Welcome to 2024 and welcome back to school!
We hope you all, both students and staff, had a wonderful, relaxing, holiday break. We were busy during your time off completing one of our annual product updates.
Here is the list of latest updates and new inclusions from this update.
The Conversion of St Paul is celebrated on January 25th, and is recognised as one of the greatest events of the early Church. This is due to the fact that prior to Paul’s (previously Saul) conversion on the road to Damascus, he had persecuted Christians.
St Agnes, known as the patron saint of young girls, is a virgin martyr of the Catholic Church, as well as the Oriental Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheran Churches.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is celebrated on the 8th of December. It is believed that Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception, which kept her soul immaculate from birth.
November in the Catholic tradition is a month of remembrance of the dead. To begin this, All Saints’ Day is celebrated on the 1st, and All Souls’ Day on the 2nd. These are not nationally recognised holidays and are no longer holy days of obligation in Australia, but the Church continues to encourage prayers of the faithful for the departed during this time.
On October 12th and 13th, Janita, Kim, and Chloe from the Understanding Faith team attended the National RE Symposium at the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre. This conference is organised by BBI-TAITE, The Australian Institute of Theological Education, with this year’s theme of ‘Rethinking RE: Context Diversity and Pedagogy’.
Saints are those who are recognised as having an exceptional degree of holiness or likeness to God. It comes from the Greek work ‘hagious’ which means “consecrated to God”. October is a great month to reflect on the Saints of the Catholic Church as we celebrate many of the Churches greatest.
See below for some information about 7 Saints who celebrate their feast days in October.
Dementia Action Week takes place from the 18th to the 24th of September, with this year’s theme of ‘Act Now for a Dementia-Friendly Future’. The focus of this campaign is to reduce the stigmas around dementia and to reduce discrimination experienced by individuals living with dementia. During this time, we are encouraged to learn more about the needs of these individuals, and ways to support them.
On the 14th of September, we celebrate ‘R U OK? Day’, with this year’s theme of “I’m here to hear.” This is a national day of action to remind Australians to check in with those around them to see if they’re doing OK, and how to spot the signs if someone is struggling during these conversations.
Today begins Pope Francis’ Season of Creation, which will continue until October 4th. This time invites everyone to see and acknowledge that we, as stewards of the earth, are interlocked with it, rather than separate from it. It is a time to be thankful for everything given and entrusted to us.