Faith & Religious Education News
Feast Days
Over the last two Fridays our students have celebrated two special feast days.
The Prep to Year 3 students shared a prayer to remember Saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop – our First Australian Saint. Saint Mary Mackillop was someone who valued education so much, that she started schools for poor catholic children to attend. She was supported by women who became the Sisters of St Joseph – Saint Mary and her sisters started schools across Australia and New Zealand. Just like we, at Our Lady of Lourdes are CALLed To Think like Learners and Global Citizens – Mary thought what she could do and did it! Our Catholic Schools in Australia are a testament to people like Saint Mary Mackillop, who paved the way for the opportunity for us to be educated so well.
The Year 4–6 students shared a Mass with Father BJ and the OLOL Parish celebrating the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary- the Mother of Jesus. This day is one of the Holy Days of Obligation in our Church Year. Mary was a very important role model in the life of Jesus. She nurtured and guided Jesus to become the wonderful role model we all aspire to be like. The Catholic Church honours Mary the Mother of Jesus with this special day, where we remember Mary’s contribution to the life of Jesus by attending a Mass.
Both these days are called Feast Days – What is a feast day? Why do we celebrate them?
According to the Catholic church, a feast day is the day a particular saint is remembered and celebrated. The church has a calendar that reflects all saints' days throughout the year. It is usually an annual religious celebration where prayers and readings are said to remember a particular saint. Mostly a feast day is on the day of the saint's death as it is believed that this is the day they entered heaven. Mary MacKillop's day is the 8th of August - the day she died in North Sydney in 1909. Whereas the “Assumption of Mary – the Mother of Jesus” is celebrated on the 15th of August because Pope Pius XII declared this to be a special day to honour Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
The final preparation morning for the 2024 Reconciliation Preparation is on this Sunday 24th August at 10:45 am. The Sacrament of 1st Reconciliation is on Tuesday 9th September at 7.00pm. The children will have a practise of the ceremony during school time. We will have short final meeting at 3:30 pm in the church on Monday, 8th September to check seating and final questions. Candidates and their guests are asked to be at the church on the 9th by 6:40 pm. Any questions or queries please contact the OLOL Parish office. (07 4634 1453 Monday – Friday 9.00am – 1.00pm) or email ourladyoflourdesparish@twb.catholic.org.au
Assemblies
Year 5P will lead the Week 6 Assembly and 1T will lead the Week 7 Assembly
Father’s Day Mass and Sausage Sizzle
Our annual Father's Day Mass is on Thursday 4th September 2025 at 10.00am in the school hall. All are welcome. We have planned a sausage sizzle for our Fathers/Grandads/Poppys/Pas, the children and staff of OLOL after Mass. We will need some helpers to cook the sausages, and some servers to hand the sausages out. Cooking will start at 8:30 am. If you can lend a hand, please let Mrs Moore know. All sausages will be gluten free.
Please fill in the RSVP “Fathers Day Sausage Sizzle forms” we have sent to families – so we can gauge the approx. number of sausages and bread slices we need to purchase as well as the number of chairs we need to put out. https://forms.office.com/r/gF85UnF8Tc
Please send in your photo of your Dad/Grandad/Poppy/Pa for the PowerPoint reflection by next Wednesday 27th August. (N.B One photo per family) to Janice.Moore@twb.catholic.edu.au
Pupil Free Day
N.B. There is no assembly on Thursday 4th August 2025 due to Fathers Day Mass and there is a Pupil Free Day on Friday 5th September– the children will have a holiday while the staff of Our Lady of Lourdes will attend a Consistency of Teacher Judgement Day.
Crazy Sock Day
We have our Crazy Sock Day on Thursday 18th September. Wear your craziest socks, with your sun-safe coloured clothes, suitable footwear, brimmed hat and bring along a gold coin for the Catholic Missions. We are also asking families to donate a new pair of socks with their gold coin – The Gold coin going to Catholic Mission and Socks to The Base Soup Kitchen. Socks can be sent in at any time. Please support both these initiatives to encourage our students to be thoughtful Global Citizens for our local and global communities.
Our final assembly for Term 3 is on Friday 19th September at 12:00 noon led by 5S.
If you have any other Mission and Identity queries or questions, please contact Mrs Moore on Janice.Moore@twb.catholic.edu.au or contact the school office.
Janice
Janice Moore
Assistant Principal Mission and Identity
(APMI)