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Dear Parents and Caregivers,
October is the month of the Rosary, a Catholic devotional prayer associated with Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Rosary is the story of the New Testament. Each decade is recited in honour of a Mystery in Our Lord’s Life and that of His Blessed Mother. The Church asks us to regularly pray the Rosary, as our prayers made in union with Mary, can obtain the great gift of conversion of hearts and peace throughout the world.
O God, whose only begotten Son, by His life, death and resurrection has purchased for us the rewards of eternal life, grant, we beseech Thee, that meditating upon these Mysteries in the most holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we may both imitate what they contain and obtain what they promise, through the same Christ Our Lord. AMEN.
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
It is great to return to Stella Maris after having a holiday in the United States. I would like to sincerely thank Miss Angela Crandell who was Acting Principal in my absence and of course she did an amazing job. It was wonderful to see that all the children and staff have returned healthy and happy after the recent holidays.
TRANSITION TO KINDERGARTEN 2020
The transition to school process for next year’s Kindergarten children and their families officially commenced this week. There will be two playgroup sessions on Monday afternoons and Friday mornings for the next four weeks, followed by two orientation mornings on Friday 22 and 29 November. We look forward to welcoming our new students and their parents and the transition program is an important part of making them feel accepted and valued. The two Kindergarten teachers in 2020 will be Mrs Elise Thompson and Miss Christina Agius and both are eagerly looking forward to supporting and working with all parents and carers for the benefit of the children.
MISSION MONTH
Stella Maris has always been known as a generous community and over the years a great deal of money has been raised during October, which is the Month of the Missions. I would like to thank our families for supporting this year’s fundraiser a skip-a-thon, which will take place in PE lessons in the next week.
BASKETBALL CHALLENGE
Good luck to the students who will be representing Stella Maris at the NSW Basketball Challenge at Albury this weekend. Thank you to Mrs Downing for coordinating the team entries and selections, the staff who will be travelling to support and assist and to the many parents who have helped with the training of the teams.
REGIONAL PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION
Yesterday Matisse Nicolais (Year 5) and Kye Lockeridge (Year 6) represented Stella Maris at the Regional Public Speaking Finals at St Joseph’s Bulli. Both students were well prepared and delivered high quality speeches. Congratulations to Kye who placed third and will now move on to the Diocesan competiton.
Well done to both children.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
This Sunday’s Gospel,
Those who humble themselves will be exalted.
REFLECTION – by Lisa-Marie Calderone-Stewart
Some people like just salt on their food and other people like only pepper. Like black and white, salt and pepper seem to be opposites. But some people like them both and use them together, as complements to each other’s flavour. The proud Pharisee and the humble sinner seem to be opposites, but they can also be seen as complements as well.
The proud Pharisee was able to understand the good things about himself. This gave him confidence to pray in thanksgiving for his blessings.
It’s good to be thankful for blessings, but Jesus would probably say the proud Pharisee took it a bit too far. Why do you think so?
The humble sinner was able to understand the flaws in himself. But still he had the confidence to pray for forgiveness and mercy. It’s good to be aware of all your flaws, but a person could take this a bit too far as well.
Do you think Jesus wants us to focus only on our sinfulness, and to be obsessed with being an unworthy, ‘second-class’ citizen? Why or why not?
Is it possible to have a healthy pride in your talents, as well as a healthy humility in your place on earth as a servant of God? What would that look like? How would you know when you had achieved such a balance?
By the way, which do you like better – salt or pepper? Or do you like them both? Do you see them as opposites or complements? black and white or shades of grey?
All Saints Catholic Parish Shellharbour
Mass times:
All Saints Church
19 College Ave, Shellharbour City
Saturday 6.00pm Vigil
Sunday 9.00am inc. Children’s Liturgy
5.00pm (6.00pm daylight saving)
Mass at Stella Maris
We would like to welcome all friends and families to the following School Masses this Term at Stella Maris.
Year 2 Mass 5 November
Stage 3 Mass 19 November
Stage 2 Mass 26 November
Kinder & Yr 1 Mass 10 December
The Most Holy Rosary
The month of October each year is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated on October 7. Students in all classes at Stella Maris will pray the Rosary during this month.
Moreover, on 18 October, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) invited children worldwide to take part in the campaign "One Million Children Praying the Rosary". Students at Stella Maris took part in this campaign, praying the Rosary during Reflective Prayer.
Mission Month Liturgy 22nd October
On Tuesday at 2pm, Yr 5 presented a beautiful liturgy encouraging the school community to not only learn about Ghana and the work of the Church there, but to do something extraordinary for mission through their fundraising, advocacy and prayers.
As a consequence, we will be holding our Mission Fundraiser on the 23rd & 24th October within Physical Education lessons with Miss Fry. She will run a skip-a-thon and we are asking each child participating to donate $5 to the missions.
All Saints Day 1 November
The Feast - All Saints Day, is celebrated on 1 November. As this day is the Parish Feast Day, students from Years 3-6 Stella Maris and Nazareth will join together in the celebration of the Eucharist at All Saints Church. The children will be taken by bus to All Saints Catholic Church Shellharbour City, for Mass to begin at 9:30am. The cost is covered by the school. All children are to wear their sports uniform and take their recess with them. They will have their recess with Nazareth in their playground.
Parents and friends are warmly invited to meet us at All Saints Church and join us for the 9.30am Mass.
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Alicia Sanchez-Levine
Religious Education Coordinator
