PRINICPAL'S MESSAGE
HALLOWEEN – THE CHRISTIAN CONNECTION
Halloween is growing in popularity but its roots are lost on most people. It is observed on 31 October, the "een" or "eve" of All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) on 1 November.
“Hallow‟ occurs in the Lord's Prayer – "hallowed be thy name" (may God's name be held holy) – so to celebrate Halloween without connecting it to All Saints Day would be like celebrating Christmas Eve without a Christmas Day.
If you take away the Saints from Halloween, along with our Christian beliefs about the dignity and destiny of human beings, then all you have left is a pre-Christian Celtic celebration held at the end of summer in the northern hemisphere. As days shorten and winter nights lengthen, the spirits (goblins and ghouls) have more dark time to be mischievous and haunt. The pagans appeased them with treats so as not to suffer their tricks. The “trick or treat” tradition comes from people disguising themselves as evil spirits, both to fool them into leaving them alone, as well as to steal the treats left by people to appease the evil spirits. Halloween, like Christmas, is becoming very commercial. As a result, we do not even come close to thinking of it in terms of faith and religion.
ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS DAYS
As we move into the month of November we especially remember All Saints Day (1 November) and All Souls Day (2 November). Although we celebrate the Feast Days of the well known Saints it is not possible to know all the names of those who have given their lives in the service of God. Many of these could be our family or friends.
All families are invited to attend Masses in their local Parishes on these special days and pray for their lost loved ones.
INTERNATIONAL TEACHERS’ DAY
This day is celebrated worldwide on the first Friday in October – however, due to holidays in Australia we celebrate it on the last Friday in October. The Staff at John Therry Catholic College are professionals who work hard in their endeavours to improve the learning outcomes for their classes. Collegiality and co-operation between the staff, students and families is encouraged and we expect all students to be working to their best.
Having high and achievable expectations can have a positive influence over what the students achieve. At times students may complain about the work load or quality expected, but this is the hard work and training that leads to an improved result and therefore improved life chances after school. At John Therry we are preparing the students for a successful life – not simply a HSC result.
I trust that most students would appreciate the efforts of their teachers and I ask them to spend a few moments and wish their teachers a Happy World Teachers Day today.
