Principal's Message

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Last week many of our students received the Sacrament Of Confirmation at St Patrick's at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Geoff Jarrett.

“AS THE FATHER SENT ME, SO I AM SENDING YOU”

These words, from the Gospel of John, provide a key message from the great Feast of Pentecost – commonly referred to as the Church’s birthday. It is when God sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples to strengthen them for the task they had ahead of them. This is the same Spirit that we received in our Baptism. When our students received this Sacrament it was the third and final Sacrament of Initiation. (Baptism and Eucharist are the first two.) 

These words from the Gospel confirm the challenge that Jesus issues to all of us – including those recently Confirmed.

How CAN we make disciples of those we meet?????

The idea of knocking on doors to spread the Word, or setting up a stall in the local park to teach people about Jesus are, while very admirable, just not something that most of us would be comfortable doing. Rather we have the opportunity to do exactly the same thing that we ask of our children – and that is to lead by example. The way we treat others and the way we talk about people is indicative of the way the ‘Spirit’ is working within us. 

In a previous Pentecost message the Archbishop Of Sydney, wrote, “St. Paul told us when he wrote to the Christians of Galatia that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22 -3), while the gifts of the Spirit are taken from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah’s list of wisdom, insight, counsel, power, knowledge, piety and fear of Lord (Isaiah 11:2). 

All of these are based on truth.  In good times the fruits exist in abundance, but when the spirit of evil strengthens, these fruits are in short supply.”

How does this spirit of evil strengthen? I guess it is when we tell our children to treat others with respect and then they hear us make racist jokes or comments – or when we ask them to show tolerance and restraint and then they hear us abuse someone on the road who cuts us off in the traffic!

Those Baptismal promises, which we renew at Confirmation, remind all of us that we DO reject evil and that we truly BELIEVE in God, the Father, His son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. 

Here at St. Patrick's we have a school motto that says “Nourish, Nurture, Grow In Christ”. This means that each of us is challenged to be the face of Jesus to everyone we meet, in how we act and in what we say.

As I heard another Bishop say during a Confirmation Mass homily many years ago, it is up to us as parents to ensure our children know the difference between right and wrong. As a parent myself I know that we don’t always get it right. But for our children’s sake it is important that we are mature enough to acknowledge when we get it wrong! As the Archbishop wrote, “Peer pressure can be fierce, whether we are young or old! Long journeys start with small steps and bad habits capture our wills. Apathy is poisonous, but individual courage and leadership inspire others, like a snowball rolling down a hill.”

I hope and pray that those young people who were confirmed last week will be the inspiration for many others throughout their lifetime.

Steve Darcy (Principal)

GREEN AND GOLD FRIDAY

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Friday) the students are invited to wear green and / or gold coloured clothing to support the Australian Soccer team who will be playing in the World Cup at midday.

POSTING PHOTOS OF STUDENTS ONLINE

Can I remind all parents / carers that photos of students WEARING THEIR SCHOOL UNIFORM (or wearing ANY item of clothing that identifies the School) should NOT be posted on any personal social media platform.

This rule is in place to protect the privacy of all our students.

DEEPEST CONDOLENCES

Our thoughts and Prayers are with our Parish Priest, Fr Dan and his family after the recent death of his father after a long battle with illness.

May he rest in peace.

CANBERRA EXCURSION

Congratulations to our Year 6 students who were wonderful ambassadors for our School and their families on the recent overnight excursion to Canberra. The feedback from people who came into contact with them was overwhelmingly positive.

I would also like to thank the Staff who give up their time to take on this responsibility so the students can enjoy this experience.

I appreciate those parents who thanked the Staff for giving up time with their own families so their children can enjoy this excursion.

Many Schools no longer have staff who are prepared to take this on, so St Patrick's is very lucky.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

This year our School Photos will be done on Thursday 23 July.

Just a reminder that School will resume on TUESDAY 21 JULY.  (Monday is a staff development day and the School will be closed on this day.)

CHRISTMAS IN JULY MUFTI DAY

St Patrick's will be celebrating "CHRISTMAS IN JULY" next week. Our students are invited to wear their favourite Christmas outfit or Christmas colours next THURSDAY as we raise money for the School Of St Jude in Tanzania. All students are asked to make a gold coin donation on this day.

Kind regards,

Steve Darcy (Principal)