Dear Families,

the students have settled exceptionally well this week, despite a few 'wet plays' here and there.

On Saturday the 14th of October, we will host the The Voice Referendum at St Joseph's Parish Hall. Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity of fundraising for our school, Michael, Ash and the P+F have organised the 'democracy' sausage sizzle for the day. Adrian would also like to host a pre vote working bee to give the school grounds a bit of a freshen up and this is scheduled for Friday the 13th of October from 2pm until 4pm. We would like as much help as possible with general cleaning, weeding and leaf blowing! BYO tools! If you're able to volunteer for the working bee or assisting on the stalls on the day of the referendum, or you are able to donate food/ drink, please use the sign up form to indicate your help. (all three things are on the form):

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094FABAC22A6FAC07-44850168-stjosephs

As always, we are very grateful for your help.

Finding Nemo Jr Tickets on Sale Now!!

With the show not that long away and the excitement levels going through the roof now the costumes are almost ready, it's now time to sell some tickets!

Thankfully we are able to sell allocated seating rather than general admission, as this will save a 'stampede' on the night of the show.

Tickets can be purchased here:

https://www.trybooking.com/CMDLQ

Adult tickets are $25

Children 0-16 are $10

Please do not purchase a ticket for your child if they are a student at St Joseph's.

All proceeds from the ticket sales will go towards the following:

Royalty payment to Hal Leonard Licensing;
Cost of the performance licence from Hal Leonard (over $1000);
Cost of the video licence to allow us to film the show;
Cost of animated scenery licence;
Cost of audio/ visual staff and equipment (this includes lighting, microphones and individual headsets for lead characters)
Cost of costumes

I'd like to thanks Stonnington Council for awarding us a community grant, which has saved us the hire costs of Malvern Town Hall. This would have cost us $6500 for two dress rehearsal days and two nights of the show; the grant has covered all of this amount and we are extremely grateful to council for this help.

Cast Photographs

Thanks to Jason Williams, photographer and ex St Joseph's parent, who came in on Wednesday for our cast photographs. If your child was not in on that day, we will do a catch up next week. They do not need to provide anything for this.

Congratulations to the Nucci Family

Congratulations to Gabriele (Y6CS), sister Giulia, and parents Letizia and Luca for recently becoming Australian Citizens. What a lucky country to have such a beautiful family!

Welcome to Fr Gallacher

This week, our staff and students had the pleasure of meeting our new Parish Priest, Fr Michael Gallacher. The 'footy banter' was much appreciated by the children and I know the staff are looking forward to working with our new priest in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years!

Fr Gallacher has been parish priest of St Roch's since January 2017, and has now taken on the additional responsibilty of the parishes of St Mary's East Malvern and St Joseph's Malvern.

A letter of introduction from Fr:

I’m humbled to have been appointed your Parish Priest by the Archbishop and look forward to taking up that appointment on 11th October. I’m looking forward to meeting you in the coming weeks and excited about the opportunities we have in this new family of parishes. In the meantime, it’s been suggested to me that it would be helpful to introduce myself. Please find a below a recent bio that might answer some of your questions.

God Bless,

Fr Gallacher

Fr Michael Gallacher grew up in the parish of St Philip’s, Blackburn North, where he went to primary school. He completed secondary school at Whitefriars College, Donvale in 2000. While at school he was heavily involved in sport, including boundary umpiring at the EFL and competing with Doncaster Athletic Club. At this is time he was also involved in running kids holiday camps and the Youth Parliament Programme with the Victorian YMCA. After school, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in the Dean’s Scholars Programme at Monash University, majoring in History and Indonesian. During his university years, Fr Michael Gallacher was a boundary umpire at the VFL. In 2003 he spent a year travelling around Australia running retreats in schools with NET Ministries. In 2005 he entered Corpus Christi College, Carlton, to begin his studies for the priesthood. During those years he was a runner and player at the Whitefriars Football Club. In 2009 Archbishop Hart asked him to complete his seminary studies in Rome, and to do postgraduate study in canon law.

Fr Gallacher was ordained a deacon in Rome in 2011, and ordained a priest at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne, on 29th June 2012. He completed his studies in Rome at the end of June 2014. Upon his return to Australia, Fr Gallacher served as Assistant Priest at St Francis Xavier – St Clare Parish, Box Hill and part-time in canon law for the Archdiocese. He also resumed his involvement in aths and footy. In 2016 he became full-time in canon law at the Diocesan Tribunal and a Priest in Residence at St Luke’s Parish, Blackburn South.

In 2017 he was appointed the Parish Priest of St Roch’s, Glen Iris. He continued to work in the Diocesan Tribunal in various capacities until mid-2023. In 2020-2021 he was a member of the steering committee for the incorporation of Melbourne’s parish and diocesan schools, and since sine late 2021 has been an inaugural Board Member of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Ltd. This year he was also appointed as a Vocations Promoter as part of the Vocations team for the Archdiocese of Melbourne.

Well done to our Year 5 and 6 Rugby teams

Thankfully the sun made an appearance for the day of rugby at the Dendy gala day. By all accounts, the students represented St Joseph's with pride and although no silverware was brought home, they had a great time! Thanks to Liam, Edel and Martin for coaching and accompanying the children today.

Wishing you all a restful weekend ahead,

Michelle

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