Dear parents and friends,

Lent Begins:

This week, we celebrate the start of Lent, one of the most important times of year for Catholics & Christians around the world. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which is always held 46 days (40 fasting days and 6 Sundays) before Easter Sunday. While Advent(period leading up to Christmas) is a celebration and a time of great anticipation, Lent is more frequently seen as a time of solemn observance and preparation for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter. From its start on Ash Wednesday until its conclusion on Easter Sunday, Lent has been a traditional time for fasting or giving something up or abstinence. Just as we carefully prepare for events in our personal lives, as a wedding, or birthday; the commencement of Lent invites us to make our minds and hearts ready for remembering Jesus’ life, death and body resurrection.

These days, Catholics around the world observe Lent in many ways. Traditionally Catholics wear ashes on their forehead to acknowledge Ash Wednesday and beginning of Lent. At St Francis, this year, we looked for a COVID safe way of distributing the ashes blessed by Father Gideon. Student leaders decorated a book mark with the ashes and gave it to students. We also ask students to make charitable donations to ‘Project Compassion’ throughout Lent. This money goes to Caritas Australia which works to aid poor communities in Australia and around the world.

Students may also be encouraged to choose to give up just one item for Lent, more commonly a ‘luxury’ such as chocolate or desserts. It is also becoming increasingly common for people to give up other things in order to refocus their faith during this time; such as watching television or giving up social media.

Others may choose to ‘take up’ rather than ‘give up’ something during Lent. Many Catholics use Lent to study their Bibles and pray more intensively. Some may choose to focus on daily good deeds or being cheerful & charitable. All of these Lenten observances are good ways to prepare ourselves for Holy Week & Easter.

What commitment is your child or children making for this Lenten period? How can you support them? Are they aware of the various ways they can prepare? I thank you for your support and encourage you to discuss Lent with them. It may be a great time to commit to something as a family.

Open Day:

Hopefully the rain settles and allows us to enjoy Open Day 2022 this Saturday 5^th March from 10am -2pm. The response to this ticketed event was huge with over 100 enrolment applications already being picked up from College Reception and over 800 people registering to attend Open Day. 

Open Day is the start of our official enrolment period and in particular we are looking for the enrolment of students in Kindergarten 2023, Year 7 2023 & 2024. Classrooms will be open for tours, there will be demonstrations and displays and enrolment packages will be available for pickup (please note that due to the busyness of the day, the earliest enrolment packages can be returned is Monday 7^th March). We look forward to seeing you on Open Day!

May God continue to bless you.

Mr Abernethy
College Principal