Mission and Religious Education

Mission and Religious Education

Celebrating the Sacraments

Confirmation - Advanced Notice

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated in Week 10 of Term 3 on Saturday 21 September at the 6.00pm Mass. For parents and carers of students in Years 5 and 6 who are eligible to receive this Sacrament, you may like to start thinking about who your child’s/children’s sponsor will be to let them know the date of Confirmation. 

Each child has a sponsor who will be with them when they are confirmed - the sponsor is a spiritual guide for your child. A sponsor must be at least 16 years of age and be a baptised and confirmed Catholic. 

If possible it would be appreciated if your child’s sponsor could send in a copy of their own Baptism Certificate and Confirmation Certificate. If the sponsor was baptised and/or confirmed in Manilla please contact Father Curran and he will look up the parish records. We realise that it may be difficult for some sponsors to find their certificates, if this is the case please call us so we can discuss with your family on an individual basis. 

A parent is unable to be a sponsor for their own child but other family members and friends are able to be sponsors. You might like to ask one of your child’s godparents to be their sponsor. 

The sponsor walks up with your child and the sponsor stands behind your child as they are being confirmed placing their right hand on your child’s right shoulder.

School Mass and the Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Next Friday 9 August we will be celebrating Mass at 9.30am. The theme is Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop, our first Australian Saint whose feast day is on 8 August each year. Once called St Joseph’s, St Michael’s has a strong link to the Sisters of St Joseph who were started by Mary MacKillop. The Sisters taught here when the first Catholic School was established in Manilla. Everyone is welcome. 

The Assumption of Mary - A Holy Day of Obligation

We will be going to Mass on Thursday 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption. On August 15 each year we celebrate that Mary was taken up into Heaven Body and Soul. The Assumption of Mary and Christmas Day along with each Sunday are the days of Holy Obligation in Australia when we are expected to go to Mass.

Year 6 RE Test

Last week we received the Year 6 RE Test results. Our school received an average score of 30/40 which was 2.7 marks higher than the average Diocesan score of 27.3. The highest score for our school was 38/40. Congratulations to our students on an excellent set of results. We received 2 High Distinctions: Molly and Chelsea; 4 Distinctions: Destiny, Tommy, Susie and Leah;  6 Credits: Pauline, Farrer, Owen, Isaac, Tobie and Blake. 

The test consists of questions reflecting student learning in Religious Education from K-6 and the results are analysed to inform future teaching by identifying areas of strength and areas to focus upon, as we work together to deliver a high standard in Religious Education. Thank you to all of our wonderful staff for all you do in Catholic Education and a special thank you to the Year 6 teachers Leah Summerell and Emma Martin for ensuring the students were prepared to sit the test. Father Curran will present all of our students with their certificates in the near future.

NSW Catholic Schools Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference Message Stick

This year the Armidale Diocese is hosting the NSW Catholic Schools Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference. This year’s theme is: Spirit on Country - Learning Together Then, Now and Always. There is a Conference Message Stick that is a key part of each conference and the same message stick is then used in the next conference. In preparation for this year’s conference the Message Stick is spending a week in each of our diocesan schools and their parishes. On Saturday 24 August the Message Stick will be in St Michael’s Church and then come to our school on Monday 26 August. The Message Stick will be in our school until Friday 30 August. We are looking forward to the arrival of  The Conference Message Stick and learning more about it.

Upcoming Dates

Thursday 8 August: Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

Friday 9 August School Mass

Thursday 15 August: The Assumption - This is a Holy Day of Obligation

Saturday 24 August: St Michael’s Parish Celebration of Father Curran’s “Golden Jubilee”

Saturday 24 August - Friday 30 August: The Message Stick for the NSW Catholic Schools Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference hosted by the Armidale Diocese will be in our Parish and School. This year’s theme is: Spirit on Country - Learning Together then, now and always.

