This Sunday, 8th August, we celebrate the Feast of St Mary of the Cross, Australia’s

first Saint, Mary MacKillop.  Mary Helen MacKillop was born in Fitzroy, Melbourne on January 15, 1842.  Together with Fr Tenison Woods, Mary founded the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph in 1867, an Order dedicated to the education of poor children.  Mary faced many challenges, not least of which was her (questionable) excommunication by Bishop Shiel in September 1871 – an excommunication lifted five months later.  By 1891, there were three hundred sisters working in nine dioceses in Australia and New Zealand.  An ordinary Australian woman, yet a woman of heroic holiness, goodness, warmth and determination, Mary died on August 8, 1909.  On October 17, 2010, Mary MacKillop – Saint Mary of the Cross, was declared a Saint by Pope Benedict XVI.  One of her best-known sayings is ‘Never see a need without doing something about it!’  Visit:  http://www.marymackillop.org.au/ 

This week at Holy Spirit Catholic School, we value respect.  Having respect for someone means you think good things about who a person is or how he or she acts.  We reinforce that showing respect to someone is to act in a way that shows they care about others feelings and well-being.  This week we pray that our students show respect for others by thinking and acting in a way that shows others they care about their feelings and their well-being, to see a need and do something about it. 

Friday, August the 6th, is the day the Church celebrates the Transfiguration of the Lord.  This unique event in the Gospel occurred when Jesus took his three closest companions, Peter, James and John, up a mountain and was transfigured:  ‘His face shone like the sun and his clothes became as dazzling as light.’  This event is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  There is more on the Transfiguration at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15019a.htm

God bless.

Caroline Fuller