St. Mary's eNews
Term 3 Week 8
Education in Faith: Honouring Father’s Day in 2020
He provides an example of the very vocation of fatherhood. Fathers are to sacrifice their lives for their families. They do this by:
- Being the spiritual leader and guardian of their families.
- Praying for and with their families.
- Being a courageous witness to the Gospel.
- Providing care and support for their families.
- Serving as an example of goodness and truth.
- Leading with courage and accountability.
Today, in a special way, let us be grateful for:
- Our fathers, by birth or adoption, who love us and support us through life.
- Our Church leaders, who take on the paternal role of guiding us through life.
- And God our Father, who will always teach justly and grant us boundless mercy.
The Prodigal Son is a reading most people are very familiar with. For today’s reflection, think of Dad. Note in Luke’s Gospel he says “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.” Reflect on the thousands of times a father waits in vigil. Whether a son coming back from school, a daughter from her first dance, a child returning from a camp or time away: the gift of our fathers always waiting and watching over us.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, tatas, babas, vaters, das, vaders, grandads, pops, pas, nonnos, opas, oupas, babus, pappous, lolos and all the men in our lives who hold a special place in our hearts.
Yours in Faith
Matthew Taylor
Religious Education Leader
Telstra - Parenting Tip Sheets
Spring into Happiness and Kindness
How will you send a ripple of kindness throughout the community through the month of September?
Footy Fun Day
Dress in your favourite ‘football code’ colours (AFL, Soccer, Rugby)
Create a special footy lunch for your family
Put a footy background on your Zoom meets
Take some photos and email them to Mrs Masseni - mmasseni@smaltona.catholic.edu.au
Here are some photo or video suggestions from the JSC…
- You in your footy colours
- Your class in footy colours in Google meets and get teachers to screenshot
- Strike your best footy pose
- You doing speckies, kicks, handballs, marks, shooting for goal
- Dress up your pets in your footy team colours
Resources for Parents: Pandemic parenting
Dr. Justin Coulson writes a great article suggesting that we do less rather than more.
Read more in his latest Happy Families blog post "It's okay to do less"
Aussie of the Month ~ August
St Mary's Spoonville is growing!
Have you seen our new Spoonville members? It's been wonderful to see students popping in to 'plant' their spoon in our garden.
It's not too late to add yourself to the garden.
Watch Jamison's video to find out what to do. We hope to see you at school soon.
The St Mary's Spoonville brainchild of Jamison L in 5/6CT is coming to fruition. A couple of weeks ago Jamison put it to the community to start our very own Spoonville to further build our community spirit.
COMMUNITY NEWS
NEW this week...
Church Bulletin 21st October
Emmanuel College Update 21st October
Hobsons Bay Children's Week
Creative Music - Sign up for Term 4
Tuning in to Teens is heading into its Term 4 sessions so we’re getting the word out to parents who may want to join in. This 7-week program is designed to support parents in raising emotionally intelligent teens to improve relationships, communication skills and overall wellbeing.
Two Tuning in to Teens courses will be running in term 4:
- Wednesday 6 to 8pm from 14th October to 25th November.
- Wednesday 6.30 to 8.30pm from 28th October to 9th December.
Registrations essential. Learn more over on our webpage: www.hobsonsbay.vic.gov.au/teens
Emmanuel College Update - 16th October
Camp Australia
Joseph's Corner newsletter
Camp Australia
Principal's Message ~ 4th September
Dear families
It has certainly been a week of mixed emotions.
I would like to ask that you keep Mrs Said in your prayers as her dear mother, Molly Colletta, passed away this morning. Mrs Said & her family were able to spend some time with Molly before she entered peacefully into eternal life.
I also share with you the sad passing of Michael and Sarah Cassar’s grandfather, Tony, late last week. From what I was told his presence and standing in our community will be missed and there will be many people mourning his passing.
With this weekend being Father’s Day, I acknowledge this time will be difficult for many of our families, remembering dads who have passed, but also knowing that many of us will not be able to celebrate this occasion with our dads or important male role models in our lives due to current circumstances. Wherever you special father-figures are, I pray that they are blessed and feel your ever-present love for them.
We had a little taster of spring this week as we stepped into September. I enjoyed seeing glimpses of yellow on Tuesday through our facebook page and the various class meetings that were held. It’s so important to acknowledge the importance of being kind and making others happy. I think this day on the school calendar will end up being a favourite, especially when I will be able to celebrate it with all the students and staff in person next year.
Mr Lappin was very excited to see St Mary’s so high up on the School Sport Victoria Virtual Track and Field ladder last week. We decided it would be a great goal to see if our school could make it to the highest ranking primary school position by the end of the competition. If we do, we will be arranging a fun activity day at school in Term 4 when we are (hopefully) all back onsite at some stage. If you want more information, please contact Mr Lappin via email tlappin@smaltona.catholic.edu.au.
I’m sure many of you will spend Sunday glued to the Premier’s press conference to see what the next big announcements will be. I know we are all eager to return to some normalcy and I hope and pray we are able to get back to school soon and safely.
I wish you good health and blessings,
Sonia