Religious Education News

The last month has been a very busy time in the Faith Formation life of the College. We have supported Catholic Mission Month, conducted the Year Seven Camp and Retreat, started the selection process for Year 10 students wishing to become Lasallian Youth Leaders in 2024, and commenced the Vinnies Christmas Appeal. All this on top of our senior students commencing their HSC studies and junior students completing the last round of common moderated tasks. 

Year 7 Camp / Retreat

Recently the Year 7 students participated in their annual camp at Coffs Coast Adventure Centre. A key element of the camp was the retreat program, which consisted of two elements - small group activities and a larger, whole year group reflection and liturgy. 

The theme of the retreat was building community, and all of the activities the students engaged in were designed to help them understand the nature of a Catholic community and how they are important parts of the O’Connor community. 

Community was at the heart of everything Jesus taught. His community was a diverse one - long before the concept of diversity had been thought of, he showed the world what diversity was through the nature of the individuals that he drew to himself as Disciples. Numbered among his closest friends were fishermen (Simon, Andrew, James and John), religious extremists (Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot), traitors (Matthew the tax-collector) and the lost, confused and lonely, exemplified by Thomas who was called ‘The Doubter’. 

Like all Christian communities, O’Connor is a diverse one. Students are drawn from a wide range of schools, both Catholic, Independent and State. A growing majority of students are not Catholic, and an increasing number don’t identify as belonging to any religion at all. We are proud of our teachers who come from a wide range of faith backgrounds. Because of this, we are a strong community. 

On the final night of the Year 7 camp, we joined together as a community to celebrate what it is that makes all communities strong. Students had identified that everyone in a community is important - in the words of the Lego Movie, we are all ‘The Special’. It was wonderful to see how students had responded to this idea in the brief time we had together. 

Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Continuing in the theme of community, once again we are supporting the St Vincent de Paul Christmas appeal. There are many people in our community who are in need of our support. Small gifts of toiletries, toys suitable for young children, good quality used clothing or non-perishable food items that can go into hampers for distribution are more than welcome. Baskets have been placed in PAC rooms and I encourage you to support this if you are able to do so. These baskets will be presented to the St Vincent de Paul society during our Christmas Liturgy on December 1st, part of our ongoing support for this wonderful organisation. Did you know that in the Winter Appeal in Term 2, we donated over 20 washing baskets full of good quality pre-loved clothing to our local community? This was in addition to the thousands of dollars raised in the Winter Appeal sleepout. 

Catholic Mission Month

Finally, I’d like to make mention of the wonderful support for Catholic Mission during our Mission Month activities. Students and staff raised over $800 which will go towards supporting the work of Catholic Mission in East Timor. None of this would have been 

possible without the work of Sophie Troon, our Lasallian Youth Minister, supported by our amazing student leaders who gave up their time to sell pizzas, biscuits, cakes and slices. A very special thank you to the parents and students who donated (or made!) goodies to be sold at the cake stall, and Dominos Pizzas who donated a very sizeable number of pizzas to assist in the appeal.

Mr Andrew May

Religious Education Coordinator

ADIG Sponsorships available for Immaculata Mission School 2024!

Are you a young person who would like to start 2024 in an amazing environment of faith, prayer, fun and fellowship? The Immaculata Mission School is running from 1-6 January in Armidale for those aged 14 & up. The Mission School includes awesome speakers on the Catholic faith, daily Mass, times of prayer, praise & worship, games, share groups & more. There are four sponsorships available from ADIG (Armidale Diocesan Investment Group) each valued at $245.

To apply, please send an email to immaculatamissionschool@gmail.com or visit www.immaculata.org.au/ims for more information!

Our Founders - St Angela Merici and St John Baptiste De La Salle

Saints Mary and Joseph Cathedral Parish

Keeping in touch with what is happening in the Cathedral Parish is easy through their website and Facebook pages.

With such a difficult year and a half it has been harder for parishioner's to give to the parish through the plates, particularly when the church is closed as it is at present. The Parish account details are available on the Parish bulletin. 

Cathedral Parish Website

Information about our founders

La Salle Website

Ursuline Sisters Website