Dear Parents and Carers

Mulkadee is in full swing this week, with the final performance this Friday night promising to be amazing.  I saw many of the Joey's students yesterday at the entertainment centre and they were all having a wonderful week.  Mulkadee is an amazing opportunity for students to engage in the arts.  I am certainly looking forward to seeing the final performance.

Next week is another huge week as we celebrate both Catholic Education week and NAIDOC week.  Our spirit of Catholic Education Award nominees, Arlene Curley and Bronwyn Reguson will be presented with their awards, and the week will celebrate the contributions and achievements of Catholic Education across Queensland.  There are amazing things taking place in our schools and St Joseph's is part of those achievements.  I could not be more proud of our school community, our staff and most importantly our students.  Next week will also see us celebrate NAIDOC week - a time to grow in understanding and unity with Indigenous Australians.  Our staff have worked to prepare some wonderful activities to engage our students in culture, language, dance and history.  I am sure the week will provide some great opportunities for our school community.

We have two other amazing events taking place this term.  The second instalment of Joey's @ Sunset, a great live music event that began last year and our second student-led Tech Expo!  Our students have been engaging with some amazing technology over the last twelve months and the Expo is a chance to showcase their achievements.  This year promises to be another great opportunity for our students to showcase their skills and learning.  More information is coming soon so make sure you keep your eye out for details.  

Last Friday night also saw our Annual Parish Dinner take place and it was terrific to see so many school families attend.  It was a lovely evening and again an event that is going from strength to strength.  A special thank you to the parent and staff volunteers who assisted on the night.  From all reports, a great night was enjoyed by all. Congratulations to the parish coordinators on such a successful evening.

Have a great week

Tim

Bishop’s Appeal

This week students have bought home a 2019 Bishop’s Appeal envelope.  The Bishop’s Appeal directly assists the diocese to run its various ministries such as Chaplaincy services to hospitals and many others.  Please consider supporting this appeal to allow Bishop Tim to continue the great work that happens in our diocese.

Homelessness Week

This year, in honour of Homelessness Week, St Vincent de Paul are hosting a stall at Castletown Shopping Centre to make people aware of homelessness in our community. They are hoping to raise $12000 to help fund programs in this area. Other than money, donations of nonperishable groceries, toiletries, cleaning products, and new linen are all greatly appreciated. If you can spare any of these items, please bring them into school where they will be collected by the Year 6 Mini Vinnies students. 

NAIDOC Week

Next week we will be celebrating Naidoc Week.  The 2019 theme for Naidoc Week is Voice, Treaty, Truth.  Here at Joey’s the students have already begun to engage in activities that explore this theme and will continue to do so throughout Naidoc Week.  On Wednesday we will be having our Naidoc Liturgy which will be led by our Indigenous students. We would like to invite all parents and family members along to this Liturgy which will be held in the Hall at 2pm.

Catholic Education Week

Next week we celebrate Catholic Education Week.  During this week we celebrate the distinctive mission of Catholic schooling.  Catholic schools are wonderful places where we challenge our students to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing and live giving members of society.  The theme for Catholic Education week 2019 is Many Voices. One Spirit. Please find a prayer below in the lead up to Catholic Education Week.

Loving God,

your Spirit is present in the many voices in our Queensland Catholic schools. May your Holy Spirit unite us in faith, hope and love during Catholic Education week and promote and uphold the distinctive mission of Catholic schooling. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Altar Servers At last Sunday’s Mass, we had some of our new Altar Servers serve for the very first time.  Congratulations to Kareena, Eden, Thomas and Patrick for doing an exceptional job. Thank you to Josh, one of our senior Altar Servers, for helping them out.  If your child has made their First Communion and is interested in becoming an Altar Server at Sunday Mass please let me know.

RE in Prep Our Prep students are learning about symbols and features of our Church.  Last week they visited the Church and Fr Joseph explained the special features of the Church such as the Altar and candles to them.  We are lucky to have such a wonderful Parish Priest. Thank you Fr Joseph!

Sunday’s Gospel

Luke 10:38-42 - Jesus visits the house of Martha and Mary.

The story of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary complements the story of the Good Samaritan, which immediately precedes it in Luke's Gospel. Both stories are unique to Luke. The story of the Samaritan opens with the words “a certain man.” Today's reading opens with the words “a certain woman.” The Samaritan is an example of how a disciple should see and act. Mary is an example of how a disciple should listen. Mary, a woman, is a marginalized person in society, like the Samaritan. Both do what is not expected of them. As a woman, Mary would be expected, like Martha, to prepare hospitality for a guest. Here again, Jesus breaks with the social conventions of his time. Just as a Samaritan would not be a model for neighbourliness, so a woman would not sit with the men around the feet of a teacher.

Both stories exemplify how a disciple is to fulfil the dual command which begins chapter 10—love of God (Mary) and love of neighbour (the Samaritan). These are the two essentials of life in the kingdom. By using the examples of a Samaritan and a woman, however, Jesus is saying something more. Social codes and boundaries were strict in Jesus' time. Yet to love God with all one's heart and one's neighbour requires breaking those rules. The Kingdom of God is a society without distinctions and boundaries between its members. It is a society that requires times for seeing and doing and also times for listening and learning at the feet of a teacher.

We know from John’s Gospel that Martha and Mary were friends of Jesus, and that he was frequently in their home. Luke tells us nothing of this; perhaps it was not in the material available to him. However, he immortalises this incident that took place during one of Jesus’ visits, because he sees it as having a lesson for us all. Busy preparing special dishes for their guest, Martha feels left out. Jesus tells her not to go to so much trouble: one dish will be plenty. He then goes beyond this homely advice to remind Martha and those present that the ‘one thing necessary’ in life is finding the truth he is bringing them. Mary does not need to be reminded of this; she shows herself to be a true ‘disciple’.

Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him.  How do you listen and demonstrate yourself to be a true disciple?

http://bcewaystopray.weebly.com/week-22-21--27-july.html

https://www.loyolapress.com/our-catholic-faith/liturgical-year/sunday-connection

https://www.pray.com.au/month/july-2019/page/2/

Have a wonderful week.

Take care and God bless

Amanda

The P & F meeting scheduled for next Tuesday evening the 30th July has been cancelled due to clashes with Catholic Education Week events. The next meeting will take place on Tuesday the 27th August.

Hot Shot Tennis Program

We are pleased to announce that we are about to begin our Hot Shot Tennis program, funded by the Federal Government as part of the Sporting School Grant we have received.

Beginning next Wednesday, our Year 3 and 4 students will have tuition in modified Tennis by local professional Wayne Hannah (Tennis Townsville). It will be an eight (8) week program, where the students learn skills necessary to play Tennis. These lessons will be conducted on modified courts in our Putney Hall during school time.

We trust that this will be a wonderful addition to our Sport@Joey's program. Who knows, we may even unearth another Ash Barty or Alex de Minaur!

Trash to Treasure Upcycling Project

Next week at After School Care we will be creating our very own St Joseph’s OSHC Ephemera. This will allow the children to work in a group or by themselves to be creative and produce a master piece. We ask if you have any items such as plastic bottles, boxes, pods in your garden and any other bits and pieces that we could use we would appreciate if you could drop it off to the Outside School Hours Care.

In the event your child is booked in and is going to be absent or is getting picked up from school by someone else please notify the service by phone, email or text or our staff will go looking for your child/ren.

If your child/ren is attending any after school activities for example Chior, Basketball could you please notify us or you will be charged.

OSHC CONTACT DETAILS

Email: oshc@sjnwtsv.catholic.edu.au

Ph: (07) 47725547

Mb: 0447839549