Mission and Identity 

• Commencement Mass
• Shrove Tuesday
• Ash Wednesday
• Canteen reminder during Lent

Commencement Mass

Last Friday the College celebrated our Commencement Mass for 2024 at the Christian Brothers Centre at the Oxford Falls Campus. We were blessed to be joined by Christian Brothers Br Michael Hoffman and Br Carl Sherrin, as well as College Advisory Council Members Ms Bernadette Keating, Ms Judy Black and Mr Evan Griffith.

Our celebrant, the Very Rev Dr David Ransom expertly unpacked the College theme for 2024 ‘Seek to Serve - Stronger Together’. Fr David highlighted that anthropological studies have discovered healed femur bones from some of our earliest communities. These discoveries demonstrate the centrality of service and healing that have been part of the human fabric since time immemorial. The service of care has been intentionally offered to those who were injured and sick. Such discoveries reaffirm that to serve and to heal is at the core of what it is to be human. Jesus redirects our attention to this when he washes the feet of His disciples and embodies this at its fullest when empties Himself on the cross. Like a candle, he dies in order to give light. 

Each element of the Mass was brought to life through colour, song, and movement thanks to our dedicated altar servers, musicians and readers. We offer our sincere thanks to the College Maintenance Teams​, Office Support Team​, Pastoral Teams​, Canteen Team​ and the Mission Team. Our final thanks is extended to the painters who created the face, hands and feet of Christ live on stage. These artworks will journey with the College throughout the year as we seek to serve as the hands and feet of Christ.

Shrove Tuesday

On Tuesday the College honored the ancient tradition of cooking pancakes the day before Lent. 

It originated as a means of using the food items that were considered a luxury that would not have been consumed during Lent, and therefore provided the opportunity to ‘feast before we sacrifice’. 

Volunteers from the Blessed Edmund Rice Society were hard at work early in the morning on Tuesday in order to commence fundraising for Project Compassion through the Pancake Tuesday Stall. This fundraiser will continue through Lent on Tuesdays to assist the College reach an ambitious financial target to support Caritas. The stall is seeking a gold coin donation for a serve of pancakes or hashbrowns.

We offer our sincere thanks to Mr Ryan Balboa, Mrs Janelle Arena and Mr Anesh Naidoo who enabled the students to minister in this way.

Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday we commenced our lenten pilgrimage by joining Christians around the world in the observance of Ash Wednesday. The day was marked by a rhythm of gathering for worship. 

At 8:30 am in the College gym, Year 5 and Year 6 gathered for their Ash Wednesday Liturgy of the Ashes. At 9:00 am Year 11 and Year 12 gathered at Our Lady of Dolours Chatswood for Mass with the parish. This was followed by Year 9 and Year 10 gathering for their Liturgy of the Ashes in Period 3 and Year 7 and Year 8 gathering in Period 5 respectively. 

Collectively both students and staff were afforded the opportunity in the sacred space within the business of school life to consider how they will respond personally to the three pillars of the lenten season - to give, to fast and to pray.

Most importantly however, as we enter into the spiritual desert for 40 days, is the need to consider ‘How will I empty myself’ for the good of others? What we ‘take up’ during Lent is actually the key to the renewal that we seek either consciously or subconsciously. To ‘give up’ some of my personal time in order to visit the lonely, brings life and hope to those in need, far more than avoiding that packet of Tim Tams calling from the pantry. 

To sacrifice my ego and pride and offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me, even though they may not acknowledge their wrong doing, brings light and healing to our relationship network, far more than avoiding soft drink during Lent.

The peace prayer culturally attributed to St Francis, while not written for Lent, beautifully describes a blueprint for our Lenten Pilgrimage:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:

where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury, pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.

Therefore as we take the first steps of Lent with a cross marked in ash on our foreheads, let it be a reminder in the mirror that our journey is to the foot of the cross. Let our thoughts and actions in Lent be demonstrative of that sacrificial love that offered itself as a ransom for the healing of all. 

We offer our sincere thanks to Mr Balboa, Mr Di Sano, Mr Cummins and the College Maintenance teams for their assistance in bringing the Ash Wednesday Liturgies and Mass to life.

Canteen Reminder During Lent

On Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent, no meat will be sold at the canteen. Students are welcome to bring their own lunch inclusive of meat, but removing such items from the menu during these days enables us to speak to who we are as a Christ-centered Catholic school in the tradition of Edmund Rice. 

Mr Daniel Petrie - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity