Principal's Report
Lent
We celebrated Ash Wednesday last week to begin the season of Lent. The first Gospel reading to begin Lent (last Sunday) is the story of Jesus going into the desert alone for 40 days and nights to face the temptations of Satan. Jesus’s journey to the desert was one where he chose to wrestle with the powers of evil alone before he returned to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom to all. I am sure that there have been occasions when each of us has had to wrestle with our own “demons” before, hopefully, coming to contentment after winning “the battle”. In terms of the Gospel story, Jesus going into the location of a desert to face Satan is significant.
Deserts are, by nature, lonely and wild places. One would feel isolated, vulnerable, unsafe and afraid in such an environment. The same feelings can be true when we spend time truly confronting our own temptations and obstacles in life. Very often, they can be so overwhelming that we might feel that we cannot overcome them alone. That is very much the point of this Gospel reading, Jesus confronted the demons through prayer. We are invited to turn to God to help us meet these challenges through prayer and reflection. In fact, Father Francis emphasized this point very strongly in his homily last week by highlighting that the pathway to God is through his Son, Jesus Christ. So, we choose to abstain and fast as a remembrance of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made when he died on the cross, to attempt to forge a relationship in that reflection. Incidentally, abstinence is the act of “doing without” or avoiding something. In contemporary times, we are all called to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Some of us may remember times when we were called to abstain from meat on every Friday during Lent?
However, in its true sense, Lent is a time for us to reflect and make a permanent change for the betterment of our lives. When the ashes are placed on our foreheads we are called to “repent and follow the Gospel”. The act of repentance is about changing our ways to find the ‘true path to Christ’. In truth, we are being asked to reflect upon our own lives and make sure that we are true to the gospel values in how we live our lives.
I hope that everybody takes time to try and do this, and in future rather than talk about what we gave up for Lent, we can ask ourselves what we changed in our life for the better.
Stage Nights 2020
To support a continued and positive growth in the learning partnership between the College and parents, we will be running Stage Nights throughout the year specifically for parents to be updated and informed about the ‘stage-specific’ learning and pastoral needs of their children. Please note the following dates in your diary and feel very welcome to come along and hear and see the latest targeted information and strategies that we are using in each stage of learning at McCarthy. All sessions will be conducted in the Rosary Centre beginning at 6:30pm sharp.
Stage 5 (Years 9 & 10) 24 March - 6:30-7:00pm
Stage 6 (Years 11 & 12) 8 April - 6:30-7:00pm
Study Club
Due to the significant generosity and dedication of the McCarthy Teaching staff, Study Club runs in our Library each Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. Those students who are seeking to extend themselves or have access to our valuable research resources are strongly encouraged to attend.
MCC Parents & Friends Association - AGM
This is official notification that the Annual General Meeting of the McCarthy Parents & Friends Association will be held on Tuesday 17 March 2020 beginning at 7:15pm in the staffroom. All Executive Committee roles will be declared vacant on the night and elections will occur at that time. I encourage current and new members of the Parents & Friends Association to consider taking on the roles of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. As the date coincides with St Patrick’s Day, suitable refreshments will be provided afterwards to welcome new and old members to the New Year.
Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to everyone who participated and supported another wonderful Interhouse Swimming Carnival at Manilla pool. Attendance figures would suggest a comparable proportion of students attended compared to 2019 and the house spirit on the day was indicative of a happy bunch of swimmers and cheerleaders giving their all for their house. After all of the ‘fuss and bother’ of the relocation, the day itself was reflective of a vital school community supporting their respective houses in a beautiful and refreshingly intimate environment. I offer a special public endorsement of the great work done by the members of the local Manilla Swimming Club on the day in making us feel very welcome, well-fed and watered! Enormous thanks to Mr Mitchell and the staff for their prior coordination and hard work on the day. Congratulations to the members of Edmund Rice House on their win. They seem to be developing a ‘mini-dynasty’!
Enrolments for Year 7 in 2021 close Wednesday 8 April 2020
McCarthy Catholic College extends an invitation for students seeking enrolment into Year 7 in 2021. The only round of Year 7 applications for this year will close on Monday 6 April. Fully completed application forms and the $100 application fee need to be lodged at the College on or before Monday 6 April. Open Day was held on Saturday 29 February. Thank you to our Year 11 and 12 ‘Tour Guides’ for their generous leadership of the tour groups.
Contact our Enrolment Officer, Mrs Belinda Gleeson-Barker, on 6761 0802 or bgleeson@arm.catholic.edu.au for an application pack and/or more information.
Caritas
As a Catholic College, members of the McCarthy Catholic College community traditionally devote their energies during Lent towards raising valuable funds for Caritas Australia. Each year our fundraising has taken the form of regular small cash collections each morning during Mentor Group. In difficult financial times in 2020, we hope to raise at least $1000 during the period of Lent. Year 12s will once again ‘sacrifice’ their hair through either a shave or a colour to raise at least $100 per student in a brave effort to support this worthwhile cause to raise valuable funds during Lent for Caritas Australia.
Annual Mass of Consecrated Life
The Captains and myself were honoured to attend the Annual Mass of Consecrated Life held at Mary Help of Christians church in mid-February. Celebrated by Bishop Michael Kennedy, this annual commemoration enshrines through public recommitment the vows that our hard-working clergy make to serve the catholic schools and parishes of the Armidale Diocese.
The Relic of St Thérèse of Lisieux
St Thérèse of Lisieux is one of the patron saints of mission. St Thérèse loved the work of mission and wanted to travel to spread the Gospel all over the world and show how Jesus loves all people. One of the famous things she said was ‘I would like to preach the Gospel on all the five continents...’ Though St Thérèse never actually went on a mission, she is a patron saint of mission because what makes a missionary is not the legs but the heart! A missionary is a person whose heart burns with love for Christ.
As part of the national tour of the relics of St Thérèse and her parents, the Year 8 cohort were privileged to attend a reflection experience at St Nicholas church last week. I publically commend the quality of the Year 8s behaviour and thank Father Chris for the opportunity to attend such a significant and rare event.
Staffing
It is with disappointment that I announce that Mrs Ash Jones has relinquished her middle leadership role as Leader of Learning - PDHPE. I thank Mrs Jones for the quality leadership that she has exercised over the past couple of years. Advertisements for a replacement are in progress. A number of teaching staff are taking long service leave in the coming weeks and I thank the following staff for their dedication and generosity in stepping into the acting roles for the remainder of the term.