LIVING FAITH IN THE EVERYDAY

Discipleship – Being Good Enough for God

In his homily last week Fr Tom suggested that we embrace who we are, focus on

serving others and God with all our imperfections – a tough call for most of us!

The following insight may help us on this journey.

We need to cease highlighting our flaws and understand that God’s love makes us

perfect.

There is an insight into the human psyche offered in a quote that seems ageless – ‘I am my

own worst critic’. I wonder why we are so critical of ourselves. What is it about our mind, or

society, that makes us focus on the imperfections and mistakes over our totality? It does not

seem to matter what age, culture, gender or race a person is, we all devalue our worth and

fail to offer ourselves the kindness and charity we go out of our way to offer others. How can we be whole when we pull ourselves apart?

We spend much of our lives worried about what others think of us, and wondering how we

 can create an image of ‘perfection’ that we believe may be more acceptable to others. As a

concept this approach is flawed as we are not perfect and can never be in this life. But we

have been created through God’s perfect love and therefore whole and complete just as we

are. We are imperfectly perfect in this life, but we find that contradictory truth too

paradoxical to understand. When we critique ourselves we observe ourselves from the view

point of the ‘bad spirit’. Being unkind or devaluing our worth is not of God. Yet in knowing

that we make mistakes and cannot measure up to the physical standards society projects on

us we focus on the ways in which we are not perfect rather than how perfectly we have been made.

When we live with a desire to seek the affirmation of others, we highlight aspects that are

endorsed, construct elements that we lack and spurn the traits considered inferior. The irony

is that we are drawn to the uniqueness of others, even though they also judge themselves

and present a less than accurate image of who they truly are. When we affirm others for their gifts, they, like us, often deflect the compliment and draw focus to their imperfections.

These observations do not negate the need to be humble and to seek to become more whole throughout our lives, but we do need to learn how to be charitable to the person in most

need of it – ourselves.

To be able to transform our thought process we need to consider ourselves from God’s point

of view. When God views us, he sees and accepts us as we are. He is merciful and

compassionate. Knowing that we are not perfect and loving us actually perfects us.

           Part 1 article first appeared in the autumn 2022 edition of Madonna magazine.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY 2022

To all the mums, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, foster mums and soon-to-be mums, we wish you a wonderful Mother’s Day and hope that you are blessed with an abundance of love and kindness. May your day be filled joyful memories.

For those of us who have mothers in heaven:

If roses grow in heaven,
Lord please pick a bunch for me,
Place them in my Mother’s arms
and tell her they’re from me.

“Go on with courage and strength” Mary MacKillop 1873

Dear Parents and Carers, 

It has been another busy week at school. One which has welcomed new Kinder families, special visitors and fellow staff and children from our K-12 Pathways schools. 

Of special significance was the special morning tea hosted on Monday morning for Sr Marie McAllister – the last sister of St Joseph in Batemans Bay. As I mentioned in my newsletter last week Sr Marie is returning home to Wagga where she will be working in the community. We are going to miss her hands on support and happy presence in our school. 

School Captains Anthony N and Erica S along with the SRC leaders Noah A, Amy C, Remi C and John F watched Sr Marie as she planted a Mary MacKillop rose in our school gardens.

The annual blooms will always remind us of the Sisters of St Joseph and the influence they have had on our parish and school community over a long period of time. 

The sisters have been included on our new school cross painted by Trish Ellis. The symbolic representation of the sisters on the right arm of the cross depicts them as spirit helpers who have guided and nurtured us.

A Moment in Time:

1911 St Bernard’s Church relocated to the corner of Church and Orient Streets (old site of the National Bank)

1936 Mr WP Bill donates land for convent and school

1937 Sisters of St. Joseph arrive – St Joseph’s School opens

1977 Land is acquired in David Street Batehaven for $123,00 for future parish buildings

1982 St. Bernard’s Primary School Batehaven is opened and blessed by Archbishop E Clancy

2010 Sisters Judith, Paulinus, Carmel and Beryl pictured in the Bay Post and Moruya Examiner celebrating Australia’s first saint Mary MacKillop.

Confirmation Reminder - Important Dates for your calendar

Catholic students who have received the sacraments of Baptism, Reconciliation and Eucharist are eligible to receive the sacrament of Confirmation this term.

