Education in Faith

Socktober Day for Catholic Mission

Here is a message from our Year 5/6 RE Leaders.

As the RE Leaders of the school we are writing about an organisation called Catholic Mission. Catholic Mission contributes funding and provides project support to critical church-run initiatives in Africa, Asia, Oceania and South America, as well as remote dioceses within Australia.

Grassroots needs are identified by Iocal Catholics to give people the opportunity for a full, enriched life - physically and spiritually - regardless of race, stigma, religion or gender.

They create opportunities for people to be formed in mission and respond through prayer, fundraising and action, inspiring them to reach out, and give life - within Australia and around the world. All of us engage in mission when we proclaim our faith through our words, actions and lives.

In Australia, October marks World Mission Month and the big event that Mission Australia promotes in schools is Socktober. Here is a short video introducing Socktober.

The video asked if our school would like to be involved - and we were so confident that the answer would be yes, that we have already signed OHR up for Socktober for Mission Month.

Catholic Mission help people all over the world but this year their focus country is Timor-Leste. Here is another video showcasing some of the work Catholic Mission does there.

Our Socktober Event Day has been set for Wednesday the 25th October which is next week. Here is what is going to happen on the day.

Firstly, classes will join with their Buddy Class for a Liturgy around the theme of Mission.

We will also work with our buddies to make sockballs on the day.  Parents are more than welcome to attend the Liturgy and/or help with making sockballs. Here is the timetable for the day.

 To help with this, we’re asking students to bring in to school, materials that can be used to make a sockball.

These materials include old socks or other clothes, plastic bags, bubble wrap, styrofoam, string and anything else used in the video below.

Students can bring these materials into their classroom any day leading up to the 25th of October. The more materials they bring in, the more sockballs they will be able to make.

Finally, on the 25th we are asking every child to bring in a gold coin or more as a donation to Catholic Mission. In exchange for this, Mr Dame has given you permission to wear crazy socks to school that day.

So to summarise, don’t forget to bring in those materials to schools so we can make lots of sockballs, find some crazy socks and bring in a gold coin on the 25th of October. Thank you and remember, ’Let’s all kick goals for good!’

A snapshot of RE Learning in Prep HW

To deepen our understanding of this term's Gospel Value of Hope, we have been learning about the symbol of the rainbow. We are beginning to understand that we can see God's work all around us, in nature, in the love of our family and friends and in the sky. We are learning about the special promise God made to always provide a sign of Hope for all of humanity. We now know that a covenent is a special promise between people. 

Please come along to next weeks assembly to see us Pray and thank God for the symbol of God's beautiful rainbow.

Sunday Gospel

The liturgy of the Catholic Church provides a framework for reflection which is used by Catholics throughout the world. Each week in the Newsletter, you will find the Sunday Gospel as well as some discussion questions to have with your child/ren.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

The Pharisees went away to work out between them how to trap Jesus in what he said. And they sent their disciples to him, together with the Herodians, to say, ‘Master, we know that you are an honest man and teach the way of God in an honest way, and that you are not afraid of anyone, because a man’s rank means nothing to you. Tell us your opinion, then. Is it permissible to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But Jesus was aware of their malice and replied, ‘You hypocrites! Why do you set this trap for me? Let me see the money you pay the tax with.’ They handed him a denarius, and he said, ‘Whose head is this? Whose name?’ ‘Caesar’s’ they replied. He then said to them, ‘Very well, give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar – and to God what belongs to God.’

The Gospel of the Lord

Discussion Questions

1. In today’s Gospel who are the people who planned to trick Jesus?

2. What did the Pharisees say to Jesus?

3. What did Jesus say to them?

4. Jesus says that we can serve God and serve our country at the same time. We can be good Australians by respecting others. How do we show respect for all people?

5. How can we serve God by being a good Australian?