John XXIII College Newsletter

Liturgy

Community Liturgy

Next Friday 7 September Year 9 students will prepare our Community Liturgy.  Parents and families of Year 9 students are especially encouraged to attend our joyful Friday morning liturgy – however everyone is welcome!

  • When: Fridays in Term Time
  • Time: 8:00-8:30am
  • Where: College Chapel

If you have any queries about Community Liturgy, please contact Mary-Anne Lumley:

Lumley.mary-anne@cewa.edu.au or 9383 0513.

Sacrament Program - Congratulations

… to the Primary students who have completed the ‘family-focused, parish-based, Catholic school-supported sacrament program’ so far this year. As John XXIII is a regional College, the students have celebrated the sacraments in a number of parishes including:

  • City Beach – Holy Spirit
  • Claremont – St Thomas Apostle
  • Cottesloe – St Mary Star of the Sea
  • Floreat – St Cecilia’s
  • Fremantle – St Patrick’s
  • Leederville – St Mary’s
  • Mirrabooka – St Gerard’s
  • Mount Lawley – St Paul’s
  • Nedlands – Holy Rosary
  • North Beach – Our Lady of Grace
  • North Perth – Monastery
  • Subiaco – St Joseph’s

Year 6 Confirmation has been completed. Congratulations to all the Year 6 students, their families and their teachers.

 

During Terms 2 and 3, First Reconciliation and First Communion have been offered in some parishes.  Other local parishes are offering these sacraments in Term 4.

 

Congratulations to the Year 4 students, and their families, who have so far made their First Communion in their parish.

Antoina Annan

Ayva Baker

Carla Chipperfield

Taj Dorrington

Gen Ford

Catherine Gazia

Jack Gregory

Maddy Holly

Elise Kwei

Bridget Lilleyman

Matilda MacLennan

Chloe Menzies

Matthew Mignacca

James Millar

Sophia Negus

Sofia Paolucci

Izaac Paton

Harry Pazin

Liam Ptolomey

Jon Rintoul

Luca Robson

Joseph Scott

Alice Travlos

Tom Walsh

Kate Wagner

Georgette Watson

Ollie Wever

Raph Zidar

 

Congratulations to the Year 3 students, and their families, who have so celebrated their First Reconciliation in their parish.

 

Tahj Arundell

Arabella Buzzard

Myles Cabassi

Lola Denton

Janaya Douglas

George Foster

Sam Gooch

Callan Griffiths

Blake Kavanagh

Sophie Litic

Xavier Parker

Klara Travlos

Campbell Tonkin

Sacrament program

Do you have a child in Year 3, 4 or 6 and have not yet enrolled in the Sacrament program in your ‘home’ parish?

GOOD NEWS for the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

‘You forget the commandments of God and hold on to human tradition.’  Mark 7:1-23

 

The reflection for this Sunday’s Gospel is a homily by Jesuit priest, Fr Richard Leonard. Fr Richard Leonard SJ is the Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting, is a member of the Australian Catholic Media Council and is author of Preaching to the Converted, Paulist Press, New York, 2006.

 

I read a terrific book the other day entitled ‘Shadows and the Dark’ by Australian Jesuit Fr John Cowburn. This book explores how we can hold to a loving God in the face of evil.

 

The idea for the book came when Fr John fell from his bicycle, broke his collarbone and was awaiting surgery in hospital. While there, an old religious sister came to his room to give him Holy Communion before going to the operating theatre. Fr John told her about the accident. Sister said, ‘Well Father, God must have known you needed a little holiday, so he arranged for your fall’. John replied, ‘If that's true Sister I'm pleased God didn't want me to take a sabbatical!’ From Jesus' day to ours, when bad things happen to good people it seems easier to blame God or Satan. By his own admission Fr John had an accident because he didn't take enough care on his bike. End of story. That God can bring something good out of such an accident is grace building on nature. What Jesus confronts in today's Gospel is ‘The-devil-made-me-do-it’ theology. And his response is as challenging now as it was in first century Palestine.

 

For as long as we blame our most destructive behaviour on evil acting upon us in all its guises, empty promises and powers, then we remain some way from taking the sort of responsibility for the condition of our hearts that might see them fully converted by Christ's saving love. This is not to say that evil does not exist or that it cannot have a powerful effect upon us, quite the opposite. Just as grace builds on love and goodness, evil grows out of estrangement and hatred. As Christians we hold that God has given us free will, and evil's hold on our hearts is often the result of the poor choices and smaller compromises we have made along the way.

 

The way we look at the evil in our lives and the world also affects our compassion. For if we're not in touch with the greed that leads to theft, the anger that leads to murder, the desire for power that leads to rape, or the alienation that leads to terrorism, then it's hard for us to be compassionate toward the perpetrators of these evil acts. The degree to which we know what our hearts are capable of leads us to be grateful for the graces we receive and cultivate, and to be compassionate toward those who have missed out on this good news and who, by nurture or free will, have chosen evil as their fundamental option.

 

May our celebration of the Eucharist enable us to take in the broken body of Christ because we know we are a broken people in need of its power, and as Christ's blood is poured for us, may we be poured out in love, so that, through us, others might hear His call to a conversion of heart.

 

© Richard Leonard SJ