Dear Parents,

With the holidays upon us I take this opportunity to thank the students and staff for their hard work this term. There were a few major events which left both students and staff very weary and in need of a break. To our parent community who continue to support us in so many ways, your support is appreciated. I look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday 10th October for Term Four.

Bottle Rockets

There were many wonderful entries in our Bottle Rocket Competition and it was difficult choosing a winner particularly in the best decorated rocket competition for the younger grades. Ultimately our judges had to make some very difficult decisions and the winners are below.

Kindergarten Billy Deasey, Harpa Ross, Harvey Brown & Sophie Holland

Year One Joey Denniss and Nellie Madden

Year Two Nina Robinson and Max O’Brien

Year Three Lewis Clarke and Jonhathon Eastwood

Year Four Connor Robinson and Belle Robinson

Year Five Jayda Holt and Alyssa Terry

Year Six Chanupa de Silva and Sebastian Silk

Summer Uniform

Parents are reminded that students are required to wear their Summer uniform in Term Four and this includes hats.

If parents have any winter uniforms in reasonable condition that are no longer needed, please consider dropping them off at school so they can be placed in the used clothing pool for future use.

Then Peter went up to him and said, 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?' Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times. 'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with me and I will pay the whole sum." And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him, saying, "Pay what you owe me." His fellow-servant fell at his feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be patient with me and I will pay you." But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.'

REFLECTION

Today we have another challenging Gospel. Peter comes to Jesus and bluntly asks him how many times he needs to forgive another, be that his brother, his sister, friend or co-worker. Peter asks if he should forgive the other person seven times? I wonder: did Peter have a family member, a spouse or a friend whom he had wounded multiple times? Or was Peter simply asking the question because he wanted to hear how Jesus would answer his question?

As often is the case, Jesus does not answer Peter’s question directly. Rather Jesus bluntly tells Peter that he should forgive the other person, not simply 7 times, but 77 times! Now that is a lot of forgiveness! It often is easier to forgive another if the hurt or insult is minor. However, when a person has been betrayed or slandered by another person, most of us also would find it difficult to forgive the individual. And this is understandable: our trust has been betrayed!

Was Peter surprised at Jesus’ answer? Was Peter thinking of a family member or friend that he needed to forgive? Or was Peter remembering someone he had hurt or wounded? Was Peter hoping that at some point, he would be forgiven?

Hopefully, over time, we will forgive the person who wounded us. And in this process, we also free ourselves of the heavy burden we have been carrying. Lack of forgiveness usually has more effect on us than on the individual we need to forgive. Resentment and anger poison us. If we are not able to forgive the other person, we may be the one who carries the heavier burden. True, it is not easy to let go of our anger and hurt. However, if we can place our anger, hurt and resentment into God’s hands, over time God will heal our resentment, hurt and anger. However, it may take a long time.

The grace is Jesus does not expect us to deal with these hurts and resentments alone. Jesus walks with us, encourages us and over time, gives us the grace to let go and hopefully to also forgive the one who hurt us. However, we have to be patient with this process. And, we need to keep coming back to Jesus and ask him to help us forgive. Jesus wants us to ask him to free us of this burden, this pain. Jesus is with us and He will answer our prayers!

Today may we place all our burdens, our anger and our pain in Jesus’ hands. This will lighten our load immensely and it also will free us! However, will we, do we, trust Jesus? (Sr Kristine Anne Harpenau)

CATHOLIC MISSION FAIR DAY

Today we celebrated Catholic Mission Fair Day. With so many stalls, we had so much fun. We are pleased to announce that we raised a total of $860.90. 

Catholic Mission is the Pope’s international mission agency. They respond to the call to love God and to love our neighbour by forming individuals and communities as missionary disciples of Jesus who share their faith in action and through prayer. They share in God’s mission to reach out, give life by sharing our personal and financial resources to: - proclaim the Gospel, - serve people in need, - act for peace, justice and creation; In partnership with local churches, so that all may have life in Christ.

Thanks to everyone who supported Catholic Mission through their participation in today’s fair.

God Bless,

Warren Ziebowski

(Religious Education Coordinator)

MacKillop Athletics Championships

Congratulations to our 3 stars who attended the Championships in Sydney on Monday. From all accounts it was a very hot day which made competing quite challenging. 

Well done to Sam Presser who despite not feeling the best decided to power through and compete in the 11 yrs 100m coming in 14th and then backed it up straight away to jump in the 11 yrs Long Jump finishing in 9th place. Great effort Sam!

Well done also to Oscar McRae who competed in the 8-10 yrs Shot Put and finished in 10th place. A terrific effort Oscar!!

We congratulate Kynan Burgess who competed in the 10 yrs 100m finishing 16th and for his fantastic result in the 8-10 yrs Long Jump finishing in 2nd place! This means Kynan will now represent the MacKillop Athletics Team in the upcoming NSWPSSA Athletics Championships in Sydney in October. Becoming a MacKillop Representative is certainly an amazing achievement and we are all very proud of you!!

Boorowa Touch & Netball Carnival

Due to lack of numbers we have withdrawn one of the Year 4 teams. Please find the updated team lists here. Could all paper copy permission forms and outstanding payments please be returned to the office asap. The Year 4 & Year 5 Touch Teams, along with the Year 2/3 Netball team are now full. If you wish to add your child to a team please email me at leonne.challen@cg.catholic.edu.au

Archdiocesan Sport for 2024  - CHANGE OF DATES

Please note that some Archdiocesan Sporting trials for 2024 will occur this year in Term 4. These trials will be open for students who will be in Year 5 & 6 in 2024. Registrations will be via the Canberra-Goulburn Sports Webpage.

2024 Cricket  - to be held in Queanbeyan on Friday 3rd November 2023. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 27th October.

2024 Touch Football - to be held in Lyneham on Friday 24th November 2023. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 17th November 2023.

2024 Tennis - to be held in Belconnen on Thursday 30th November, 2023. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 24th November, 2023

2024 Basketball - to be held in Macquarie on Friday 1st December 2023. Registrations are open now and will close on Friday 24th November, 2023

Brumbies Gala Day - Rugby 7s - Young

Students in Year 3 to 6 are invited to participate in the upcoming Rugby 7s Gala Day to be held on Thursday 2nd November at Cranfield Oval. Teams of 10 students will be mixed boys and girls in a 3/4 and 5/6 division.

Students have been invited to attend via Compass. The Compass permission must be received by Monday 16th October - Term 4, Week 2.