Family and Faith

Happy Holidays

Blessings to all our families! I wish you a very happy and relaxing Easter holiday as we celebrate the most important event of the Church calendar - the death and resurrection of Our Lord. The Easter Season begins on Easter Sunday and goes for 50 days! Yes! It’s not a one day wonder! More on this next term.

Holy Week explained and surviving Easter with your children

The services at this time of year are rich in meaning and complex in theology. It can be overwhelming for adults, let alone for young children. You can help them get the most out of the church services by using some of the ideas from CathFamily to explore the themes of the various days. Click on the link for ideas on how to celebrate the events of Holy Week and the Season of Easter in a family friendly way.

Holy Week Explained

ANZAC Day - April 25

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.    At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

The Ode comes from For the Fallen, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon and was published in London in The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914. This verse, which became the Ode for the Returned and Services League, has been used in association with commemoration services in Australia since 1921. We will be celebrating ANZAC Day at OLF on Monday 28th April.

Womens Event - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Next term I will be inviting you to a Women’s Event organised by the Family Educators in the Sutherland Shire. At this stage I am asking women to Save the Date!  More next term!

Slavery - Free Easter 

 ACRATH - Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans is calling for everyone to consider the ethical dimensions of their purchases; We ask you to make sure your Easter chocolate is slavery-free. As Pope Francis says: 

“Every person ought to have the awareness that purchasing is always a moral choice – and not simply an economic – act."

• A 2020 Macquarie University report, Not so sweet: chocolate, slavery and complicit corporations, found that, “More than two million children under the age of 15 years old work in the cocoa industry in Ivory Coast and Ghana. Many are the children of farm labourers, but others are also sold to farms as bonded labourers from neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali”

• A 2021 report by the International Labor Organisation (ILO) found that 152 million children (64 million girls and 88 million boys) are involved in child labour – that’s almost one in 10 of all children worldwide.

Where to buy chocolate that is certified slavery-free

Slavery-free chocolate is chocolate that is certified. Look for chocolate with one of the four logos (below) on it – Fairtrade, UTZ or Rainforest Alliance.

Fatima Friends Invitation - Come and join in the fun!                          

Fatima Friends will continue in Term 2 on the following dates:

Week 3: Easter fun! (Did someone say Easter Egg Hunt?)

Week 4: Easter fun! (Did someone say Easter painting?)

Week 5: Sporty fun with our Year 5 friends!

Please note there are no Fatima Friends sessions in Week 1 (Athletics Carnival) Week 2 (OLF Mother’s Day celebration) and Week 6,7,8,9,10 because I am off to Fatima Portugal on a personal pilgrimage! But I will be back in Term 3!

Sutherland Shire Relay for Life- Don Lucas Reserve 

Save the Date!

Next term I will invite you to walk a few laps with me at Don Lucas Reserve for the Relay for Life event on Saturday 3rd May. Many OLF families attend this fund- raising event and it would be great if we meet at a set time as an OLF family and show our support. Never been? Come and join me! More next term!

The Feast of Our Lady of Fatima Mass

St Mary's Cathedral for Mass - 10th May at 6pm

Wishing you a happy holiday and joyous Easter!

Tracey Bowler | Family Educator        

tracey.bowler@syd.catholic.edu.au