Welcome back to a new school year. I hope that you were able to rest and refresh for the year ahead. 

And so we pray…

Lord Jesus, we ask for Your help as we begin this new school year. 

Allow us to experience Your presence in the many blessings You put before us. 

Open our eyes to the new challenges and exciting opportunities that this new school year brings. 

Open our heart and mind to new friends and new teachers. 

Give us a generous spirit to be enthusiastic with our work and courage to accept new opportunities. 

Help us to be attentive to each other and let us experience Your presence in our new friends. 

Jesus, inspire us to do our best this year! 

Amen

 

A NOTE OF THANKS FROM OUR ST BRIGID’S ST VINCENTde PAUL PRESIDENT, PETER COONEY

On behalf of our Conference I wish to thank the St Brigid’s School Community for the fantastic donations for our 2020 Christmas Food Hampers. I have to say that the items donated could not have been more appropriate to reflect the festive season. The hampers assembled from both the school and some parishioner donations were from our perspective outstanding. I would go as far as saying they were  the best hampers that we have ever assembled. They reflected our community's generosity.

These hampers were distributed to deserving families within our Parish boundaries. With the COVID pandemic we also provided a few hampers to the International Uni students at UOW who have remained on campus with little or no income support.

Prior to enrolling your child into the Lumen Christi Sacramental Programme you, as parents/carers will be asked to attend a parent meeting which will be led by the Parish Administrator, Fr Bernard. This meeting is a requirement for enrolment into any of our Sacramental Programmes. 

Parent Meeting: Wednesday 10 February or Thursday 11 February 2021 from 6.30 pm in St John Vianney Co-Cathedral

To ensure careful preparation, attendance by the child and an accompanying parent/carer at the following four sessions is essential.

Meeting 2: Reconciliation Programme Session 1: 24th or 25th Feb,  6.30 pm in St John Vianney Co-Cathedral

Meeting 3: Reconciliation Programme Session 2: 3rd or 4th Mar,   6.30 pm in St John Vianney Co-Cathedral

Meeting 4: Reconciliation Programme Session 3: 10th or 11th Mar,  6.30 pm in St John Vianney Co-Cathedral

Meeting 5: Reconciliation Programme Session 4: 17th or 18th Mar,  6.30 pm in St John Vianney Co-Cathedral. Sacrament of Reconciliation to follow upon completion of Meeting 5.

 

Ash Wednesday begins our forty day season of Lent that leads to Easter. On Ash Wednesday, we come together like the people of the Old Testament to remind ourselves that we don’t always follow God’s ways and need to ask God for His Mercy and forgiveness.

Lent opens with readings that call us to penance. However, this penance must be understood within its proper context. Penance is really an attempt to correct what is upset, to repair what is broken, to atone for the wrong done. Penance must spring from a contrite heart or acts of penance can be merely external feats of endurance.

Nothing that we do can reconcile us with God. No penance, regardless of its severity, can repair a ruptured covenant bond. Only the mercy and graciousness of God can accomplish this. And God has accomplished it in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It was God’s love for sinners that prompted such a magnanimous display of divine love. Through Jesus, the entire world has been reconciled to God. Now, each individual has the opportunity to be reconciled. Penance and acts of devotion are ways of benefiting from the treasury of divine mercy and love. They do not buy reconciliation; it has already been purchased.

Almsgiving and fasting and prayer are honoured ways of changing whatever prevents us from drinking from the streams of divine grace. Almsgiving reminds us of the covenant bond that joins us with each other and of the social responsibilities that accompany it. Fasting sensitises us to the dependence we have on the natural world. It also curbs our insatiable desire for more and more. Prayer unites us with God, the source of our being and our merciful covenant partner.

© Dianne Bergant CSA

WORLD DAY OF THE SICK - 11 FEBRUARY

On February 11 we come together as a community to pray for the sick and those who care for them.

Here is what you can do to observe WDOS:

• Say the prayer tonight to thank the nurses, doctors and all the wonderful carers for taking care of us during COVID;
• Commit to washing your hands frequently, keeping surfaces clean and wearing a mask on public transport

18 FEBRUARY ‐ CHARLES PERKINS’ FREEDOM RIDES

In 1965 students from the University of Sydney took action to draw attention to the racism that was rife in New South Wales country towns.

The Ride included a survey of Aboriginal living conditions, a direct challenge to a ban against Aboriginal ex-servicemen at the Walgett Returned Services League, and a demonstration against local laws barring Aboriginal children from the Moree and Kempsey swimming pools.