Dear Parents and Carers

“If we have religious faith and we experience depression, often our faith doesn’t mean anything to us anymore. It ceases to be relevant. Not only do we feel we have lost our own way in life, but we’ve also lost the felt sense of God being present in our lives. The absence of feeling God’s presence radicalizes the sense of our loss. A lot of therapy, then, isn’t only about moving along the horizontal line to reduce the symptoms of depression—although it is that—but doing it in such a way that it starts to open up the depth dimension. The infinite love of God can come welling up, and something of the depth dimension can begin to shine through in our dilemmas. It isn’t just that we’re caught in the middle of a dilemma, but we have a felt sense of knowing that we’re not alone.”

James Finley

In the spirit of ‘a picture tells a thousand words’, my hope is that the picture above will help to flesh out the meaning of James Finley’s words. Finley writes that we travel through life on the horizontal line, with God’s grace being the vertical line. At times of depression, it is like a cloud, or fog, and can make us feel that we are alone – even from God. Any path to healing (from depression, or anything of that type of illness) requires an opening up to what Finley calls the ‘depth dimension’. It is gratifying to read of a writer applying the fruits of spiritual direction to a reality that is prominent for so many people.

National Simultaneous Storytime

Today the school took part in the National Simultaneous Storytime, which saw thousands of schools across Australia take part in a story being read to the school. This year, the book in question was 'The Speedy Sloth'. My thanks to Amanda Basedow, our librarian, for organising and coordinating our involvement.

Visit – Director of Catholic Education

On Friday, Mr Ross Fox, the Director of Catholic Education, is visiting our beautiful school, as part of his annual visit. Ross’ visit will include a tour of the school, viewing an English lesson, meeting with some teachers, meeting with the school’s Leadership Team and joining the staff for morning tea. It will be great to have Ross here and we warmly welcome him to our community.

Athletics Carnival

A reminder that Thursday, June 1^st sees our annual Athletics carnival take place at Woden Athletic Park. All children will have the opportunity to participate. It is always an excellent day and allows for all children, regardless of ability level, to participate and to contribute to the school. Parents are warmly invited to attend and we have many jobs that need filling. If you are able to assist, please contact Luke Gubler or Sarah Walsh sarah.walsh1@cg.catholic.edu.au , luke.gubler@cg.catholic.edu.au.

My thanks to Sarah and Luke for their work in organising the carnival.

Compass notifications

From Monday next week (May 29), the school will send notifications to parents, via Compass, if their child is absent from school with an explanation note.

Long Service Leave 

Finally, a reminder that this newsletter will be my last for the term, as I am taking long service leave from Friday. In my absence, Anna Williams will very capably lead the school, with Veronica Hall acting as Assistant Principal and Amanda Basedow acting as the Religious Education Coordinator. I look forward to seeing all staff, students and parents at the beginning of Term 3.

Have a wonderful week, and remainder of the term, with your families.

Best wishes

Cameron Johns

Principal