Religious Education News
Please continue to keep in your prayers the children in our school and parish who are preparing to be confirmed in the Catholic faith.
Please continue to keep in your prayers the children in our school and parish who are preparing to be confirmed in the Catholic faith.
During the offertory procession at each Mass since their commitment Mass, the candidates have been presenting various items as a sign of their commitment to offering themselves to God. So far, they have brought forward their reflections on why they want to be confirmed and an acrostic poem on the event of Pentecost.
World Environment Day - 5 June
World Environment Day is a United Nations Environment-led global event which takes place each year on 5 June and is celebrated by thousands of communities worldwide. It is a day for everyone around the world to take ownership of their environment and to actively engage in the protection of our earth.
This year’s theme will focus on solutions to plastic pollution under the campaign #BeatPlasticPollution.
Loving God and Creator of all,
you have given us this one wonderful world for our home.
We are the ones who can make peace with nature and restore her former glory.
Help us to work together to create a greener, cleaner world by being conscious of the little changes we can make every day.
Teach us how to love our planet and treat it with respect and reverence.
We ask this prayer through Jesus, your Son. Amen.
Year Six Mass with the Bishop
Next Friday, 9 June, our school is hosting the Year Six Mass with Bishop Brian at St Francis of Assisi church. We will be welcoming Year Six students and staff from St Paul’s Albion Park, St Patrick’s Port Kembla, Ss Peter and Paul Kiama, St Michael’s Nowra, St Mary Star of the Sea Milton, Stella Maris Shellharbour, St John’s Dapto and Nazareth Shellharbour. Significant Feasts - Trinity Sunday & Corpus Christi
This weekend, our Church will celebrate Trinity Sunday. Whilst the concept of a ‘3 in 1’ God is a bit of a ‘mystery’, the doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most fundamental in our Christian faith. We express our belief in a Trinitarian God every time we make the sign of the cross. It is important to note that we don’t believe in three gods but rather three “persons” or “forms” of the one God: Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The term ‘consubstantial’, which is used in the Nicene Creed, aims to express that all three “forms” come from the same source or substance. Perhaps one of the most useful analogies for this otherwise complex teaching could be to consider water, ice and steam. Whilst their forms are different, they are composed of the same substance. Regardless of our understanding of the Trinity, what really matters is that we have a God who loves us and desires to be in relationship with us.
Next weekend, our Church will celebrate Corpus Christi. The Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine offered on the altar at Mass is transformed and really becomes the Body and Blood of Christ.
Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Visitation
Congratulations to our beautiful ‘Sisters’ from the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Visitation. Last night, Bishop Brian, Father Damien and clergy from the Diocese celebrated a special Mass for the sisters on the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This Mass coincided with the Opening of the Holy Year to mark the centenary of their Congregation. Thank you, Sister Anna, Lucy, Maria and Elizabeth, for your vocation and service to our school and parish community.
Ms Marita Maloney
Religious Education Coordinator