ISSUE

15th M a rch 2013

Prayers of the Week

Birthday Wishes
Arlin Wikaira 24 March
th

An Irish Prayer May God give you... For every storm, a rainbow, For every tear, a smile, For every care, a promise, And a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, A faithful friend to share, For every sigh, a sweet song, And an answer for each prayer. A wee prayer May neighbours respect you, Trouble neglect you, The angels protect you, And heaven accept you.

Gospel Values for Term One:

Love, Forgiveness and Justice

Quote of the Week

In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away Shing Xiong

School News
Sunhats compulsary! must wear brimmed a Are wide while

Quote of the Century

You don't stop playing because you grow old; you grow old because you stop playing.
Students

hat

outside NO CAPS. School holding Friday 2.30 in Assembly these our on a at All

This year we will be afternoon room.

Special

Community liaison Constable Oudemans demonstrates police equipment and explains some of the details of a police car.

Character

family and friends are welcome to attend. $10 Credit Due to camp costs coming under budget last year, there has been a credit of $10 per child that attended camp placed on the students accounts.

Students turn green for St Patrick.

Junior police constable Mitchell Suddaby tries on new vest.

More School News

Subway 26th March. Easter the school Hamper office
th

Tuesday

Raffles Donations to by Wednesday 20 Easter Egg please.

Hunt

Sunday 24th March, get your tickets now!! Active in Sport A reminder Juniors Seniors are are Wednesdays that held and the on the

Principals Commentary:
His Holiness, Pope Francis, Supreme Pontiff, Vicar of Christ, Bishop of Rome. What fantastic news to hear on Thursday morning, that the Cardinals in their collective wisdom have chosen a new Pope. Pope Francis (the 1st). How wonderful that for the first time in the modern era the Vicar of Christ has been chosen from a Latin American country rather than Europe and he is also the first Jesuit pontiff and the first to assume the name Francis. Argentine Cardinal Jorge Begolios election has been a surprise for many and may herald a new strength in the Church. The selection of the name Francis may indicate the new pontiffs intentions as St Francis of Assisi, revered among Catholics for his work with the poor, is viewed as a reformer of the church, answering Gods call to Repair my Church in ruins," Prior to becoming Pope, 76 year old Cardinal Bergoglio was infamous for spurning the trappings of office and doing his own cooking and cleaning and for using public transport instead on making use of the luxuries available to him in his position of authority. His reputation as a champion of the poor has endeared him to many of the 480 million Catholics in Latin America. Pope Francis will meet Pope-Emeritus Benedict XVI tomorrow. The new pontiffs traditional blessing of the masses also broke with tradition as instead of

Fridays.

Please make sure your child has their sports uniform on these days including shoes. Parent help is also appreciated for the Seniors. Accounts - If any of our school families are having any difficulty in paying the attendance dues, fees, school or any activity other

school-related fees on time, please come and talk to us so that we may work out that a or suits payment timeframe everyone. Plastic Bags Any method

spare plastic shopping bags that you do not need would be much appreciated school. here at

beginning his first public appearance with a blessing, he instead first offered a prayer for Pope Benedict XVI and then asked the 150,000 people gathered in St Peters square to pray for him. He then proceeded with the blessing. You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one... but here we are... I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop. Thank you! And first of all, I would like to offer a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus, Benedict XVI. Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may keep him. . And now, we take up this journey: Bishop and People. This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches. A journey of fraternity, of love, of trust among us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity. It is my hope for you that this journey of the Church, which we start today, and in which my Cardinal Vicar, here present, will assist me, will be fruitful for the evangelization of this most beautiful city. And now I would like to give the blessing, but first - first I ask a favour of you: before the Bishop blesses his people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the people asking the blessing for their Bishop. Let us make, in silence, this prayer: your prayer over me. The world is watching what the new Bishop of Rome does and Catholics all over the world are rejoicing over the selection of someone from outside the traditional regions. Our hopes and prayers and best wishes go out to our supreme pontiff Pope Francis.

famous just for the volume of schools that have been named after him; St Patrick is renowned for ridding Ireland of all those pesky little snakes that plagued the Emerald Isles in the early 5th century. In reality, Ireland has truly never had snakes, well, not the slithery scaled type anyway. No, the snakes that made St Patrick famous were the human type and they were antiChristian and pagan in nature. It was ridding Ireland of these snakes that dear old St Patrick was celebrated for. That, and for spreading the word of Christ and bringing the peasants in to the fold of the Church and away from the dark and superstitious practices that dominated the lives of early rural peasantry in Ireland at that time. Sadly, St Patrick never got the official title of Saint, because while millions around the world will celebrate St. Patrick's Day on March 17th, the sad fact is that Patrick has never been canonized by the Catholic Church and is a saint in name only. There was no formal canonization process in the Church during its first millennium. In the early years of the Church the title saint was bestowed first upon martyrs, and then upon individuals recognized by tradition as being exceptionally holy during their lifetimes. Ireland in the 4th -10th Centuries was known as the land of Saints and Scholars and during that period there were several hundred missionaries and devout and holy individuals proclaimed as Saints. The most well known, by far is our St Patrick. He was proclaimed a saint by popular acclaim, probably with the approval of a Bishop. Fergal, also know as Saint Virgil of Salzburg (an 8th century missionary scholar) was officially canonised in 1233 by Pope Gregory IX and is one of only 4 Irish Saints to be canonised by Rome. Patricks genius was in bringing together the old pagan traditions and the new religion together in harmony in Ireland in the 5th century. This Sunday is St Patricks Day, Patrick was the first major figure which is obviously a special day to reject slavery and for that for our school. St Patrick isnt alone he deserves proper

