Mary Mackillop Feast Day

This Friday 8th August, we celebrate the Feast Day of St Mary MacKillop—not to be confused with St Mary, for whom our school is named! Australia’s first saint, Mary MacKillop is a remarkable figure in our Catholic story, known for her deep faith, tireless service to the poor, and passion for education, especially in rural and regional communities like ours.

Mary MacKillop’s legacy continues to inspire us today with her unwavering belief to “never see a need without doing something about it.” Witnessing daily examples of this from our school staff, students and families within our school community makes me very proud of ‘who we are and what we represent’. As we honour St Mary of the Cross this week, may we be reminded of the power of compassion, courage, and action in our daily lives at St Mary’s Batlow.

Public Speaking

Congratulations Jess and Hunter on their participation in the Western Region Public speaking competition yesterday at St Patrick’s Gundagai. As previously mentioned, we are extremely proud of your courage and effort with this competition.

Excursion

It’s been wonderful to receive so much positive feedback about our recent K–2 excursion to the Wagga Civic Theatre to see Josephine Wants to Dance. For many of our Kindergarten students, this was their very first excursion and/or theatre experience — and what a joyful introduction it was!

A big thank you to Miss Brown, Ms Jackson and Ms Holland for organising and supervising this memorable experience. We’re grateful for their care and effort, and we’re already looking forward to more enriching cultural experiences in the future.

I hope our families get an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather over the remainder of the week!

Ryan

I hope the start to the term has gone smoothly for you and your children! I am pleased to be back at school after my Pilgrimage and Long Service leave over the past week, which saw me travelling to Sienna, Rome, London and Paris. This opportunity was both a renewing and spiritual journey for me, and I am grateful for the time I had. 

This week, I am attending Professional Development in Canberra for all Religious Education Coordinators and School Principals. This is an opportunity for all leaders to gather and learn together to enrich the learning and leadership in our schools. 

As mentioned last week, this week is the Feast of Mary Mackillop so I would like to offer one of the prayers from St Mary as well as some of her wise words. I hope you all have a safe and happy weekend.

Provident God, with grateful hearts we remember the power for goodness that Mary MacKillop is in our world. On this her feast day may we be touched anew with her spirit of prophetic charity and generous participation in mission. We ask this in the name of Christ, the Sacred Heart, and of the Spirit of Mission. Amen.  

In silence, let us engage with God…

“Listen to the whisperings of God in

your heart.” Mary MacKillop (1868)