Mission and Identity
- Beyond Reconciliation Week
- Italian heritage Mass
- Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the College Winter Appeal
- Edmund Rice Centre: Refugee appeal
The journey continues beyond Reconciliation Week
On Friday, delegates will be gathering at Waverley College representing each of the seven EREA Colleges in NSW who carry responsibility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, and the journey towards Reconciliation for their respective communities. During the meeting, we will be progressing our Reconciliation Plan commitments announced at the Reconciliation Assembly last Wednesday.
May the words of Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM, inspire and guide our journey of Reconciliation moving forward: 'We wait on God, too. His time is the right time. We wait for him to make his Word clear to us. We don’t worry. We know that in time and in the spirit of dadirri (that deep listening and quiet stillness) his way will be clear.'
May God keep us true to the path of healing as pilgrims of peace.
Italian heritage Mass to celebrate the Feast of St Anthony of Padua - RSVP
The feast day of St Anthony of Padua will be celebrated with a bilingual Mass at 10:30 am on Sunday 16 June, at Our Lady of Dolours Chatswood. This Mass will be celebrated in both English and Italian. It will be a special acknowledgement of the Italian heritage in our community. There will be an Italian gathering and refreshments in the forecourt following Mass.
Please join us to celebrate this wonderful occasion. In order to discern numbers as a contingent from St Pius X, please complete the RSVP below. Family, extended family and friends are most welcome as we celebrate being part of such a vibrant parish community.
RSVP Italian Mass and celebration
Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and the College Winter Appeal
Last Sunday we honoured the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. For many of us, this celebration would resonate with us by the name ‘Corpus Christi’. This feast is a reminder of our call to follow the way of Jesus, who gave us His Body and Blood to nourish us with the life and love of God, which enables us to serve one another as He commands us.
In a recent message, Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv shared that ‘Corpus Christi is to become what we eat, to be another Christ for others, to be Eucharistic in our self-giving love, in our reaching out and in our embrace of all people in the manner Jesus showed us”.
As a family of faith, we have the opportunity to be Eucharistic in our self-giving through the 1 Peter 4:10 Winter Appeal, that seeks to support St Vincent de Paul and Jesuit Refugee Services. All donations will be collected over the next three weeks during homeroom, with donations being coordinated in the College Foyer. Thank you in advance for your generosity
Edmund Rice Centre - Refugee appeal: Help asylum seekers fight for their freedom
As we continue to seek to be another ‘Christ for others’, with eyes and hearts open we cannot escape the present plight of refugees in Australia.
The article below highlights the critical advocacy led by the Edmund Rice Centre, for the voiceless and forgotten. This particular article highlights the plight of refugees needing the vital assistance of organisations such as the Edmund Rice Centre.
'Amir* wasn’t free or safe in Iran, the country of his birth.
He’d seen friends, colleagues and loved ones imprisoned, tortured and killed by the ruthless dictatorship that has ruled the country since 1979. Amir knew he was at high risk of suffering a similar fate. So, in 2015, he fled Iran for Australia, a country he believed valued freedom, fairness and human rights.
Sadly, Amir’s hopes and dreams for a better life in Australia were soon dashed. When his plea for asylum was rejected, he was placed in indefinite immigration detention.
Amir did absolutely nothing wrong. Seeking asylum in Australia is entirely legal under the law. But when he came here for protection, he was treated like a criminal.
Immigration detention can be a cruel place. Violence is part of everyday life, and harsh methods like solitary confinement and handcuffs are routinely used to deal with grievances.
Asylum seekers like Amir are separated from their families and communities, and are often left to suffer illness and injury.
Even visits from family and supporters involve a long, bureaucratic process and can be cancelled without notice. That’s the heartbreaking situation many asylum seekers face, day after day, year after year.
Too often, asylum seekers like Amir are kept out of sight and mind and not given a voice. By donating to the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, you can help make sure they are seen, heard and treated fairly.
Your generous donation can help advocate for a more just system for asylum seekers. You will also help to better educate the community about the plight of asylums seekers, and why we urgently need a fairer system.
And your support can assist newly arrived asylum seekers with building a better, more hopeful future.
Will you make an urgent, tax-deductible donation to help asylum seekers defend their fundamental right to be free and safe?'
Thank you,
‘Alopi Latukefu, Director: Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education
May the God of surprises continue to reveal Himself to you in the ordinary and unsuspecting moments of your day, as we continue our pilgrimage through the Season of Ordinary Time.
Blessings,
Mr Daniel Petrie - Assistant Principal, Mission and Identity