Mission &

Social Justice 

• Workshop with Bishop Comensoli for 2017 Student Leaders
• Remembrance Day
• 2016 Peace & Justice Symposium

Student Leaders' Workshop

On Tuesday 8th November four of our school leaders gathered with over 60 student leaders for 2017 from around the Broken Bay Diocese at Canisius College Pymble. The day celebrated our inclusive community around the Diocese and was a chance for our students to engage with Bishop Peter through his catechetical talk on the ‘Face of Jesus’ and a very frank and open Q&A session.

The Mass, celebrated by the Bishop with the school leaders, was a beautiful celebration of faith. Sharing lunch and a collaborative discussion afterwards gave the students a chance to swap some ideas around what they and their colleagues would like to leave as a legacy on their school communities.

The day concluded with a spiritual reflection and a combined commissioning of our student leaders.  

Congratulations to Joe Unwin, Daniel Butler, Andrew Jackson and Alex Graffeo for their engagement and participation on the day as well as the excellent way they represented the College. 

Please click below to see a selection of photos taken on the day.

Mr A Brannan - Youth Ministry Coordinator

Remembrance Day

On Friday this week we are commemorating Remembrance Day. This is a day of duality. It is an opportunity to remember with pride and acknowledgement the men and women who have served our country in all parts of the world in the name of peace. It is also a day of sadness as we remember those who did not return. Many families have a story to tell of a loved one who lost their life in conflict.

My mother speaks affectionately of her cousin Eric, who at just 20 years lost his life in Korea. He had returned from military service in Europe at the conclusion of World War II and was then conscripted to Korea. My mother, like many family members back in Australia, exchanged letters with those fighting overseas. My mother received Eric’s last letter. In it he wrote ‘Tomorrow we are going over the hill. We don’t know what will be waiting for us’.  Many men, including Eric, lost their lives that day.

We pray that we will continue to honour the sacrifice of life and service given by so many men and women so that we can live in peace.

Ms D Dempsey - Assistant Principal, Mission & Identity

2016 Peace & Justice Symposium

Report by James Spencer - Year 10 & Edmund Rice Society leader

“If You Want Peace, Work for Justice”

Last Tuesday ten Year 10 SPX students, along with 50 students from another five EREA schools, travelled to Mulgoa to attend the 2016 Peace and Justice Symposium. The theme of the symposium was “Being Socially Just”.

On the first day we learnt about the Environment and Climate Change from Ms Jill Finnane and Mr Vincent Sicari, who both work on the Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP) within the Edmund Rice Centre (ERC). This was interesting because we discussed all sides of the argument. We learnt about the people in Kiribati, Tuvalu and the islands of the Torres Strait who are losing their homes but we also talked about the people who need the jobs that contribute to climate change, such as miners.

The next day Mr Phil Glendenning, Director of the ERC and President of the Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA), spoke to us about the issues asylum seekers have, Australia’s refugee policies and what we can do to help. 

Later on in the day we had the choice to attend workshops on Edmund Rice Beyond Borders, Homelessness, The Haven Annexe and Edmund Rice Camps.  I attended the Edmund Rice Camps workshop where I learnt about the opportunities I could provide to disadvantaged children by donating either my money or my time.

I then attended Edmund Rice Beyond Borders workshop where we were taught the importance of team communication and what our schools did in the three level system of local, interstate and global.

We identified how SPX contributes at each level. Some of the initiatives SPX undertakes at the local level are:  visiting the elderly at Willowood, helping at Matthew Talbot Hostel, creating Christmas hampers for St Vincent de Paul to distribute and donating blood to the Red Cross. At the interstate level SPX boys have immersions with indigenous communities where we donate sporting goods; we also collect food for the Food Bank and blankets for the homeless. At the global level we raise money for Callan Services in PNG, we collect used boots for Africa and raise money at the Mothers’ Day stall for people in Peru. 

Finally SPX participates in raising awareness for a number of social justice issues throughout each year. For example, last term the SPX Edmund Rice Society hosted the Detention for Detention activity to raise awareness for asylum seekers in detention.

We reflected on what we had learnt and made commitments on what we would work towards as a school community. It was an informative and enjoyable symposium and I appreciated the opportunity to attend. I recommend it to anyone who is given the opportunity to attend in the future.

Mr D Blake - Social Justice Coordinator