Sacramental Update
Last week a letter was sent home via Skoolbag informing registered families that the Parish has not received any updated decisions in relation to Sacraments of Initiation.
Nothing further has been communicated from Archbishop's office since then. At this point all Church gatherings, including preparation meetings and celebrations for big groups are suspended. Our Parish is in communication with Elena Moffa who is a consultant at the Family and Parish-Based Catechesis Office. When Elena receives notifications from the Archbishop’s office we are then informed. In the meantime families can access liturgies for families with children prepared by the Catechesis Office to reflect on the Gospel from each Sunday. They can be found at this link on the Archdiocesan website Also, our Parish streams live Masses on their Facebook page
The focus at this point in time is for on-going family faith formation. As mentioned in the letter to families, a Family Activity Book has been purchased for each family and will be sent home via students when they arrive.
Laudato Si’ Week May 16 - 24
Laudato Si, was Pope Francis’ second encyclical of his pontificate and released in 2015. He invites us to celebrate Laudato Si’ Week “Laudato si' Week” May 16-24.
The opening line, quotes St. Francis of Assisi’s canticle ... “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” “Praise be to you, my Lord”. As a Franciscan community I invite you to read the whole encyclical if you haven’t already done so.
Last year our Year Five students were asked, What do you think the school could do with the empty space left over after the old OSHC building was removed? Ideas were flying left right and centre as the students creative minds, energy and enthusiasm went into overdrive. With Sustainability in mind they came up with a proposal for the site for Mr Meiksans to consider. The proposal was passed. As it currently stands there are established garden beds, a variety of vegetables (many grown from seed by the children) including lettuce, spinach, snow peas, tomatoes, capsicums, pumpkins and beetroot.
The children have seen their focus, goal and intentions come to life. We thank Fred (our groundsman) for his amazing efforts in helping the children with the back breaking work of the garden. Anita Kielo, for supporting them in propagating and growing seedlings, giving up her own time to support the project and providing her wealth of knowledge in all things gardening. Thanks to Alison Hubner for her support in guiding the students through STEM lessons, teaching them how to create tags for the garden plants using 3D printing technology and physical support in establishing the garden. We thank Peter Vorassi and Alice Chigwidden for their support and successful application of the Landcare grant that enabled the funding for this project to commence.
How can we work in partnership with you as a school community to take care of our outdoor spaces and continue with in our journey toward better care of creation? If you have a passion or skill set in this area please let us know your ideas and when the COVID-19 rules are lifted we would be delighted for you to register and join the SFOA garden committee 2020.
Josie Cochrane
|