Community Classroom – date claimer

This term, in an effort to increase connections between the school and the wider community, I will be holding a Community Classroom. On 24 August 2022 at 3:30pm members of the community are welcome to join us for a Religious Education lesson, designed and run in accordance with our RE curriculum. Afternoon tea will be served and there will be a chance for a Q and A session. If you have ever been curious about what happens in RE, come along and join us.

An invitation will be sent a bit closer to the date so you can RSVP.

Year Level Mass

Our year level Masses start up again next week. While the Year 12s were due to attend Mass this week, it has had to be postponed as there were no priest available to lead the Mass. The Year 12s have not had much luck, with last semester’s Mass postponed twice! We will look to reschedule this Mass as soon as possible. Other Masses that are occurring this term include;

• Year 11 Mass – Tuesday, 2 August 
• Year 10 Mass – Tuesday, 16 August 

Visitation to Aged Care

On Thursday, we began our visitation to the Churches of Christ Aged Care facility. Students played board games and card games with residents as they built rich connections with older members of our community. The program will continue to run each Thursday afternoon until the end of the year. We had enough student interest to be able to create several groups of students that we can rotate through. This way we will minimise the impact of the loss of class time.

Year 10 Retreat

On Wednesday, 13 July 2022 the Year 10 students participated in a retreat led by motivational speaker Az Hamilton. The day was a lot of fun and provided a good opportunity to stop and reflect on how seemingly small opportunities can bring about major change in our lives and the lives of others. As our Year 10 students start to think about their senior years and pathways, this retreat day encouraged them to step outside of the roles they set for themselves and see a whole ocean of possibility.

Catholic Education Week

“Celebrated annually in Week 3 of Term 3, Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all 309 Catholic schools in Queensland to celebrate and promote their distinctive mission and ethos.

Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.”

From the Catholic Education Week website.

The Friday of Catholic Education Week (29 July 2022) will be a student free day. On this day, all staff will participate in faith formation as they grow in understanding and awareness of what it means to work in Catholic Education. The Most Reverend Robert McGuckin, Bishop of the Toowoomba Diocese and Dr Patrick Coughlan, Executive Director of Toowoomba Catholic Schools, will speak to staff about the challenges and opportunities the past year has presented and how we as educators can meet these challenges to help our communities grow in an understanding of the mission of Christ. Our keynote speaker Br Damien Price, will use his deep understanding of the charism of Edmund Rice, to explore the significance of our sacred story.

For more information about Catholic Education Week please click here.

Prayer

Over the holidays, we celebrated NAIDOC Week. Following is a prayer from a document published by a dialogue between the Uniting Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The central issue explored in this document is the relationship between the Uluru Statement from the Heart and care for our environment. Called Crying Out, the publication explains that genuine reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians is not only faith in action but will have such positive impacts on our relationship with the environment. The full document can be accessed on this page.

Gracious God,

in whom we live and move and have our being,

though we are anchored in you,

our hearts are often unsteady and insecure.

When we allow fear to rule the day,

mistrust, chaos, competition and selfish clinging

take hold of our community,

and we lose sight of your gracious love.

Trusting in your forgiveness,

May we lay aside every fear

and hold fast to the way of love –

consciously, consistently, communally,

for the sake of Christ.

Amen.