Religious Education News

Why do we do what we do? For some weeks now in the morning reflections here at O’Connor I have included snippets of information about why Catholics do the things they do. Last week, in preparation for Mother’s Day, I mentioned that Catholics hold Mary, the Mother of Jesus, up for special veneration. We don’t worship Mary - Catholics only worship God - but we do venerate her. To venerate someone means to hold them up for special respect, just as many Buddhists venerate the Dalai Lama. When Catholics pray to Mary they are asking for her to intercede with God on our behalf, just as a student may ask a teacher or another mate to help them with a problem. 

Next week on Wednesday 24th of May we will have a whole school Mass to celebrate the feast day of Mary, Help of Christians. The Catholic Church chose Mary, Help of Christians as the Patron Saint of Australia way back in 1844! At the time, Australian Catholics were seen to be very much second class citizens and were often denied opportunities that were available to other colonists. This prejudice continued for many years after, and even in the First World War Catholics were often seen as anti-war and disloyal to the Empire, a result of the fact that most Australian Catholics were descended from Convicts, and had little reason to like the British!

Mr Andrew May

Religious Education Coordinator

Our Founders - St Angela Merici and St John Baptiste De La Salle

Saints Mary and Joseph Cathedral Parish

Keeping in touch with what is happening in the Cathedral Parish is easy through their website and Facebook pages.

With such a difficult year and a half it has been harder for parishioner's to give to the parish through the plates, particularly when the church is closed as it is at present. The Parish account details are available on the Parish bulletin. 

Cathedral Parish Website

Information about our founders

La Salle Website

Ursuline Sisters Website