First Holy Communion Album

First Holy Communion

ST. IGNATIUS PARISH

17th September 2017

I am the living bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever:
and the bread that I will give is my flesh,
which I will give for the life of the world.
– John 6:51

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The bread of life... The cup of joy...

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Remembrance of Our First Holy Communion
17th September 2017

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Message from
Fr. John Dunn

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I t is with great pleasure that I
introduce this wonderful Album
of photos of the First Communion of these
children from St Ignatius’ Parish in 2017.
I thank Gina, Jenny and Holly and all their
helpers for the gift of their love, time and
commitment to the children.
I thank, too, all the parents and those
others who played a role in the children’s
journey to full membership of the Church in
First Communion.
Thank you, Warren, for taking the photos
with such skill and combining them into a
memorable album.
Above all, I pray that the children may
remember their journey to First Communion
with gratitude and find in their communion
with Jesus Christ the source and goal of a
beautiful and loving Catholic life.

Fr. John Dunn
Parish Priest

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Messages from
our dear co-ordinators
gina, jenny & holly

I feel so privileged to be a part of your faith journey this year as you
prepared for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and
Eucharist. As you prepared for these Sacraments you developed your

understanding of :

• forgiveness and reconciliation and learnt about the Ripples of Love and Hurt and

how you can make a difference in the daily lives of everyone around you.

• how the Holy Spirit is powerful and that no one can control the Holy Spirit, just

like releasing the balloon filled with air, we cannot direct or tell the Holy Spirit
where to go. Being open to the gifts of the spirit; courage, reverence, wisdom,
understanding, right judgment, wonder & awe, knowledge.

• how Jesus nourishes us when we hear the gospel and receive Jesus in the

Eucharist. God accepts us as we are when we come to Mass and we learnt how
we all feel, hear and see differently from each other, so when Jesus speaks to
us in the Gospel we all take away different messages to help and support us on
our life’s journey. When we receive Jesus and say “Amen” we are saying “Yes”
we believe and “Yes” we will be “Christ-like” in our lives through our words and
actions.

We are so blessed to have each other and it has been an amazing team effort .

Children, the effort and thoughtful responses you put into your homework modules
was awesome. Reading through all your responses brought me so much joy and gave
me an insight into the beautiful hearts and gifts you have. The pinnacle was seeing
you all receiving Jesus for the first time – you were all so excited and happy.

Your Parents gave priority to your faith journey, making time at home to guide and
encourage you in completing your homework modules, bringing you to the sessions &
mass.

Parent Group Leaders were committed to the new programme format, preparing
themselves prior to the sessions and leading the small groups with lots of energy and
knowledge.

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Jenny & Holly are passionate about helping you all learn in a way that is fun,
interactive and meaningful. They spent hours brain-storming how to deliver the
learning in a creative and fun way.

Father John is our Shepherd who leads us with integrity, gentleness, immense
knowledge and understanding of the teachings of Jesus. He spent many hours with
your parents, guiding and supporting their role as your first teachers of faith.

A HUGE thank you to everyone involved in your journey and I leave you with ….

“Love grows when you share it, so Love God, Love yourself so you can Love others
and Love Life”

God Bless you today and always.

- GINA

T amariki, it has been a privilege to share our gifts with you and being
part of your faith journey – thank you.

St Ignatius is your parish, your home. We want you to feel welcome in this place,
your place.

As you grow, you will experience many of life’s joys and challenges and Church will
always be yours to come and spend time with your friend Jesus.He is always here
and we are here to welcome you always with open arms.

I hope today you feel the presence of God’s loving arms wrapped around you as
you join in unity with this faith community.

- JENNY

S uch a pleasure to get to know these beautiful children during the
sacramental programme sessions.

- HOLLY

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Prepararations
for the Eucharist

EAuctcihvaitryistonS“OesusironGi1fts”

The groups discussed the following topics:
“What would our world look and feel like if we all shared our gifts generously
with each other?”
“What can we do in our lives every day to
make a difference?”
“In what way can you share your gifts to
help others?”
Using colour, words and illustrations,
our parent helpers created the children’s
reflection of how our world would look
and feel like.

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EAuctcihvaitryistonS“Feseseiloinng2s”

The main theme was that we all see, hear and feel different....we used a
few activities to highlight this

• Feelings on post-it notes and that God accepts us as we are
• Children looked at 3 different images and had to write down what they

saw (they all saw different things)

• They were given a word to write into a sentence

(There, Wood, Sea...) Of course they used different
forms of this this word to create their sentence.

• They were given a gospel to read and write down

what message they thought Jesus was giving us.

EAuctcihvaitryistonS“Wessaisohnin3g of Feet”

The children re-enacted the Last Supper by gathering around the meal table
with a child acting as Jesus sitting in front of the bread.
The child acting as Jesus washed everyone’s feet.

The children were asked “What do you think Jesus was
teaching us by washing the feet of his disciples?”

Jesus said “We are here to treat each other with the
same love and respect.”

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Grace Buxton

My gifts are...creativity and inventions
and making people happy

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Gretel Ward

My gifts are...being kind and funny

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Christopher Hoy

My gifts are...considering others and being kind

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Lily Sutton

My gifts are...Kindness And Empathy

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Luca Gibbon

My gifts are...sharing my knowledge about things
I know about with other people

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Stella Gordon

My gifts are...being helpful, a good listener
and a supporter to family and friends

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Phoebe Dodd

My gifts are...very good to younger children
and the gift of making people laugh.

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Sasha Gibbon

My gifts are...seeing the good in other people
and making them smile

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Layla Dyer

My gifts are...making people laugh and reading
books to other people

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Tyler de Reuck

My gifts are...being inclusive of others and
sense of fun

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Adam Wilson

My gifts are...making people laugh & helping others
without being asked to

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Ruby Topp

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Madison Brown

My gifts are...being kind and helping others

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Gracie McGuinness-Price

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Lola Good

My gifts are...being generous, kind and
thoughtful to others

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Scarlett Henderson

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

James Vettori

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Cormac Driver

My gifts are...creativity and thoughtfulness

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Thomas Lees

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Felix Littlejohn

My gifts are...Always trying my best in everything,
and helping others

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Alice Cussins

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Madison Hay

My gifts are...being kind and generous

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Cohen Faitaua

My gifts are...understanding and peacemaker

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Emily Griffiths

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Sofia Leon

My gifts are...compassionate to animals
and kindness

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Ava Ryall

My gifts are...perseverance & being brave

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Isabella Ensor

My gifts are...sharing happiness and
caring for animals

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Lucy Ponsonby

My gifts are... being peaceful and generous

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Evelyn Pryde

My gifts are...making people laugh and helping
people solve their problems

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Elin Rush

My gifts are...kindness and singing

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Trudie Rush

My gifts are...being caring and playing netball

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Isla Arnold

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Mia Clarke

My gifts are...being happy and
being gentle with animals

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Leo Morrison

My gifts are...Empathy and Humour

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Reid Anderson

My gifts are...empathy for others
and being caring

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Kobi Conroy

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Lucas Anderson

My gifts are...I am giving and unselfish

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Kyran Fernandes

My gifts are...being happy and making others happy

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Receiving Jesus for the First Time

Maximiliano Serrano

My gifts are... joyful, caring and happy

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