Catholic Identity

Religious Education School-Wide Focus           Prayer and Discernment

Across the school, all students are engaging in Religious Education lessons focused on Prayer. These units have been designed to assist the students in understanding the school's and Catholic Church's practices and traditions related to prayer. 

The learning experiences your children will participate in provide them with the opportunity to discuss what is prayer, and why we might pray, to learn about different types of prayer in the Catholic Tradition, experience a range of prayers, and in the senior years, an opportunity to look at the history of Christian prayer which is rooted in the Jewish tradition. 

Upcoming events

Shrove Tuesday - Burning of the Palms & Caritas Launch - Tuesday 4th of March

On Tuesday the 4th of March we will be hosting our traditional Burning of the Palms Liturgy.

The burning of the palms is a tradition where the palms used during Palm Sunday celebrations in 2024 are burnt to make the Ashes which will be used to mark the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

During this liturgy, we will also formally launch our 2025 Project Compassion Appeal. This is an annual appeal for Caritas Australia's aid and development work both nationally and internationally. Project Compassion is a part of our school's Lenten observance, by being the means for our school's almsgiving during Lent.

You are welcome to attend the burning of the palms liturgy on March 4th at 2:30 pm on the green courts.

Ash Wednesday Mass and Grade 1 & 2 Liturgies - Wednesday 5th of March

Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Catholic Church's season of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter.

Ash Wednesday is traditionally a day of fasting and prayer.  At St. Therese's we observe Ash Wednesday by attending Masses or Liturgies and receiving the ashes.

Ashes are used as a sign of repentance, a symbol of our willingness to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.  During these liturgies, the community receives a cross marked on their forehead in the ashes made the day before.

This tradition has ancient roots in early Christian and Jewish traditions.

Grades 3 -6 will be attending an Ash Wednesday Mass at 12:40 pm in the Church on Wednesday the 5th of March.

Grades 1 and 2 will be holding a unit liturgy throughout the day to receive the ashes and mark the beginning of the season of Lent. 

All are welcome. 

Sunday Gospel - Luke 5:1-11

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 

He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 

"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." 

Simon said in reply,

"Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command, I will lower the nets." 

When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,

"Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, 

"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Reflection

"Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch."

Jesus asks Simon, James, and John, after a long night of unproductive fishing, to head out into the deep, and keep fishing. 

He was asking them to head further from the shore, out into the deep waters of the lake, and to trust in the Lord. As we begin this new school year together, our Lord is also calling us to put out into the deep, to reach further, to trust in the Lord. 

Let us pray this week that we too can trust like Simon, James, and John, to follow God's call, and to go out, into the deep, with faith.