Welcome to Term 3. It has been a very busy start with lots of great things happening in our School and Parish.

Staff Spirituality Day

Our Staff gathered with the other Western Region Schools via Zoom to listen to Father Richard Leonard address the gathering on the topic: Catholic Identity: How can Catholic Education form believers in a media saturated culture.

This discussion was both inspiring and challenging. We were asked to discern many questions. Some key things I took away from this day were:

• The media is the modern day marketplace where minds and hearts are won and lost.
• The media plays a huge role in our daily life, but family and schools are so important in shaping our children in all aspects of their development
• Media can form values, opinions and distort images but, we as parents and educators need to be engaged in what our children see, hear and participate in.
• We need to have the value of hope in our world and certain sections of the media can discourage us to aspire to this value
• We as parents and educators need to praise and celebrate the values we hold dear
• Tell those around you whom you love, that you do love them
• Show your love to them by your actions
• Don’t hesitate to say these words, as everyone needs to hear them.
• If we live our lives with Gratitude, Forgiveness and Love our world will be a better place.

 Congratulations Father George – 10^th Anniversary of his Ordination

On Saturday 18^th July, Father George celebrated a special Mass and Parish dinner to mark the wonderful occasion of ten years being a priest. Father spoke to the gathering of his great desire since a small child to become a priest and serve God. His heartfelt speech about his journey to the Priesthood to where he is today was truly inspiring.

We would like to congratulate Father George and thank him for the wonderful work he does in our Parish and the leadership and care he provides to our children at St Patrick’s.

May God bless you Father, and hold you in the palm of His hand.

Making Jesus Real

This week in Peer Support Groups, we will begin our Making Jesus Real Program. The children will meet on Friday afternoon with their group  members from Kinder to Year 6. Our Year 5/6 children will lead these sessions, in how we can show that Jesus is present in everything that we think, say and do.

At St Patrick’s, MAKING JESUS REAL (MJR) program is centred around the belief, that we are the image of Jesus to all people around us. We are His representatives and our actions should reflect His values. In the scriptures, Jesus says that we are part of his family and that the way we treat others should be reflective of the way we would treat Jesus.

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

The values that we encourage and promote in MJR include: care and compassion, respect, honesty and trustworthiness, understanding, tolerance and inclusion. These values encourage students to do their best, treat others fairly, be responsible for their actions, follow principles of moral and ethical conduct and stand up for the rights of others.

We are all exciting to begin our sessions.

Sacramental Program 2020

This year the Sacraments of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion will be celebrated. These Sacraments are for children in Year 3 and for any child who may have missed out on Sacramental instruction in previous years.

We ask that Parents of children who are eligible for these Sacraments, enrol their child for the program on the Parish Website gundagai@cg.org.au

Please register ASAP

Preparation dates and Sacramental dates are yet to be finalised.

Altar Servers

Thank you to our Altar Servers and their very supportive parents, for the wonderful job they continue to do in serving our St Patrick’s Parish. We love seeing you in this important role supporting Father George and Namora. Keep up the great work.

A new Altar Serving Roster will go out with this Newsletter.

Kate Howe

REC