Our Special Character Prefects and students have been incredibly busy at the start of Term 3.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
One of the things that we are proud of as a Catholic school is the availability to receive different sacraments. Our school, specifically the Year 10, were encouraged to receive the sacrament of reconciliation. This allowed the students to bridge the gap created by sin. The students were guided by their RE teachers as part of their lesson – Sin and Reconciliation. They were given the opportunity to reflect on their daily lives and how they have not always been loving towards others through their different words, thoughts and actions.
The students felt relieved to receive the sacrament as they felt closer to God and given a second chance to manifest the love of God.
Caring Foundation Mass – 27 July 2022
Our Catholic community gathered for the annual Caring Mass and Awards hosted by the Catholic Caring Foundation, celebrated by our Bishop, Patrick Stephen. This mass was held at Christ the King Parish in Owairaka, bringing together other Catholic pupils, teachers, whānau and their supporting agencies.
This Mass aimed to recognise the ‘community of givers’ within our Auckland Diocese who share the same goals and commitment to the poor and vulnerable.
We congratulate the recipients of this Caring Award for 2022: Alexandria Lazatin, Teresa Croker, Sandra Heruela, Stella Cranwell, Ella Dickens and Daniel Pereira, who were recognised for their outstanding care, contribution and service to their school and the wider community.
Assumption Mass – 17 August 2022
One of the important events for New Zealand Catholics is the Feast of Assumption. Our Assumption Mass was held in our school auditorium and was capped by a dance where everyone was invited to Shine Jesus to others (proclaim the good news). We were grateful for the help of Fr. Sherwin Lapaan who presided over the mass.
Social Justice in Action
The RE Department are hosting Social Justice talks from Catholic institutions – Family Life International, Caritas and St. Vincent de Paul. They are sharing with the Year 12s the things that they are doing in response to the different issues around the world and Catholic Social Teachings.
Donation from Eric Chen and his family
Eric Chen and his family donated non-perishable items to the school with the desire to help the needy in our school community. Please click on the following link https://www.sanctamaria.school.nz/the-chen-familys-donation/ for more detail.
Our Caritas team have also been busy with their challenges this term:
Caritas Live it:
Continuing on our Lent resolution to help the families of our school community, we have had an extraordinary donation from the Chen family of non-perishable items to cater for our families at school.
Share to care: our school community have kindly donated their quality, unwanted clothes in the aim of people getting a free item. Our students and staff are aware that some people are not so fortunate to buy clothes when they want. Instead, they can get a new piece of clothing that was kindly donated.
Caritas Sweat it:
We continue to maintain the Butterfly Garden through regular weeding and planting new lavender supplied by Bunnings Botany.
Our students continue to paint glass jars to make presents for the volunteers working for the Hospice who ‘sweat it’ during the day, working in demanding mental and physical conditions.
Caritas Stop it:
To continue with plastic-free Wednesday during Lent, we extend to plastic-free July/August with educating the school community on the harm of plastic and its effects on our lives and the lives of other organisms around us. This has been done through a variety of activities relating to plastic recycling (what is recyclable and what isn’t) including a presentation by Annette and Tina during assembly, exchanging single-use plastic shopping bags and making Tote Bags from old T-shirts.
