A big welcome back to everyone in our St Benedict’s community!  It’s been great to see everyone back this week and all of the students have started to settle in nicely to the rhythm of the year.

PEACE

This year St Benedict’s we are employing a ‘way of being’ which enables us to be the best members of our community that we can.  This way of being is a ‘Way of Peace’ - Peace being an acronym for Positive, Empathetic, Accepting, Caring, Engaged.

This has been taken, not simply because we like the idea of being peaceful, but because PEACE formed the basis of the teachings of St Benedict.  The Benedictine motto is quite simply the word ‘PAX’ - which in latin means peace.

The idea behind this ‘Way of Peace’ is to give a language around how we speak to students around behaviour (positive and negative) in ensuring we are being Positive, Empathetic, Accepting, Caring and Engaged.  Over the next few weeks, each class will be discussing this and how this works in different contexts. There will be several initiatives run with this as the year progresses.

The Logo - Explained

PAX- This references the Benedictine motto, PAX, the latin word for Peace

Olive Branch- References the Flood story in Genesis, where Noah sends out a dove to see if the waters have receded.  The second time, the dove returns with an olive leaf, so Noah could see that God’s punishment was over and peace has been restored.

Dove - As well as a sign of Peace, in Christianity the Dove also represents the Holy Spirit which works in all of us.  In Luke when Jesus is baptised, ‘Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.’

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

As you may be aware, we are part of the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish, led by Fr Dave Lancini.  Each year, the Parish run a Sacramental Program for students to prepare for the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion.  If your child is in Year 3 or above and would like to participate in the Sacramental Program, you will be required to attend an information evening either next Monday 3rd Feb (Ryan Community Centre) or Tuesday 4th Feb (Good Shepherd Community Centre) at 7:00pm.  If you require any further information, don’t hesitate to either contact myself at school or the Parish Office on 47239844. A note about the program will be in the newsletter.

DATE CLAIMER

Our assemblies this year are changing to a Friday.  Our Beginning Year Liturgy will take place on Friday Week 4 (21/02) at 9:00am in ‘The Hall’, led by Fr Dave our Parish Priest.  We’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of our St Benedict’s community for this event.

Have a great week and God bless,

Nick