Religious Education News

One of the key elements of the Catholic Faith is the importance of the Mass. Many people ask why they have to go to Church when they could simply pray by themselves. In fact, Jesus actually told his Disciples that when they prayed, they should do it in a private place so that only God could hear them.

For Catholics, the Mass is important because it makes us join together as a community of believers. Human beings are social animals and we need the company of others to make us complete, or ‘whole’. We can’t be social when we are by ourselves. A huge irony of the term ‘Social Media’ is that when we engage with it (Facebook, Snapchat and so on) we are often by ourselves - we may be sitting with others but we aren’t engaging with them - we aren’t talking to them, telling stories, jokes, sharing our good times and bad times. 

Mass is a community event - I’m continually telling students and staff here at school that we don’t just ‘go’ to Mass - we participate in the Mass. We sit together, stand and kneel together, say the same things, sing the same hymns (sometimes badly but who cares?). The word ‘Church’ actually means ‘Community’. The first Mass was the Last Supper, where Jesus shared his last meal with his closest friends and family. Every Mass is like this, where the members of the Church are our family. 

At O’Connor we gather for Mass almost every Wednesday at 9:10 am. Parents and friends are welcome to join in with this celebration of our faith. On Founder’s Day we will have a school community Mass, where all members of the whole school community will be welcome to join in. 

Mr Andrew May

Religious Education Coordinator

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