Catholic Identity & Mission News

The Easter season is still well and truly upon us as we commence Term 2! After celebrating the resurrection of Jesus at Easter, the Church reflects on its aftermath in stories of Jesus’ early followers and their journeys from fear, confusion and disbelief to relief, hope and joy that Jesus’ death was not the end. Their reactions can mirror our own at times – ‘doubting Thomas’ who at first just finds it too hard to believe, but when he is reunited with the resurrected Christ proclaims, ‘My Lord and my God’. 

We reflected on similar themes in our Staff Easter Liturgy at the end of Term 1 as we approached Easter through the eyes of our own patron saint, St Peter. The liturgy was called, ‘The Journey of St Peter—Call, Denial, Hope’, and used stories that reflected Peter’s humanity – his courage and curiosity and his failings. In our Stations of the Cross held on the final day of term, our Year 11 Youth Ministry students presented themes of the Easter story in very different ways. They incorporated our annual theme, “Let all that you do be done in love” into the story of Jesus’ passion, using music, art, scripture and prayer to reflect that Jesus provides the perfect example of love for us. 

As their opening address stated, “Whilst traditionally the Stations of the Cross is a devotion involving 14 moments of prayer and reflection, as a community we will pray and reflect on six major experiences of Jesus - experiences of condemnation, moments of consolation, experiences of falling under the weight of the pain and anguish, moments of being helped by those in the crowd, experiences of being robbed of his dignity as a human being, and ultimately, the most powerful experience of them all – an expression of pure and unconditional love.” My enormous thanks to all Ministry staff and students for their thoughtful, prayerful and very beautiful presentations to our school community. 

Those who were present were greatly moved by the Stations however, it was disappointing that student attendance, particularly on our Cranbourne Campus, was much lower than usual on this last day of term. The Stations are a fixture on our calendar, and our Ministry team (students and staff) put an incredible amount of work into them. Although we finish at lunchtime on that day (in part, to accommodate the Staff Easter Liturgy), the final day is still a school day and substantial time and effort has been put into preparing important Easter ceremonies. I hope that 2026 was an anomaly and that our student numbers will be much improved hereafter. It is an appropriate mark of respect that students, parents and caregivers support the Catholic Identity of our College at such an important time on the Christian calendar. 

But as the opening of this article stated, Easter is a gift that keeps on giving (!) and in its spirit we are already underway with Term 2 planning including our Year 10 Reflection Day (both campuses together this year!) on Tuesday, May 5, Glowrey Feast Day Mass, Catholic Education Week, Reconciliation Week and FIRE Carrier Commissioning ceremonies. Term 2 promises to be another action-packed and invigorating term – I look forward to keeping you updated on activities and initiatives as they occur.

Ms Fiona McKenna

Deputy Principal – Catholic Identity & Mission