Principal's Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to the end of Week 6. As I write this newsletter interviews for the new school Captains are taking place. I have been privileged to hear the many ideas, thoughts and views on leadership, our MSC values, and the students take on the potential of Monivae. I am confident we will have another group of young leaders who will impact the future and direction of our great school community.

Next week I join other MSC Principals at Downlands College, Toowoomba. We meet every term to discuss opportunities to connect, strengthen our MSC Ethos and values, and to share resources around contemporary educational thinking and practice. This gathering also reminds me that we are part of a wider MSC community.

This Sunday is Social Justice Sunday. In this year’s statement ‘Truth and Peace – A Gospel word in a Violent World’, the Australian Bishops explore the concept of practical steps we can take to help create peace.  As an MSC school we recognise the importance of building capacity for peace in our students and communities. The celebration of Social Justice Sunday is a long tradition for the Catholic Church in Australia. For almost every year since 1940, our Bishops have joined together to issue a major social justice statement at this time.

In 2022, it was reported that there were 55 state-based conflicts around the world and 82 non-state conflicts. According to the United Nations, this is the highest number of violent conflicts the world has faced since the Second World War.

At the core of our commitment to peace is the truth that we are sisters and brothers and that to see the other as an enemy is not to see the truth of the other but to see a lie.

Teaching and education are, says Pope Francis, “the primary means of promoting integral human development; and they are essential for the defence and promotion of peace. In a word, teaching and education are the foundations of a cohesive civil society”.

Kind regards,

Jonathan Rowe

Principal