Feedback From Our Survey of Volunteers As part of our Volunteer Renewal event held in May 2023, a short survey was conducted of volunteers and parishioners to gain feedback about their volunteering experiences and to help improve our service to them. As a snapshot of our demographic, we currently have 243 people who volunteer, 71% female and 29% male. [...]

Connection to Culture – A Story from Vanuatu The Parish’s Ni-Vanuatu PALM workers are continuing their formal training at the John Henry Institute (JHI) and recently unpacked the concept of cultural safety, inclusion and belonging as part of their learning in CHCDIV001 Work with diverse people, a core unit in Certificate III in Individual Support.Under the guidance of JHI [...]

Long Service Of Staff Celebrated At Mass On 12 September Parish gives thanks for the many blessings received through their service The long service of 63 employees was acknowledged last Tuesday (12 September 2023) evening with the celebration of Mass, the presentation of Service Awards and certificates and supper in the Parish Hall after Mass. The lengths of service [...]

Workshops about welcome well attended Forty people gathered across two sessions last week, one on Monday evening (11 September) and the other on Tuesday morning (12 September) to focus on ’The gift of Welcome’ in our Parish. In introducing the topic, facilitators Richard McMahon and Lisa Bright from Synodal Consulting asked participants to consider how Jesus, in connecting and [...]

Collaborative ‘sandpit’ project a win-win for students at Newman and JHI Newman Senior Technical College (NSTC) and John Henry Institute (JHI) recently collaborated to construct a sandpit to be used in plumbing training. The sandpit, built at NSTC, is an effective teaching tool designed to teach students skills in drainage, pipe layout and irrigation practices. The NSTC Construction [...]

MacKillop Dance students in win State Award and get a callback in Wakakirri Festival After travelling to Sydney to perform at the National Institute of Dance, a group of Year 7, 8 and 9 dance students from MacKillop College has won a State Award in the national Wakakirri Story-Dance Festival for primary and Secondary schools. The students were also [...]

More outstanding results for SAPSS Drumline St Agnes’ Catholic Parish Secondary Schools (SAPSS) Drumline travelled to Villanova College in Brisbane to complete in the Queensland Catholic Music Festival on 17-20 August. Throughout their travels, they visited St John Paul College in Coffs Harbour, Mount St Patrick’s in Murwillumbah and Ormiston State Public School for performances. They concluded the [...]

Newman students excel at National WorldSkills VETiS Championships A team of 19 Newman Senior Technical College students participated at the 2023 WorldSkills Australia National VETiS Championships in Melbourne last weekend. All students represented the College with pride and acquitted themselves well. The College and students won medals in the following divisions: Health Assistance - Lillie Jepp - GOLD [...]

St Joseph’s Family Services: 50 years of early education worthy of celebration Current and past staff and students of St Joseph’s Family Services gathered at Joey’s House in Warlters Street Port Macquarie on Saturday morning (5 August) for an open day to celebrate 50 wonderful years of providing early education for children and families in the community.Established in 1973, [...]

Renewal Team recognised and Parish Pastoral Council commissioned at Mass Congratulations to the members of the new PPC who were blessed and commissioned at Mass last Sunday (6 August) by Fr Roland on behalf of Fr Paul – Daniel Barakat, Matthew Bushe, Therese Freeman, Shane Hyland, Elizabeth Johnson, Tess Koning, Tony McAlister, Zac Parnell, Debbie Rennes, and Brigitte Rieger [...]

Homelessness Week Event a Success Last Thursday, 10 August, the Port Macquarie Youth and Community Hub teamed up with other local organisations to bring extra awareness to Homelessness Week in our community by offering extra support opportunities to those who need it including: Free breakfast supplied by M.A.D @ 7am Emergency food, clothing and toiletries Delicious free lunch [...]

Too old to travel? Travel Ducks say Never! Emmaus has introduced ‘Travel Ducks’ that staff take with them when they are on leave. They take photos of the duck at key locations or during fun holiday activities and send them back to Emmaus. The photos/stories are printed and posted on world maps for residents to follow their journey. [...]