Other times they were allowed to spend the whole period between morning recess and lunch to work on some fantastic art projects and the like, and often just after lunch they might get to watch DVDs - usually ones pertaining to their religious education program.
But there was normally another large group involved in something that was definitely an extra-curricular activity - in Yr 4 it was preparation for sacrament of Reconciliation (or Confession as most people know it these days), in Yr 5 it was preparation for admission to Holy Communion and then in year 8 it was preparation for Confirmation. A lot of the preparations for these sacraments happened after school in the Parish Hall, but since the students were generally all together in class at school, opportunity was given for them to work on the special activities they were involved in for those events.
Six girls had decided they wanted to be confirmed this year. Father Tham was keen to make the whole ceremony as creative as possible and wanted all the girls to have a distinctive as well as collective role to play in the ceremony. Three of the girls played flute at school, and three did dance - it couldn't have been better. So Father Tham thought they could practice a little liturgical dance routine to welcome the Gospel. As Deacon Chris proceeded from the Reading Desk to the centre of the church to read the Gospel the girls would dance swirling ribbons etc emulating the flames of the Holy Spirit. Mrs Jarratt, the dance teacher helped them work out the choreography as well as choose a tune that was good for the three flutes to play together.
As they got closer to the date, Fr Tham had been meeting with them weekly to make sure that they knew what the Bishop would expect them to know, and that they were all ready to do the things they needed to do when the service happened. Everyone always got excited when the Bishop came from Bunbury. He usually came once or twice a year - sometimes for special ceremonies that only a bishop can do and sometimes just because he wanted to come. When he came to Quarabup he always made a visit to the school. He used to be a teacher before he became a Bishop so he always took a special interest in schools.
On the Wednesday before the Confirmation service, Mother Superior organised a special school assembly for the Bishop. She wanted him to see what some of the children had been doing during the year, so there were special items from the Year 3 class, the Year 6 class and from the secondary school Big Band. Mother was especially proud of the Big Band. She had found a very good music teacher, and the President of the nearly defunct Quarabup Brass Band had agreed to lend their collection of brass instruments to the school indefinitely. No student with aptitude need go without a musical education because their family could not afford the instrument.
Nadia was a bit disappointed when she first saw the Bishop. She had expected him to have special clothes full of colours, but instead he wore the same black clothes that Fr Tham always wore. But he was very friendly, and after the assembly, Mother made sure Nadia and her friends who were being confirmed were introduced to him. They all giggled rather too much really, not knowing what to say, but the Bishop asked them easy questions, like "Which of your subjects do you like best?" and "what do you to be able to do when yu leave school?" At the end he said he was looking forward to meeting them all again tomorrow after school at the rehearsal with Fr Tham.
That night Nadia thought about all she had done since the beginning of term 3 in preparation for this day. She had to go to Mass every week with her Mum, but then they always did, and she was supposed to do something extra, so at school she volunteered to be a Chapel Monitor. This meant that she would help the Chapel teacher or Fr Tham get the chapel ready when they had special ceremonies or prayer times. She had to go to Confirmation Classes every week after school on Tuesday and Mrs Dunbar taught them lots of things she needed to know to be confirmed.
Nadia's best friend at school as Claire and Claire's Mum and Eula were good friends because they always did things together at school when parents had to do something. Since Nadia and Gregorio had no real aunties and uncles in Australia, Claire's Mum was the closest she had to an Aunty so she asked her if she would be her Sponsor for the Confirmation. Once that was settled, Nadia decided she could call Claire's Mum Aunty Vanessa - at last she had an Aunty. The other big decision Nadia had to decide on was a Confirmation Name. When she was Baptised her Baptism Name as Liliana after her Grandmama back in Italy, and Fr Tham said she could use that name again if she wanted to, but secretly Nadia had a heroine she wanted to be inspired by. She had read a library book about Joan of Arc and then she got the DVD out and as far as Nadia was concerned she didn't need stories of super-heroes on TV that weren't real. All she needed was stories of people like Joan. But she was also inspired by a book they had in school about Mother Mary MacKillop. Nadia was appalled by how badly she was treated, but inspired by her passion to teach poor kids. So she asked her Mum what she thought about having two names - Mary Joan - for her Confirmation Names. Eula thought it was a lovely idea and simply suggested she ask Fr Tham if it is okay. Fr Tham of course approved the choice of such inspiring names.
During the school holidays Nadia and her fellow Confirmees were all invited to a special retreat. This was like a camp, really except that they did lots of religious things to do with her Confirmation. One of the groups of nuns had made a special Holiday Retreat House on the Coast and they were able to go there - not far from home but away enough to feel like a holiday. Each girl had a room of her own with her own toilet and shower - it was luxury. They arrived just before lunch time and after they settled into their rooms they had a fabulous lunch - all laid on. Then Mrs Dunbar took them into the gardens of the Retreat House where there was a special prayer walk. It was the stations of the cross, and at each spot they had a seat and a sign up with the prayers to say at each station. It all ended up in a kind of man-made cave that was supposed to be the tomb where Jesus was buried. They all walked through this with Mrs Dunbar and she said that they could use this little prayer walk whenever they liked. Maybe they would like to do it together, but maybe they would like to do it on their own sometime - a special time for them to be alone with God in this beautiful place.
Every day the Nuns would ring bells to say it was time for prayer in the chapel and the Confirmees were all expected to join in. The first prayers were before Breakfast. Seven thirty was much later than nuns normally began their day but it was a Holiday Retreat House for the nuns, so a little grace sounded reasonable. The girls all appreciated it - they were all beginning to get into that teenager night-owl phase where they were no longer morning people.
