Principal's Message
Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that everyone had a beautiful Easter and you have settled back into the school routine without too many difficulties.
As we prepare for the announcement of our new leader of the Catholic faith, I thought I would share with you the thoughts of Archbishop Fisher as he reflected on the life and death of Pope Frances who died on Easter Monday.
Steve Darcy (Principal)
"A non-European? A member of a religious order? From the Southern hemisphere? Following the surprise resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the announcement on 13 March 2013 from the loggia of St Peter’s that Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the 265th successor of St Peter was equally unexpected. He would turn out to be ‘the pope of mercy’, ‘the pope of the peripheries’ and ‘the pope of synodality’.
When Bergoglio was elected he was unfamiliar to most Catholics outside Latin America. He had never worked in the Roman curia, had not travelled widely, and had less public profile than many considered papabili (candidates for the papacy).
Yet on the fifth ballot Bergoglio’s brother cardinals selected him. He joked that they’d been forced to go ‘to the ends of the earth’ to find a new Bishop of Rome. He would be ‘different’. Born in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, this son of Italian migrants joined the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1958, was ordained priest in 1969, and became provincial (regional superior) soon after (1973-79). Pope St John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of his hometown in 1992, archbishop in 1998, and cardinal in 2001.
He was President of the Argentine bishops from 2005 till 2011. He took part in conferences of the Latin American bishops (including Aparecida in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2007), the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI (he is said to have been the runner-up), and the 2013 conclave that elected him pope.
The distinctive marks of Bergolio’s papacy quickly emerged. As the first pope to take the name of St Francis of Assisi, he signalled the centrality of humility and mercy, and of love for God, creation and the poor.
Over the next 12 years Francis unpacked these themes in documents, preaching, pastoral journeys and legal reforms. He set out a vision of a Church of ‘missionary disciples’ who, having encountered Jesus Christ and his mercy, take joy and hope to the world and especially to the most neglected.
It means repudiating the ‘globalisation of indifference’ towards refugees and the poor, the ‘ideological colonisation’ of the developing world by the secularising West, and the ‘throwaway culture’ that discards those deemed useless, including the unborn and elderly. It assumes instead the tender concern and active care of the Good Samaritan. These driving passions made Pope Francis a critic of unbridled capitalism and consumerism, of war, gender ideology and clericalism, and of disfiguring the natural and social environments. He made tentative moves toward greater inclusion of the divorced and same-sex attracted, promoted greater openness toward displaced persons, and ensured an enlarged role for women in leadership.
Bergolio was a compassionate man who cared deeply for those who suffer. He was renowned for his simplicity and pastoral activity in the slums of Buenos Aires, his symbolic gestures of care, and his unexpected phone-calls even as pope.
The pope from the peripheries was determined to reach out to those on the margins—the poor, elderly, disabled, unborn, refugees and prisoners.
We will always remember him stopping his vehicle to embrace a severely disabled man, joyfully greeting children who had broken through security barriers, washing and kissing the feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday, and visiting the developing world and detention centres, lending his voice to those too often forgotten.
We are grateful for the years we had him and the little bit “extra” at the end. Now the Church grieves the passing of her chief shepherd under Christ and prays for a worthy successor. May he rest in peace."
- Archbishop Fisher
ANZAC Day
Thank you to those students who represented our community at the Sutherland Dawn Service and to their parents who took them along to be part of this important commemoration.
Our thanks go to Evie M, Eva C, Scarlett V, Isabelle D, Harry M and Sam E.
INQUIRY AND REVIEW
We welcome the Sydney Catholic School's review team who are in today (Thursday) and tomorrow. As I have written previously, the purpose of I&R is to provide support to Sydney Catholic Schools in self-evaluation and school improvement in line with expectations of the Education Act 2013 and other legislative, administrative and Archdiocesan accountabilities. The Archbishop’s Charter for Catholic Schools and the National School’s Improvement Tool are two documents that assist the Review Team reflect upon the school’s strategic priorities. I will provide a summary of the Report to the community once it has been completed.
My thanks to those parents who have agreed to be interviewed by the Review Team as part of the process.
P+F MEETING
The Term 2 P+F meeting will be held on MONDAY 19 May beginning at 6:00pm. More information, including the agenda will be sent home shortly.
As well as attending the meeting in person, parents / carers will have the option of joining the meeting via zoom. The link to do this will be included in the agenda.
MOTHER'S DAY
Tomorrow morning (Friday) there will be a special breakfast on offer for all our mums, grandmothers and other significant women who do so much for our students here at St. Patrick's. Then, at the morning assembly we will have a special Liturgy followed by the weekly Award ceremony.
We look forward to seeing many of you there.
On behalf of all the staff I wish everyone a beautiful Mother's Day on Sunday.
(N.B. There will be NO assembly on Friday afternoon.)