Religious Education & Pastoral Care 

Lent is here!

Jesus was led by the Spirit, through the wilderness for forty days. He ate nothing and by the end was very hungry. Then the devil tested him by promising power and honour if Jesus would worship him. But Jesus refused and the devil left. 

Luke 4: 1-13

During Lent (around 40 days before Easter) Catholics focus on three areas: Fasting, almsgiving and abstinence.

Fasting is more than avoiding certain indulgent foods, like chocolate or ice-cream. Eating is just one of many activities in which we can sometimes overindulge.

Try these ideas to increase the impact of "fasting":

• Take half-serves! For one day, let hunger really bite; pray for those whom hunger is constant. 
• Edit out activities that steal you away from your family.
• Give up gossip. Let the bad news stop at you!
• Quit blaming others. Practise acceptance and responsibility.

School Masses

What a fantastic turn up for our Ash Wednesday mass this week! It is always so wonderful to see the look on our young people's faces when they are reading at mass and look up with pride when they see their families. This was the first time we had a combined Parish and School mass and it was terrific to have us all together on this special occasion. A massive shout out to our terrific Year 3 and 4 students along with Mrs Harris and Mrs Russell for preparing the readers so well. I think some of them had even memorised some of the readings! This shows such confidence to stand in front of a crowd of people and read so fluently, reverently and clearly. 

Congrats to Jax for (finally!!) getting his first go at altar serving. Well done!

Upcoming School Masses

Wednesday 19th March 10.15am- Feast of St Joseph. 

Weather permitting, we will have this as an extra special outdoor mass on the front lawn of our school followed by a special morning tea for everyone. All are most welcome! Year 5 & 6 students along with Mrs Anderson will organise this mass which will be our final school mass for this term. 

Project Compassion

Each year St Joseph's Barraba joins all schools in the Armidale Catholic Diocese in Project Compassion. We come together as a school community to raise funds for Caritas to use in their many projects in Australia and overseas to make a long-lasting difference in the lives of people doing it really tough. 

Each family will have had a small Project Compassion box come home this week. We ask that each family gives only what they can, remembering we will have opportunities throughout the next five weeks to contribute through school activities.

 Project Compassion boxes will be collected the last week of school this term. 

Your generous support this Lenten Season will enable Caritas Australia to provide life-changing support to communities facing poverty, food insecurity, lack of education, and water shortages, while building resilience against future challenges. Together, through faith and action, we can bring hope and opportunity to those most in need.