Faith, Justice and Formation

Shining Our Light Service

Shining Our Light (SOL) Service continues this year with all boys from Years 5 to 10 participating in the program. New documents will be distributed shortly, but in essence the program is a graduated one with boys serving the allocated communities.  All students can only do activities allocated to their Stage, and if an activity is not on the new documents, it will not be counted.

Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6)   – 8 points minimum; Family and Parish

Stage 4 (Years 7 and 8)   – 10 points minimum; Neighbourhood and Parish

Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) – 15 points minimum; School and Local community

All students could be starting the year with rubbish- free lunches as a way to kick off SOL. A commitment to this for the whole year is worth 15 points and boys should show their homeroom teacher their lunch periodically. It is important to note that all students need to do more than just one thing to complete the program by 4 November, and that integrity is key. 

Many others in the holidays may also have started by helping at their parish or local community. Others have also taken on some of their own initiatives, like Vaughn Arambatzis from Year 8 who has been collecting recyclables for years and supporting the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home with the proceeds. 

Vaughn’s actions have recently been recognised in him winning the Young Legend’s Award for the Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Sustainable Cities Awards. We congratulate him for his ongoing passion and contribution to the community!

SOL Service is about action, belonging and involvement.  It’s not something we tick off as completed and then forget about.  It is a way of life – us giving and sharing of our good fortune with those in greater need. It is about belonging to the world we live in, not just existing for others to serve us. Life is much richer the more we get involved so take this opportunity to start a fire in you and make the world a better place for all.

Gillian Daley

Director of Identity