Dear Parents,
This Sunday’s Gospel focuses on our Lord’s invitation to join him for a meal. We make the choose to go to mass in response to Jesus’ invitation to be with him at this Eucharistic table, where we celebrate his last supper, in preparation for the ultimate sacrifice he made for us all. The meal analogy is one of “community” where we assemble in Jesus’ name. we remind ourselves that Jesus is really present with his people. He is present first and foremost in us as an assembled people, for we are his Body, living by his Spirit. He is present secondly in the various ministers who act as icons, representing him and giving him voice. We think of the priest who is the sacrament of Jesus, gathering his people, speaking to us and accepting our offerings. We think of the Readers who are sacraments of Jesus giving voice to his Word. We think of the Eucharistic Ministers, sacraments of Jesus giving himself to us to nourish us. We think of those who minister to us with their music and their voices, sacraments of Jesus lifting our hearts to join him in praising his Father and rejoicing in his love. And thirdly, we believe that God accepts our offering and, through the power of his Spirit, our gifts of bread and wine are transformed into the real presence of the risen Jesus who gives himself to us to nourish us on our journey. [Fr Michael Fallon]
Happy Father’s Day to all our Fathers and the significant men in our lives. Sunday is a great opportunity for us all to thank our dads for all they do and sacrifice for us. Let’s take the time on this special day to tell dad we love him. Thanks to all those who contributed to making our breakfast and celebrations this morning. Thanks to Natalie Bertie and her team for providing a most hearty breakfast. Thank you to Mrs Burley and the teachers or organising our liturgy and the mega maths morning. Have a great day on Sunday!
(Please see below Ben Horne's reflection from our Father's Day Liturgy this morning).
As you would be aware Mrs Burley [Vella] and Mrs Matthews will be finishing up at the end of the term and taking maternity leave to have their babies. In their absence for the remainder of 2019, we welcome Mrs Bev Hermans who will join Miss Ford in Year two and Miss Alley Casey who will be teaching alongside Mrs Searson Year 1. We look forward to welcoming these ladies into our community for term 4. As the term draws to a close we will take the opportunity to farewell our “two mums to be” and wish them good health and happiness for the birth of their babies.
Congratulations to our three Voice of Youth finalists who competed in the Cluster Final at CTK last Wednesday Our three finalists Olivia Kaddis, Isabella Yeoman, Emma Maroun all spoke with great knowledge, poise and confidence representing both their school and families. All three students performed to the best of their ability challenging us all with their speeches and the underlying messages and themes contained in their presentation. Congratulations to Olivia Kaddis who won the cluster final with her speech on “Organ Donation”. Olivia will now proceed to the Diocesan Eastern Region Voice of Youth semi-final to be held at St Pauls Greystanes on Monday 9th September. Year six will be travelling to St Pauls to support Olivia on the day. We wish Olivia all the best for the upcoming semi-final.
Please continue to pray for our stage 3 children and their families in our parish who are preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. This significant event will complete the children’s initiation into our catholic community. The Confirmation mass will be held on Wednesday evening 4th September commencing at 7:30pm. All members of our community are welcome to attend.
Just a reminder to all parents that children who are late to school of a morning are asked to drop in at the office accompanied by a parent or adult to complete a partial absence note. This is a Parramatta Diocesan Education protocol that needs to be adhered to. If a student who is late is accompanied by an adult to the office the partial absence is recorded as “explained”. If a student presents themselves at the office without an accompanying parent or adult, it is recorded on their attendance record as an “unexplained” partial absence. Irrespective of whether or not a child is accompanied by an adult on being late to school, they are to drop into the office before proceeding to class. If they don’t, their teacher would of already have marked them as absent for the day as office staff not classroom teachers, are responsible for recording late comers to school. Your assistance in this matter will be greatly appreciated and will avoid inaccuracies pertaining to your child’s attendance records in the future.
Congratulations to all our students who represented CTK at the Diocesan Athletics last Friday. Our athletes performed very well on the day, achieving several PBs with several athletes progressing to the next level, where they will represent the Diocese at the Mackillop Inter Diocesan carnival on Monday 16th September. Good luck and best wishes to those participating athletes.
Have a great fortnight
Tony Hughes
Principal
