The Saints were living, breathing people, just like us! Fr Paul Gooley’s All Saints Day homily for 2023 Something you may not know is that the church has a list of Saints that is called the ‘General Roman Calendar’. It is a list of each day of the year and on what days we celebrate the life of [...]

Parishioners hear first-hand about Catholic Mission Programs For World Mission Sunday on 22 October the Parish hosted a special visit by Catholic Mission. Lou Wallace, Diocesan Director for Catholic Mission, spoke briefly at each Mass to thank parishioners for their past support and shared a video about this year’s appeal which focusses on supporting the work of the [...]

Students celebrate achievements at JHI Graduation Fifty-five students of the John Henry Institute (JHI) gathered with their families and staff at St Agnes’ Catholic Parish Hall on Thursday 19 October to celebrate the completion of study at the JHI Graduation ceremony for 2023. JHI has significant experience in providing quality vocational education and training, that is compliant with [...]

Ignite Youth Conference fans the fire of faith Five young adults, 59 students and13 staff members from St Joseph’s Regional College and MacKillop College, attended the four-day Ignite Conference in Brisbane on the 21-24 September. Zac Parnell, Youth Coordinator at St Agnes’ Catholic Parish, who accompanied the group, describes Ignite as an Annual Catholic Youth Conference where young people [...]

Parish Secretaries & Pastoral Associates follow in Mary MacKillop’s footsteps Parish Secretaries and Pastoral Associates from across Lismore Diocese gathered in Bonny Hills on 9-10 October for their annual conference, themed ‘In the footsteps of St Mary MacKillop’. The 17 delegates from parishes between Kingscliff and Camden Haven, found the tranquil beauty of The Francis Retreat in Bonny Hills [...]

Audit success confirms quality care delivered by St Joseph’s Preschool & Long Day Care Centre St Joseph’s Preschool & Long Day Care Centre met the National Quality Standard in all seven quality education areas in its accreditation audit recently carried out by the NSW Early Education and Care Directorate, which is part of the Australian Children's Education & Care [...]

Co-responsibility conference sees representatives of three parishes gather Representatives of Port Macquarie, Macleay Valley and Wauchope parishes (including members of the clergy, schools and parish pastoral councils) gathered for the ‘Reimagining Church together in Mission’ conference in Port Macquarie on 22-23 September. Facilitated by Dr Maeve Louise Heaney VDMF, Director of the Xavier Centre for Theological Formation* and Associate [...]

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 [...]