Family and Faith
News from our Family Educator - Ms Tracey Bowler
Welcome to the 2023 Kindergarten families and parents!
It was wonderful meeting many of you at the OLF Open Days earlier this year and also at Fatima Friends last Friday. You are always welcome!
Friday Fatima Friends invites pre-schoolers to participate in 30 - 45 minutes of various activities on the school grounds. This includes socialising, praying, craft work, sporty fun, and gardening just to name a few. Come for 10 minutes or the whole time - it’s up to you. Babies, toddlers, and grandparents are very welcome. I shall be on long service leave from August 19 but we still have a few more weeks of Term 3 and all of Term 4 to have fun and make new friends.
You’re Invited!
Week 2 - Friday 29th July: Gardening fun!. Meet in the Mercy Library and then we’re off to the garden to water the plants. Don’t forget to BYO gloves and watering cans if you have them. All good if you don’t as we have a supply of them here.
Week 3 - Friday 5th August: Sporty fun! Think parachute games, egg and spoon races, ball skills, and balancing challenges. Don’t forget to wear joggers and bring a water bottle.
Week 4 - Friday 12th August: Playtime! In the Mercy Library or Burns Paddock. Fingers crossed for sunshine.
We celebrate Grandparents and the elderly!
‘In old age, they will still bear fruit” – Psalm 92:15
It’s time to celebrate the grandparents and the elderly in our community. Pope Francis has chosen the above quote to awaken our collective sense of gratitude and respect for the elderly and to seek new ways of making the elderly a living part of our community.
Not only are young people called upon to show their respect for the lives of older people, but the elderly also have a mission – to pass on their faith. What can we do to show our gratitude to the seniors of our community?
Saints Joachim & Anne
Grandparents of Jesus | Feast Day 26th July
According to Church tradition, they were a deeply faithful Jewish couple from the line of King David. Strong devotion to them dates back to early Christianity. While we know very little about Sts Joachim and Anne we can assume that Mary was raised in a faith-filled Jewish home, which led her to respond wholeheartedly to God’s request with faith, “Let it be done to me as you will”. In Australia, a first class relic of St Anne is held at her shrine in the Parish of St Anne in Bondi where pilgrims are always welcome.
We will be celebrating our OLF grandparents and elderly community members in September. Week 8 - Thursday 8th September with a Mass. Stay tuned!
PRAYER FOR GRANDPARENTS AND THE ELDERLY
I give thanks to you, Lord, for the blessing of a long life
For, to those who take refuge in You, grant always to bear fruit.
Forgive, O Lord, resignation and disillusionment,
But forsake me not when my strength declines.
Teach me to look with hope to the future you give me,
To the mission you entrust to me and
to sing your praises without end.
Make me a tender craftsman of Your revolution,
To guard with love my grandchildren
and all the little ones who seek shelter in You.
Protect, O Lord, Pope Francis and grant Thy Church
To deliver the world from loneliness.
Direct our steps in the way of peace.
Amen.
Click on this link to access Pope Francis’ 2022 message celebrating this important event.
Year 12 De La Salle HSC Students
Thank you to the families who have already volunteered to write a prayer of support and encouragement for a Year 12 student at De La Salle College Cronulla. Please send back your prayer cards to the school office asap so prayer packs can be assembled. Each student will be receiving a prayer card written by a family, a before exam prayer and an after prayer card and a 2022 keyring featuring a cross.
Vinnies#familywintersleepout@home
Once again OLF families are invited to participate in the annual family winter sleepout safely at home. This awareness creating event reminds us to think of and help the people in our community doing it tough this winter.
Thank you for donating goods and food items to the Vinnies Winter Appeal organised by our REC Liz O’Brien. If you missed the shout out please donate directly to the Vinnies store located on President Avenue or give monetary assistance by online giving.
HOW CAN YOUR FAMILY GET INVOLVED?
Before the Sleepout:
1. Make a card for someone in your area who may be lonely or living alone and place it in their letter box. Or as a family write a kind letter or note to our Parish Church leaders, Father Julian, Father Anderson. They are busy visiting sick people in the hospitals and our elderly community members.
On the Night of the Sleepout: Friday 5th August
2. Make soup together to drink during your family sleepout/sitout. Hot soup is something Vinnies’ soup vans usually distribute to the hungriest and neediest in our society.
3. Gather your family and sleep/sit outside in the cold. You may like to use some cardboard as a shelter. With your family discuss how you are feeling, including sharing some of the harsh facts about homelessness in Australia.
4. Once inside, watch this slideshow and pray together as a family for those sleeping under bridges, on park benches, in doorways or bus stations.
We hope that in doing this sleepout at home you and your family will connect with the issue of homelessness on a more personal level, and it will give you a glimpse into what life is like for people facing homelessness in Australia.
We hope this experience will help you appreciate your family and your home a little more.
*Don’t forget to send in a photo of your family’s participation to email: keepingconnectedolf@gmail.com and also to my email address as well please!
Email: tracey.bowler@syd.catholic.edu.au
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
This week preparation lessons commenced for students wishing to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion later this term. Once again I will be assisting the Parish with the lessons.
Please contact the Parish Office directly (95247283) or the Sacrament Coordinator: Mrs Wendy Macken (sacraments@olofcaringbah.org.au) for more information.
Confirmation Reflection SPaRS
Over the next few weeks, Year 6 parents and carers have been invited to a Confirmation Reflection SPaR (Stop. Pray and Reflect) in the classrooms to engage in prayer and spiritual craft. An invitation was given to each student in Year 6 - check school bags! Babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers are all welcome.
6W - Thursday, July 28th at 2.15 pm
6B - Friday, July 29th at 2.15 pm
6G - Tuesday, August 2nd at 2.15 pm
Cancelled - Father Stu parent event
Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, the Father Stu parent event scheduled for August 12 has been cancelled and the Family Mass scheduled for Saturday, July 30th with Year 3 families hosting will be rescheduled for another time.
Wishing all our grandparents, seniors, and the elderly a happy week celebrating your greatness!
Ms Tracey Bowler | Family Educator
tracey.bowler@syd.catholic.edu.au