St Mary's Bulletin

It was certainly a different atmosphere at St Mary’s this week!  The volume of children missing was very noticeable!   Thank you for all the positive feedback in relation to home schooling and the wonderful work our teachers have done.   I am sure that all families now have a deeper appreciation for the amazing work that all our teachers do here at St Mary’s.  While Term One officially ends today the teachers have/will send home some Easter related activities for the children to do next week as part of their home learning and we will continue to provide supervision for the children of families who are essential workers.  A Bulletin will also be sent home via Skoolbag on Thursday.

This Sunday is Palm Sunday.  This is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Christ in Jerusalem, days before he was crucified.  Palm Sunday is known as such because the faithful will often receive palm fronds which they use to participate in the re-enactment of Christ's arrival in Jerusalem. In the Gospels, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a young donkey, and to the lavish praise of the townspeople who threw clothes, or possibly palms or small branches, in front of him as a sign of homage. This was a customary practice for people of great respect.  Palm branches are widely recognized as a symbol of peace and victory, hence their preferred use on Palm Sunday.  The use of a donkey instead of a horse is highly symbolic, it represents the humble arrival of someone in peace, as opposed to arriving on a steed in war.  A week later, Christ would rise from the dead on the first Easter.  During Palm Sunday Mass, palms are distributed to parishioners who carry them in a ritual procession into church. The palms are blessed and many people will fashion them into small crosses or other items of personal devotion. These may be returned to the church, or kept for the year.  Because the palms are blessed, they may not be discarded. Instead, they are appropriately gathered at the church and incinerated to create the ashes that will be used in the following year's Ash Wednesday observance.

As a result of the imposing threat of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) and in co-operation with and response to Government directives the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth advises that no public masses will be celebrated.  Fr Andrew hopes to livestream Mass this Sunday, 5th April on the St Mary’s Facebook page at 8.30am.  If you have Facebook, just type in St Mary’s Catholic Church Merredin to view the Mass and/or read Fr Andrew’s Homily.  This is very proactive by Fr Andrew in what are different circumstances at a very special time in the liturgical calendar.  Please show your support of Fr Andrew by going on-line for Mass on Sundays.

Catholic Education Western Australia (CEWA) has committed to a new Administration software platform that has been a work in progress for the last couple of years.  As the demands of modern schools increase, the services required to support schools increase faster still.  AoS (Admin of Schools) is a comprehensive engine designed to integrate all of these services and unite them in one central management system. St Mary’s School have been working with staff from CEWA in preparation for the installation of AoS, to replace our current Administration system. 

Please be aware that this will occur as of Monday, 4 May 2020. A new BPAY reference number will be the main change impacting families.

BPAY reference number: We will send you a Fee Statement showing your current balance and updates payment details in the coming weeks. Please take note of your new BPAY reference number on the attached Fee Statement. Prior to making any BPAY payments, please update your bank account details to the new BPAY reference number.

We appreciate your patience during the transition period.  

God Bless and have a lovely weekend with your families, 

Ms Adriana Coniglio

Principal