Parish Masses
Both Year 6 classes were fortunate enough to attend the Friday Parish Mass over the last two weeks. We are very grateful that our students are able to attend Mass and pray as part of a community in these unprecedented times.

Father’s Day Liturgy
Father’s Day will be upon us very soon and we would love to celebrate all fathers with a special liturgy. To do this we would love to have photos of children with their fathers and grandfathers as part of the special presentation. Please either email these photos to the school email: info@sfawdow.catholic.edu.au or send the photos to your child’s class teacher. All photos are to be submitted by Friday 28 August at the latest. It is very difficult to add photos on the day the liturgy is being recorded.

Parish Sacraments
A reminder that all sacramental notes need to be returned by Friday 14 August. The information for Reconciliation will be sent out in the next fortnight.

At this stage, please see the new dates for the 2020 Sacraments. Please be advised that these dates will also be dependent on COVID-19 restrictions and may be cancelled at any time.

The new dates for the sacraments are as follows:

Feast Days
During the term, we will be celebrating some important feast days.

The Assumption
Next Saturday 15 August is the Feast of The Assumption. As Catholics, this day is a Holy Day of Obligation and we would normally have to attend Mass. As this is not possible for all of us this year it is important that we honour Mary on this day in some special way or in our prayers.

Every year, Christians celebrate when Our Blessed Mother was taken up into Heaven body and soul at the end of her life.  On November 1, 1950 Pope Pius XII infallibly declared the doctrine of the Assumption a dogma. (a fixed belief that people are expected to accept without any doubts):

 “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”

On the Solemnity of the Assumption, let us remember our Mother who is in Heaven and who loves us very much.

Prayer for The Assumption
Father in heaven, all creation rightly gives you praise,
for all life and all holiness come from you. 
In the plan of your wisdom she who bore the Christ
in her womb was raised body and soul in glory
to be with him in heaven.
May we follow her example in reflecting your holiness
and join in her hymn of endless love and praise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

A Message for all Catholics from Pope Francis

Catholic social teaching is 'fundamental' to tackling world issues, Pope Francis says.

Pope Francis gives his general audience via live stream on June 17, 2020. Credit: Vatican Media/CNA.

Vatican City, Aug 5, 2020,  05:04 am MT ( CNA).- Pope Francis said on Wednesday the Church is not an expert in the global health crisis, but Catholic social teaching is fundamental to healing the issues faced by the world today.

“Although the Church administers the healing grace of Christ through the sacraments, and although she provides health services in the most remote corners of the planet, she is not an expert in the prevention or treatment of the pandemic,” Pope Francis said at his general audience Aug. 5.

Speaking via live stream from the library of the Vatican’s apostolic palace, the pope stated that the Church “helps with the sick, but she is not an expert. Nor does she give specific socio-political indications.”

“However, over the centuries, and in the light of the Gospel, the Church has developed some social principles that are fundamental principles that can help us move forward, which we need to prepare the future,” he continued.

Pope Francis also spoke about the importance of faith in Jesus Christ, who heals not only physical ailments but also spiritual.

He pointed to the Gospel’s many accounts of miraculous healings performed by Jesus during his public ministry, including the healing of the paralytic at Capernaum, who had to be lowered through a hole in the roof by his friends.

Quoting the Gospel of Mark, Francis said: “Jesus, having regard to their faith, said to the paralytic: Son, your sins are forgiven.”

“And therefore, Jesus heals,” he noted, “but does not simply heal paralysis: Jesus quashes everything, forgives sins, renews the life of the paralytic and his friends.”

“So, we ask ourselves: how can we help heal our world today? As disciples of the Lord Jesus, physician of souls and bodies, we are called to continue ‘his work, a work of healing and salvation’ in a physical, social and spiritual sense,” Francis said, citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The pope said this work of healing is facilitated through the closely related principles found in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church; he listed the principles of the dignity of the person, the common good, the preferential option for the poor, the universal destination of goods, solidarity, subsidiarity, and care for the earth.

“All these principles express, in different ways, the virtues of faith, hope and love,” he explained.

“In the coming weeks, I invite you to tackle together the pressing issues that the pandemic has highlighted, especially social diseases,” he said.

“And we will do it in the light of the Gospel, the theological virtues, and the principles of the Church’s social doctrine. We will explore together how our Catholic social tradition can help the human family heal this world that suffers from serious diseases.”