Especean

Faith, Justice and Formation

Justice is Love in Action

Here is a simple reflection from Franciscan theologian, Richard Rohr, about being truly involved in justice. I love the line, 

“Don’t be afraid to have a heart and to risk breaking your heart.” 

This is what we are called to as Christians. It is a 2 to 3-minute read/reflection (article below).

Justice is Love in Action Richard Rohr.pdf

SPC Christmas Appeal

Each year the St Patrick’s College community collects goods in Homeroom to make Christmas Hampers for some of our justice partners. Today we officially launch the SPC Christmas Appeal and seek your help in acting swiftly to ensure families and individuals across Sydney who have little to nothing can enjoy a Christmas closer to ours.

 

We will be sending hampers through our partners at CatholicCare, St Vincent de Paul and a women’s shelter for domestic abuse survivors (anonymous for protection). Each Homeroom or Junior School class will be allocated a partner, with some suggestions of presents and goods. They will also be allocated to a family or several young people to make hampers for.

 

Please note the following with regard to the Appeal:

  • ALL items are to be brought into Homeroom by no later than Friday 25 November. (Please don’t bring in the following week as most will already have been picked up.)
  • ALL items are to be new – NO used items.
  • Please do NOT gift wrap anything.  As lovely as they often look, they have to be opened to be checked. Please place in gift bags and/or supply a roll of wrapping paper.
  • Gifts are allocated based on who your son/s’ Homeroom is collecting for – try to think of things you would really like for Christmas. Also consider a lack of resources to maintain something.
  • Hampers include gifts and food / toiletry items. Each Homeroom has a list of what is needed.

I am sorry for the short notice, but hopefully people can shop this weekend and/or on the next two Thursday nights. Hopefully when shopping boys will think about what they would like for Christmas and ensure items bring joy.

 

Life is tougher than ever for more and more families and young people who have no families. You can help bring some light to their darkness this Christmas.

 

Thank you and God bless you. 

 

Ms Gillian Daley

Director of Identity

Visit from the Alice Mob

Over the past week, St Patrick’s has been proud to host the fellas from St Joseph’s Catholic Flexible Leaning Centre in Alice Springs. This visit was an important step in strengthening the bond between our two schools, a bond that has existed for many years now. While on the visit, accompanied by our boys who visited them earlier this year, the fellas were able to get a strong sense of Sydney life. They started the week off by visiting Taronga Zoo. While everyone had a great time witnessing all the wildlife the zoo had to offer, many were somewhat disappointed they had not come a few days before to get an up close and personal view of the lions. Over the next few days, the fellas did some exploring of their own, that being until Wednesday, when, with our boys, they visited the local Aboriginal community in Redfern. It was great to learn about this community, with even many of us locals not knowing just how vibrant and historic the culture was there. This day ended off with a visit to Coogee Beach where everyone was able to bond over some burgers and beach footy. 

The fellas also got to experience our own St Patrick’s community while down in Sydney. They frequented PE, TAS, Music and Art classes during their day. For the latter two, the fellas were even able to work on projects of their own. In Music they were able to work on a performance with our own Year 10 boys, one which they performed for the entire school at Friday morning assembly. Their song, called Waru by local Alice Springs band Apakatja, was about the duality of fire and water, using it as an analogy for Australia’s colonial past. As well as this, in Art, the fellas, along with our Year 11 Visual Art students, created works that both represented our touchstones as an EREA school and their Aboriginal culture. 

While we are sad to see the fellas go, we look forward to our future relationship with them, specifically in less than a year’s time when our current Year 10’s make the trip over to Alice Springs. We would like to thank Ms Daley and the St Joseph’s staff, Dion and Shaun, for facilitating this visit and making sure that everyone was able to get the most out of it.

 

William Symons

Year 11 Student