World Mission Month – Socktober

Thanks to all students and families for your support of Socktober for Mission Month. The Mini Vinnies group led our Mission Day liturgy admirably, with all students gaining a deeper awareness of the needs of children and communities in Timor Leste, as well as a deeper appreciation of the work of Catholic Mission.

The students also took part in a variety of fun ‘sock’ related activities. We then had a photo around our ‘Socktober’ chalk art and concluded with our ‘longest coin trail’ competition. The coin trail competition was very competitive between the Sports House groups, with students from all Sports Houses getting into the spirit of the day and contributing to the endless trails of coins. All of the money has been collected and will be donated to Catholic Mission for their ongoing humanitarian projects. Catholic Mission projects on the ground help sustain and enrich the lives of vulnerable children by providing vital medicines and health support.

A special thanks also to our School Captains, India Edwards and Camilla Metcalfe, who shared the final prayer for the day with all students, summing up our important work of supporting families in Timor-Leste facing health and wellness challenges. Overall, the day was a huge success! Well done everyone!

All Saints’ & All Souls’ Day

November in the Catholic tradition is a month of remembrance of the dead. To begin this, All Saints’ Day is celebrated on the 1st, and All Souls’ Day on the 2nd. These are not nationally recognised holidays and are no longer holy days of obligation in Australia, but the Church continues to encourage prayers of the faithful for the departed during this time.

All Saints’ Day

All Saints’ Day, November 1st, is a day to commemorate all saints in heaven. This dates back to the early Church where the faithful would gather together to acknowledge the anniversary of a martyr’s death. Around the 4th century, there was such a large number of martyrs that they could not assign an individual day to each one, so All Saints’ Day was established as a common feast day for all saints.

This day is also known as All Hallows and the Solemnity of All Saints.

All Souls’ Day

All Souls’ Day, November 2nd, is a day of prayer and remembrance for the souls of the departed. The faithful remember, pray, and celebrate Mass for the souls who are not entirely cleansed from venial sins and are in the state of purgatory. Through this, it is believed that the living faithful can assist the departed faithful to be granted the Beatific Vision of God in heaven.

This day is also known as the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.

Catholics celebrate All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day in the fundamental belief that there is a prayerful spiritual communion between those in the state of grace who have died and are either being purified in purgatory or are in heaven, and the ‘church militant’ who are the living. – Pope Francis

Source: https://understandingfaith.edu.au/all-saints-all-souls-day/

Class Mass Dates

Please note in your diaries the following Mass dates:

• Year 2/3/4 Class Mass – 20^th November

(now a Liturgy of the Word due to priest unavailability)

• Year 6 Graduation Mass – 13^th December

We welcome everyone to attend these very special events at St Joseph’s Church.

REC Network Day

The final Religious Education Coordinator (REC) Network Day of the year was held last Wednesday at the Catholic Education Office in Manuka. RECs from across the Archdiocese gathered collegially for a day of briefings. We heard from a World Youth Day attendee, followed by an address from Archbishop Christopher Prowse who spoke about the importance of understanding charisms. We were then involved in professional development around leadership, the AITSL standards and RE Policy. To conclude the day, staff were introduced to a ‘soft launch’ of a sample Religious Education Scope and Sequence to guide our teaching. Due to our small school context, this will be adapted and reflected in a scope and sequence more suited to our context and similar small schools in our Archdiocese. Overall, the day was very productive and gave attendees a valuable opportunity to focus on ongoing and future developments in the important area of Religious Education in schools.

Sunday Gospel Reflection (November 5)

Gospel             Matthew 23:1-12

Jeff Hyman, in Forbes, points out that a number of research studies have concluded that humble leaders listen more effectively, inspire great teamwork and focus everyone, including themselves, on organisational goals better than leaders who don’t score high on humility. He suspects that humility gets a bad rap because it is sometimes linked with subservience or weakness or introversion. However, he points out, ‘Psychological research actually indicates the opposite. Humility is most closely associated with a cluster of highly positive qualities including sincerity, modesty, fairness, truthfulness, unpretentiousness and authenticity.’

Professor Br David Hall, Dean of the ACU La Salle Academy, in Essentials for Faith Leadership describes humilty as the ‘X Factor’ in leadership. Christian leaders, he suggests, take their inspiration as disciples from Mary, the model disciple. “Mary knew that she needed God, so humility is to recognise I need God. Indeed it means I cooperate with God because I can do nothing without God.” With this recognition of our dependence comes the necessity of prayer woven through each day and week as a conversation with God, attentive to the teachings of the Gospel and the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our interactions with

others.

Have mercy on me, gracious Father, have mercy.

As the day unfolds, grant me humility, kindness, and courage.

Bring glory to yourself, gentleness to my heart, and a good gospel outcome.

Amen.

Source: Formed in Prayer, CSYMI

Student Prayer of the Week

Yours in Faith,

Danielle McFarlane

Religious Education Coordinator

Parish News

Sunday 8 am

St Joseph’s Church, Grenfell

Please note that a Mass will be held on the second and fourth Sunday of each month. There is a Celebration of the Word with Holy Communion, not a Mass, on the first and third (and any fifth) Sunday of each month. Everyone is welcome to attend!

If you wish to visit St Joseph’s Church, it is open daily from 10.00am – 4.00pm and following Mass on Sundays.

Welcome Back Fr Jiss

Welcome back Fr Jiss. It is good to have you back in Young Mission and trust that your time with your parents and your Order was restful.

An Urgent Prayer for Peace

God of compassion

We turn to you with heavy hearts

As we consider the needs of your family.

Israelis and Palestinians, we are all your people,

Each of us loved by You

And called to live in peace and justice.

We lament the dreadful loss of life,

Destruction of property and loss of human dignity.

We are pained by so much suffering.

We beg you to bring healing to this ancient place.

Help your people find a way forward.

Enable everyone to look each other in the eye,

And embrace each other as sisters and brothers,

As they find your image in every face.

We ask that courage and grace

Will help create a wiser and more gentle future,

Where everyone has a home.

God of wisdom, come to our aid.

Amen.

By Michael McGirr / Caritas Australia