Our thoughts, prayers and heartfelt sympathy are with the Dorman children, Matilda (Year 6), Tabitha (Year 5) and Riley (Year 4) after the tragic death of their mother Fiona. We also keep in our prayers and thoughts their grandmother Angela, and their family and friends as they mourn their loss.

Hope in Grief Prayer

O Lord, my God, thank you that you are my rock and fortress, I can always find refuge in you.

You have said that whoever follows you will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

As I feel the darkness of grief and sorrow at this time, shine your light on my life.

Remind me that my hope is found in you.

May your love surround me, your Spirit guide me, your voice cheer me, your peace calm me, your shield protect me, your wisdom arm me, wherever you may lead me.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Confirmation

Last Thursday evening we had the sacrament of Confirmation. Bishop Tony Ireland confirmed the children from school and the children and adults from the Parish. There are 7 Sacraments in the Catholic Church and they are divided into 3 groups: Sacraments of Initiation, Sacraments of Healing and Sacraments of Service. Confirmation is the third Initiation Sacrament.

If you look at the history of the church children used to get confirmed at about 2 years of age and over hundreds of years the age for getting confirmed changed. In the Melbourne Diocese it is our grade 6 children and adults who receive Confirmation.

Thursday night was also the first time in quite a while that we had members of our school community in the church which was great.

End of year

With the end of the school year not far away we are of course thinking about and looking forward to 2022. We are all praying that 2022 is a normal year of schooling for our Holy Family children. The end of year is also when we farewell staff who are leaving our school and pursuing other opportunities.

Ms. Suzanne Deefholts who is our Learning and Teaching Leader as well as our Religious Education Leader will be leaving us at the end of the year and will be taking a leadership position at another Catholic School. Suzanne has been with us for 4 years and has contributed greatly to the school during her time here. As well as her curriculum and pedagogical knowledge and experience which has been of great benefit to the children at Holy Family, Suzanne’s organisational ability was a huge part of the smooth transitions that we had going in and out of lockdown over the last 2 years. I am sure that Suzanne will be an asset at her new school.

2022

As I stated above I am really looking forward to 2022 being a normal year. Turning plans into reality has been very hard to do with all the time spent with children and teachers at home over the past 2 years being in and out of lockdown. Next year we believe that we will be able to plan and implement a full year of learning at school for the first time since 2019. I hope the students are as excited as all the staff with the prospect of a normal year. The smiling, happy faces of the kids when they get back to school after the lockdowns makes me think they will be very happy to be back permanently next year.

Regards,

Steve Twomey.

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