This week let us include in our prayers….. 

• The leaders of the world may have the courage to do what is right and protect the vulnerable in our world;
• For those who have no one to care for them;
• For all of those who have gone before us, may their souls find peace in the Kingdom of Heaven; 

May these prayers and all those we hold in our hearts, be felt by those who need them most.  

Sunday’s Gospel- 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

In this week’s gospel the question is asked to Jesus, what is the greatest commandment of the Law? Jesus’s reply is simple and without hesitation, he unites two commandments already found in the scriptures of Israel. The first command is to love God with all of one’s heart and soul and mind. A very simple calling but during a period of great challenges, isolation, and societal pressures we can sometimes loose sight of this commandment. As humans we have a great capacity to love and be loved in return, it fills our souls and nurtures our spirits.  

The second comment is to love one’s neighbour as oneself.  Seems simple enough right? However, we all know that there are some people who are very easy to love and some others we find more difficult. It is during these more challenging times we should pause, and try putting ourselves in our neighbours shoes and ask how I would like to be treated in the same situation. To show empathy and understanding. Perhaps this week we can take some time to found out from that neighbour exactly what they are seeking. Showing compassion for a neighbour is a great building block to follow Jesus’ commandment to love those whom God loves: our fellow human beings. Reading Reflections  

ACER TESTING 

This week the students will be finalising their yearly standards tests, the ACER Progressive Achievement Tests.  ACER’s Progressive Achievement approach is used in thousands of schools in Australia and around the world. The approach focuses on assessing and monitoring student growth over time and is underpinned by an understanding that students of the same age and in the same year of school can be at very different points in their learning and development. Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT), are a series of tests designed to provide objective, norm-referenced information to teachers about their students’ skills and understandings. 

At St Joseph’s we undertake yearly standardised testing in the areas of Mathematics & Reading Comprehension. Each test is completed online and lasts for forty minutes each.  The results are used by the school to track each student’s progression in these areas. 

Week 6 NAIDOC 

The theme for NAIDOC  this year ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’ acknowledges that hundreds of First Nations cultures covered this continent. All were managing the land - the biggest estate on earth - to sustainably provide for their future. Through ingenious land management systems like fire stick farming we transformed the harshest habitable continent into a land of bounty. 

NAIDOC Week 2020 in Week 6 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation’s story didn’t begin with documented European contact whether in 1770 or 1606 - with the arrival of the Dutch on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula. The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples.  Our coastal Nations watched and interacted with at least 36 contacts made by Europeans prior to 1770. Many of them resulting in the charting of the northern, western and southern coastlines – of our lands and our waters. For us, this nation’s story began at the dawn of time.  

NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations. It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of this country - which is Australian history. We want all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet and to recognise that our sovereignty was never ceded. 

Always Was, Always Will Be 

Daniel Morcombe Curriculum & Day for Daniel 

This term for Health the students of St Joseph’s will be undertaking the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum. As part of the unit we will be participating in Day for Daniel on Friday the 30th October 2020. The theme is to Wear Red & Educate. We are encouraging parents and schools to continue the conversation around child safety as part of the Daniel Morcombe Child Safety Curriculum.  

All Souls Day – 2nd November 2020 

All Soul’s Day follows the Church celebration of All Saints’ Day, a time when the Church honours all those saints who have inspired us to live extraordinary Christian lives; those known (E.g. Patron Saints, Saints our schools and Parishes are named after, Saints whose names we may share) and those saints who are unknown to us.  

Jesuit priest Andrew Hamilton writes that All Soul’s Day is a time for remembering the gift of people who are no longer present with us. He says that this day reminds us “that all people matter, whether living or dead, young or old, rich or poor, powerful or weak, citizen or refugee, careful or reckless, saint or sinner. Each person is deeply loved and is precious in God’s sight. Remembering the Holy Souls.  Daily Prayer. https://www.pray.com.au/remembering-the-holy-souls) So on All Soul’s Day this year as I light a candle for those I love whom have passed away and say a silent Glory Be prayer, I find comfort in knowing that I will be joining others from around the world who will be remembering and honouring all those who have passed, but are not forgotten.  You are welcome to join the parish who will be having a Liturgy of the Word with Communion on Monday 2nd November at 7pm in the church.  

May St Joseph smile on you,  

Meg Newell 

APRE/CST