Mission & Identity

Youth Ministry

• Project Compassion Funds:  How our donations have assisted the deaf in Cambodia
• Youth Ministry: 
• - A poem on being "the light of the world"
• -Year of Youth Cross visiting SPX and the Parish
• - Chapel Mass:  8am Tuesday 26th June
• - Year of Youth Cross Pilgrimage Walk
• - Healthy Relationships Discussion:  What is Love? Tuesday 26th June at 7.00pm
• - Spreading Joy:  Praise and worship event in the church
• -  Youth Evening at Corpus Christi St Ives on Friday 15th June

Our Donations to Caritas 

Fr Charles Dittmeier visited St Pius X College in mid-February addressing our Year 9 students on his work with the deaf in Cambodia. Fr Charles, himself legally deaf, told us there were 51,000 deaf people in Cambodia of whom only 2000 receive any assistance. Fr Charles works with Maryknoll, a partner with Caritas Australia. For the past 17 years he has lived in Cambodia and established the Deaf Development Program which is supported by Caritas Australia.

Over the years his love and compassion for deaf people, some of the most marginalised and poorest in already poor societies, has seen him working, throughout Asia and India. Fr Charles told us about the real change and improvements that can occur through the funds we raise with Project Compassion.

St Pius X College, through our Lenten Project Compassion collection, raised around $12,000. Fr Charles learnt of the generosity of the St Pius community and has responded with his thanks and some photos and updates on how the Project Compassion funds have assisted the deaf in Cambodia. These programs include:

• Barber Training for the Deaf giving participants a skill to help them provide for themselves and their families
• Deaf Development Program which supports the deaf by gathering them from around the poor areas of the country and offering them communication and life skills. For example helping participants understand meal preparation.
• An outreach program for young people from a variety of Cambodian provinces who are invited to participate in a learning experience which gifts them with life and communication skills and evaluated for future training and to look for future leaders for the national association of the deaf.

Through these programs, funded by Caritas Australia, the poorest of the poor in Cambodia are provided with hope for the future as they learn they are not alone in their silent world.

Ms K Meale - Religious Education Coordinator

Youth Ministry

In Tuesday’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus tells us that we are “the light of the world!”  Yet so often we don’t feel like we are being this light for ourselves or for others. I love this poem by Marianne Williamson, a poem that challenges the self-doubt that so often keeps us from shining. 

Listed here are the upcoming events to commemorate the visiting of the Year of Youth Cross in our College community from the 23rd until 30th June, coinciding with our last week of term. The Cross will be present at our full St Pius X College Assembly on Monday 25th June an opportunity for all our students to engage through prayer in the message of JOY which the Cross brings as it travels around our schools and parishes.

The week will again be a significant time for our youth community with special events to celebrate, inform and encourage our faith. It will be about drawing us together in fellowship at this peak time in the local celebration of the Year of Youth, and all of our St Pius students should feel welcome to engage in these events, as indeed are both the youth of the parish and the youth of Mercy College.

As a community St Pius X College will host the Cross in the Brothers Chapel as a poignant symbol of our hope in the Resurrected Christ at our 8am Tuesday morning Chapel Mass on 26th June.  All in the community are welcome to join in at the Liturgy of the Word and Eucharistic Celebration, joining in with the Year of Youth prayer.

What is Love? Tuesday 26th June from 7.00pm in the Bishop Barry Room

Students aged 16 and older may be interested to join our ongoing discussion around healthy relationships.  This follows on from our previous Relationship discussion, ‘Becoming the One’ (also entitled by Fr Jim, ‘How not to end up on Married at First Sight’) which began in May and attracted a large number of young adults interested in exploring this important area of our lives and faith.

We will be continuing this discussion and on this occasion we will be joined by members of The Culture Project Australia. The Culture Project is an initiative of young people living in mission for 12 months and spreading a message through schools, parishes and youth groups of human dignity and sexual integrity, promoting a Culture of Life in the contemporary world. Our discussion will again focus on the message that we are all worthy of authentic love.

Please join us for an open and honest discussion about a positive approach to love and relationships aligned with Gospel Values and set against the contemporary secular approach to this most important facet of our lives.  Details are in the flyer below.

On Friday 29th June we will be holding a praise and worship event in the church: SPREADING JOY!  This will be a creative night full of music, worship and fun. Some of our Year 11 and Year 10 St Pius X College drama students will be presenting a short dramatic/comedic depiction of JOY within the proceedings. It is bound to be a fun and uplifting night and is open to all ages, so please come along and encourage other students to attend.

Collaborating with our local sister school, Mercy Catholic College, and neighbouring parishes the event will be a youthful and joyful celebration. This Praise & Worship night is open to all the youth of the parish and we would love to welcome you to join in the JOY.  For our students this will be the last day of term so the event on this evening would be a wholesome and uplifting way to start the break.  Come along!  Details are in the flyer below.

Starting at 10am on Saturday 30th June and collaborating with the youth from the Lower North Shore parish, we will walk the Year of Youth Cross in pilgrimage from Our Lady of Dolours Chatswood to St Thomas’ on High Street in Willoughby.  We welcome everyone to join us on this journey, help share the burden of the Year of Youth Pilgrimage Cross (it is heavy!) and share the JOY of fellowship on the journey as we share a faith in the resurrected Christ.

Youth Evening on Friday 15th June at Corpus Christi St Ives

St Ives Corpus Christi parish is holding an evening on Friday the 15th of June from 7-9pm to hear from parishioners about engaging the youth and having an ongoing youth program in the parish.  The evening will be facilitated by Kelly Paget, Director of Youth Ministry for the Broken Bay Diocese.

Families and students of St Pius who are involved at Corpus Christi as parishioners or live in the area should go along and have their say on designing a program for youth and getting involved in the life of the parish. Please click on the flyer below for details.

Please look out for opportunities to join your local parishes

in celebration of the Year of Youth!

Mr A Brannan - Youth Ministry Coordinator