Year 9 Community Building Experiences

This week, our Year 9 Students have been engaged in their Community Building Experiences, off site. The boys headed off to Dennison Campground in the Snowy Mountains and the girls journeyed to Feathertop Chalet in Harrietville, Victoria.

As part of our progressive Faith Formation Program, these experience focus on building positive relationships and nurturing students’ inner and communal life. In these natural bushland settings, our young men and women take the unique opportunity to blend spiritual growth with interpersonal and communal skill development; taking their identity and leadership potential to a whole new level.

Please keep these young people and our dedicated staff teams in your prayers, as they engage in these valuable opportunities for self-development, relationship building and faith formation.

Remembrance Day - 11 November 2022

Last Friday, we gathered to commemorate Remembrance Day with the Mater Dei Primary School community. Our Mount Erin Boarding and House Captains, Zara English, Katherine Oakes and Mark George joined with Mater Dei Primary School Student Leaders, George O’Hara and Halle Baggio to lead our Ceremony.

In a spirit of prayerful reverence and respect, we contemplated the significance of war and the loss of human life represented by our nation’s history. It is often difficult for our young people to grasp the sheer scale of global involvement and loss of human life from the conflicts associated with the First World War; which mobilised over 70 million people and killed as many as 13 million. Today, we reflect on the collective loss of Australian lives from all wars, conflicts, natural disasters and peacekeeping missions associated with our Armed Forces and Defence Personnel.

As we gathered as one Mater Dei Community, we asked our loving God to journey with us as we aspire to bring about a world that is marked by justice, peace and compassion for all.

Gracious Lord,

We dream of a world free of poverty and oppression, and we yearn for a world free of vengeance and violence. And we pray for your peace.

When our hearts ache for the victims of war and oppression, help us to remember that you healed people simply by touching them, and give us faith in our ability to comfort and heal bodies, minds and spirits that have been broken by conflict.

When the injustice of this world seems too much, help us to remember that you fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish, and give us hope that what we have to offer will be enough, too.

Walk with us, Lord, as we answer your call to be the peacemakers of our time.

Increase our compassion, our generosity and our hospitality for the least of your children.

Give us courage, patience, serenity, and the gentleness of spirit that are needed in our world.

May we be witnesses to Jesus Christ as we commit to sharing a little more of ourselves, in serving you and our neighbours. Amen

St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal

In the Christian spirit, we are partnering with the Kooringal Conference of St Vincent de Paul again this year to share the joy of Christmas with our neighbours, who need a helping hand. This year, Vinnies have seen first-hand, the impact of rising costs of living in Australia.

There are hundreds of families in our local community who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Despite being employed, many of these people are forced to make increasingly hard choices as they navigate inflation, housing stress caused by increasing mortgage and rent payments, high energy bill prices, and the rising cost of daily essentials.

These pressures undermine living standards, limit job or educational opportunities and can be a catalyst for homelessness, relationship breakdowns, and physical and mental health concerns. Yet we are only at the beginning of this unfolding story; with inflation expected to peak at 7.75% by Christmas this year, many more people and families on low incomes will feel the strain of rising inflation, becoming even further disadvantaged.

Vinnies is committed to a more just and compassionate Australia, where nobody should struggle to make ends meet or live below the poverty line. They deeply appreciate the support of schools like ours to assist them in making Christmas Appeal donations, to support their valuable work.

Kooringal Conference will be delivering hundreds of Christmas Hampers around Wagga Wagga. These Hampers are delivered to families right here in our local community who have called upon Vinnies for a hand-up. We can support their efforts by giving donations of grocery and personal care items. Our Homegroups will each be responding to this call out and we challenge our young people to consider the festive food and drinks they enjoy on Christmas day and consider sharing something similar as part of their donation.

To uphold the dignity of those receiving the hamper, kindly ensure all food donations are in date. If you’d like to offer families the gift of choosing non-perishable Christmas foods, you may like to consider adding a gift voucher. Unwrapped children’s toys are also gratefully received.

Christmas Hamper Donation Ideas

Sacred Heart Parish Upcoming Events

Parish Ideas Forum - Sunday 20 November

Sacred Heart Parish is planning a gathering on Sunday, 20 November after the 9.00 am Mass. This is an opportunity for all parishioners to have their say on future ideas for our parish. The Parish Council would like to have input from as wide a range of people as possible, especially the younger parishioners, young families, and so on.

They encourage students, parents and teachers to attend. Please keep an eye out in the Parish Newsletter each week leading up to this event where ideas to think about will be posted. Please contact Marsha Reilly (PPC Secretary - marsha.reilly@bigpond.com) if you would like further information.

Youth Mass - Saturday 26 November

On Saturday evening, 26 November, at 5.30pm our College Community with join with Sacred Heart Primary School and Mater Dei Primary School to celebrate our final Youth Mass for 2022.

We invite you to join us as our students lead the Mass and we take the time to reflect on and celebrate the highlights of our school and parish communities. Please mark the date in your calendars, all are welcome to come along.

Mrs Amelia Bright | Acting Leader of Mission

"Mater Dei Matters"

Issue 19 · 16 Nov 2022

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