DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - Lize Privitera
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Caritas Project Compassion
As we enter Holy Week, we continue to reflect on the lives of people vulnerable to extreme poverty and injustice and how we can respond through supporting Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion appeal.
Let us take time to remember the life and teachings of Saint Oscar Romero. His many lessons include: live a simple life, commit to bringing peace to the world, speak the truth and of course aspire not to have more, but to be more. Some words from what has become known as the Oscar Romero prayer; “We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.”
Thank you for supporting Caritas Australia’s Project Compassion Campaign. Your generosity will work for the freedom of those living in poverty, challenge unjust structures, and empower people to work for a sustainable way of life.
Please return all Project Compassion boxes to the Parish or donate online via the Caritas website at lent.caritas.org.au
School and Class
Mass and Reconciliation Celebrations will resume next term. Parents and friends are welcome to join students during liturgical celebrations. Adherence to COVID safe plans applies when assembling. Current restrictions apply as per announcements by Victorian Government and guidelines directed by DOSCEL at the time. All Masses and celebrations start at 9.15am either in the Chapel or Allen Hall for larger groups.
For the month of May the following celebrations are planned:
2EM &3AM - 29/4/21
Senior Level - 6 May
FSL & 6RJ - 13 May
Whole School Mass 27 May
First Eucharist Enrolment and Parent only workshop
This will be held on Wednesday 28th April and Thursday 6th May at 7.00pm in the Church. Parents are required to attend only one enrolment workshop. Attendance is mandatory if you wish to prepare your child for the Sacrament of First Eucharist. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we request only one parent attend the workshop. This is a parent only workshop and children are not required to attend. If for any reason you miss the enrolment night, or cannot make it to any other meeting/workshop, we request you to wait until the following year, as the parish is unable to offer any catch up workshops for those who are unable to attend. An enrolment levy of $50 is payable via CDFPay www.olhc.cdfpay.org.au which will be available from 18th April 2021. Please bring your receipt number to the enrolment night. For more information please refer to the Sacrament Program Booklet 2021 on the parish website www.olhc.org.au.
Easter Vigil, Cycle B
Saturday, April 3, 2021
Mark 16:1-7
The women find that the stone from Jesus’ tomb has been rolled back, and an angel reports that Jesus has been raised from the dead.
Each of the four Gospels reports that the women who had been followers of Jesus discovered the empty tomb after his death. We read from the Gospel of Mark, which contains the most succinct of all the reports of Jesus’ Resurrection in the Gospels.
What were the women looking for when they went to Jesus’ tomb?
What did they find?
The women found much more than what they were looking for. At Easter we celebrate this discovery by the women. God raised Jesus from the dead. With God, we often find so much more than what we are looking for, much more than we can ever imagine or hope for. In the Easter story, we discover one of God’s most wondrous and amazing surprises: God raised Jesus from the dead!
Alleluia! Alleluia! God has done wondrous deeds!
Holy Week
Over the last few weeks students and teachers have been working towards a final publication of a video presenting Stations of the Cross.
The Stations of the Cross presentation is recontextualized and told by our students from Foundation to Year 6 retracing the footsteps of Jesus. You can view the video via today’s newsletter or on our website.
We are fortunate to have recently installed a sacred space dedicated to 15 Stations portraying events in the Passion of Christ, to the Resurrection.
There is still a lot of work yet to complete the landscape of the garden area - but it's all work in progress. Please watch this space! We would like to invite families and provide the opportunity for you to be involved in the design and establishment of significant shrubs, trees, pottery, rockeries, and outdoor decor added to the garden area. More of this in Term 2.
We thank Fr Isuru for his presence today as we gathered, blessed and commissioned the installation of the Stations of the Cross.
We prayerfully remembered the events of Jesus’ passion and death. As we meditate on the cross, we ask again and anew what it means to make the statement of faith that Jesus, in his obedient suffering and dying, revealed himself to us as God’s Son.
Easter Message
This coming weekend we will celebrate Easter and the risen Christ Jesus, who showed us the Kingdom of God. May we listen to the Holy Spirit guiding us toward the way of Jesus and encounter the joy of the Gospel in our daily lives.
Wishing all of our students their families, friends and staff a blessed Easter! May you all celebrate Easter with the joy of returning to community and family celebrations this Easter.
Dear Mary Mackillop Primary School community,
From everyone at CatholicCare Victoria, we wish you a blessed Easter and a safe school holiday period!
Lord, may I open myself to the great gift of your love,
and may I share it with anyone in need.
May I provide a sense of direction for anyone who has lost the way.
And may I endeavour to help the sad and anxious with the hope that your rising gave to the world.
Amen.
Prayer written by
Fr Gerard Dowling OAM DE
Thank you for your support of CatholicCare Victoria
PARISH NEWS
Mary MacKillop Primary School is one of the three Parish Primary Schools belonging to the Parish of Our Lady Help of Christians, Narre Warren within the Diocese of Sale. Fr Brendan Hogan is our Parish Priest and Fr Isuru Weliwatte is our Assistant Priest. We are grateful for their ongoing prayers, involvement and support of the students, families and staff of Mary MacKillop School.
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