedication Festival on this Sunday 6 September. We have yet to set a date for the visit of the new archbishop.

Blessing of Animals

A reminder that our blessing of animals will be on St Francis’s Day, Sunday 4 October at the start of the 10 am mass. 

See you at church,

God Bless,

Fr Scott

Sermon for the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel

It was just after time was created from eternity, when even before the earth was created, in fact long before that, that heaven was created, as that place to receive those in time into eternity, Come ye blessed of my Father and inherit the Kingdom. But to create something out of nothing, this act must entail a risk, a risk that what has been created as good, what has been created from Love itself, may turn away from love and exult in its own being as being created. And there were only the created spirits, those later called angels, who were created to give glory to God, these were the inhabitants of this created heaven, whose purpose was the eternal praise and worship of God. And one of these created beings, one of these angels, discovered his freedom, his freedom given by God his creator, but he realized that this freedom gave him the power to say No. And so this is what he said to God: Non serviam. I will not serve you. To serve is to be a slave and I will not be the slave of God. Non serviam. The ultimate words against the creation by Love for Love. 

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—

And it is Michael who personally fights against the dragon who is Lucifer, Lucifer who chose darkness instead of light, and it is Michael the Archangel who defeats Lucifer who has become a dragon, the anti-Christ, and it is Michael before the final blow that defeats the devil asks the question of Lucifer himself, “Who is like God?” And this question is what Michael’s name means. And it is with this question that this great Archangel and warrior hurls Lucifer into that hell then created for those whose lives say: Non serviam.

The Garden was perfect. There was no need to work. The only obligation was to be, to be in this paradise created for the first man and woman. This special place had been created by God for the man and woman made in his own image. Male and female he created them. And God loved this man and woman he had created in his own image and because he loved them he gave them free rein over everything in the garden, everything except one tree, the Tree of Knowledge, for God knew that to eat of this fruit would be the end of their innocence and bring in the power of death, that power of Lucifer. So one day she was walking by this tree, and a serpent spoke to her. She probably thought that it was unusual for a serpent to speak. But one has to be open to such things. 

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

You will be like God. You will be like God. The ultimate temptation. The ultimate temptation that leads to sin and death. But there is no champion present in this garden. The test of the man and the woman made in the image of God must be made in the silence of freedom. But the silence is broken by the laughter of the devil that rang through hell at this very moment in time.

It was the seventh century and a Benedictine monk had been elected Pope by the name of Gregory. He had to deal with the aftermath of the fall of the Roman empire. The city was in terrible shape. There was no civil government that could bring order out of chaos. So this Benedictine monk who never asked to become the bishop of Rome had to become not only the spiritual leader of the city of Rome but also its secular leader. The heart of the faith of the people was the Mass that had developed in form from the time of the Apostles, and the Mass celebrated by Pope Gregory already in the seventh century was essentially in form and substance the Mass we celebrate here today. To make his task even more onerous a terrible plague broke out in Rome. Thousands were dying. So Gregory organized a procession through the streets of Rome imploring God through the intercession of the martyr saints of Rome to end this terrible plague. And as they passed the emperor Hadrian’s tomb near the Tiber, Gregory saw a vision of Saint Michael the Archangel over the tomb in which the Archangel put his sword into its sheath. And Gregory understood that the prayers of the people had been answered and the plague ceased. And Hadrian’s magnificent tomb was renamed Castel Sant’ Angelo, the fortress of the Holy Angel.

I knew I was dying. The illness had not been long, but at my age it took its toll. This is the time when the question of faith becomes deeply existential and real. It is easy when one is young and healthy to mumble words in a creed about the resurrection of the dead. It is not that one does not believe it, but it is not something urgent, of the moment. It is always in the future. But there I lay now surrounded by my family and some friends. There was a moment of deep weakness, when I lost my sense of my surroundings, and I knew that the most important event in my life was about to happen. The prayer to St Michael fixed itself in my brain: St Michael the Archangel defend us in battle. Yes, the ultimate battle is at death, when the fallen angel, Satan, and minions, try to claim the body and soul of one who has died. There was war in heaven. And now there is war as I die from time into eternity. And as a priest I remembered so vividly the words I read at every Requiem Mass 

O Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit: deliver them from the lion’s mouth, that hell swallow them not up, that they fall not into darkness but let the standard-bearer holy Michael lead them into that holy light: Which thou didst promise of old to Abraham and to his seed.

And then I died. I entered into a blackness, but I could hear a furious activity that sounded like beating wings. I became frightened. But then I saw in the distance a light that penetrated the darkness and the noise. And as the light approached I saw the Archangel Michael fighting off the powers of darkness with his sword. And he grasped me in his arms and carried me towards the light from which he had come. And I became aware, oh, so intensely aware, of the prayers of so many I knew speeding me on towards the light, I heard the many Masses that were said and would be said for me like a chorus that combined the chant I knew and loved with the music of Josquin, of Ockegham, of Victoria, of Mozart, of Fauré, of Duruflé. And Michael held me and brought me to the place, or rather the state, where the residue of my sins would be scoured. And then I understood the reality of hope and its meaning for life. And more than this I cannot say.

By Father Richard Gennaro Cipolla at 9/29/2019

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

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 1^st 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

October

         2       The Guardian Angels

         3       George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, Ecumenist, Peacemaker, 1958

         4       Francis of Assisi, Friar, Deacon, Founder of the Friars Minor, 1226

         5       Augustus Short, First Bishop of Adelaide, 1883

         6       William Tyndale, Translator of the Scriptures, Martyr, 1536

         7       Blessed Virgin of the Rosary

         9       Denys, Bishop of Paris and his Companions, Martyrs, c258

         9       Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, Philosopher, Scientist, 1253

         9       John Henry Newman, Priest, Teacher, Tractarian, 1890

       10       Thomas Traherne, Poet, Spiritual Writer, 1674

       11       PENTECOST 20

       12       Elizabeth Fry, Prison Reformer, 1845

       12       Wilfrid of Ripon, Bishop, Missionary, 709

       13       Edward the Confessor, King of England, 1066

       15       Teresa of Avila, Teacher of the Faith, 1582

       15       TRANSLATION OF THE SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM

       16       Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worchester and Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London, Martyrs

       17       Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, Martyr, c107

       18       LUKE, EVANGELIST AND MARTYR

       19       Henry Martyn, Translator of the Scriptures, Missionary in India and Persia, 1812

       24       United Nations, Inaugurated 1945

       25       PENTECOST 22

       26       Alfred the Great, King of the West Saxons, Scholar, 899

       26       Cedd, Abbot of Lastingham, bishop of the East Saxons, 664

       28       SIMON AND JUDE, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS

       29       James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern Equatorial Africa, Martyr in Uganda, 1885

       31       Martin Luther, 1546 and other Continental Reformers

Address for correspondence

The Parish of St George the Martyr,

The Rectory

34 Angus Street

Goodwood, SA, 5034

Consider giving to the church; our bank details are as follows.

For regular and general offerings:

Anglican Parish of St George the Martyr

BSB 105-033 Account 151 992 640

For mission offerings and special projects (e.g. Lent, disaster relief):

St Georges Association for Education

BSB 105-033 Account 151 259 040

You may donate anonymously, but please note a purpose – e.g. ‘regular offering’, ‘overseas mission’, ‘Lenten giving’.