At Holy Cross, as we prepare for Easter, we have been thinking about chocolate as a consumer choice and as something we enjoy at the end of Lent to celebrate new life in the risen Jesus.
Easter is the biggest chocolate shopping time of the year. But what’s really going into the chocolate we buy? There’s more than cocoa, dairy and sugar, there are hidden costs for vulnerable people, impoverished communities, and the environment.
Be Slavery Free, Green America, INKOTA, Mighty Earth, and National Wildlife Federation surveyed the world’s biggest chocolate companies to find out what they are doing to eliminate child labour from their supply chains, ensure farmers make a living income from their work, and prevent environmental damage caused by deforestation.
They have given each company a score across different categories so that you can buy Easter chocolates from the heart knowing which ones could be tainted by child labour and deforestation.
Download the Easter Chocolate Shopping Guide here.
A warm welcome on this rainy autumn day to Holy Cross for our 9am Eucharist.
Click on the link to join us via Zoom. Have a blessed Sunday!
This year’s Lady Day Communion Service of the diocesan Mother’s Union will be held at 10am Wednesday 24 March at Holy Cross Hackett, with guest preacher Reverend Joan Smith.
It will be followed by lunch and the MU AGM. Bring a friend!
Join Holy Cross for Easter:
9am 28 March Palm Sunday;
7.30pm 1 April Last Supper;
2 April Good Friday
9am Service
2pm Meditation at the Cross;
4 April Easter Sunday
6am Dawn Vigil
9am Family Eucharist
Holy Cross walking group meetings regularly to walk together and experience the blessings of nature, the sites around Canberra and each others’ company.
The group meetings alternate Tuesday mornings at 9.15am at the Holy Cross Hackett car park, and travels together to the site of the walk.
Contact: office@holycrosshackett.org.au for more information.
The walking calendar for the first half of 2021 is:
- 16 March – Mulligan’s Flat (bring picnic tea)
- 30 March – Bonner walk
- 13 April – Crash memorial, Pialligo (bring morning tea)
- 27 April – Umbagong District Park, Latham (bring morning tea)
- 11 May – Lower Yerrabi Pond (bring morning tea)
- 25 May – Weston Park (morning tea @ café)
- 08 June – Queanbeyan walk (morning tea @ café)
- 22 June – Lake Burley Griffin from Carillon (bring morning tea & chair)
- 6 July – Planning meeting (bring morning tea)
The latest issue of Anglican News features stories from our parishioners meeting for the Diocesan Lenten Study God of Compassion, and active in Mothers Union, where our Diocese will host the next state conference, 1-3 April 2022.
More stories here on #ChangetheHeart, Nungalinya College, social media and much more. Anglican News March 2021 – pdf (1.9MB)
A very warm welcome to our 9am Eucharist today, which is the 4th Sunday in Lent, also known as Mothering Sunday. (Originally this mediaeval Anglican feast day had nothing to do with human mothers … but was a day when servants were allowed to return home to their “mother church” and worship with their families!)
It’s also the mid-point in Lent, when we get a short break from abstinence – so we are having a BBQ tonight at 5.30pm (preceded by an afternoon working bee) to celebrate: you’re most welcome to join us
Click on the link to join us via Zoom. Have a blessed Sunday!
Following on from the success of the Advent women’s retreat last year, we are planning another weekend with the same format for Lent.
Two events will be held to ‘top’ and ‘tail’ a weekend, one Saturday and one Sunday. Women from all walks of life are welcome to attend only one, or both.
Event One Morning Bushwalk – Saturday 20 March, Hackett
7.30 – 9am Bushwalk on Mt Majura reserve. Meet at the Hackett Gate on Grayson Street. Bring a thermos and drink tea with a view!
Event Two Evening Gathering – Sunday 21 March, Holy Cross Church
7pm Evening of contemplative prayer and fellowship, followed by
8pm Wine and cheese
Contact: admin@holycrosshackett.org.au for more information.
In the lead up to Easter, many of us may be thinking about buying and eating chocolate. Sadly, hazardous child labour in chocolate production is widespread and growing. But there are many things we can be doing about it, including (but not limited to!) buying ethically produced chocolate.
See here for information about a new ethical chocolate shopping guide or read more about the challenges of chocolate production and some ways you can support slavery-free chocolate here.