Bundaberg News
Relay for Life High Tea
For the past 6 years our parish has entered a team or two in the Cancer Council’s Relay for Life event. Our major fund-raiser for Relay has been the High Tea. This year the morning tea, held on Saturday, 13th July in St Patrick’s Hall, raised more than $3000 for the Cancer Council. It was a tremendous response to the invitation to come together dressed finely, sip tea and coffee from “the good china”, eat delectable goodies, possibly win a prize or two, while catching up with friends. The guest speaker this year was Mrs Kim O’Shea-Hard, herself a survivor of cancer.
The Relay for Life teams walk on the weekend of 10th & 11th August. We’ll let you know how they fared in the next edition.
Catholic Education Week
The week began with a Mass with Children on Sunday, 28 July, 5.30pm. Having the various schools involved in ministry and in attendance at a parish Mass is always a blessing. The young ones give life to our celebrations. Unusually, this Mass was celebrated during the regular 4th Sunday Taize-style Mass. The children experienced the mood of Taize, with a multitude of candles, spotlights and Taize music.
The students at St Patrick’s Bundaberg celebrated Catholic Education Week by completing secret missions: Acts of Kindness. The students had so much fun surprising the special people in the community who work hard behind the scenes; the cleaning staff, library volunteers, crossing supervisors, tuckshop ladies, office ladies, teacher assistants, friends from the disability support service Carinbundi, Mr Stephen Dale our Assistant Director of Southern Schools and specialist teachers. Some classes made and delivered get well soon cards for the three local hospitals too.
At St Joseph’s School, CEW was celebrated with a Grandparents Day and the Year 1 Act of Kindness – distributing biscuits. Their teacher cooked biscuits and the kids all made a little Happy Catholic Education Week card to go on the packet, then they went into random businesses around the CBD and handed them out. It was awesome and the recipients were a little overwhelmed! A bonus was that the kids all got to try out the Mayor, Jack Dempsey’s chair, gavel and neckpiece while there, and they got to see the DJ at the ABC radio station at work. The kids had a ball and were super excited.
Other activities included:
- Year 1 and 2 going to Gracie Dixon Respite Centre to recite their eisteddfod pieces
- Year 4 made tissue paper flowers with a message attached to go to Gracie Dixon
- Year 3 made get well cards for hospital patients with a message and joke inside to cheer them up
- Year 5 and 6 wrote poems and letters for the people at Gracie Dixon
When I grow up Disco
The WHEN I GROW UP disco for primary school children on the 9th August was a huge success. Organised by the parish Relay for Life committee and run by the young adults the disco was a fantastic night of dancing, games and lots of laughter. The event raised $151 for our Relay for Life team from nearly 20 children and their parents attending. More than 10 young adults helped out on the night including our NET team. We played “Duck, Duck, Goose”, “Clumps”, “Corners” and “Freeze” in between dancing and taking photos at the photo booth. Glow sticks were sold and every child won a prize. We’ve receive wonderful feedback from all involved.
Confirmation and First Communion
While completing her marriage inquiry papers, Kirsty Weir noted she hadn’t completed her initiation into the
Catholic Church and was very keen to do so. So began her journey of preparation for the sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist.
On Sunday, 11 August, during the 9.00am Mass at St Mary’s, Kirsty was confirmed, received her first holy communion, and welcomed in
to the parish community. Kirsty and her fiancé, Edward, have completed the Smart Loving program in preparation for their wedding day in a fortnight’s time. A component of the program is to introduce the engaged couple to the faith community prior to their wedding. This was a very appropriate time for them to be together at Mass and a blessing for the community.