Mission & Social Justice

• Mission & Identity
• Social Justice

Mission & Identity

As part of our EREA Charter our Touchstone of Gospel Spirituality calls us to bring to life the key values that Jesus witnessed in his own life and ministry. These values of love, respect, forgiveness, tolerance and justice are not only important as foundations for our own relationships and actions but are crucial in building a community that understands the value of every person, no matter what religion, culture or ethnicity.

As part of the Junior Religion and the Senior Studies of Religion Curriculum, we are fortunate to have opportunities to be able to create awareness and respect for those who follow other faiths. I am sure that the other Religion Teachers would agree that the more we learn about the beliefs of other faiths, the more we find out about our own faith.

I have included an interesting article below which highlights the work of Pope Francis in trying to build bridges of understanding between Christianity and Islam. In a visit to Egypt he urged Egyptian Catholics to be a positive force within society; to be ‘people of dialogue who are ‘sowers of hope’ and able to forgive those who wrong them’. This article says much about how the values of Jesus can be expressed in both in our local and wider communities.

This Tuesday the 23rd of May we will have our 8am Mass in our Chapel. This Mass will be hosted by Mr Kovacic’s Year 9 Religion6 Class. All are welcome.

Tuesday 8.00am Mass in the College Chapel

23rd May, 6th June, 20th June, 18th July, 1st August, 15th August, 29th August and 12th September.

Ms D Dempsey - Assistant Principal Mission & Identity

Social Justice

The Edmund Rice Society members have been very busy both at meetings and outside of them. This week’s meeting (pictured left) shows Daniel Hall and James Spencer discussing the life of Blessed Edmund Rice and how we can follow in his footsteps with the Society’s members.

This discussion lead to the Fair Trade Chocolate Stall being run this Friday at lunchtime by the junior members to raise funds for our partners, Callan Services, in Papua New Guinea. The stall will run each Friday for the remainder of Term 2 and in Term 3 and all proceeds will be sent to assist their 19 special needs schools. The fair trade chocolate means the farmers who harvest the cocoa receive a fair price and no slave labour is used. The Society would like to thank the school community for their efforts in the Footy Boot Drive for our indigenous communities of the mid-north NSW coast. Your generous donations provided well over 100 sets of footy boots, socks, mouth guards and shin pads and these will be delivered to the community elders of the Gumbaynggir People when our Year 10 immersion students visit Bowraville in November. Those elders will then disperse the boots as needed to their people as well as the Ngaku, Miriwoong and Berrayinga people, all from the mid-north NSW region. This great recycling program was inspired by the members of the Edmund Rice Society and their desire to assist those less fortunate. The masthead picture for this page shows some of our members proudly standing by your generous donations - thank you.

Year 9 Homerooms are teaming up with the Year 10 Mercy Action Group in Weeks 5 and 6 to run a drive to assist both the homeless of Sydney as well as the men of Matthew Talbot Hostel who are transitioning back into society. This Mercy College/St Pius X College social justice drive is being spear-headed by Sarah Brannan and the Year 10 Mercy Action Group at Mercy College along with the Year 9 Homerooms at St Pius X College. All blankets, as well as used pots and pans, will be delivered in Week 7 of this term to St Vincent de Paul’s Matthew Talbot Men’s Hostel. The blankets will be given to the homeless as winter approaches, and the pots and pans are given to men who have been working hard towards transitioning back into society. Social workers have been assisting these men over a period of months to help them stop the habits that have put them on the streets and getting their lives back on track ready for housing within the community. On my visits to Matthew Talbot I have learnt that a big financial cost is involved in giving these men the basics needed such as pots and pans to cook with when they go back into housing. Whilst Year 9 are collecting in their homerooms there is also a collection point in the foyer. So now is the perfect time to recycle once again, go through your cupboards and donate any blankets or pots and pans that haven’t been used for quite some time.

Thank you - your donations will be greatly appreciated.

Mr David Blake – Social Justice Coordinator