This year at Sts Peter and Paul, we are all called to ‘Let Your Light Shine”  

Vinnies Christmas Appeal 2022 

St Vincent de Paul is committed to making Christmas a time to renew hope. They are dedicated to providing shelter, food, clothing, financial support, friendship and care for tens of thousands of people in the Canberra/Goulburn region. 

This year, as with previous years, students at Sts Peter and Paul are invited to donate to the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.  These items will be combined by members of our local Vinnies chapter to fill hampers for families in the Canberra region.    

Each class has been allocated a small list of suggested items to donate in the table below (please select from the list and donate what you can).  

These will be placed in near the Christmas Tree in our school foyer. 

All donations will be presented to a St Vincent de Paul representative at Wednesday morning assembly in Week 10 (14th December).

SRC LED CHRISTMAS DRESS UP DAY - BONUS DONATION : This year as a special SRC (Student Representative Council) led initiative, we will have a bonus donation day. On Wednesday 14th December, Students are invited to bring in a small gift for a child or family to donate to St Vincent de Paul (unwrapped to aid in hamper creation for the team) Students may dress up in Christmas-themed clothes on this day. Thank you for your generous support of St Vincent de Paul.

Please send in all food items by Tuesday 13/12/22. 

Second Sunday of Advent, Year A Gospel Reflection 

When John the Baptist performed baptism it was for the forgiveness of sin. The baptism he gave was a mark of the desire to enter into a new life of right action. It was not a baptism of initiation into community that is the case today. John had two key words that he is recorded as preaching: repent and prepare. His call for repentance was a call to turn away from sin; a call to have a change of heart; a call to turn one’s life around and make a fresh start. His call for preparation is in the long line of prophets that includes the great prophet Isaiah from whom we take today’s first reading. All of the prophets urged the people towards hope in the future. Isaiah and others spoke specifically of a person – a Messiah – who would bring that hope to reality. But the tradition demanded a readiness for the Messiah and that was the call to preparation that John the Baptist echoed at the beginning of the public life of Jesus. 

John’s taunting of the Pharisees and Sadducees is an indication of this need for preparation and readiness. He accuses them of being too confident of their own rightness. He demands proof from them of their honest repentance: ‘but if you are repentant, produce the appropriate fruit’. Rather, he suspects that they think that salvation is assured for them by virtue of being a Jew; a son of Abraham. He warns them that an axe hangs poised to cut down any part of the Jewish tradition that is failing to produce good fruit. This is a theme that is picked up later by Jesus himself; you can’t be complacent about your own position, you have to welcome the new truth revealed by Jesus and give yourself wholeheartedly to God. 

(Reflection by Greg Sunter) 

2022 Graduation Mass and Candle Ceremony 

On Monday 12th December at 12:00pm we will be celebrating the Graduation of the class of 2022 with a Mass in our school hall. We will also be holding the traditional candle ceremony, where Year 6 Leadership in the Sts Peter and Paul Community will pass from the current Year 6 students, onto our upcoming leaders for 2023.  

All families of Year 5 and 6 students are invited to join us for this very special occasion.  

Have a blessed week,  

Stephanie Burns 

Religious Education Coordinator