Dear Parents,

We celebrated a wonderful positive day last Friday at St Joseph’s. It was oozing with fun, laughter and positive relationships as students and staff celebrated literacy throughout our Book Day celebration. Thank you to staff for organising book day activities and for all parents who came along to both the parade to celebrate a love of books with your children.

Kerry Colliver and myself had the most amazing experience last week on the Mary Mackillop pilgrimage. Mary Mackillop founded the Josephite order of sisters who led St Joseph’s from 1927 till the early eighties. Mary Mackillop was canonized as Australia's first Saint in 2010. She is a role model for all Australians, a strong, courageous, brave, loving, leader who worked tirelessly for any need she could address.

Mary MacKillop has been named by many as a 'pioneering woman' of this land, breaking new ground in the field of Catholic education as she set up schools for the working class children in the poorer parts of our cities and in the isolated communities across the newly emerging colonies. She pioneered with Fr. Julian Tenison Woods sending her Sisters out in twos or threes to live among the people often in places where there was no resident priest. Her Sisters provided the face of the church for many. She is also an Australian spiritual hero. Her life reflects the values which were at the heart of the Australian story - a sense of fair go for everyone, a willingness to stand on the side of the battler, an egalitarianism, a tenacity in facing difficult situations and a pragmatic approach to life all speak to the Australian reality.

This week we celebrate our Dads and Father figures. Father Julian Tenison Woods was a Priest, a scientist, an archeologist, a geologist and an absolute frontier working closely with Mary Mackillop always looking out for the poor and vulnerable and never afraid of addressing anything he could to respect the dignity of every person in his travels. We continue living out these Catholic Social teachings in our school today.

I invite all of our community to our Fathers Day celebrations on Friday. Please invite Dads, grandparents and any special men to join in the celebrations as outlined below. Also just a reminder that the Father's Day stall will be running as well. Please see all notes regarding the Fathers Day events on Operoo.

Finally, we wish our senior students all the best as they represent our school at the upcoming District Athletics this week.

Yours in Partnership,

Gab

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