One of the things that Mrs Dunbar said she wanted them to really focus on during this retreat was the idea of the Holy Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. "Confirmation was all about the coming of the Holy Spirit - that is what the Bishop lays his hands on people for - and when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives we are all given gifts that help us in our spiritual life in God", she said.
So, in the mornings, before midday prayers, they would talk about these gifts of the Holy Spirit, and then in the afternoon, Mrs Dunbar gave them lots of creative activities to do that might help them discover or express what those gifts might be. It was a bit like school, but much more fun, especially because Mrs Dunbar, even though she seemed quite stuffy when they first met her, was really great fun - like a granny aunt. She was old enough to be their grandmother, but she was fun like an aunty.
After they ahd done all these things, Nadia was even more convinced that her choice of Confirmation Names was right because she knew she wanted to be serious about God like Joan, but she also felt she wanted to teach poor kids like Mary, and from all the things they did about the Gifts of the Spirit Nadia felt she had signs of the gift of teaching. This was so cool. It really made Nadia feel like now she knew what to do with her life.
On their last day, Fr Tham came for lunch. They were all very happy to see him and they wanted to tell him everything they had learned. After lunch he said Mass for them and the nuns who were there on holiday and then they came home. It had been the best!
The Bishop was now here. The big day was looming and on Thursday after school, they all had to go the the St Michael's Church for the rehearsal. Nadia really liked the church. Something about it reminded her of Italy - except that her memories of Italy really were just from the photos her Mum and Dad kept from when they lived in Napoli. It was a long narrow church with high walls and every window had a picture in it. There were seven windows along each side and they made pictures of the Stations of the Cross so they were there all the time. Behind the Altar there was a big window in three parts that told the story of St Michael of All Angels and his heavenly battles.
When they all got to St Michael's for the rehearsal, the Bishop was very nice. He asked them questions about the stuff they had learned with Mrs Dunbar and then he just wanted to know about the children and why they had chosen to go ahead with Confirmation. He spent some time telling them how important this sacrament was and that this made them like adults in the church now - "a very important step in growing up", he said. He then asked Fr Tham to go through the service so that they would all know what to do.
Everything would be a bit like normal Sunday Mass, except that the Confirmees and their Sponsors would come in like a Procession with Fr Tham and the Bishop. When they got to the Altar, they were to bow and then go with their family members and Sponsors to special seats in the Mary Chapel near the organ. Fr Tham said that after the Homily from the Bishop, he would ask the Confirmees and their Sponsors to all come forward. The Bishop would stand in the middle right in front of the Altar and he would ask them all questions that they had to say yes to. Then each person would be confirmed, and the Bishop would ask them and their sponsors to come right up to him. He would ask each of the girls what names they wanted to use for their Confirmation, then the girls would kneel down on the cushion just in front of the bishop, their sponsors could put their hands of the girls shoulders, and the Bishop would put his hands on their heads and say the prayer and they would be Confirmed. Then the Mass would carry on and the girls and their families and Sponsors would be the first to have communion.
After Fr Tham had finished explaining this, the Bishop then asked all the girls what names they had chosen and why. He seemed really impressed with Nadia's choices and wished her well as she grew up with those names to inspire her. Then Fr Tham explained that the girls were going to do something special in the service as well - doing a little liturgical dance before the Gospel is read. The Bishop was delighted, and said they should show him how it went. They all giggled a bit with shyness, but they settled down while the flautists got their flutes. They had been practicing this for weeks at school, but this was the first time they had done it in the Church. The firat thing they had to get right was to start in front of the Altar while Fr Tham was getting the Gospel Book from the Bishop. They would then dance in front of him to about the middle of the church, and wait there while he incensed the Gospel Book and then read the story. When he finished the flutes would play again and they would repeat the dance back to the Altar. Thankfully they were all planning dresses for their Confirmation that would float around nicely as they did their dance.
The Big Day finally arrived. Nadia was more excited than she thought she had ever been before. Her Mum was so proud of her when she put on her Confirmation dress. Nadia liked to please and she knew that everyone was pleased as she went for her Confirmation. Even Greg seemed happy that she was doing this now. They all tumbled into the car and got there early despite Nadia's assurances that they would be late. When she got there, Mother Superior was fussing around over a whole group of kids from school - in uniform. Then she realised they were the school choir and they were to be a surprise for everyone because they had special songs to sing right at the beginning of the Mass and while everyone was coming for Communion.
Everything went like clockwork until just before Communion when one of the boys in the choir fainted. There was a little kerfuffle but he just went and sat with his Mum and the choir carried on without him. At the end of the service the Bishop asked Nadia and her friends to come out the front. He said a special Confirmation Blessing for them and then asked everyone to clap because now they were fully members of the Church. Then the Bishop said the big blessing for everyone and asked the newly confirmed members of the Church to lead him out of the Church - what an honour.
Outside everyone was very excited - and relaxed now that it was over - and as soon as they said goodbye to each other they all departed to six different Confirmation Parties in and around Quarabup. It was certainly going to be a quiet time in the village that Sunday afternoon because nearly fifty percent of the village's population was at one party or another.
The de Luca's made up for their lack of blood relatives in Australia by gathering into their group of friends surrogate aunts, uncles and cousins for their children, and the best time was had when Eula and Alfeo did the catering, drawing on their exquisite Neapolitan cuisine to tempt everyone's palates. There was no shortage of food and the wine for the grown ups was especially good.
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