Family & Faith

Tracey Bowler| Family Educator

I hope you had a wonderful time away from school routine and enjoyed the beautiful weather! I have been busy organising fun and interesting activities for you to participate in this term. Check out my newsletter so you don’t miss out!

Lord, I welcome everything that comes to me today because I know it's for my healing.

I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions.

Help me to open my heart and welcome others into my life today.

Amen.

Family Mass Invitation - Saturday 15th August at 4pm

You are kindly invited to attend the next Family Mass hosted by Year 4 families to be held on Saturday 15th August at 4pm. It is also a Holy Day of Obligation as it is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Many of the students are preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Communion and this is a great opportunity for them to share their commitment to their faith with the parish community. Students from Year 2- 6 are invited to sing in the choir. Please save the date and come along and join in this beautiful Parish celebration of the Eucharist and support our Year 4 families.

Prayer Cards for Year 12 students

St Aloysius College, OLMC Burraneer and De La Salle Caringbah

Thank you to the families who have opened their hearts to write a prayer for Year 12 students at De La Salle Senior College Caringbah, St Aloysius Cronulla and Our Lady of Mercy College Burraneer. These prayer cards will be placed in a special Prayer Pack including a symbol of our faith, chocolate and prayer cards.

The packs will be presented to the students before the start of their Stuvac. I know first hand how beautifully the prayer packs are received and treasured as many former students contact me to say the words written on the family prayer card helped them be positive and upbeat during the HSC exam time. Thanks once again!

Friday Fatima Friends

Fatima Friends will resume this Friday 31st July, Week 2, Term 3

Week 2: 31st July- Sporty Fun on Fatima Forum

Week 3: 7th August - Mary MacKillop Feast Day activity

Week 4: 14th August - Free play today with toys

Week 5: No Fatima Friends today

Week 6: 28th August - Book Week Celebration! The theme is “A Symphony of Stories.” Fatima Friends are invited to dress up as their favourite book character and be in the Book Week Parade!

Week 7: No formal meeting today as it’s the OLF Father’s Day Liturgy and Breakfast. Wear your favourite jersey and come along and join in the fun on this special day celebrating dads and father figures.

Week 8: 11th September - No Fatima Friends today

Week 9: 18th September- It’s the last Fatima Friends session for the term today.

Overscheduled Kids by Francine Pirola

In a fast-paced culture driven by the need to have it all, many kids are growing up without the joy of authentic leisure. In a telling exposé of modern family life, author and family therapist Bill Doherty is sounding the alarm about our children’s extra-curricular activities.

One of the biggest casualties of the ‘overscheduled kids’ phenomenon is the loss of unstructured play. When kids are left to create their own entertainment, a number of important things happen:

They seek the company of siblings and neighbours which helps them to develop their social skills and leads them to appreciate that they are part of a family, a neighbourhood, a village.
They learn how to resolve disputes and negotiate rules for fair play.
They learn how to interact with kids of various ages, abilities and interests.
They craft new games and invent new scenarios for role playing.
They get more outdoor time and creative play time to build their imagination (compared to more solitary electronic time).

Structured activities have a place and can be a great way for a child to learn a new skill, make new friends, feel part of a team and experience competitive play.

However, if there are too many structured activities, kids simply don’t have the time or energy for spontaneous neighbourhood ball games or imaginative play.

Mary MacKillop Feast Day 8th August

Her Story…

Many wonderful saints share the month of August for their feast days, but it is hard for an Australian to pass up the opportunity to celebrate St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

When Alexander and Flora MacKillop welcomed their first baby, Mary Helen, into the world in the bedroom of their little house in Melbourne they must have thought she was very special. They could not have guessed in a million years how many people would agree – all over the country and around the whole world! We know her today as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary MacKillop was born in 1842. She was a fine teacher, the founder of schools and a religious order. She devoted her whole life to following Jesus and helping others, especially poor children.Many people who knew her could tell she was extraordinary. Mother Mary radiated God’s love and energy to everyone she met.Mary and her companion Fr Julian Tenison Woods dreamed of a new kind of school, open to anyone whether their family was rich or poor. Children from poorer families would be provided with clothing and school supplies for very little cost or for free. They could learn enough reading, writing and maths so they could get out of poverty and have a better life.When Mary wrote the lessons and timetable for her schools, she made sure there was time for prayers and hymns, which in those days were not written in English, but Latin. But she made sure these weren’t too long so that the children wouldn’t find prayer time too difficult or too boring.Her pupils must have been grateful for that! Her life wasn’t always easy and she had lots of problems sometimes, but she was happy because she firmly believed in God and that her true home was not here on earth but with God in heaven. She was very cheerful and didn’t want her sisters going around with frowns on their faces.

What a great role model, educator and faithful servant she was to both children and adults!