Religious Education

Hello!

Authentic Relgious Education in the Classroom 

Exploring sacred spaces that shape faith, culture, and community

This term our Year 5 students have participated in a special Minecraft Education challenge run by Catholic Network Australia. Students were encouraged to look at different sacred spaces around the world and then designed and built a creation on Minecraft that reflected their understanding of how these places reflect faith, culture, history, and community. Enjoying seeing some screengrabs of the students sacred spaces and hear what they have to say about their creations and projects. 

Milo, Lachie and Cooper

What have you enjoyed most about this project?

Milo: I have really enjoyed being creative and playing with our build. It is based on our school and has been cool to build areas and sacred spaces like the Church. It has been really fun working in a partnership with people and building really cool things. 

What was your inspirtation when you were building?

Lachie: We created the Church based on the sacred space at school and we built a waterfall because it's calm and it's really nice next to the Church. 

What other areas did you include in your sacred space?

Cooper: Bathrooms, a Church, Baptism pool, confession space, fountain, look out tower, waterfalls, 2 graves and a garden. 

Charlotte and Mine

Tell us about the project. What have you made and enjoyed most about this project?

A Japanese shrine, heaven and a small pond because we think the Japanese culture is really peaceful and pretty. The sacred space is faithful and respectful. It’s quiet and has a deep connection to God. 

Mine: My favourite part was working together with Charlotte and building all the parts of our sacred space

Charlotte: I really liked hanging out with Mine and using both of our ideas to combine and make something beautiful 

Each group then had to write a 200 word submission and take 3 screenshots and a 1min screen record walk thru of their space that we will submit to Minecraft Education later this week. 

Nicholas and Ben

Ben and Nicholas gave such a thorough tour of their sacred spaces and put in so much care and detail throughout their minecraft creation. It was fantastic to see their interpretation and creativity. 

What did you enjoy about this project?

We enjoyed working together and building all the different parts of our sacred space. 

Where did you get your inspiration from?

We got lots of inspiration from Churches we've been to and from Indiana Jones. 

End of Term Mass and Feast

We warmly welcome all families to join us for our End of Term and Feast Day Mass on the last day of school, Friday 18th September. A special thank you to our wonderful Year 5 students and their teachers for leading the Mass. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Gospel Reflection - Sunday 13th of September 

Gospel Reading

Matthew 18:21-35

Jesus teaches that we must forgive one another as God has forgiven us. 

Family Connection

Children learn to trust God's mercy and forgiveness when they experience forgiveness from those closest to them. We hope that we can all model God's love and forgiveness within our family life. This Sunday's Gospel reminds us that forgiveness is measured by its quality more than its quantity.

Family Discussion

Invite your family to consider some recent times when family members sought the forgiveness of another. Ask if there were any statements made that put conditions on our forgiveness such as:

• “I will play this game with you if you apologise for knocking over my blocks” or 
• “I will accept your apology after you clean up your room.” 
• Do we sometimes “keep count” or put conditions on our forgiveness of one another? This is something we may be doing without realising it.

1. Read together today's Gospel, Matthew 18:21-35. 
2. Ask if we sometimes find ourselves sounding like Peter, concerning ourselves with quantity of forgiveness rather than offering forgiveness abundantly and unconditionally. 
3. Reflect upon the parable that Jesus tells. What does the servant do that makes the king so angry? He refuses to forgive his fellow servant the debt that he owes. Because we have all received God's forgiveness, God expects that we will also be forgiving toward others. Jesus' answer to Peter's question is found at the end of the parable. The number of times that we forgive one another is less important than the depth of our forgiveness. We must forgive one another from the heart.

Family Prayer

Conclude in prayer together that God's love and forgiveness is evident in your family life. Pray together today's psalm, Psalm 103, or the Lord's Prayer.

Upcoming Sacrament of Confirmation

As our Year 6 students prepare to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, please take note of the following important dates:

• Wednesday, 7th of October at 5:30 pm - Confirmation Family Faith Night at School (All St. Finbar's students who are making their Confirmation are expected to attend. If your child is not making their Confirmation they are more than welcome to attend if they wish)
• Thursday 8th of October - Confirmation Feast Day (Celebration during school, all Year 6 students included, no parent involvement required)
• Sunday, 11th of October at 12pm -  Confirmation Ceremony #1 in the school Church
• Sunday, 11th of October at 2pm -  Confirmation Ceremony #2 in the school Church

We look forward to supporting our Year 6 students and their families as they continue their journey of faith towards this special Sacrament.

May God bless, 

Laura Zeeng

Deputy Principal & Relgious Education Leader (REL)