From the Rector
Dear Mazenod Community,
Many of you will have noticed that the celebration of Halloween has become very popular in Australia after a long and varied tradition overseas. It originated thousands of years ago in Scotland and Ireland, before arriving with immigrants into the US in the late 1800s. Its inevitable spread to Australia happened within the last twenty years.
Its name comes from All Hallows Eve, or in other words the evening before the Feast of All Hallows which we understand to be the Feast of All Souls Day. In a spiritual sense the dates of November 1 and 2 are when we celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day; we offer prayers and love for all people who have passed away throughout time.
Many of us in the community have experienced the death of a loved one or friends and the entire month of November is dedicated to their intentions. In truth they are always a part of our thoughts and focus.
On Saturday evening 2 November, we will be gathering for a very special liturgy in the Chapel where will pray for and honor our Old Boys who have passed away. The tradition of this Mass began here at Mazenod WA and was then taken up by Iona and Mazenod Victoria. This wonderful initiative unites our Oblate Schools.
During the month of November, we encourage you to pray for anyone you know who is deceased. The Catholic Christian faith holds a fundamental belief in the promise of Jesus that eternal life is available to all of us.
Some helpful hints that may assist from a spiritual sense are the following. Please feel free to use them or share them with others if you think that they might help.
- For Christians, death is a comma, not a full stop.
- Death is not a good-bye but a “see you later”.
- Our loving relationship changes but does not end when a person passes away.
- Try and use the present tense when describing someone who has died – for example. She is a good person, rather than she was a good person.
- Jesus promised eternal life to all – is this something that you can believe.
- Sometimes when our hearts are full, our eyes leak.
- Who we are is God’s gift to us and who we become is our gift to God.
- While we might always have a hole in our heart, it doesn’t have to stay the same shape.
During the week the College received a visit from respected members of the National Party of Australia (Nationals). Visiting were Lisa Logan, candidate for Kalamunda, Mia Davies MP, candidate for the new Federal seat of Bullwinkle and David Littleproud MP leader of the Nationals.
After welcoming our guests, we had a fruitful discussion on issues that affect our community like: cost of living pressures, communications, the ban of the live sheep trade, religious freedom, security, energy needs, education and social harmony and tolerance.
It was good to hear where values align and where there is divergence. We then went to visit the Provence Technology Centre, visited a Year 9 Civics Class, visited the deceased Old Boys memorial and Chapel and finally ended up visiting the Boarding community.
The classroom visit was very special and the students asked some wonderful questions and showed incredible respect to our guests.
The College is called upon to relate to the full range of political parties and know that our families would support different ones in different circumstances. Being aware of policies that particularly affect you and your family should be significant indicators in any voting intention. In the future, we might expect visits from other political candidates and we anticipate that these will be respectful and community enriching.
Take Care and God Bless
Fr Michael Twigg OMI