Faith and Mission

Founders Day Mass

“Remembering that God is with you will help and inspire you in all that you do.”

On May 15, we celebrated Founder’s Day with a whole College Mass at our Mentone Campus for over 2000 congregants. The Mass celebrated our heritage as Lasallians, a heritage that started over 300 years ago with St John Baptist de la Salle and has since spread to over 80 countries.

To acknowledge the breadth of the international Lasallian family, we heard our prayers of the faithful in several different languages read by volunteer students, including Spanish, Itlian, Mandarin, Japanese, Indonesian, Greek and Afrikaans. We also heard the First Reading in French – the language of the Founder St John Baptist de La Salle, read by Louis F in Year 8.  We are grateful to these students for their willingness to contribute to the Founder’s Day Mass in a most significant way.

We were honoured to have De La Salle Brothers from the Mentone Community with us; they were warmly welcomed and thanked for their commitment to their Lasallian vocation. We were also honoured to have esteemed guests from Indonesia, the students and teachers from Sekolah Progresif Bumi Shalawat in Sidoarjo, East Java, who have spent the week at St Bede’s College as part of their cultural immersion program.

Our Principal celebrant for our Mass was the Most Reverend Bishop Tony Ireland (Lasallian educated at De La Salle College Malvern), who was accompanied by some of our College chaplains; Father Peter Matheson (also educated at De La Salle College Malvern), Fr Justin Ford and Deacon Peter. 

College Vice Captain, Finn Clark reflects.

"The Founder’s Day Mass was a special moment for the whole College Community, filled with pride, energy, and a strong sense of unity. One of the standout moments came after the Mass with the raffle draw for those who had raised $55 or more for Mission Action Day. With ten exciting prizes up for grabs, the atmosphere was full of laughter and cheers as each name was drawn—everyone was engaged and it brought a real sense of joy to the occasion.

 

What really left an impression was hearing about the upcoming Year 10 Indigenous Immersion trips. It was great to see so many students putting their hands up to learn from and contribute to communities beyond our own, showing a real commitment to the Lasallian values we’re taught.

 

Overall, it was something to be proud of—to see our entire College come together in such a respectful and enthusiastic way. The Mass itself was beautiful, led by Bishop Tony’s wonderful homily and reinforced by messages and stories about the life of St John Baptist De La Salle from Ms Frizza. Learning more about St John Baptist de La Salle reminds us all why we celebrate this day—his legacy continues to inspire every Beda boy."

Mission Action Day Gratitude

With great gratitude to our students, staff and College Community, we have raised a combined $88,514 for our Lasallian communities in impoverished nations. 

The highest student fundraisers also received their own gift - a $50 voucher and chocolates.  

Congratulations to all who made a donation for your wonderful efforts in 2025!

The majority of the funds will be forwarded to theLasallian Foundationfor distribution to projects in Pakistan and Paua New Guinea. The remainder of the funds will be allocated to projects undertaken during the Immersion Programs to Thailand and Derby, WA. We look forward to sharing further details as these projects are undertaken and completed.

National Reconciliation Week – A Lasallian Perspective

As we all know, the issue of Reconciliation hits close to home for many Australians, even within our own Lasallian network as some of our schools serve a large number of students from First Nations families. For instance, Luurnpa Catholic School is located in the heart of Wirrimanu Community at Balgo Hills (WA), La Salle College Middle Swan, Perth (WA), and O’Connor Catholic College, Armidale (NSW) also educate many First Nations students. 

We are invited to use National Reconciliation Week as an opportunity to listen to and learn from the First Nations people of today, and dedicate our efforts to work towards true Reconciliation in whatever way we can.

Br Rick Gaffney says:

“Living in a First Nations community such as Balgo brings an interesting and complex perspective to National Sorry Day. The vast majority of people living in Balgo are the people whose families in the past and the present have suffered as a result of the issues that National Sorry Day brings to our attention. Over the years I’ve heard people share the stories of the injustice, that their families have suffered here. The involvement of the Church in the past in some of these injustices, makes it remarkable that these stories they are told without anger or bitterness. In the sharing of these stories of injustice there is a prevailing generosity to share and how the listeners respond is left to the listener. 

The response of schools like Luurnpa Catholic Schools and other Lasallian schools such as Lasalle College Middle Swan are to be places where First Nations students are welcome and all students have the opportunity to engage in First Nations perspectives in their curriculum. The day after National Sorry day is the beginning of National Reconciliation Week which can guide our response with the theme: “Bridging Now to Next, calling Australians to step forward together, to look ahead and continue the push forward as past lessons guide us.”(Reconciliation Australia)”

Br Rick Gaffney

Nintirrikuwala Tjitukurlu

Luurnpa Catholic School

Wirrimanu, Balgo Hills Western Australia

Volunteers' Week

Last week was Volunteers’ Week. It was a special time acknowledge and celebrate the people who give their time and effort to help others without expecting anything in return. 

It was a chance to show appreciation for volunteers and the amazing work they do. 

Volunteers’ Week highlights the importance of giving back to the community, whether through helping a local charity, supporting events, or even small acts of kindness in your everyday life.

We have many opportunities for students and staff to volunteer within the College and beyond. A recent initiative is Vinnies Afterschool Education Program at St Anthony’s Primary School, Noble Park. Riley, a Year 11 volunteer shares with us. 

"Year 11 students from St Bede’s College have been given the opportunity to volunteer their time at St Anthony’s Primary School, Noble Park, where we help run the Vinnies Afterschool Education Program. This program helps students in Years 1 to 6 from various backgrounds, cultures and with differing learning needs, mostly from families that speak English as an additional language (EAL).

 

Activities we helped with included reading, helping students to complete homework (Maths, Religion and English), then we played a game that was very entertaining. 

We could not believe that Brother Tony and Ms Kelly knew so many words that start with T! Of course, their team won the competition.

 

I left the program with impressions that this is a very good activity because it teaches little kids some valuable life-lessons that they can take into their future endeavours." 

Ria Greene

Deputy Principal - Faith and Mission