Faith Life, Catholic Identity and the Liturgical Season

A very noteworthy date in the Liturgical Calendar for the Maitland Newcastle Diocese is the Perpetual Day of Remembrance. Perpetual Remembrance has occurred in the Diocese since 2017, and in 2020, Bishop Bill Wright established a decree that the Sunday before, or on 15^th September of each year will be a feast day marking the Perpetual Day of Remembrance; acknowledging our brothers and sisters in Christ that suffered in the times of historic sexual abuse in our Diocese.

Our diocese acknowledges the pain and suffering of the individuals this affects and continues to pledge a commitment to Safeguarding and integrity in all areas, offices, and departments, including our schools.

For your reflection, I have included a prayer in this memo and will leave you with a quote from Pope Francis from his Encyclical Papal Text “Fratelli Tutti”:

“249. Nowadays, it is easy to be tempted to turn the page, to say that all these things happened long ago and we should look to the future. For God’s sake, no! We can never move forward without remembering the past; we do not progress without an honest and unclouded memory. We need to “keep alive the flame of collective conscience, bearing witness to succeeding generations to the horror of what happened”, because that witness “awakens and preserves the memory of the victims, so that the conscience of humanity may rise up in the face of every desire for dominance and destruction”.” (Pope Francis, 2020, Fratelli Tutti)

Religious Education

Last Week, Mr Vaughan and I attended the training with selected schools in the Diocese in preparation to be part of the Pilot Program for the new Religious Education Curriculum I’ve spoken about. Year 3, 2023 will be piloting the fourth module in this new curriculum in Term 4. The Pedagogy of Encounter Model continues to successfully roll out in its staged phases and we are excited to be one of the few schools in the diocese to be invited to pilot this curriculum. Please take the time to view our infographic which outlines the features of the new Year 3 curriculum.

As I’ve said in my previous newsletters, Year 2 will also have a new curriculum in 2024.

School Led Parish Mass

Please join us to celebrate our sacramental candidates First Eucharist on Sunday 10^th September at our School-Led Parish Mass. There will be coffee and cake to celebrate afterwards!

May God’s Spirit be with you and your families each day!

Amy Arthur

Acting Religious Education Coordinator