Primary Social Justice Day - Friday 23rd June

Last Friday a group of children from the Mini Vinnies group and myself attended the Annual Primary Social Justice Day at John Paul II Senior Campus at Marayong. We were welcomed to the day by St Joseph's Kingswood who put on a reflective presentation on Celebrating Diversity.

After that we attended two workshops. The ones we went to were Mini Vinnies, Catholic Earth Care, Caritas and the Migrant Resource Centre at Blacktown presenting how we could help new migrants especially refugees from other nations settle into school. These four workshops helped us really think about what we take for granted in terms of our lifestyle and the needs of many people not only overseas but here in Australia. We were very lucky to have some outstanding speakers who helped us think about what we as young Australian Catholics could do just in our school and local communities. We only wish we could have attended more workshops. We thank Ken and Lisa for the organisation of the day, the workshop leaders for arranging their diaries to fit us in and the Senior Students from JPII who served us a great lunch..as a matter of fact two of our member were able to arrange seconds!

Mini Vinnies

The Mini Vinnies Group at Holy Cross works hard to serve the community in an active way. They have been responsible for the collection of blankets and socks for the St Vincent de Paul Society this winter. They even advertised in the Parish Newsletter for donations of clean usable items.

They meet once a month to look at needs in the school and where best they can help out. This month they are going to be involved in the making of banners for the Confirmation ceremonies. Next week they are going to be involved in a surprise activity that will need some nimble fingers and good counting skills to make items for the St Vincent de Paul outreach centre. These children give of their free time to help in many ways and we are lucky to have such an enthusiastic group in our school.

Confirmation

During the past few weeks the children in Year 3 have been attending weekly home group meetings in preparation for their reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. It is a very exciting time for these children and one where they are asked to become a witness for Christ here on earth by the way they live their life.

The Sacrament of Confirmation is one of the three sacraments of initiation strengthening the child in the life of the Spirit and bestowing on them the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These include wisdom, understanding, judgement, courage, knowledge, love and reverence for God.

From these gifts come charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-restraint.

During the actual Confirmation ceremony the Bishop has the confirmation candidates renew their Baptismal vows. He lays his hands over the candidates to symbolise the power of the Holy Spirit being passed on to the children, he anoints them with oil on the forehead making the sign of the cross and finally gives the sign of peace to them to demonstrate that the whole community welcomes them into full membership with them.

Welcoming Women at Mamre

This term we were able to offer our Mums the very first Reflection Day ever. It was hosted at Mamre House by Cecelia and Sr Mary Louise. It was our special thank you for our Mums who are always so supportive of us. It was most successful and the Mums and friends who attended all agreed that they could have returned the next day for more!

The Mums had time for prayer, talk, laughter and reflection and also a stunning morning tea and lunch and the benefits of mild exercise with Tai Chi. It is hoped that next year the Reflection Day will again be offered for our wonderful Mums and friends.

Feast of Blessed John XXIII

Last Friday we celebrated the Feast of our Parish Patron, Blessed John XXIII. He was born into a farming family in the area of Bergamo in Italy and was lucky to have an uncle who was also his godfather and spent much time encouraging him to learn. Luckily Blessed John XXIII grew up with a deep love of Jesus and was able to enter the seminary to study for the priesthood.

He was a warm, gentle person who made people feel at ease. His talent in this area was recognised and he was soon promoted in the Church. Later he was given diplomatic positions because of the wonderful way he worked with all types of people and because he showed the love and kindness of Jesus to all he met. He was eventually promoted to be Archbishop of Florence.

When Pope Pius X died the conclave of Bishops met together to elect a new Pope. Blessed John went too but he was already an older man and was not expecting to be elected Pope. Surprisingly he was. Blessed John then went on to lead the Church into a new era by setting up Vatican II which allowed for many changes in the Church including those on liturgy. It is hard for us to imagine how it must have been for our grandparents who would have attended Mass in Australia in Latin, not English.

Blessed John showed great humility and had a wonderful sense of humour. Once he was asked "How many people work in the Vatican?" and he replied, "Oh, about half of them."

Introducing Sharing Our Story at Holy Cross

At Holy Cross we endeavour to educate our children in the faith through the Religious Education curriculum, Sharing Our Story. In previous years we have published an RE newsletter once a term. We now hope to publish more frequently of our activities both in and out of the classroom in this web log. Any parents who do not have access to the web log are more than welcome to come to the library and get a paper copy.