Education in Faith
The Sacrament of Confirmation
Congratulations to all of our Year Five and Six students who recently completed their Sacrament of Confirmation. What a wonderful occasion it was!
Students learnt all about the sacrament through classroom activities. They also spent plenty of time concentrating on very important elements of confirmation.
Firstly students learnt about the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit. These are the characteristics that signify someone is living with the Holy Spirit, following the example set by the lord. They can be seen in both big and small ways in our life everyday, and make individuals pleasant and rewarding to spend time with. Please see the Gifts and Fruits as modelled by some of our candidates below!
Secondly students also studied on the lives of Saints and Spirit Filled People. The sacrament of confirmation involves taking the name of a Saint whom a candidate resonates with. Particularily the things they spent their life doing and the way they lived exemplifying the above mentioned gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. Some of the selected saints included:
Walking through our church in the lead up to the sacrament you will have seen the brilliant assignments the candidates completed on their saints. They were able to not only recount important events from their lives, but discuss why they had selected that saint and how they best represented the Holy Spirit.
Last Friday all candidates were visited by Most Rev. Anthony J. Ireland DD STD VG EV
Auxiliary Bishop in the Southern Region of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Bishop Tony was warm and welcoming with our candidates, reassuring them about all the hard work they had already completed, and that they were very much ready for the sacrament.
This led us to the sacrament itself which took place at a special time on Sunday the 15th of October. What a wonderful occasion this was! All of our candidates performed so well, and gladly accepted the Holy Spirit! It was so lovely to be able to celebrate in family groups as well as our parish community.
We send a hearty congratulations to each of our Year 5/6 students who took part in confirmation, as well as those students who joined our program from Galilee Regional Catholic Primary School and St Patrick's Primary School Murrumbeena. We know that you will continue to inspire others and act with each of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit. We congratulate each family involved as well, we know you are as proud of these students as we all are here at school.
Wonderful occasions such as this simply do not happen without the participation and generosity of a big team of people so we would like to take the opportunity to thank them here!
To Bishop Tony and Father Leenus for guiding these candidates and helping them feel at ease in a wonderful ceremony.
To Veronica Blair, Joan Ferguson and all Parish members who gave up their time to work with our students in both preparation and on the day. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity and representing the true beauty of our St Anthony's Parish Community. This absolutely includes our choir members for the sacrament who made things even more special!
Finally our team here at St Anthony's, including classroom teachers Miss Norton, Mrs Casey, Mrs Di Camillo, Mrs Straford and Mrs Whitfield for helping prepare our candidates for the occasion. As always we are wonderfully supported by our principal Mrs Carlei.
That marks the end of three incredibly successful sacraments that have taken place this school year! Again we could not be prouder of our students and the way they represent themselves, their families and our beautiful school.
May the Holy Spirit be with you!
Tim O'Mahoney
Education in Faith Leader