Religious Life of the School
Welcome Community Hospitality
Prayer for the Lenten Journey
Loving God,
stay with me in my own time in the desert, as you were with Jesus.
Help me to live a Lent focused on freedom, generosity, and encounter.
Give me a heart hungry to serve you and those who need what I have to give.
Amen
Shrove Tuesday
Thank you to all involved with the planning, organising and supporting our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Breakfast fundraiser. Together, we raised $150.00. These funds will be added to our St Patrick’s Day fundraiser, as well as Project Compassion collection box contributions and will all be donated to the Catholic charity, Caritas Australia.
Ash Wednesday Mass
Project Compassion Boxes
During the Ash Wednesday Mass, Fr Joby gave everyone a Project Compassion box. If you feel you are able to support this initiative through the collection boxes as a family, please do so. For example, instead of buying an ice-cream, they may decide to put the money in the box instead. This is a great way of teaching about social justice and how to be compassionate and show empathy. Anything over $2 is tax deductible.
Each week, students in each class are invited to bring in their collection box and add the money they have collected to the classroom collection box. This will then be taken to assembly each Friday to contribute to the St Clare’s collection box.
This week through Project Compassion we learn about 39-year-old Margret, a teacher at a vocational school for deaf students in the Solomon Islands. She was born deaf, so she knows the challenges it poses to education and employment. Apart from the difficulties the students all have, the school also faced water shortages, with not enough to supply staff and students with safe water for drinking, cooking, washing and growing vegetables.
Then Tropical Cyclone Harold damaged the school and its vegetable garden, amidst the threat of COVID-19. Staff and students rely on the vegetable garden to provide food for their meals.
With Caritas Australia’s support, the school installed water tanks, provided cyclone-proof building materials and helped to implement COVID-19 prevention measures. Margret’s school now has enough water for its students and the capacity to cater for more, with plans to boost food security, through increased agricultural production.
- Around 60% of people in rural areas in the Solomon Islands don’t have access to piped water, while about 80% don’t have access to latrines or toilets. (UNICEF, 2019)
- Watch a short film about Margret’s story here.
“Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” Please support Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au
Launch of 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia
The School Captains, Aiden, Marty and Tori travelled to Cairns with Ms Harney and Mrs Andrews for the launch of 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. Bishop James celebrated the Mass and our school captains capably read the Prayers of Intercession during Mass. There will be further celebrations in May to celebrate this milestone of Catholic Education in Australia.
Year 6 Justice Day
Our Year 6 class are participating in a Justice Day on Wednesday 17th March with staff from CES Identity & Mission team. They will be having a fun day of activities based on developing leadership skills and social justice.
Year 6 Leaders
All of our Year 6 students are School Leaders and part of the St Clare’s Stewardship team. The Stewardship team are involved in raising awareness of social justice issues, raising money and having the opportunity to organise events in the religious life of the school. The Year 6 class have been divided into three teams – Bulgan team, Banyan team and the Jarra team. Some events they have already been involved with were the opening School Mass and cooking pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. The Jarra team will be facilitating our next event which is raising money for Project Compassion on St Patrick’s Day.
On Wednesday, 17th March (Week 8), the Year 6 Jarra team will plan and organise a green frozen cup fundraiser and students will be invited to wear green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day for the cost of a gold coin donation. Frozen cups will be sold at first lunch for 50c each. The Jarra team will share more information with the students next week.
