Catholic Identity & Mission News
This weekend we begin the season of Advent, the four-week period of time of preparation for Christmas. Our RE classes will all be exploring the meaning of this season and how our students and their families prepare and celebrate the time of Christmas. Our pluralist community (multi-faith and multi-cultural) provides a fascinating study of Australian society and I know I enjoy hearing about the different celebrations that our students enjoy at this time – family gatherings, church services, secret Santas, Christmas movies and music and so on. Last year, a student of the Buddhist faith I was teaching told me how he and his family ride trains together around Melbourne each Christmas Day and enjoy doing some sightseeing when the train network is a little quieter – I hadn’t heard that tradition before!
An important tradition we do have though is to donate items and food for those in need through our annual Christmas appeal. Students from our Ministry classes and VCAL are taking on fundraising and awareness raising activities and there is a school wide appeal for students to donate food items, unwrapped presents for all ages, or money (so that we can do the shopping for you). Ably led by our newly elected Social Justice captains, Sam Franks (CRA) and Mia Legeant (CLN), we want to really live out our pillar of Service through practical action and advocacy. And you are invited to participate too!
In each House area, there are collection boxes for the donation of goods. We have been in contact with the Cranbourne conference of St Vincent de Paul and they have provided a list of food and drink items they like to put in their Christmas hampers. They are:
Tin of Ham 450g
2ltr Bottles of soft drink
Packet Allens 500g (party mix) of lollies
Carton Foster Clark longlife Custard 1ltr
Tin Beetroot 450g
Bottle of cordial 2ltrs
Tin Peaches 850g
Packet cream biscuits 250g
800g Fruit cake
Plum pudding 700g
Packet pasta 500g
Bottle Pasta sauce 570g
Jar Vegemite 500g
Jar Peanut Butter 500g
Packet of Gravy Mix
Tin Spaghetti 440g
Tin Baked Beans 440g
Packet Seasoned Stuffing mix 200g
Tin Fruit Salad 850g
Packet Shapes biscuits 200g
Longlife Milk 1ltr
If you are able, please donate what you can. We are called to generosity but we also understand that everyone’s circumstances are different so if you are unable to donate items, we hope you will be generous in spirit! We are going to conclude our collections on Tuesday, December 6 so that we can pack up all the collected items – food, unwrapped gifts and any (leftover) monetary donations – and get them to Vinnies in plenty of time for Christmas. Here’s hoping that out of our abundance, we can contribute something to making it a bright Christmas for all.
Fiona McKenna
Deputy Principal - Catholic Identity & Mission