Mission and Religious Education

Mission and Religious Education

Congratulation Father Curran - “Golden Jubilee”

29 August, 1974 - 29 August, 2024

Congratulations Father Curran on the 50th Anniversary of your priestly ordination. 

St Michael’s Parish celebrated Father Curran’s “Golden Jubilee” on Saturday 24 August, with Mass followed by lunch at the Manilla Services Club. The Church was full and it was lovely that so many people were able to join Father Curran to celebrate. Thank you to Chelsea, Georgia and Jasper who were the altar servers. At the luncheon Bronwyn Underwood, Emma Martin, Georgia and Alice presented Father Curran with gifts from the school and the P&F. We decorated the Church and the club with pictures of Father Curran drawn by our very talented students.

Yesterday, Thursday 29 August, was 50 years to the date when Father Curran was ordained a priest on Thursday 29 August, 1974. Monsignor Weekes, Priests from around the Armidale Diocese and Deacon Paul Manvel, parishioners and staff and students from St Michael’s school joined with Father Curran to celebrate his priestly ordination with Mass at 11am. It was a lovely celebration. School captains Molly and Farrer welcomed everyone and thanked Father Curran on behalf of our school for his support and years of service. Monsignor Wilkes presented Father Curran with an Apostolic Blessing from Pope Francis.

We wish Father Curran well as he heads off next week to celebrate with his ordination class and then enjoy a well earned holiday. While Father Curran is away we welcome Father Ross O’Brien who organised Father Curran’s Jubilee celebrations.

Celebrating the Sacraments

Confirmation 

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on Saturday 21 September at the 5.00pm Mass. Please keep all of the candidates in your prayers , as they prepare to celebrate this important sacrament in their faith lives.

NSW Catholic Schools Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference Message Stick

Spirit on Country - Learning Together then, now and always. 

On Friday 23 August, the Message Stick for the NSW Catholic Schools Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference was passed on to us from St Joseph’s, Barraba by Mrs Deb McDouall. Our school captains and I received the Message Stick in the Church, where it was placed next to the ambo for Father Curran’s Jubilee Mass and the vigil Mass. On Monday 26 August we gathered as a school in the Church for a beautiful liturgy where Father Curran passed the Message Stick on to Mrs Underwood who with Farrer, at the end of the liturgy led a procession out of the Church to the school. The Message Stick has been in each classroom where the students have learnt more about Message Sticks. Today the Message Stick was passed on to Lisa Smith from McCarthy Catholic College.

School Mass

Stage 2 - Years 3 and 4 will be going to Mass on Friday 6 September.

Connecting With Our Parish

Weekend Mass Times

We encourage all of our families to celebrate Sunday Mass with our parish.

Manilla Parish Mass Times

1st Sunday of the month - Sunday 8.30am

2nd, 3rd & 4th Sunday of the month - Saturday 5.00pm

Attunga Mass Times

2nd, 4th & 5th Sunday of the month - Sunday 12 noon

Living Well, Learning Well - Pastoral Care and Wellbeing 

Legends of the Light Shine 

Today we introduced our new Legends of the Light Shine focus for the next 2 weeks “Creativity”. This focus supports the creation units currently being taught in most of our classes over the remainder of Term 3 and the Season of Creation that commences on 1 September and finishes on 4 October the Feast of St Francis of Assisi. This year’s theme is “To Hope and Act with Creation” and is a time of coming together as a Christian community to renew our commitment to care for the Earth, our common home.

“Let Your Light Shine” support others to let their light shine and remember “We Shine Brighter Together”

Jacquelene Cronin

Assistant Principal - Mission