1. Principal's News Week 7 Term 2, 2020

Gatherings
Yey!  We are able to have gatherings of up to 100 people.  That means we can start having mass again on the weekends.

For school it does not make much difference except that we have been very cautious in our first two weeks back and kept things very quiet - quieter than we actually had to.  From next week we will return to our normal assembly on a Friday but for the moment we will ask parents not to attend please until we get to level 1.  We will also be able to have sports practices.  We will also be able to resume school masses.  I will send out a health and safety update to parents by email.

We are due to have a parish meeting this weekend about proposals for the future of St Joseph's.  This is on Saturday at 9.00 am in St Patrick's hall (our school hall).  All of our families are considered parishioners by virtue of being in the school and if you would like to attend this meeting please email the Parish office at oamaru.basilica@xtra.co.nz.

We will NOT be having the parent meeting we were planning for June 3rd as we do not have any further information to give at this time.  However, I warmly welcome anyone who would like to discuss it to track me down and have a conversation.

This weekend is the celebration of Pentecost.  Masses are at 5.00 pm Saturday, 9.30 am Sunday and 11.00 am Sunday - all at the Basilica (we need an extra mass in order to keep the numbers below 100).

Our History
Following on from last week about the history of our school and parish environs here at Reed and Usk Streets:

Mother Gabriel first met with Fr Coleman  in 1881

Due to the eclectic mix of people in Oamaru in the mid 1870s, with a population of 5000 and 700 Catholics, it was apparent that the priestly appointments in Oamaru needed to be men who could mix with all classes yet be prepared to build for the future.  One such priest was Oamaru's parish priest, Fr William Coleman who, with the Dominican Sisters who had come out from Ireland, began to prepare for Dominican education in Oamaru.

The Tablet of March 32 1882 gave the following account:
"Father Coleman - called upon the congregation to invoke the blessing of God and beg for light to guide them in their undertaking which was a very important one for them and for their children; he pointed out to them the inestimable advantages of having established among them the Order of St Dominic which was so famed for its diffusion of knowledge and piety and requested the people to give a generous support to the object proposed to them." 

This led to the Dominican Sisters buying a property before building the Rosary convent (Rendell on Reed) and St Josephs’ Church School, starting with 150 pupils in 1882.


Water
Please keep sending a water bottle as our water fountains are still shut.

Wheels Day
This was a lot of fun and we are having another wheels day this Friday.

School Reports
This is only the 9th week we have had your children at school this year and so we are not going to do our usual mid year report. We will provide a report in the first week of term 3 and following up with parent/student/teacher conferences in week 2 and 3 as normal.

Aroha and God Bless
Lorraine Frances-Rees