Thursday 29 August: Father Curran’s “Golden Jubilee” Mass - St Michael’s School attending.

Saturday 21 September: Confirmation 

Connecting With Our Parish

Weekend Mass Times

We encourage all of our families to celebrate Sunday Mass with our parish.

Manilla Parish Mass Times

1st Sunday of the month - Sunday 8.30am

2nd, 3rd & 4th Sunday of the month - Saturday 5.00pm

Attunga Mass Times

 2nd, 4th & 5th Sunday of the month - Sunday 12 noon

Father Curran’s “Golden Jubilee”

This year Father Curran will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his priestly ordination. This is a very special occasion for Father Curran. St Michael’s Parish will celebrate Father Curran’s “Golden Jubilee” on Saturday 24 August, with Mass followed by lunch at the Manilla Services Club. Please refer to the invitation below for further details regarding the celebration and how to RSVP. If you are planning to attend Father’s “Golden Jubilee” Mass and your child is an altar server and would like to serve at this Mass, please phone the school on 67851757 to let me know. Thanks.

On Thursday 29 August, priests from around the Armidale Diocese will join with Father Curran to celebrate his priestly ordination with Mass at 11am. Staff and students from St Michael’s school will also be attending this Mass, with other parishioners and visitors to our parish.

We congratulate Father Curran on this very momentous occasion and thank him for his 50 years of service and for the support and guidance he gives to all of us here at St Michael’s School. We are very blessed to have Father Curran as our Parish Priest.

Living Well, Learning Well - Pastoral Care and Wellbeing 

Legends of the Light Shine 

Today we introduced our new Legends of the Light Shine focus for the next 2 weeks “Critical thinking” and how important critical thinking is in daily life to solve problems. We recognise the importance of critical thinking as part of the See-Judge-Act method used to address social justice issues. This aligns with our RE Units that are focusing on the lives of Mary and the saints. We learnt about the life of Mary MacKillop who had a wonderful saying “Never see a need without doing something about it.” Mary saw the need to help the poor in many ways and especially important for us with receiving a high quality education. Together with Father Julian Woods, Mary started the Sisters of St Joseph who have made many wonderful contributions to catholic Education here in Australia and we thank them for their service. We encourage our students to be critical thinkers who apply the See-Judge-Act method to work for peace and justice in our community and world.

C2S Committee - Lighting the Way Collection

At the end of last term Gwyn was thinking of ways we can help those in need. She came up with a wonderful idea to create a box to put in items that those in need can use. Gwyn then filled the box with good clothes to donate. 

At this week’s C2S Committee meeting on Monday 30 July, we discussed Gwyn’s great idea and have decided to ‘let our lights shine’ and over the next 2 weeks collect clothes, toys and other goods that families in need could use. At our meeting we discussed that it is important to ensure that all donations are in really good condition to respect the dignity of those who will receive the donated goods. Great initiative Gwyn! It is exciting to see our students showing empathy for others and letting their light shine to light the way on how to make a positive difference for others in our community. In the words of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”

All items will be donated locally to help those in our own community. If you would like to support this inspiring initiative please send in your donated items to school and we will pass them on to a local charity.

Fruit Trees

Our fruit trees that we planted at the end of 2021, with the long term aim of providing all of our students with access to fresh fruit, continue to grow steadily. This year this dwarf mandarin tree produced 6 mandarins and is just starting to look quite established and grow at a faster pace. Here Chesea is picking the fruit to share amongst the students. This year the mandarins were much larger and sweeter than last years. 

Australian Catholics

The Spring edition of Australian Catholic will go home today. There are a number of interesting articles including one on pages 7-9 that looks at one school's response to Pope Francis’ call in Laudato Si’ to care for the environment, as this is a focus for our school and an area our students are very passionate about.

“Let Your Light Shine” support others to let their light shine and remember “We Shine Brighter Together”

Jacquelene Cronin

Assistant Principal - Mission