Faith

Greetings Holy Family Community,

Last Friday, we celebrated the Beginning of Year Mass, where our Year 6 leaders received their leadership badges and the staff were commissioned. It was fantastic to be able to attend Mass together as a community, after so long.  All of the students should be very proud of the reverence that they showed in the Church, especially our Prep students who were attending a school Mass for the first time. It was also very exciting to meet the new Parish Priest of Holy Family - Father John Prince, who co-celebrated the Mass with Father Michael. We sadly say goodbye to Father Michael Payyapilly who leaves us at the end of this week, to begin a new ministry in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We thank Father Michael for his guidance, love and support over the last four years and wish him well as he takes up his new role.

LITURGICAL CALENDAR

Next week marks the beginning of the Season of Lent when we commemorate Ash Wednesday on March 2nd.  All of the students in Years 1-6 (no preps at school) will attend Mass on this day and receive ashes on their foreheads as a reminder of their devotion to God.

SPOTLIGHT ON SAINTS

As a Catholic community, we are constantly acknowledging different feast days as part of our liturgical calendar. But how much do we really know about these special people?

Each fortnight in our newsletter we will do a special ‘spotlight’ on one of the saints so that you can learn more about them. This week we will begin with St Polycarp, whose feast day is 23 February. 

ST POLYCARP

St Polycarp was a Bishop of Smyrna, a city in Roman Asia during the 2nd century.

He was a disciple of St John the Apostle and was a respected leader of the Christian faith.

St Polycarp died a martyr in 155 AD at the age of 86. He is the patron saint of relief from earaches.

Prayer for St Polycarp:

God of all creation,

You gave your bishop Polycarp the privilege of being counted among the saints who gave their lives in faithful witness to the gospel. 

May his prayers give us the courage to share with him the cup of suffering and to rise to eternal glory. 

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen

Pauline Moran

Religious Education Leader