Catholic Identity 

Feast of St Patrick

Today is the Feast of St Patrick. Of course, for those with Irish descent (and those without!), today is a great day of celebration! For us in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, it is also our patronal feast day - St Patrick being the Patron Saint of our Archdiocese. 

St Patrick famously used the shamrock as a symbol of the Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He was a great missionary of the faith also.

Today, we pray that St Patrick may inspire us to go out into the world with missionary zeal, bringing people into light of our Triune God! 

Project Compassion 2023

M&M Jar Guessing Competition

In Weeks 9 and 10, we will be holding an M&M Jar guessing competition. Each Learning Centre will have its own jar. Each day, Social Justice leaders will come around and record students' guesses. Each guess will cost 20c which will be donated to our Project Compassion fundraising. 

The student in each Learning Centre whose guess is closest without going over will win the jar of M&Ms!

"One body, many parts"

As part of prayer during the OLSC Staff Conference last Thursday and Friday, we reflected on what it means to be one of many - as we are taught that there are many parts of one body. As a Catholic school, each and everyone of us are a part of the body that is the Church - Christ's visible body on earth. Though we are from many different backgrounds, we are all part of this faith and learning community at OLSC. The image below is a visible representation of the many parts that make up the body of Christ at our school. 

2023 Australian Catholics Young Voices Award

The 2023 Australian Catholics Young Voices Award theme is 'Climate for Change'. 

Students are invited to create an entry in either the print, photo or digital (podcast or video) category. This competition is open to all Year 5/6 students. 

Prizes will be awarded and selected entries will be published in the Australian Catholics magazine. 

Entries must be submitted electronically by the learning group teacher via www.australiancatholics.com.au/yva This website also has further information about the competition. 

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I would encourage as many Year 5/6 students to enter as possible! 

Palm Sunday Liturgy and Stations of the Cross

To mark the important events of Holy Week, we will be having a Palm Sunday liturgy and Stations of the Cross. The Palm Sunday liturgy will take place in the Sports Centre on Friday 31st March (Week 10) at 9am. We invite you to bring a palm branch, or another suitable branch, with you to participate in the liturgy. 

The Stations of the Cross will be a progressive/moving liturgy on the sports oval on Tuesday 4th April from 9am. As this will involve a staggered start, you may choose to join us any time from 9am to 9:40am (Stations will begin every 5 minutes beginning at 9:10am). The stations will take approximately 50minutes to complete from start to finish. 

School Masses

Today we were able to come together as a school community to celebrate our first Whole School Mass for 2023. As we journey through this lenten season, the theme of our Mass was 'The Light of Christ' which illuminates our path during this time of reflection. Thank you to all of those from our school community - parents, grandparents and friends - who joined us for this Mass. 

This year, we are very fortunate to be able to celebrate a whole school Mass each term, as well as some smaller Masses in Terms 3 and 4. All Masses will be celebrated in the Sports Centre. Parents and families are invited to these celebrations and we hope to see as many of you as possible attend!

Here are the dates and times of our Masses for 2023:

Term 2, Week 6: Whole School Mass, Friday 2nd June at 2pm

Term 3, Week 6: LC1 and LC2 Mass, Friday 18th August at 2pm

Term 3, Week 8: Feast Day Whole School Mass, Friday 1st September at 10am

Term 4, Week 4: LC3 & LC4 Mass, Friday 27th October at 2pm

Term 4, Week 7: Whole School Mass, Friday 17th November at 2pm

Sacramental Program 2023

First Reconciliation

Students have begun their preparation for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation as part of their Religious Education. This Wednesday evening we had our Reconciliation Family Sacramental Evening. Thank you to all of the families who attended this session with their children.  

The Sacrament of Penance will be celebrated on Wednesday 29th March, at the OLSC Sports Centre at 6.30 pm. 

The following students are preparing for the Sacrament of First Reconciliation:

Prayers of Sorrow/Forgiveness 

Students have begun looking at how they can come to God in prayer to ask for forgiveness and express their contrition, or sorrow, for times when they have not followed the example of Jesus. 

Family Action: As a family, to support your child making their First Reconciliation, find time each day to gather together in prayer. Practise the ACT OF SORROW together by praying:

O MY GOD, I AM VERY SORRY THAT I HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU,

BECAUSE YOU ARE SO GOOD AND WITH YOUR HELP, I WILL NOT SIN AGAIN. AMEN.

Your child will have a copy of this prayer during their First Reconciliation to assist them, however, it would be great if they could learn this ACT OF SORROW ‘off by heart’, so they do not require a sheet in front of them when they make their Reconciliation in future years. 

Dates of our 2023 Sacramental Program are as follows:

First Eucharist Sacramental Students - 2023

Confirmation Sacramental Students - 2023

John Dini

Catholic Identity Leader