canonization. Patrick preached and converted all over Ireland for some 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died on March the 17th, in the year 461, at Saul, where he had built the first church. Happy St Patricks Day to one and all. Competitive Success Recently the students in the senior class at St Patricks competed in the National Sumdog competition against other schools in New Zealand. This was a five day competition and at the end of of the event we were ranked 34th. During each day there is a daily top ten and for the particular day that we focused on competing, we finished 2nd for the day out of all competing schools. One student; David Xie was ranked 101st out of all those that competed. These figures reflect the effort that the students put in, but also negate the comment that smalls schools do not provide competition. I have heard it said that the reason some people dont send their children to St Patricks is because its too small and there is no competition. What a load of bovine manure! Even as we speak, I can name three past students that are excelling in their sports and they certainly were not handicapped by the size of the primary school they attended. A past student, Georgia Dyson is now achieving at a national level in swimming in the Under 13 age bracket. Georgia attended St Patricks and left at the end of 2011. Joshua Gregory-Hunt came first in the 400 metres in the recent Aoraki Athletics meeting and is now

about to compete in the South Island 400 metres race event. Joshua attended St Patricks last year and prior to that attended an even smaller school with less than 10 students. Small schools do not have an issue with competitiveness. Harrison Kemp (yes, hes one of mine) at age 16 has just been awarded a year-long scholarship to play rugby for the elite Vajiravudh College in Thailand for their First XV and for their under-19 team. (Hes 16.) Believe it or not, they take rugby very seriously in Thailand and Vajiravudh College are the Under 15, 17 and 19 champions in the national college competition. Harrison attended St Patricks during 2009. Once again, prior to attending St Patricks Harrison attended an even smaller school. These are a few of the successes that come to mind. There are many others. There are those that are playing in South Canterbury teams, regional teams and further afield. There are those that are successful business folk, farmers and athletes and service personnel, that have all passed through this high performing wee school. We believe in a lot of things here at this school, especially each other, but there is one thing that we do not believe in and that is that students in small schools lack competition. If anything, students in smaller schools have to be more competitive.

often! One 80 year old Coast local recalled that this has been the driest period in his memory. Some areas are genuinely in dire need of some rain. It is saddening to see parts of our vibrant green wee slice of paradise suffering under the effects of a lack of water. Some areas look like they have been scorched dry, burnt or just simply dehydrated, in many instances, they have had all three. Spare a thought and a prayer for those poor folk with stock to care for and little or no water. It must be very emotionally and mentally taxing and heartbreaking to see the effects on livestock and the land that many will have invested heart and soul into. A wee Irish blessing that seems appropriate for this situation: May the blessing of the rain be on you the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers may spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air. May the blessing of the great rains be on you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool where the blue of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.

Community Notices
Playcentre - Waimate Playcentre welcomes pre-schoolers and their families to come along and play at 6 Belt Street Mon/Thur 9-12 noon for more details turn up and play or contact Amanda 689 8982 or Pam 6891176. Junior Starts School 9am Waimate resuming and in contact Scottish dance social March. Hazel for Cricket again grounds this from

Saturday at the High

Country Dance Club classes sessions Please (Club 1202. Northern Registration
nd

Secretary)

more details

on 689

Netball is

Just how I see it folks. Dont be I do have to make a comment offended. about recent events around the country with regions being Naku noa na declared in drought and other Me rongo (In peace) regions set to follow. I even heard this morning that the West Coast Darcy Kemp of the South Island is in imminent Acting Principal danger of being declared a drought St Patricks School zone. That doesnt happen too

Friday

March 22 , 3.45 at the Victoria Park Courts. All interested please attend. Netball Opening day will be on Saturday 11th May Team players for all to players. and Raeline names players

Friends at St Patricks School

Only 9 more sleeps until the Easter Egg Hunt. Make sure you get your tickets from either the school office or the El Paso Dairy. Thank you to those parents that have supplied some goodies for the Easter Hamper raffle, it is much appreciated. For those who havent dont worry there is still time, get your donations to the school office by next Wednesday please. Thank you to those who attended the AGM meeting last Thursday, our elected members are: Chairperson Toni Oudemans Secretary Kerrin Herbert Treasurer Penny Cadagon

Ottley by 17th April.

Logo for the Year of Faith. The boat in the logo represents the Church. The main mast of the boat is a cross and its sails are the shape of the sun which represents the Eucharist. On the sails are the letters IHS, the first three letters of the Greek name for Jesus.
Faith is the thing that we believe in and it is also the way by which we believe.

May the Year of Faith be a time for all Catholics to renew their desire and zeal for the Eucharist and to avail themselves regularly of the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance. During this Year of Faith, may all Catholics publically proclaim their love for Christ and his Church. May this Year of Faith remind us of ways to serve those in our midst who are overlooked, ignored or rejected, so that all may experience the peace and healing of Christs love. May the Holy Spirit guide the Church during the Year of Faith so that all Catholics may experience a deepened renewal of faith, hope and love. May young people be inspired by this Year of Faith to listen attentively and respond to Gods call to priesthood and religious life.

St Patrick School would like to thank the following sponsors

Caf on Queen Caf on Queen

Caf and Wine Bar Open 7 days 25 Queen Street Ph: (03) 689 6010
Breakfasts Lunches Evening Meals Consult us for all your special occasion catering