Mission News

Prayers

We pray for all our students as they undertake exams during these last two weeks of term. May God’s spirit be with them to guide them and grant them strength, focus and calm to overcome challenges and achieve success. 

College Masses

This Wednesday, Foley House will gather for Mass at 8am in the Chapel. Everyone is welcome, including parents/carers and other family members! We will also celebrate Mass on Friday during Break 1B. 

Weekly Reconciliation 

A reminder that College Chaplain Fr Alatini offers weekly reconciliation in the chapel on Tuesday mornings from 8:00am – 8:30am. 

Gospel Reflection 

Matthew 18: 15 – 20

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus teaches his follows how to deal with conflict within their fledgling community. He tells the disciples to always try and work out their problems on the smallest scale first. If someone does something you don’t like – go to them before escalating it further. Seek reconciliation in gentleness. If the problem can’t be resolved – then it may be necessary to resort to higher authority. In doing so the moral priority should focus on restoring relationships. Jesus ends by promising to be present when people of goodwill gather in his name. 

This is a practical gospel message about seeking reconciliation rather than retaliation. It’s useful advice for people working together – if a problem arises Jesus says to address your brother or sister directly, in private, with a spirit of compassion and charity. This prudent advice is reflected in the Marist idea of Family Spirit. Marist families create a place where people known each other by name, care for one another, want the best for one another, and work towards a shared mission. 

Jesus’ instruction begins with an emphasis on being Present - though dialogue, familiarity, and personal conversation. The Marist characteristic of presence means being attentive to our colleagues, listening, checking in, and making time for one another. The gospel challenges us to be relationship builders. Good relationships, grounded in care, are the source of a thriving community. 

Jesus ends by saying, “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” This beautiful passage reflects the idea that when two or more people come together in a spirit of goodwill, and Christlike selflessness - peace and joy will reign. 

Protecting young people and protecting our planet: this week in the Catholic Church

As a Marist school whose focus is on the formation, education and wellbeing of young people, National Child Protection Week, 6-12 September, is uppermost in our minds. This year’s theme is Every Conversation Matters, Shifting Conversation to Action. It’s a reminder that talk matters, but actions matter more. 

For the Catholic Church in Australia, this week culminates in Safeguarding Sunday (formerly Child Protection Sunday), an affirmation of the commitment of all who work in Catholic parishes, schools and other agencies to the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. 

This week continues the month-long Season of Creation in the Church, an opportunity to not only give thanks and praise to God for the beauty of creation, but to reflect on how we can better care for our common home. This year’s focus is on living water, with its roots in scripture. Pope Leo prays that water may be rightly regarded as a “source of fruitfulness, freshness, and hope,” and be universally acknowledged as “a right without borders.”

The Season of Creation concludes on the Feast of St Francis, a holy man whose passion for God’s creation inspired our previous pope to choose the name Francis. May St Francis continue to inspire us towards an integral ecology, to remember how deeply connected we are to all living things.

Year 9 &10 Game Changers Retreat

Last Thursday our Year 9 & 10 Game Changers students took time to join with fellow Marist school Game Changers to engage with a Marist Youth Ministry led retreat and forum. Our students valued the opportunity to connect with others through reflection, prayer and games, and to share lunch together. We thank the MYM Team for their commitment to offering such worthwhile formation experiences for our students. 

Stationery Aid Fundraiser 

Mission team members Clare & Jenna were fortunate to attend last Friday’s Wear Fluoro Stationery Aid Fundraiser. We were greeted on arrival by four of our own wonderful Year 10 students: Kieran Dwyer, Remi Dehamel, Teo Dehamel and Mitchell Stacey who had taken time on a student free day to volunteer at the lunch, greeting guests and selling merchandise. Thank you, gentlemen!

The event was celebration not only of Stationery Aid’s incredible work renewing stationery to give where it is most needed, but it was a beautiful acknowledgement of the worth of every young person, of every child. Stationery Aid is not simply driven by a desire to minimise waste and protect our environment, but a desire to achieve educational equity and see young people thrive. 

As a charity, Stationery Aid was born out of its founders (and former Marist parents) Ali and Jan Schutt seeing a need and doing something about it. Ali and Jan are bright lights whose tireless passion has attracted many to the Stationery Aid cause—this of course includes Marist College and our wonderful students. In recent years, they have also been joined by Officeworks, ensuring that Stationery Aid has a corporate partner that allows them to increase their impact beyond southeast Queensland. During the lunch, celebrated Australian author Trent Dalton spoke about his childhood—one of poverty and minimal stationery, but enough love and hope to sustain him. From his own harsh beginnings, Trent was able to achieve great things but has never forgotten the people who showed him kindness along the way (including the girl he sat next to in class who always let him borrow stationery).

It was fantastic to see the work of Stationery Aid so deservedly affirmed and to know that this is a charity that will continue to make a difference.

To find out more and to check the list for what can be donated, please visit: https://stationeryaid.org/