Pope Francis’ Prayer to Saint Joseph 

Year of St Joseph 

Pope Francis on December 8, 2020 published an Apostolic Letter Patris corde (“With a Father’s Heart”), commemorating the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church. To mark the occasion, the Holy Father proclaimed a “Year of St Joseph”, running from December 8, 2020 to December 8, 2021. Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father, a tender and loving father, an obedient father, an accepting father; a father who is creatively courageous, a working father, a father in the shadows. 

St Joseph’s Day 19th March

The Feast of St. Joseph – the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus is celebrated each year on the 19th March. God called Joseph, a simple carpenter, to care for and protect Mary and Jesus. With great faith and trust, he accepted God’s call.  St Joseph sets a good example for us all.  Joseph showed us how to love, how to care for others and how to put the needs of others before himself.  St Joseph is often shown in artworks with the symbol of a lily. The whiteness of the flower represents Joseph’s virtue, holiness, innocence, and obedience to God as well as Joseph’s faithfulness to Mary.

Our school community celebrated this special occasion on Friday with a whole school liturgy, classroom activities and whole school games tabloids organised by Year 6 (however, due to the weather, tabloids have been postponed until Week 10).  Thank you to Year 1 for organising our liturgy.

Harmony Day

The theme of Harmony Day is “Everyone Belongs” and  we will be celebrating our diversity on Wednesday 24th March. Thank you to Year 3 and Mrs Jenny Bowen for organising our liturgy and class activities. Students are invited to wear orange, rainbow colours or personal traditional cultural dress.  We hope to see a sea of orange and rainbow colours to show we all belong here! We will also celebrate with a very special lunch order option on Wednesday: Indian, Mexican, Italian and Asian (Our thanks to Mrs Brand in the canteen for her efforts to cook such delicious food!).

Parish Sacramental Program Commitment Ceremony

Congratulations to the children in Years 4 and 5 who are commencing their preparation in the Sacramental Program for 2021.  These three sacraments: Reconciliation, Confirmation and Holy Communion continues and completes the journey of initiation the children started at their Baptism. As a community we pray for each child’s journey ahead.  May the experience deepen their faith and may they feel even more fully God’s limitless love.

Upcoming Events

• Holy Week Liturgy 

Our school will celebrate a special Holy Week Liturgy on Thursday 1^st April at 12:15pm in our school Hall and we thank Fr Peter for presiding.  All are welcome to attend (please COVID check-in at the office) and recall the events of this most important week in the church year.   

Please see the Parish Bulletin for more details and registration for Masses in our area - https://www.newcastlecatholic.org.au/weekly-bulletins/