Please be aware that Enrolment will shortly begin for children intending to go to St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School or the Nursery Class.

Although you may wish your child to attend a school other than your local primary school, you must first enrol at your catchment area primary school and then make a placing request.

If however you do not have access to the online enrolment process, a paper copy of the form may still be completed at your catchment school office during enrolment week.

Please note that if you are enrolling in person at a school, you are required to take your child’s birth certificate and proof of your address with you.

The enrolment week for Early Learning and Childcare places starts on Monday 14th February . Once you have enrolled your child online, the school will contact you to arrange an induction.

Primary 1 Enrolment starts tomorrow 31 January.

N.B. St Joseph’s have produced excellent guides to the school (blue covers) which can be found on the table at the back of the church.

Sister Marije Kaleta, an Albanian nun of courageous faith while under communist persecution, has died at the age of 92.

Sister Marije risked her life to bring Holy Communion to the sick and dying under the regime of communist dictator Enver Hoxha, whose Stalinistic regime destroyed churches and martyred Catholics in its effort to create an atheist state.

Albania was under a brutal communist rule from the 1940s to 1992.

In a meeting with Pope Francis in Albania in 2014, the Stigmatine sister shared the story of how she baptised babies in secret during this time of persecution.

https://www.ncregister.com/cna/catholic-nun-who-secretly-baptized-babies-under-communism-dies-at-92-0vz5zhi7

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to Sister Mary-Grace of the congregation of the Daughters of Divine Love (DDL) in Inverness. Sister Mary-Grace is well known for her work with candidates preparing for confirmation and the young people in Inverness and Beauly. She joins the DDL community in Crook, near Durham.

Sister Maryjane is moving to the congregation in Birmingham while Sister(Dr) Vivian Mariet Okolie has been offered a job in Raigmore.

We welcome two new sisters, Mary Vivian and Winifred. Sr Winifred is already well known in Beauly. Sr Mary Vivian
(Ukah) will take over as the Inverness congregation’s Superior.

The Daughters of Divine Love, known by their blue veil, serve in:

• Africa: Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Chad.
• Europe: England, Scotland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and France.
• America: Cuba, Jamaica, United States, and Haiti.

The Daughters of Divine Love congregation is an international order of religious women and was founded during the agonising and ravaging Nigeria-Biafra war (1969). At the present time, more than 800 members have professed their vows. The Daughters are known in a special manner for their love of God and love of neighbour, coupled with deep humility, self-sacrifice and solid piety. Rooted and grounded in Love. This love is self-sacrificing love.

For those who suffer religious persecution

Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which is supporting this month’s message, notes that worldwide, religious freedom is violated in one out of every three countries, comprising around two-thirds of the total world population.

More than 646 million Christians, ACN reports, live in countries that do not respect religious freedom.

Pope Francis : “Let us choose the path of fraternity. Because either we are brothers and sisters, or we all lose.”

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2022-01/pope-s-january-prayer-intention-for-those-who-suffer-religious.html