Ash Wednesday Mass
Ash Wednesday is next week, February 14, and is of course a very important event in our liturgical calendar as it signifies the beginning of the season of Lent. We will be attending mass as a whole school on this day, and as such all family and community members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Mass begins at 9am.
A friendly reminder that Catholics are required to fast and abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, an additionally, they must abstain from meat on all Fridays during Lent. While children are not required to abstain from eating meat on these days, you might like to include them in the fasting and discuss with your child the reasons for doing so. Parents are the first and most important teachers of the children, and teaching by example is a great way to build understanding with them.

Leadership Induction Liturgy - 2024
On Thursday February 15 beginning at 9am we will be holding a Leadership Induction Liturgy, where the Year 6 leaders and class prefects for Term 1 will receive their badges and be inducted into their respective roles. The ceremony will take place in the Parish Church. All family and community members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Congratulations to the Term 1 class prefects for 2024:
 
Year 1: Archie C and Aria P
Year 2: Rocco and Maddison 
Year 3: Nicholas M and Lucy
Year 4: Ashton K and Ebony 
Year 5: Jake and Cleo 

We look forward to seeing you there!

Sacramental Programs 2024
Please see below information regarding the Sacramental Program schedule for 2024. Please note these dates are subject to change. Should you have any enquiries about the Sacramental Program please contact the Parish Office by phone on 42 741 192, or via email at:

National Apology to Australia's Stolen Generations

Please read below a spiritual reflection shared with all staff in the Diocese of Wollongong.

On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a formal apology to Australia’s Stolen Generations, those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who had been removed as children from their families and their culture. On this date each year we remember the apology that was made to all those whose lives who continue to be impacted and deeply traumatised by past government policies of forced child removal and assimilation. Although the apology could not take away the pain of the past, many felt that it was a necessary first step in the healing process.

Many Elders did not believe this apology would ever happen in their life time and so for those who witness this historical event it was an acknowledgement of truth telling. That finally people would believe them and their stories of pain and suffering that have continued to be passed down from generation to generation. That it really did happen to them and their families.

‘We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.’

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, 13 February 2008

“Bringing Them Home”

The journey to a national apology to the Stolen Generations began in 1995, with an inquiry into the forced separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by past governments. The inquiry’s final report was released in 1997, it was called Bringing Them Home. It included 54 recommendations. Two of the recommendations called on all Australian governments, police forces, churches and non-government agencies to make an apology to members of the Stolen Generations.

Dr Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the time, spoke for many when he said:

‘Through one direct act, the parliament has acknowledged the existence and the impacts of past policies and practices of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families, and by doing so has paid respect to the Stolen Generations for their suffering and their loss, and for their resilience, and ultimately, for their dignity ‘.

In the 2023-2024 Social Justice Statement, Listen, Learn, Love: A New Engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC) spoke directly about the history of injustice faced by the First Peoples of this country and what needs to be done to right those wrongs. This included the impact of loss of land and culture, the experience of racism, the forcible removal of children, high incarceration and suicide rates, alcohol abuse and domestic violence, and poor outcomes in health, employment, housing and education is very painful.

The heart of the Social Justice Statement calls for all the People of God to embrace a new engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, an engagement which involves a commitment to listen to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sisters and brothers and to learn from them. This listening and learning and the actions which flow from them must be grounded in a spirit of love if there is to be a change for the better.

The way we in the Church and in society address these painful matters must change if there is to be an end to centuries of injustice. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples need to be welcomed from the margins into the centre so that they can lead the discussions about change and implementation of actions to bring about healing and justice.

We are all invited to join in walking with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on this journey of healing. Let us as the people of God, Bishops and people together, listen with humility and love to what they have to say to us.

In "Fratelli Tutti", Pope Francis reflects on the parable of the Good Samaritan and urges us “to be Good Samaritans who bear the pain of other people’s troubles rather than fomenting greater hatred and resentment."

This is our calling in Australia today.

Sam Mattas 

Religious Education Co Ordinator