Education in Faith
End of Term Mass
We will be celebrating Mass as a whole school to mark the end of Term 1 next Wednesday 27th March in the Church at 2.00pm. Everybody is most welcome.
Invitation - Senior School Passion Play
The Senior School Passion Play will be presented next Wednesday (Wednesday 27th March) in the school playground. Everyone is most welcome to join any class as the students watch the play. The first scene is located at the steps into the hall. Each class moves from one scene to the next - one class at a time. The classes will start at the first scene in 2-3 minute intervals between 9:00am and 9:15am. This year the events depicted come from Mark’s Gospel and so the students have been researching information about this Gospel and the author.
Feedback from students and parents who have come and watched this play has always been extremely positive so I encourage you to stay after drop-off and enjoy the play.
Project Compassion - Class Challenge
Project Compassion is Caritas Australia's annual Lenten fundraising and awareness-raising appeal. Millions of Australians come together in solidarity with the world's poor to help end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity. The theme for this year’s appeal is For all Future Generations.
This year, the RE School Leaders have set a challenge for each class. The challenge is to show some initiative and organise a fundraiser to raise as much money as you can for Project Compassion. You can do this by yourself, with your family or a group of friends. It might be as simple as asking family and friends for donations because you are committing to giving up something for Lent or a much bigger idea - whatever you like.
This year we have gone hi-tech and created a different website for each class (links below), where your family and friends can go to and donate. If you raise some cash, your parents might be able to take the cash and make the online donation for that amount.
The fundraising target for each class is $20 times the number of students in your class. If you reach the target by Friday 19th April (which is the first Friday of Term 2) your class will get to see your teachers drenched with ice cold water. If you want to see what that feels like - here are the videos from last year.
On the website for each class (links below), you can also see how much money your class has raised so far and how close your class is to the target. There are also posters with a qr code link up on the door to each classroom.
Finally, the money raised will be combined with the money we have raised from selling zooper doopers which we will stop selling at the end of this term. Thank you and don’t forget, we’re doing this ‘for all future generations’.
During Lent our RE Year 5/6 Student Leadership Team will also be selling Zooper Dooper icy poles for 50c after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:15 - 3:30pm at the tuckshop window. All money raised will be donated to Project Compassion. If anybody would like to donate a pack (or more) of Zooper Doopers please bring them to the office. We can look after the freezing for you‼
As part of our fundraising efforts for Project Compassion we will be selling homemade goodies after school on Wednesday.
We will be selling cupcakes, brownies and other homemade sweet treats. The cost will be between 50c and $1.50 for each of the desserts you purchase.
We really want to see our teachers get dunked with icy cold water so we hope to see you there next Wednesday. Thank you.
What: Homemade Bake Sale
When: Wednesday after school
Where: In the eating area
Cost: 50 cents to $1.50
Why: To raise money for Project Compassion
By Alicia, Mia C, Audrey K and Anna H (5/6 students)
A snapshot of RE Learning in 1/2DE
Our Inquiry learning journey this term has revolved around Belonging. We have been exploring how we all celebrate Easter in different ways around the world. We learnt that pilgrims in Jerusalem light candles for the Holy Fire Ceremony. In Finland and Sweden children dress up as Easter witches. In Germany people decorate Easter eggs and hang them on trees. On Easter Sunday in Florence Italy a huge wagon is pulled through the stress by white oxen and when it reaches the cathedral the fireworks on the cart are lit and explode!
We discussed how we in Australia celebrate Easter and in our own families. Students wrote some beautiful responses as seen below and also decorated their own eggs to symbolise this important time in our Catholic Calendar-the resurrection of Jesus.
Sunday Gospel
The liturgy of the Catholic Church provides a framework for reflection which is used by Catholics throughout the world. Each week in the Newsletter, you will find the Sunday Gospel as well as some discussion questions to have with your child/ren.
The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark
First thing in the morning, the chief priests together with the elders and the scribes, in short the whole Sanhedrin, had their plan ready. They had Jesus bound and took him away and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘It is you who say it’ he answered. And the chief priests brought many accusations against him. Pilate questioned him again, ‘Have you no reply at all? See how many accusations they are bringing against you!’ But to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply.
At festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, anyone they asked for. Now a man called Barabbas was then in prison with the rioters who had committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate the customary favour, Pilate answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?’ For he realised it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. The Pilate spoke again. ‘But in that case,’ he said to them ‘what am I to do with the man you call king of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why?’ Pilate asked them ‘What harm has he done?’ But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and, having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium, and called the whole cohort together. They dressed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed and spat on him; and they went down on their knees to do him homage. And when they had finished making fun of him, they took off the purple and dressed him in his own clothes.
They led him out to crucify him. They enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.
They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it. Then they crucified him, and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge against him read: ‘The King of the Jews.’ And they crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left.
The passers-by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said, ‘Aha! So you would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself: come down from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves in the same way. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, for us to see it and believe.’ Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.
When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When some of those who stood by heard this they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on Elijah’. Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink saying, ‘Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him down.’ But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a son of God.’
Discussion Questions
1. Who are the people who love you?
2. What special things do they do for you?
3. Jesus suffered and died because he loved us. Who are people who are in need or in pain?
4. How can we show God’s love to these people?
5. This Sunday is the beginning of a special week of celebrations. How can we participate in Holy Week?