Brigidfest 24 in Melbourne
Please don’t delay booking for Brigidfest, the hottest ticket in the Irish-Australian calendar (seats have sold out for some years). The good news is that we’re back at Batman’s Hill on Collins, our generous hosts at the western end of Collins, right opposite Southern Cross (and very handy for our regional kith and kin).
2024 is a special year in the Brigidine calendar, as it marks 1500 years of observance. For more about what’s happening in Kildare, see this website.
At Melbourne’s celebration, Dr Monique Ryan will speak at Brigidfest about what motivated her to move from her highly successful career as a paediatric neurologist to stand for the Federal seat of Kooyong. She will comment on how Brigid’s values align with hers, particularly the need to care for our sick and most vulnerable community members.
Dr Monique Ryan’s 2022 campaign drew together some 2000 committed volunteers to help her achieve election. She will talk about the transition to political life – its challenges and its joys – and what it’s like to be a member of Australia’s largest crossbench. She’ll describe how it’s possible to achieve outcomes in politics even without the balance of power, and speak to the power of community-driven social change.
Introducing her will be Victorian MP, the Honorable Gabrielle Williams, herself a redoubtable Minister in the Victorian Government with a strong social justice agenda.
Tickets are filling fast. To Book, go to TryBooking and specify (if you are going with others) whose table you’ll be on.
Mass at St Brigid’s Crossley
While at Lake School in Koroit, we were alerted to the fact that St Brigid’s Crossley will have a celebration of St Brigid on Thursday 1 February in the old (deconsecrated) church in the form of a Mass (with the support of the Diocese). To find out more, we suggest you keep your eye on their website or Facebook page for more details closer to the date.
If in Crossley (a village close to Koroit, Warrnambool and Port Fairy, and on the edge of Tower Hill), you could visit the Peace Garden (built around a Brigid’s Cross), erected for the centenary of the foundation of the Church, now owned by the Crossley community and used for a range of cultural and community events. It features as its central motif a finely detailed Brigid’s Cross.
Tinteán 