12 August 2021

Last Sunday was the solemnity of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, but the students and staff at St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Catholic Parish Primary School, Epping North, weren’t going to let a lockdown spoil their celebrations.

For the second year in a row, the school’s celebrations moved out of the school grounds for a series of COVIDSafe festivities to mark the feast day of Australia’s first saint. Assistant Parish Priest Fr Nathan had prepared a special prerecorded liturgy for students and staff to participate in online. Students created Mary MacKillop artwork to display in their front windows, so the community could participate in a ‘Mary MacKillop’ hunt while walking their streets for exercise.

Baking was also on the agenda in honour of our first saint. ‘One thing we know about Mary MacKillop is that she carried lollies to reward her early students on their learning’, said the school’s Principal Claire Pitcher. ‘The feast day also coincided with the Olympic Games in Tokyo, so there was a lot of green and gold to make connections between the values shared by Mary MacKillop and our Olympians to celebrate their courage, kindness and persistence.’