Dates for Confirmation are:

Wednesday 11 May - Family Enrolment Meeting 5.00pm-6.00pm

Saturday 21/Sunday 22 May - Commitment Mass 5.00pm/ 9.00am or 5.00pm

Friday 10 June - Retreat Day Carroll College

Thursday 16 June - Reconciliation (during school hours)

Saturday 25 June - Sacrament of Confirmation 5.00pm

Dear Parents and Carers

Our celebration of Catholic Schools Week has been a significant highlight of the year to date. Our Open Day on Tuesday was highly successful, with many new and existing families of children for Kindergarten 2023 coming along to our beautiful school to experience what 'Big School' at St Bernard's has to offer. 

Yesterday I was very fortunate to attend the Year 6 Leadership Day hosted by St Mary's Primary School, Moruya, our partner school with Carroll College. The day was a wonderful opportunity for the students to make new friends and share in the activities based around leadership. Former St Mary’s students, Carolyn Turnbull (via Zoom link all the way from Perth) and Michael Weyman (former NRL player) were excellent guest speakers who presented their story and learnings about leadership. Carolyn shared her journey from her years in international hospitality and tourism and spoke about her new role as Managing Director of Tourism WA. Mick shared stories of his professional NRL career and how important it is to work hard and to be a team player. Both Carolyn and Mick reinforced the importance of dreaming big, working hard and following your dreams. 

The Liturgy at the conclusion of the day was a meaningful reminder for the students to follow the sun and ‘dream with care’. 

Cyber-safety Webinars

The Council of Catholic School Parents have arranged with the eSafety Commissioner to hold webinars during 2022 on the topic of cyber safety. 

The first of these webinars is on the topic Helping Kids Thrive Online and is suitable for parents and carers of children aged 5-12 years. This webinar will be held  on Wednesday 8 June 7.30pm –8.30pm. 

The webinar offers tips about how to support young people to socialise, learn and have fun online safely. It explains how to access information, use technology safely and navigate new online platforms.

It will cover:

• how to talk to young people about online risks on different social media platforms and games  
• how to help young people develop skills to protect themselves when they are online  
• where to go for help if things go wrong and how to access mental health support and information through eSafety.  

Registration can be completed using the link below:

We hope to see many Mothers, Grandparents and Guardians tomorrow morning at school for our classroom visits. Wishing you a very happy Mother's Day this Sunday.

Karen Hadley 

Cross Country

The St Bernard’s School Cross Country was run last Wednesday and it was a wonderful, fun day. Thank you to all the parents who came to support our students. Your presence was greatly appreciated. We certainly have missed having parents and family at our sporting events and we are so glad you could come. Particular thanks to Dawn who assisted on the course and the wonderful team of Parents and Friends who ran the BBQ and cake stall. Your efforts were greatly appreciated.

The staff were very impressed with the participation, cooperation and support amongst the students. Congratulations to all students who completed the course. Your fitness and stamina were amazing! Listed below are the top six places:

The top 6 students from the 8-13 year races then went on to compete at the Southern Region Selection trials at Wolumla Recreation Ground on Friday. Congratulations to these students. At Wolumla we had 42 students compete against students from Catholic schools along the coast and inland to Cooma.

Two of our students were awarded Southern Region Champion medals following their amazing run. Wolumla is one of the toughest Cross Country courses in NSW so we are very proud of all the students who competed. Congratulations to:

Mikinley B 11yr 3km Champion and Beatrix F 8/9yr 2km Champion.

These two fabulous runners, along with ten other students who were in the top six in their age group, were selected as part of the Southern Region team to compete at the Archdiocesan Cross Country Championships next Monday. We wish them well in their race. They include:

Henry A, Elyssa W, Brodie M, Lawson M, Mikinley B, Keira A, Ruby B, Tyler M, Annie F, Beatrix F, Aurora B, Lilly G.

Netball Gala Day

On Tuesday over eighty students from Year 3-6 chose to participate in the South Coast Netball Gala Day. The smiles on their faces told the story of the day- it was awesome! We had multiple teams of boys and girls who played against schools from Ulladulla to Narooma. The goal was for the students to develop their knowledge of the rules and improve their skills from our in-school coaching sessions. Not only did they achieve that, but they were moving the ball accurately down the court, intercepting and scoring goals. Thank you to Kate Bellette, Brendan Maynard, Vyvette Coulter and Jane Hicks for assisting the students with positions and cheering them on. Your support was wonderful!

A special mention to the Carroll College Sport coaching students who umpired and coached our teams. This was the best example of how our Catholic School K-12 pathway benefits students both young and old. The senior students were invaluable in ensuring the success of our day, continually asking the teachers how they could assist. Our students looked up to these amazing role models, listening to their advice about how to improve and basking in their encouraging words. A huge thank you to the Year 11 students for giving so generously of their time.