Prayer and Worship

Saint Mary Mackillop Feast Day 8 August

Monday 8 August is the Feast Day of Saint Mary Mackillop. Mary was born in 1842. She was a fine teacher, the founder of schools and a religious order. Saint Mary Mackillop chose St Joseph because he was humble and got the job done. She devoted her whole life to following Jesus and helping others, especially poor children. Many people who knew her could tell she was extraordinary. Mother Mary radiated God’s love and energy to everyone she met. Mary and her companion Fr Julian Tenison Woods dreamed of a new kind of school, open to anyone whether their family was rich or poor. Children from poorer families would be provided with clothing and school supplies for very little cost or for free. They could learn enough reading, writing and maths so they could get out of poverty and have a better life.

When Mary wrote the lessons and timetable for her schools, she made sure there was time for prayers and hymns, which in those days were not written in English, but Latin. But she made sure these weren’t too long so that the children wouldn’t find prayer time too difficult or too boring. Her pupils must have been grateful for that! Her life wasn’t always easy and she had lots of problems sometimes, but she was happy because she firmly believed in God and that her true home was not here on earth but with God in heaven. She was very cheerful and didn’t want her sisters going around with frowns on their faces.

St Mary Mackillop is currently our only Australian saint. When I was in Rome a few years ago I was privileged to be taken on a tour by our own Archbishop Christopher Prowse to where Mary lived in 1873 when she travelled to Rome to meet with Pope Pius IX. Saint Mary Mackillop travelled to Rome to gain official approval of her religious order, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. As I walked through the streets that she would have walked I could not help but be in awe of how challenging it must have been for her and how determined she must have been to make that journey at that time.

Student Prayer Focus

As we strive to deepen our St Joseph's identity, our Staff Prayer Focus in Week 2 and 3 prepares us for our St Mary Mackillop Feast Day on Monday Week 4, through a Saint Mary Mackillop Novena. A Novena is a type of prayer that consists of 9 days of prayer and is often prayed in preparation for a feast day or for a specific intention. Through praying each day of this Novena we are invited to reflect on various qualities of St Mary MacKillop. The Novena can be prayed individually or in a group each day. The aim is to prepare ourselves and our students for our St Mary Mackillop Feast Day through prayer and reflection while deepening our understanding of our Josephite Charism. You can access the novena at the following links:

St Mary Mackillop Day 1

St Mary Mackillop Day 2

St Mary Mackillop Day 3

St Mary Mackillop Day 4

St Mary Mackillop Day 5

St Mary Mackillop Day 6

St Mary Mackillop Day 7

St Mary Mackillop Day 8

St Mary Mackillop Day 9 

Sacraments

Sacrament of Confirmation

Students in Year 6 can now be enrolled in the Sacrament of Confirmation at the link below. Please add the Sacrament of Confirmation and preparation session dates and times to your calendars.

Please enrol at   http://bit.ly/sjosacraments2022

Please contact Father Paul  if you have any questions about the Sacrament of Confirmation at: paul_nulley@hotmail.com 

Social Action & Justice

Next Monday on our Feast Day of Saint Mary Mackillop, we will hold a free clothes day for a gold coin donation to contribute to the purchase of plants to surround the magnificent new statue of St Joseph which has been installed at the church. Our usual market day to raise money for our Global School Partner, Riambana has been placed on hold and we will raise funds to support this partnership later in the year.

Yours in Christ,

Melanie Stratford

Religious Education Coordinator

melanie.stratford@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Ryan McGee

Sustainability Teacher

ryan.mcgee@cg.catholic.edu.au 

Welcome back to a very busy Term 3 in the library.

Book Fair Week 5 and 6

This year, the St Joseph’s Book Fair  will be a little different to other years due to Covid. Students will be able to browse books and merchandise at the Fair during library times. Each student will make a list of their top 3 choices and then bring their choices home to you. If you wish to purchase any items you will be able to pay for them online. Students will then bring the receipt back to the Fair and collect the books. If we have run out of copies, more will be ordered.

Book Fairs are a great way to encourage students with their reading as well as supporting the school, with 20% of book sales going back to buy more books for our library.

Book Week- Week 6

‘Dreaming with eyes wide open’ is the theme for this year's Book Week. During Week 6, we will be celebrating with a ‘Dress as your favourite book character’ on Thursday 25th August. Please remember this is to celebrate the love of books.  I encourage you to use what you have at home to keep costs down for your family.  More information to come.

Library days have changed, please see new Library days on table below.

Book Club last orders are due on 8th August 2022 ( Monday, Week 4). Please remember that we do not take cash payments and all payments go through the website. Details are located on the back of the magazine.

Georgina Jaram 

School Librarian 

Hello Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to Term 3.

New volunteers are always welcome, please don’t hesitate to email me on stjosephscanteen@gmail.com or pop in and say hi.

Regards

Katie Jenkin

Canteen Manager

St Joseph's Fete

It is on! Save the date!

Sunday 6 November

Congratulations to the Week 3 award recipients. 

Happy birthday to these students who celebrated their birthday this week: