Prayer 

The First and Second Week of Advent, Year A 

God has brought us again to this beautiful Advent season of waiting and preparing for Christ to come into the world and into our hearts. Advent is a special time in the church year when we prepare and get ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The word ‘advent’ means ‘coming’. The advent wreath helps us keep our thoughts focused on the coming of Christ at Christmas. Lighting the candles on the wreath symbolises the coming of light, Jesus, into the world.  We are reminded in the Gospel to be ready, to be watchful, and to be waiting for the coming of the Lord. The first candle of Advent is called the candle of Hope because the angels came to the shepherds with a message of hope. The second candle of Advent is called the candle of Peace. Advent is a time to focus on light, not darkness. We are reminded to be the light of Christ, bringing about hope and peace in the world. During this second week of Advent we ask God for forgiveness for the times we have not been peaceful people. We ask for guidance, like Mary and Joseph, as we light the Candle of Hope and the Candle of Peace. Mary and Joseph remind us that God comes to us in the humble and simple. It is God’s statement that God does great things from humble beginnings.  

Thank you to Kinder Blue for leading us in liturgy for the first week of Advent. Kinder Gold lead us in the second Advent liturgy today and Kinder White will lead the third week's liturgy on Friday 13th December at 8:50am under the COLA at morning assembly. 

Christmas Appeals 

Thank you to all the families and staff in the St Joseph’s school community who have
generously donated this Christmas season to Little Juddies and St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.

End of Year Parish Mass at the Cathedral 

On Friday 13th December, St Joseph’s and Holy Family will travel to Sacred Heart

Cathedral to celebrate as a whole school and parish community. We will be travelling by bus to the Cathedral to be ready for Mass at 12 noon. The children will return to school for Recess. All parents or families are warmly invited to join us for this special parish Mass. Fr Peter will be presiding, and we will also celebrate Fr Peter’s 5th anniversary of his Ordination during this Mass. 

End of Year - Year 6 Graduation Mass 

Our End of Year Mass, and farewell to Year 6, will take place in St Joseph’s Church on Tuesday, 17th December at 9:15am. Please join us as we celebrate together and

thank God for the year and say farewell to our beautiful Year 6 students. We will also have the passing of light from the current student leaders to the 2020 student leaders. For our Mass, students in the school are asked to wear their full summer school uniform.   

Shout out for BLUE/PURPLE ONLY Agapanthus Flowers to be brought in for the Mass.

Christmas Mass Booklet Drawing Competition 

Fr Peter is holding a competition to decorate the front and back cover of the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass Booklet. Students in K-2 are invited to draw their best Christmas tree for the back cover image. Students in Years 3-6 are invited to draw the Nativity scene for the front cover image. This has been given to students this week. There will be a prize for the two winners. You will see the winning design at the Christmas Eve Vigil Mass at St Joseph’s on December 24th at 6:00pm. Fr Peter will judge the winning designs, however, the winners will not be announced before the Mass. Please return entries to class teacher by Thursday 12th December with clearly marked names on them.

ACYF – The Australian Catholic Youth Festival 

The Australian Catholic Youth Festival (ACYF) is a national gathering of Catholic

young people established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference (ACBC). It exists to provide young people (aged 15-35) with opportunities to deepen their relationship with Jesus, be empowered to be disciples in the world today and encounter and celebrate the vitality of the Church in Australia. The ACYF theme this year is: Listen to what the Spirit is saying.  

The bi-annual festival will be held in Perth, December 8-10 over the coming week. Mrs Powell, Miss Slattery and I will be attending as part of the pilgrimage group of students, teachers and clergy being sent from the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. We will then embark on a 3-day-retreat to reflect on our experiences and encounters from the festival. We are very much looking forward to the experience and to sharing these experiences when we return in Week 10.  

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Newcastle Inner City Catholic Community - Weekend Mass times  

Sacred Heart Cathedral – Vigil Saturday 5:30pm, Sunday 9:30am and 5:00pm 

St Joseph’s, The Junction – Sunday 9:00am 

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Tighes Hill – Sunday 8:00am 

St Mary’s, Newcastle – Sunday 7:30am

Christmas Eve Mass Times 

Sacred Heart Cathedral      5.30pm    7.30pm    10.00pm     Midnight

St Joseph's, The Junction   6.00pm  

Christmas Day Mass Times

Sacred Heart Cathedral      9.30am   11.30am

St Joseph's, The Junction   9.00am

St Mary's, Newcastle          7.30am

Immaculate Heart of Mary, Tighes Hill   8.00am _________________________________________________________