Family and Faith

I hope you had a wonderful time away from the school routine and enjoyed the beautiful weather! I have been busy organising fun and interesting activities for you to participate in this term. Check out my newsletter so you don’t miss out!

Lord, I welcome everything that comes to me today because I know it's for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions. Help me to open my heart and welcome others into my life today.   Amen.

Family Mass Invitation-Sunday 11th August 9.30am

You are kindly invited to attend the next Family Mass hosted by Year 3 families to be held on Sunday 11th August at 9.30am. Next year many of the students will be preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Communion and this is a great opportunity for them to prepare and start thinking about their faith commitment.

Students from Year 2- 6 are invited to sing in the choir. Please save the date and come along and join in this beautiful Parish celebration of the Eucharist and support our Year 3 families. There will be a morning tea after the Mass so this is a great opportunity not only to pray to Jesus but connect with other families and parishioners.

Prayer Cards for Year 12 students at St Aloysius College

Thank you to the families who have opened their hearts to write a prayer for a Year 12 student at St Aloysius. These prayer cards will be placed in a special Prayer Pack including keyrings and Holy cards. The packs will be presented to the students on the day of their final Mass and at the commencement of their Stuvac. 

I know first hand how beautifully the prayer packs are received and treasured as many former students contact me to say the words written on the prayer card helped them be positive and upbeat during the HSC exam time. Thanks once again!

Friday Fatima Friends 

Fatima Friends started off  with a bang in Week 1 with the Fatima Mini Olympics taking place on Fatima Forum. There were running, egg and spoon and sack races along with hurdles and shot put masterfully demonstrated by some of our Year 5 students. Everyone was a winner receiving a shiny medal. Check out the photos below.

Week 2: 2nd August - K - 2 Fun and Fitness on the Oval. Fatima Friends are invited to join in the running races at the K - 2 Fun and Fitness day. Meet after Friday Prayer Assembly on the top playground and we will walk to the Oval and Fatima Friends can start off the races. Not a formal Fatima Friends session but lots of fun!

Week 3: 9th August - Grandparents Mass at 9.15am in the Church so no formal Fatima Friends session today.

Week 4: 16th August - Fatima Friends in the Library. It’s Tell A Joke Day so be prepared to laugh a lot! Depending on the weather we may visit the resident chickens or pop our heads in the Kindergarten classes for a visit!

Week 5: 23rd August - Book Week Celebration! The theme is “Reading is Magic.” Fatima Friends are invited to dress up as their favourite book character and be in the Book Week Parade - We are first on the red carpet! 

Fatima Friends will then continue with normal sessions for the rest of the term.

Mary MacKillop Feast Day 8th August

Her Story.…

Many wonderful saints share the month of August for their feast days, but it is hard for an Australian to pass up the opportunity to celebrate St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

When Alexander and Flora MacKillop welcomed their first baby, Mary Helen, into the world in the bedroom of their little house in Melbourne they must have thought she was very special. They could not have guessed in a million years how many people would agree – all over the country and around the whole world! We know her today as St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

Mary MacKillop was born in 1842. She was a fine teacher, the founder of schools and a religious order. She devoted her whole life to following Jesus and helping others, especially poor children. Many people who knew her could tell she was extraordinary. Mother Mary radiated God’s love and energy to everyone she met. 

Mary and her companion Fr Julian Tenison Woods dreamed of a new kind of school, open to anyone whether their family was rich or poor. Children from poorer families would be provided with clothing and school supplies for very little cost or for free. They could learn enough reading, writing and maths so they could get out of poverty and have a better life. When Mary wrote the lessons and timetable for her schools, she made sure there was time for prayers and hymns, which in those days were not written in English, but Latin. But she made sure these weren’t too long so that the children wouldn’t find prayer time too difficult or too boring. Her pupils must have been grateful for that!

Her life wasn’t always easy and she had lots of problems sometimes, but she was happy because she firmly believed in God and that her true home was not here on earth but with God in heaven. She was very cheerful and didn’t want her sisters going around with frowns on their faces. 

What a great role model, educator and faithful servant she was to both children and adults!

Wishing you and your family an Olympic weekend!

Kind regards                                                                                                                                              Tracey Bowler

Family Educator

tracey.bowler@syd.catholic.edu.au

Father God, 

thank You for the amazing opportunity for unity that the Olympics provides. 

We pray for Your blessing and protection on the competitors,

organisers and spectators. 

Amen

Family Mass Invitation - Save the Date!

You are kindly invited to attend the next Family Mass hosted by Year 3 families to be held on Sunday 11th August at 9.30am. Next year many of the students will be preparing for the Sacrament of Holy Communion and this is a great opportunity for them to prepare and start thinking about their faith commitment. Volunteers from Year 2- 6 are invited to sing in the choir. Please save the date and come along and join in this  beautiful Parish celebration of the Eucharist and support our Year 3 families. 

Next term Year 3 families will receive an invitation asking for active participants for various roles in the Mass.

Prayer Cards for Year 12 students at St Aloysius College

One of the most crucial parts of the Family & Faith Program at Our Lady of Fatima School Caringbah is the building and strengthening of relationships within the community.  Once again it is our hope to extend those relationships into our nearby Senior High School of St Aloysius College, Cronulla through an initiative based on supporting all Year 12 students with their final HSC exams and assessments. 

Next term OLF families will be invited to write a prayer for one of the Yr 12 students. These prayer cards plus keyrings and Holy cards will be given to the students in a Prayer Pack on the day of their final Mass and at the commencement of their Stuvac. This has now become an established tradition at OLF to support the Yr 12 students many of whom attended here as primary school children.

Dads Rock - Special Event 

Tracey Bowler | Family Educator

tracey.bowler@syd.catholic.edu.au